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Maria Callcott

MC did much of her early-nineteenth-century writing and publication under her first married name of Maria Graham. She is important both as a travel writer and as an art historian. Her writing of Europe and...

3 December 1800: At Hohenlinden in Bavaria the French imperial...

National or international item

3 December 1800

At Hohenlinden in Bavaria the French imperial army and its Bavarian allies inflicted defeat on the Austrians: a battle commemorated by the poet Thomas Campbell and the novelist Jemima Tautphoeus .
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.

1950: Grace Robertson, a noted photojournalist...

Building and people item

1950

Grace Robertson , a noted photojournalist whose work is held by many galleries, began her tenure with Picture Post.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1960: The ten most heavily advertised products...

Building and people item

1960

The ten most heavily advertised products in Britain this year were five detergents (Persil, Tide, Omo, Daz, and Surf), two instant coffees (Nescafé, Maxwell House), one foodstuff (Stork margarine), one beer (Guinness), and one make...

Elizabeth Daryush

ED is in the unusual position of being a poet laureate's daughter (a grievous disadvantage for any poet to labour under, as Donald Davie put it).
Davie, Donald, and Elizabeth Daryush. “Introduction”. Collected Poems, Carcanet New Press, 1976, pp. 13-23.
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Her career spanned much of the twentieth...

1873: The monthly Broadway magazine ceased pub...

Writer or writing item

1873

The monthly Broadway magazine ceased publication.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
84

After March 1848: The Austrian nationalist uprising was overthrown...

National or international item

After March 1848

The Austrian nationalist uprising was overthrown by General Radetzky .
Hobsbawm, Eric John. The Age of Revolution 1789-1848. Vintage, 1996.
125

5 May 1981: Bobby Sands, a member of the Provisional...

National or international item

5 May 1981

Bobby Sands , a member of the Provisional IRA , died in the Maze Prison near Belfast, where for two months he had been leading his final hunger strike.
“1981: Bobby Sands dies in prison”. BBC On this day.

January 1915: A Russian victory over an Ottoman army hastened...

National or international item

January 1915

A Russian victory over an Ottoman army hastened the collapse of the Ottoman Empire ruled by Turkey; the need for a scapegoat precipitated massacres of Armenians, which were worse than those of 1894-6.
Mazower, Mark. “The G-Word”. London Review of Books, 8 Feb. 2001, pp. 19-21.
19-20
Anderson, Perry. “Kemalism”. London Review of Books, Vol.
30
, No. 17, 11 Sept. 2008, pp. 3-12.
6-7

1754: The Royal College of Physicians made public...

Building and people item

1754

The Royal College of Physicians made public their official approval of inoculation for smallpox, as introduced to England by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu thirty-three years before.
Hopper, Karine. “Doctors, Ministers, and Women Novelists: The Effect of Print on the Inoculation Debate in the later Eighteenth Century”. Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (CSECS) Conference, Quebec City, QC, 24 Oct. 2002.

15 November 1816: A meeting was held at Spa Fields in Bristol,...

National or international item

15 November 1816

A meeting was held at Spa Fields in Bristol, with the object of starting a petition for various reforms including general male suffrage.
Herron, Bonnie. "An Old Ballad Monger": Hannah More’s Unpublished Letters 1798-1827. University of Alberta, 1999.

1487: As the European witch craze gathered strength,...

Building and people item

1487

As the European witch craze gathered strength, the Malleus Maleficarum (meaning the hammer of the witches) was published.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

1570: The potato was introduced into Europe from...

Building and people item

1570

The potato was introduced into Europe from South America.
Cameron, Jennifer. A Dangerous Innovator: Mary Ward (1585-1645). St Pauls Publications, 2000.
237

April 2016: A bot, or Twitter account programmed to issue...

Writer or writing item

April 2016

A bot, or Twitter account programmed to issue a piece of writing divided into fragments of 140 characters or less, entitled Sappho @sapphobot, was launched this month and became Twitter's most popular poetry bot (apart from...

29 November 1999: The first multi-party, multi-denominational,...

National or international item

29 November 1999

The first multi-party, multi-denominational, or power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland (sometimes known as the Stormont government) was appointed in place of direct rule by Britain.
Good Friday Agreement, 10 April 1998. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/agreement.htm.
Cowan, Rosie. “Direct rule imposed on Northern Ireland”. Guardian Weekly, 17–23 Oct. 2002, p. 8.
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1 April 1789: Hester Lynch Piozzi (a propos reports about...

Building and people item

1 April 1789

Hester Lynch Piozzi (a propos reports about Marie Antoinette ) indignantly recorded what she presents as if it was her first encounter with lesbianism.
Mavor, Elizabeth. The Ladies of Llangollen. Penguin, 1973.
78

4 March 1712: Jane Wenham was tried for witchcraft (whose...

Building and people item

4 March 1712

Jane Wenham was tried for witchcraft (whose manifestation was flying through the air) at Hertford; the jury found her guilty, but the judge reprieved her and later got her pardoned.
Steele, Sir Richard, and Joseph Addison. Selections from the Tatler and Spectator. Editor Ross, Angus, Penguin, 1982.
529n
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.
Bostridge, Ian. Witchcraft and its Transformations, c. 1650-1750. Clarendon Press, 1997.
132-6, 156

November 1980: A new Irish bill permitted the sale of contraceptives...

National or international item

November 1980

A new Irish bill permitted the sale of contraceptives (with certain restrictions).
Francome, Colin. “United Kingdom”. International Handbook on Abortion, edited by Paul Sachdev, Greenwood, 1988, pp. 458-61.
461

1619: The first public school for girls was founded...

Building and people item

1619

The first public school for girls was founded in Deptford, London.
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.

Graham Greene

An English novelist of exceptional energy, Graham Greene built a career spanning a dozen genres—most notably more than twenty novels or thrillers, as well as short stories, film reviews, travel books, plays, screenplays, and autobiography...

20 November 1910: A revolt in Mexico against thirty years of...

National or international item

20 November 1910

A revolt in Mexico against thirty years of dictatorship failed, but set the scene for a long-running revolution which eventually produced a constitutional republic.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/.

3 May 1926: The General Strike began in England: all...

National or international item

3 May 1926

The General Strike began in England: all transport workers, as well as those in the heavy industries, the printing and building trades, and gas and electricity companies walked off the job in support of miners...

1677: By this year the Society of Friends included...

Building and people item

1677

By this year the Society of Friends included prosperous merchants and traders in all the major centres in England and Ireland. At least fourteen substantial London merchants were Quakers, which provided a new motive...

1889: The first public electricity supply was inaugurated...

Building and people item

1889

The first public electricity supply was inaugurated in London.
Forster, Margaret. Significant Sisters. Secker and Warburg, 1984.
prelims

1896: Of the hundreds of purity titles offered...

Building and people item

1896

Of the hundreds of purity titles offered in the Moral Reform Union catalogue, only a tiny portion were aimed specifically at girls.
Bristow, Edward. Vice and Vigilance: Purity Movements in Britain Since 1700. Gill and Macmillan, 1977.
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