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Autumn 1872: Physician James Hobson Aveling published...

Building and people item

Autumn 1872

Physician James Hobson Aveling published English Midwives: Their History and their Prospects, arguing for governmental regulation and registration of midwives.
Donnison, Jean. Midwives and Medical Men: A History of Inter-Professional Rivalries and Women’s Rights. Schocken Books, 1977.
79

1925: An article in Punch coined the term middle-brow...

Building and people item

1925

An article in Punch coined the term middle-brow (on analogy with highbrow) for people who are hoping that someday they will get used to the stuff they ought to like.
Mezei, Kathy, and Chiara Briganti. “’She must be a very good novelist’: Rereading E. H. Young (1880-1949)”. English Studies in Canada, Vol.
27
, No. 3, Sept. 2001, pp. 303-31.
304 n3
Mezei, Kathy, and Chiara Briganti. “’She must be a very good novelist’: Rereading E. H. Young (1880-1949)”. English Studies in Canada, Vol.
27
, No. 3, Sept. 2001, pp. 303-31.
304 and n3

1825: Sir Goldsworthy Gurney invented limelight,...

Building and people item

1825

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney invented limelight, a brilliant white light produced by heating lime; it came into use in theatres a dozen years later.
Fuchs, Theodore. Stage Lighting. Benjamin Blom, 1963.
42
Rees, Terence. Theatre Lighting in the Age of Gas. Society for Theatre Research, 1978.
64

1913: The Mental Deficiency Act set up a Board...

Building and people item

1913

The Mental Deficiency Act set up a Board of Control to take on the powers and responsibilities hitherto exercised by the Lunacy Commissioners.
Roberts, Andrew. “English Mental Health Law Forms”. The Lunacy Commission. A Study of its Origin, Emergence and Character, 1981.

19 April 1967: One year after Roberta Gibb's illicit run,...

Building and people item

19 April 1967

One year after Roberta Gibb 's illicit run, another American, Kathrine Switzer , became the first woman to run officially (though still illegally) in the Boston Marathon and complete the course.
“Boston Marathon History”. Boston Athletic Association.

9 September 1835: The Municipal Corporations Act introduced...

National or international item

9 September 1835

The Municipal Corporations Act introduced major reforms to local governance, including the establishment of regular, paid police forces in large settlements. By it, however, women lost the vote at municipal level.
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714-1995. 3rd ed., Longman, 1996.
22, 187
Mingay, Gordon Edmund. The Transformation of Britain 1830-1939. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986.
195
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
260

1932-1935: Although Ludwig Wittgenstein expressly forbade...

Writer or writing item

1932-1935

Although Ludwig Wittgenstein expressly forbade it, analytic philosphers Alice Ambrose and Margaret MacDonald secretly took notes during his Cambridge lectures; these were later published (with Wittgenstein's approval) in two volumes known as the blue and...

26 March 1768: Lord Baltimore (Frederick, the sixth baron,...

Building and people item

26 March 1768

Lord Baltimore (Frederick, the sixth baron , who was known for his promiscuity and was said to admire the Islamic system of harems) was acquitted (with two female accessories) of raping a Methodist or Independent

1804: The word romantisme, forerunner of Romanticism,...

Writer or writing item

1804

The word romantisme, forerunner of Romanticism, first appeared in French.
Robb, Graham. “Missing Mother”. London Review of Books, 19 Oct. 2000, pp. 21-2.
21

By 18 July 1846: Lectures on Painting and Design by Benjamin...

Writer or writing item

By 18 July 1846

Lectures on Painting and Design by Benjamin Robert Haydon (who had killed himself in June this year) appeared in print. It put forward influential new theories of art education, state patronage, and industrial design.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
977 (1846): 737

March 1933: The Woman's Leader (formerly The Common Cause)...

Building and people item

March 1933

The Woman's Leader (formerly The Common Cause) ended publication; once again it was revived in a new form, the following month, as The Townswoman.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
44
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
Bibliographers David Doughan and Denise Sanchez give a...

