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1858: Charles Frederick Worth, founder of grande...

Building and people item

1858

Charles Frederick Worth , founder of grande couture (later haute couture), opened a dressmaking business with Otto Gustaf Bobergh at 7 rue de la Paix, Paris.
Perrot, Philippe. Fashioning the Bourgeoisie: A History of Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. Translator Bienvenu, Richard, Princeton University Press, 1994.
184
de Marly, Diana. Worth: Father of Haute Couture. Elm Tree Books, 1980.
32

10 December 1948: Lord Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett's work...

National or international item

10 December 1948

Lord Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett 's work in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation brought him the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Schlessinger, Bernard S., and June H. Schlessinger. The Who’s Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-1995. 3rd ed., Oryx Press, 1996.
The Nobel Foundation. Nobel E-Museum.

August 1968: Thousands of Yippie radicals occupied Chicago...

National or international item

August 1968

Thousands of Yippie radicals occupied Chicago during the Democratic National Convention.
Brownmiller, Susan. In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution. Dial, 1999.
36

By late February 2009: Saudi Arabia, where the rights of women are...

National or international item

By late February 2009

Saudi Arabia, where the rights of women are few, appointed its first female minister: Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez became Deputy Education Minister, in charge of a new department of women's education.
Borger, Julian. “Saudi Arabia names first female mininster in reshuffle”. Guardian Weekly, 20 Feb. 2009, p. 6.
6

Kate Greenaway

KG was a writer and artist who worked primarily at illustrating books for children during the Victorian era. Her career took off with the publication of Under the Window, a children's book of verse...
Kate Greenaway Low resolution sepia photo of Kate Greenaway. She is wearing a striped, buttoned dress with a white collar, sitting in a chair with pen and paper in her hands, beside a desk with, apparently, more writing materials. Her hair is in short curls in front with a bun behind.

1905: Vaccines against typhus became available...

Building and people item

1905

Vaccines against typhus became available.
Dolan, Josephine A. History of Nursing. 12th ed., Saunders, 1968.
297

27 December 1979: Russia invaded Afghanistan: Soviet troops...

National or international item

27 December 1979

Russia invaded Afghanistan: Soviet troops entered Kabul, claiming that their assistance had been requested. The USA meanwhile supported the anti-Soviet side.
Bradsher, Henry S. Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Duke University Press, 1983.
189, 173
Roy, Arundhati. The Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan. Associated Publishing House, 1987.
v

24 May 1990: Through Peterloo Poets, Anna Adams published...

Women writers item

24 May 1990

Through Peterloo Poets , Anna Adams published her poetry pamphlet Nobodies.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Blackwell’s Online Bookshop. http://Bookshop.Blackwell.co.uk.

After 1792: New legislation made acquiring wine licences...

Building and people item

After 1792

New legislation made acquiring wine licences more difficult: owners of drinking establishments had now to apply to a Justice of the Peace, not merely to the Stamp Office .
Henderson, Tony. Disorderly Women. Longman, 1999.
143

16 October 1987: In the early hours of the morning a violent...

National or international item

16 October 1987

In the early hours of the morning a violent storm battered the south of England, with winds reaching a hundred kilometres an hour in some places.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Tew, Philip. Zadie Smith. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
30

1876: A general election was held in France after...

National or international item

1876

A general election was held in France after the National Assembly dissolved itself.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
292

17 November 1794: George Grote, historian, was born at Clay...

Writer or writing item

17 November 1794

George Grote , historian, was born at Clay Hill near Beckenham, in Kent.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.

After 1 February 1793: An organisation calling itself the Friends...

National or international item

After 1 February 1793

An organisation calling itself the Friends of Peace began campaigning in tracts and pamphlets against the war with France (declared on this day).
Mahon, Penny. “In Sermon and Story: contrasting anti-war rhetoric in the work of Anna Barbauld and Amelia Opie”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
7
, No. 1, 2000, pp. 23-38.
23-4, 37

1770: The minority Roman Catholic population in...

Building and people item

1770

The minority Roman Catholic population in Britain was estimated at 80,000.
Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997.
xxviii

October 1892: The Bibliographical Society of London was...

