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May 1953: The British submarine Andrew made its first...

National or international item

May 1953

The British submarine Andrew made its first underwater crossing of the English Channel.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
264

March l973: A strike by gas workers caused power shortages...

Building and people item

March l973

A strike by gas workers caused power shortages in Britain, closing factories, schools, and hospitals.
Johnson, Pamela Hansford. Important to Me. Macmillan; Scribner, 1974.
229

1832: Joseph Henry Parker took over his uncle's...

Writer or writing item

1832

Joseph Henry Parker took over his uncle's Oxford bookselling and publishing business; as J. H. Parker it soon became the foremost publisher of the Oxford or Tractarian Movement.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 230

18 July 1874: The weekly Ladies' Own Journal and Miscellany...

Writer or writing item

18 July 1874

The weekly Ladies' Own Journal and Miscellany ceased publication.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
21

By September 1784: An anonymous work entitled Thoughts on the...

Building and people item

By September 1784

An anonymous work entitled Thoughts on the Slavery of the Negroes caused the Critical Review to prophesy that the growing movement for abolition of slavery would soon provoke the attention of parliament.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
58 (1784): 239

Catherine Phillips

Writing in the late eighteenth century, CP centred all her literary work on her Quaker religion, yet both her poetry and prose also deal with secular politics. She wrote pamphlets, sermons, personal letters and formal...

1895: Florence Warden issued two of her more than...

Women writers item

1895

Florence Warden issued two of her more than 150 novels this year: The Woman with the Diamonds (a mystery) and A Lady in Black, or A Mysterious Love Affair.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.

1824: Timothy Burstall and John Hill built a prototype...

Building and people item

1824

Timothy Burstall and John Hill built a prototype of a coach with an instantaneous steam generator.
Historians Montagu and Bird record that Burstall and Hill unsuccessfully tried to run this coach in 1825.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
79
Beaulieu, Edward, Lord Montagu of, and Anthony Bird. Steam Cars 1770-1970. Cassell, 1971.
51

1918: The Bais Yaakov network of schools and youth...

Building and people item

1918

The Bais Yaakov network of schools and youth organisations for Jewish girls and young women was founded.
Weissman, Deborah. “Bais Yaakov: A Historical Model for Jewish Feminism”. The Jewish Woman: New Perspectives, edited by Elizabeth Koltun, Schocken, 1976, pp. 139-48.
142

26 July 1769: The London Chronicle reported Susannah Lott's...

National or international item

26 July 1769

The London Chronicle reported Susannah Lott 's execution by burning, near Maidstone in Kent, for the petty treason of poisoning her husband.
Oldham, James. “Law Reporting in the London Newspapers, 1756-1786”. American Journal of Legal History, Vol.
31
, No. 3, –July 1987, pp. 173-06.
197
Staves, Susan. Married Women’s Separate Property in England, 1660 - 1833. Harvard University Press, 1990.
205

Rosemary Sutcliff

RS , historical novelist, overcame disability to publish, over a span of forty years from 1950, more than fifty titles. Most are books for the young (billed for those of eleven and upwards, but having...

1992: The city of Leiden in the Netherlands initiated...

Writer or writing item

1992

The city of Leiden in the Netherlands initiated its Tegen-Beeld , or Wall Poems, by painting on a wall a poem by Marina Tsvetajeva or Tsvetaeva: the design is important as well as the words.
The Wall Poems of Leiden. http://www.muurgedichten.nl/wallpoems.html.

5 March 1850: Robert Stephenson's tubular Britannia Bridge...

National or international item

5 March 1850

Robert Stephenson 's tubular Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits opened for rail traffic to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey, off the coast of Wales.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
271
Simmons, Jack. The Railway in England and Wales 1830-1914. Leicester University Press, 1978.
159-60
Ellis, Hamilton. British Railway History: An Outline from the Accession of William IV to the Nationalisation of Railways 1830-1876. George Allen and Unwin, 1954.
184
Cardwell, Donald. The Fontana History of Technology. Fontana, 1994.
259

1914: Leta Stetter Hollingworth conducted scientific...

Building and people item

1914

Leta Stetter Hollingworth conducted scientific research into menstruation: her exhaustive testing of 23 women over several months found none of the loss of competence popularly supposed.
Pollitt, Katha. “Fourteen million Americans can’t be wrong”. London Review of Books, 6 Sept. 2001, pp. 13-14.
14

July 1796: The explorer Mungo Park, abandoned and anxious...

Building and people item

July 1796

The explorer Mungo Park , abandoned and anxious on the banks of the Niger River in what is now Mali, was taken in, housed and fed by African village women, who composed and sang...

1838: A hosiery-knitting machine was invented;...

Building and people item

1838

A hosiery-knitting machine was invented; it did not gain wide use until 1844.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
11

By April 2004: Plans to scrap the Recommended Retail Price...

Writer or writing item

By April 2004

Plans to scrap the Recommended Retail Price for books in Britain (the price printed on the jacket flap or paperback cover) were being opposed by the Society of Authors and individual writers.
“Authors fight plans that could slash earnings”. Mslexia, No. 21, Apr. 2004, p. 11.

About 1800: Ladies' apparel of this time was in the style...

Building and people item

About 1800

Ladies' apparel of this time was in the style of naked fashions, mimicking the drapery of classical Greek statues.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
1
Ham, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Ham, by Herself, 1783-1820. Editor Gillett, Eric, Faber and Faber, 1945.
54, 55

1 September 1832: The two-year-old firm of Colburn and Bentley...

Writer or writing item

1 September 1832

The two-year-old firm of Colburn and Bentley was dissolved when Bentley bought Colburn out, amid considerable ill-feeling apparently caused by Colburn's shady financial practices.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Richard Bentley

1 May 1862: The International Exhibition of Industry...

Building and people item

1 May 1862

The International Exhibition of Industry and Science opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington; it brought popular interest in Japan to the UK, with England's first exhibition of Japanese art.
Lambourne, Lionel. The Aesthetic Movement. Phaidon, 1996.
29-32

30 November-3 December 1999: World Trade Organization talks at Seattle,...

National or international item

30 November-3 December 1999

World Trade Organization talks at Seattle, Washington, failed to reach agreement; 50,000 people gathered from around the world to protest against the WTO's methods and goals.
CNN World News: World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, Seattle. http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min99_e/min99_e.htm.

1780-1785: During these years, East India Company records...

Building and people item

1780-1785

During these years, East India Company records show that more than one-third of British men who made a will in India bequeathed everything to their Indian wives or among their mixed-race families. In fifty years...

9 December 2006-17 July 2007: The National Portrait Gallery in London mounted...

Writer or writing item

9 December 2006-17 July 2007

The National Portrait Gallery in London mounted an exhibition of photographs of women writers, mostly novelists, from 1920 to 1960.
“Women writers through the lens”. Mslexia, No. 33, Apr. 2007, p. 7.
7

September 1978: Company, an upscale magazine for young women,...

Building and people item

September 1978

Company, an upscale magazine for young women, began publication from National Magazine in London.
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
166
Braithwaite, Brian, and Joan Barrell. The Business of Women’s Magazines. Associated Business Press, 1979.
99

Charlotte Chanter

CC wrote one novel, Over the Cliffs, 1860, which anticipated in some respects the sensation genre, as well as a book about ferns and a collection of children's animal stories which was co-authored with...