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23 June 1931: Lili de Alvarez became the first woman to...

Building and people item

23 June 1931

Lili de Alvarez became the first woman to wear shorts while playing in the tennis championships at Wimbledon.
Brakeman, Lynne, and Susan Gall, editors. Chronology of Women Worldwide: People, Places and Events that Shaped Women’s History. Gale Research, 1997.
364

4 May 1896: Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe,...

Writer or writing item

4 May 1896

Alfred Harmsworth , later Lord Northcliffe, launched a halfpenny newspaper entitled the Daily Mail: the first mass-circulation daily paper, it was destined to a long run.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
165
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
870
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.

Sappho

Sappho , the female poet who stands at the head of the lyric tradition in Europe, has been a major figure of identification, of desire, of influence, of adulation, and of opprobrium in British women's...
Sappho Circular portrait from a fresco in ancient Pompeii, popularly identified as Sappho though it probably portrays a high-society Pompeian lady. She is clad in blue, green, and purple, with a gold net over her short, curly hair, and large gold hoop earrings. She holds a wax tablet and a stylus ready for writing. bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbNaples National Archaeological Museum.

After 1 October 1939: The Women's Auxiliary Police Corps was formed;...

Building and people item

After 1 October 1939

The Women's Auxiliary Police Corps was formed; its members performed clerical, canteen, or driving duties.
Hart, Jenifer Margaret Murray. The British Police. Allen and Unwin, 1951.
143
Luck, Joan. The British Policewoman: Her Story. R. Hale, 1979.
176

Late 1822: German bookseller Rudolph Ackermann published...

Writer or writing item

Late 1822

German bookseller Rudolph Ackermann published the first illustrated English annual or gift book, the Forget-Me-Not.
Adburgham, Alison. Women in Print: Writing Women and Women’s Magazines from the Restoration to the Accession of Victoria. George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972.
239, 279

1972: The English football team, captained by Rachel...

Building and people item

1972

The English football team, captained by Rachel Heyhoe Flint , won the first Women's World Cup.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

October 1975: USA feminist Susan Brownmiller published...

Building and people item

October 1975

USA feminist Susan Brownmiller published her influential study of sexual violence, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape.
Baxandall, Rosalyn. “Wide World of Women”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xix
, No. 9, June 2002, pp. 7-8.
7
Brownmiller, Susan. In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution. Dial, 1999.
223

Josephine Tey

Josephine Tey was the pseudonym that Scottish writer Elizabeth Mackintosh used for her detective fiction, the genre for which she is now best known. Her other pseudonym, Gordon Daviot, was usually reserved for what she...

1 January 1778: A print by John Collet was published, showing...

Building and people item

1 January 1778

A print by John Collet was published, showing two cheerful sportswomen, Miss Trigger and Miss Wicket, who excel respectively at the unfeminine sports of shooting and cricket.
Williams, Carolyn. “’Half a Charge, and No Wadding’: Women and Guns in the Eighteenth Century”. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
25
, No. 2, 1 Sept.–30 Nov. 2002, pp. 247-65.
252-4

1 January 1866: The West Pier at Brighton was opened. It...

Building and people item

1 January 1866

The West Pier at Brighton was opened. It stood for more than a century before being partly destroyed by the sea on 29 December 2002 while awaiting restoration, leaving Brighton's Pavilion Pier standing alone.
Hall, Sarah, correspondent. “Brighton landmark succumbs to elements”. The Guardian, 30 Dec. 2002, p. 1.
“The Brighton West Pier: History”. The Brighton West Pier Trust.

1644: The English Parliament suppressed the Anglican...

Building and people item

1644

The English Parliament suppressed the AnglicanBook of Common Prayer.
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
274, 304, 366

1836: A monthly for women entitled the Court Magazine...