Writer or writing item

October 1892

The Bibliographical Society of London was founded, to promote the modern study of bibliography.
Gentry, Helen, and David Greenhood. Chronology of Books and Printing. Rev. ed., Macmillan, 1936.
118
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
163
Myers, Robin. The British Book Trade, from Caxton to the Present Day. Andre Deutsch in association with the National Book League, 1973.
97
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
150

1838: The Archimedes, designed by engineer Francis...

Building and people item

1838

The Archimedes, designed by engineer Francis Pettit Smith , was the first sizeable seagoing vessel to be driven by a screw propeller.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
90

4 April 1850: The North London Collegiate School for Ladies,...

Building and people item

4 April 1850

The North London Collegiate School for Ladies , founded by Frances Mary Buss as her own venture, re-opened with its new and enduring name at its new address, 46 Camden Street.
Borer, Mary Cathcart. Willingly to School: A History of Women’s Education. Lutterworth Press, 1976.
271
Kamm, Josephine. Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of The Girls’ Public Day School Trust. Allen and Unwin, 1971.
25
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Buss
Spartacus Educational. 28 Feb. 2003, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.

29 July 1864: The Contagious Diseases Act (first in a series...

National or international item

29 July 1864

The Contagious Diseases Act (first in a series of such Acts) inaugurated the state regulation of prostitution. Named by analogy with earlier legislation regarding cattle disease, it initially attracted little notice.
Tannahill, Reay. Sex in History. Stein and Day, 1980.
366
Ledbetter, Rosanna. A History of the Malthusian League: 1877-1927. Ohio State University Press, 1976.
60

After June 1854: The dinosaur sculpture park around the Crystal...

Building and people item

After June 1854

The dinosaur sculpture park around the Crystal Palace at its new home in Sydenham, the work of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, took hold at once of the public imagination.
Merrill, Lynn L. The Romance of Victorian Natural History. Oxford University Press, 1989.
117
Gooding, Francis. “Feathered, Furred or Coloured”. London Review of Books, Vol.
40
, No. 4, 22 Feb. 2018, pp. 14-16.
14

Grisell Murray

GM wrote memoirs in the mid eighteenth century about each of her remarkable parents. Parts of her writing first appeared in print after her death, in the appendix to a work of history by George Rose

1860s: During this decade, annuals became associated...

Writer or writing item

1860s

During this decade, annuals became associated with ghost stories, exemplified in works by Amelia B. Edwards and Charlotte Riddell .
Boyle, Andrew. An Index to the Annuals. Andrew Boyle, 1967.
Collins, Arthur Simons. The Profession of Letters: A Study of the Relation of Author to Patron, Publisher, and Public, 1780-1832. George Routledge and Sons, 1928.
Eliot, George, and Felicia Bonaparte. Middlemarch. Editor Carroll, David, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Brown, Susan I. “The Victorian Poetess”. The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 180-02.
Renier, Anne. Friendship’s Offering: An Essay on the Annuals and Gift Books of the Nineteenth Century. Private Libraries Association, 1964, http://University of Toronto (Robarts).
Linley, Margaret. “A Centre That Would Not Hold: Annuals and Cultural Democracy”. Nineteenth-Century Media and the Construction of Identities, St Martin’s Press, 2000, pp. 54-74.

5 December 1821: The first known fatality in a railway accident...

Building and people item

5 December 1821

The first known fatality in a railway accident occurred when carpenter David Brook was hit by a coal train during a storm.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
78

December 1952: The last full-scale smog (fog loaded with...

Building and people item

December 1952

The last full-scale smog (fog loaded with smoke) descended on London; in three days there were 4,000 deaths in excess of normal figures. This was a major contributing factor in the Clean Air Act...

Jane Brereton

JB was a poet who began writing in Wales before her marriage in 1711 and remained productive until her death thirty years later. She discusses poetry, too, in personal letters.

16 January 1950: The BBC made its first broadcast of Listen...

Building and people item

16 January 1950

The BBC made its first broadcast of Listen with Mother.
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
381