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16 December 1991: The appointment was announced of Stella Rimington...

National or international item

16 December 1991

The appointment was announced of Stella Rimington as the first woman to head the British intelligence agency MI5 .
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
503

9 October 1899: The first motor bus appeared in London s...

Building and people item

9 October 1899

The first motor bus appeared in London streets.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
329

August 1948: The first post-war Olympic Games took place...

National or international item

August 1948

The first post-war Olympic Games took place in still visibly bomb-damaged London. These Olympics were also the first to be televised.
Seymour, David, and Emily Seymour, editors. A Century of News. Contender Books, 2003.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1884: The first public telephones, accepting money...

Building and people item

1884

The first public telephones, accepting money in a slot, were introduced into British shops; they were later shielded from the gaze of onlookers by curtains.
Guardian Weekly.
(1-7 February 2001): 7

Earlier 1855: Charles Kingsley published his novel Westward...

Writer or writing item

Earlier 1855

Charles Kingsley published his novel Westward Ho!; Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight . . . in the Reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1431: 376
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
355, 667
Ashton, Rosemary. George Eliot: A Life. Hamish Hamilton, 1996.
147

26 February 1797: The Bank of England, alarmed by a run on...

National or international item

26 February 1797

The Bank of England , alarmed by a run on gold prompted by fears of invasion from Napoleonic France, prohibited payments in cash: in May this prohibition was enforced by legislation establishing a period of Restriction.
Palk, Deirdre. “’Fit Objects for Mercy’: Gender, the Bank of England and Currency Criminals, 1804-1833”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
11
, No. 2, 2004, pp. 237-58.
237-40

9 September 1831: The British Parliament voted £30,000 for...

National or international item

9 September 1831

The BritishParliament voted £30,000 for a national system of elementary education in Ireland.
Foster, Robert Fitzroy. Modern Ireland 1600-1972. Allen Lane, 1988.
606
MacDonagh, Oliver. Ireland: the Union and its Aftermath. George Allen and Unwin, 1977.
22, 40

11 February 1970: Radical students at Warwick University occupied...

Building and people item

11 February 1970

Radical students at Warwick University occupied the Registry and discovered political files kept by the Vice-Chancellor on individuals which were used for passing information to security staff at industrial plants in Coventry.
Greer, Germaine. The Madwoman’s Underclothes. Picador, 1987.
30

31 August 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a late-night...

National or international item

31 August 1997

Diana, Princess of Wales , died in a late-night car accident in an underpass by the Pont d'Alma in Paris.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Early 1870s: Women wore their hair in immense braided...

Building and people item

Early 1870s

Women wore their hair in immense braided chignons at the nape of the neck; like the false snood, these chignons were often composed of add-ons to the wearer's own hair.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
98

Mary Ann Browne

MAB wrote in the early nineteenth century and died in her early thirties. During her short career she published eight volumes of poetry, and was estimated to have printed in periodicals and annuals probably as...

25 April 1836: The New Strand Theatre (opened without a...

Building and people item

25 April 1836

The New Strand Theatre (opened without a licence in London in 1832) re-opened as fully legitimate, managed by W. J. Hammond and Douglas Jerrold .
Gore, Catherine. “Introduction”. Gore on Stage: The Plays of Catherine Gore, edited by John Franceschina, Garland, 1999, pp. 1-34.
24

1866: Comic singer Alfred Vance was hired by the...

Building and people item

1866

Comic singer Alfred Vance was hired by the Oxford music hall in London, to compete with the popular swell singer George Leybourne .
Bratton, Jacqueline S., editor. Music Hall: Performance and Style. Open University Press, 1986.
52

10 December 1947: Two British scientists won Nobel Prizes this...

National or international item

10 December 1947

Two British scientists won Nobel Prizes this year: Sir Robert Robinson in Chemistry (for work on plant products and the alkaloids) and Sir Edward Victor Appleton in Physics for work on the upper atmosphere and...

1895: F. F. Montrésor began her publishing career...

Women writers item

1895

F. F. Montrésor began her publishing career this year with two novels, of which The One Who Looked On went through six editions in three years.
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.

1901: Phoebe Traquair, leading artist of the arts...

Building and people item

1901

Phoebe Traquair , leading artist of the arts and crafts movement in Edinburgh, completed her mural decoration of the interior of the Mansfield Place Church .
Mansfield Traquair Trust. http://www.mansfieldtraquair.org.uk/.

Eliza Dunlop

ED was a poet publishing in magazines (and in a cousin's novel) in the 1830s. Her first publications were uncontrovsial, but not long after emigrating to Australia in 1838 she printed in The Australian a...

994: Abbot Ælfric translated the Capitulary of...

Building and people item

994

Abbot Ælfric translated the Capitulary of Theodulf of Orleans, which advocated the co-education of girls and boys at the elementary level.
Gardiner, Dorothy Kempe. English Girlhood at School: A Study of Women’s Education Through Twelve Centuries. Oxford University Press, 1929.
25, 27

February 1907: A case of sedition was brought to trial in...

National or international item

February 1907

A case of sedition was brought to trial in the Punjab, in which the proprietor and editor of the Punjabi were convicted of inciting hatred against the government and the European community.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 834

1893: As Mrs George Corbett, Elizabeth Burgoyne...

Women writers item

1893

As Mrs George Corbett, Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett published Mrs. Grundy's Victims, a novel that explores the White Slave Trade through the fate of one of two sisters left to manage on their own in London.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

2 May 1982: The Mail on Sunday newspaper began publi...

Writer or writing item

2 May 1982

The Mail on Sunday newspaper began publication.
Schott, Ben. Schott’s Original Miscellany. Bloomsbury, 2002.
140
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.

1940: Ernest Bevin and Basil Dean established the...

Building and people item

1940

Ernest Bevin and Basil Dean established the Entertainments National Service Association (generally known as ENSA) to boost the morale of factory workers, allied servicemen, and civilians in underground air-raid shelters.
Minns, Raynes. Bombers and Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45. Virago, 1980.
37
Turner, Ernest Sackville. The Phony War on the Home Front. Michael Joseph, 1961.
101
Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.
49

1955: Equal pay began to be introduced over a six-year...

Building and people item

1955

Equal pay began to be introduced over a six-year period in the Post Office .
Grint, Keith. “Women and Equality: The Acquisition of Equal Pay in the Post Office, 1870-1961”. Sociology, Vol.
22
, No. 1, 1988, pp. 87-108.
100

18 April 1962: The Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed...

National or international item

18 April 1962

The Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed (more restrictive than previous immigration acts), in response to the growing number of Black and Asian migrants into the UK.
Law Reports: Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866–2026.
1967: 1269-74
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
398, 409, 419, 432
Harding, Jeremy. “The Uninvited”. London Review of Books, 3 Feb. 2000, pp. 3-25.
12
Liberty: A Brief History. http://web.archive.org/web/20080807173131/http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/about/1-history/index.shtml.

1842: Anders Adolf Retzius introduced his theory...

Building and people item

1842

Anders Adolf Retzius introduced his theory on head forms, including his cranial index to differentiate between races.
Hellemans, Alexander, and Bryan Bunch. The Timetables of Science: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Science. Simon and Shuster, 1988.
309
Williams, L. Pearce. Album of Science: The Nineteenth Century. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978.
211