Writer or writing item

1836

A monthly for women entitled the Court Magazine and Monthly Critic began publication in London.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
4

29 April 1852: Physician and polymath Peter Mark Roget published...

Writer or writing item

29 April 1852

Physician and polymath Peter Mark Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases; it went through 25 editions in its first two decades, and remained an influential writing tool into the twenty-first century...

7 May 1943: Bizerte and Tunis surrendered, marking the...

National or international item

7 May 1943

Bizerte and Tunis surrendered, marking the Allied victory in Northern Africa.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
135
Keegan, John. The Second World War. Viking, 1990.
343

20 April 2011: Jean MacLeod, Scottish author of a hundred...

Women writers item

20 April 2011

Jean MacLeod , Scottish author of a hundred and thirty romantic novels published by Mills and Boon , died at the age of one hundred and three.
“Obituaries. Jean MacLeod”. Daily Telegraph, 28 Apr. 2011, p. 29.
29

April 1867: Tom Robertson's comedic play Caste opened...

Writer or writing item

April 1867

Tom Robertson 's comedic play Caste opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre .
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
834
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
673-4
Mullin, Donald C. Victorian Plays: A Record of Significant Productions on the London Stage, 1837-1901. Greenwood Press, 1987.
48

Later 1820: Charles Robert Maturin published his Melmoth...

Writer or writing item

Later 1820

Charles Robert Maturin published his Melmoth the Wanderer, a gothic novel which recalls the medieval legend of the Wandering Jew.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

1857: A skeleton of the first known remains of...

Building and people item

1857

A skeleton of the first known remains of the people subsequently named Neanderthals (an ice age subspecies of Homo sapiens) was found in the Neander Valley, near Düsseldorf.
Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. Men Among the Mammoths: Victorian Science and the Discovery of Human Prehistory. University of Chicago Press, 1993.
132

By 15 May 1981: Salman Rushdie published Midnight's Children,...

Writer or writing item

By 15 May 1981

Salman Rushdie published Midnight's Children, a novel in which the midnight in question is the moment of Indian independence from Britain.
Cunningham, Valentine. “Nosing out the Indian reality”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 4076, 15 May 1981, p. 535.
535

1867: Alfred Nobel of Sweden patented dynamite...

Building and people item

1867

Alfred Nobel of Sweden patented dynamite.
Panati, Charles. Panati’s Browser’s Book of Beginnings. Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
348
Harris, Melvin. ITN Book of Firsts. Michael O’Mara Books, 1994.
248
Singer, Charles et al., editors. A History of Technology. Clarendon, 1958, 8 vols.
5: 285, 292
Tóibín, Colm. “After I am hanged my portrait will be interesting”. London Review of Books, Vol.
38
, No. 7, 31 Mar. 2016, pp. 11-23.
11

September 1894: The first British viewcards (picture-postcards)...

Building and people item

September 1894

The first British viewcards (picture-postcards) were issued by the London branch of George Stewart and Company of Edinburgh.
Staff, Frank. The Picture Postcard and Its Origins. F. A. Praeger, 1966.
88
“Raphael Tuck & Sons”. Emotions Greetings Card Museum.

Charles Cowden Clarke

23 December 1920: The Government of Ireland Act established...

National or international item

23 December 1920

The Government of Ireland Act established parliaments in both Northern and Southern Ireland, in Belfast and Dublin respectively.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
359

28 May 1754: Seeds were sown for the Seven Years' War...

National or international item

28 May 1754

Seeds were sown for the Seven Years' War when a small force of Americans (both British and native) allegedly made an unprovoked attack on a conciliatory French force on the banks of the Ohio River.
Furneaux, Rupert. The Seven Years War. Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1973.
11

By 1897: In 35 years of philanthropy since its founding...

Building and people item

By 1897

In 35 years of philanthropy since its founding in 1862, the Peabody Trust had spent £1,250,000 to build housing for 20,000 residents, in 5,100 separate developments.
Owen, David. English Philanthropy, 1660-1960. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1964.
380n1, 381