31 October 1926: Harry Houdini, escape artist (born in Budapest,...

Building and people item

31 October 1926

Harry Houdini , escape artist (born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874), died in Detroit.
Seymour, David, and Emily Seymour, editors. A Century of News. Contender Books, 2003.
“Timeline of Houdini’s Life”. PBS: American Experience: Houdini.

15 May 1730: Sir Robert Walpole's Whig ministry was confirmed...

National or international item

15 May 1730

Sir Robert Walpole 's Whig ministry was confirmed in power following the general election.
Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw. Handbook of British Chronology. Editors Greenway, D. E. et al., 3rd ed., Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1986.
113
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
491

1970: The Boston Women's Health Book Collective...

Building and people item

1970

The Boston Women's Health Book Collective published Our Bodies, Ourselves.
Gamble, Vanessa Northington. “Taking back our bodies”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xix
, No. 12, Sept. 2002, p. 8.
8
Tuana, Nancy. “Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemology of Ignorance”. Sex and Gender: Rethinking Feminist Philosophy Conference, Edmonton, AB, 18 Oct. 2002.

March 1861: The first parliament of Italy (unified in...

National or international item

March 1861

The first parliament of Italy (unified in October 1860) met at Turin, capital of Piedmont.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
269

14 November 1935: A general election was held in Britain. The...

National or international item

14 November 1935

A general election was held in Britain. The Conservative Party polled most votes, and the National Coalition government was returned to power.
Kimber, Richard. “UK General Elections since 1832”. Richard Kimber’s Political Science Resources: British Politics: Election Information.
Hamilton, Mary Agnes. Remembering My Good Friends. Jonathan Cape, 1944.
288

23 May 1807: Novelist Samuel Warren was born at The Rackery,...

Writer or writing item

23 May 1807

Novelist Samuel Warren was born at The Rackery, in Wrexham, Wales.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
190

1890: Margaret Hungerford published two novels...

Women writers item

1890

Margaret Hungerford published two novels this year: A Life's Remorse under her former married name of Margaret Argles, and A Born Coquette under her new married name of Hungerford.
Bainton, George, editor. The Art of Authorship. J. Clarke, 1890.
18
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1915: H. G. Wells became vice-president of the...

Building and people item

1915

H. G. Wells became vice-president of the Malthusian League .
Ledbetter, Rosanna. A History of the Malthusian League: 1877-1927. Ohio State University Press, 1976.
213

: John Bateman published The Acre-Ocracy of...

Building and people item

1877

John Bateman published The Acre-Ocracy of England, which was revised and reprinted between 1878 and 1883 as The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland, and was popularly known as The New Doomsday...

20 June 1864: The Bill for the Prevention of Contagious...

National or international item

20 June 1864

The Bill for the Prevention of Contagious Diseases at Certain Naval and Military Stations (by regulating prostitutes, and detaining women found to be infected) was introduced by Lord Clarence Paget , Secretary to the Admiralty

1996: US punk writer Kathy Acker published Pussy,...

Writer or writing item

1996

US punk writer Kathy Acker published Pussy, King of the Pirates, a feminist-pornographic reworking of Robert Louis Stevenson 's Treasure Island in which the treasure-seekers are a band of women pirates.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1400-50: During this half-century, one third of all...

Building and people item

1400-50

During this half-century, one third of all new saints canonised by the Catholic Church were women.
Robinson, Jane. Pandora’s Daughters: The Secret History of Enterprising Women. Constable, 2002.
21

26 July 1968: The British Standard Time Act decreed the...

Building and people item

26 July 1968

The British Standard Time Act decreed the extension of what had formerly been called Summer Time or Daylight Savings (one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time or GMT) for the entire year in Britain.
Myers, Joseph. “History of legal time in Britain”. SRCF (Student-Run Computing Facility).

Jane Barker

JB , who wrote during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, shows remarkable daring and originality both as a poet and as a writer of prose fiction. Critical attention to her as a proto-feminist...
Jane Barker Alleged portrait of Jane Barker: a fleuron in "The Entertaining Novels of Mrs. Jane Barker of Wilsthorp in Northamptonshire", published by Edmund Curll, third (posthumous) edition, 1736. In an oval frame, "Barker" faces the viewer in a low-necked, lace-edged gown, with hair in curls on her head and down her neck.