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19 February 1640: LXXX Sermons by John Donne was posthumously...

Writer or writing item

19 February 1640

LXXX Sermons by John Donne was posthumously published; it included the earliest printed text of Izaak Walton 's biography of him.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

17 October 1854: This was the day, according to Frances Isabella...

National or international item

17 October 1854

This was the day, according to Frances Isabella Duberly , that after weeks of preparation culminating in continuous firing, the siege of Sebastopol (in the Crimean war) began in earnest.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
207, 209
Kinder, Hermann, and Werner Hilgemann. The Anchor Atlas of World History. Translator Menze, Ernest A., Vol.
2
, Anchor, 1978.
69
Duberly, Frances Isabella. Mrs Duberly’s War. Journals and Letters from the Crimea, 1854-6. Editor Kelly, Christine, Oxford University Press, 2007.
85, 88

1 July 1895: The British East Africa Company's territory...

National or international item

1 July 1895

The British East Africa Company 's territory (Zanzibar, Kenya, and Uganda) was transferred to the British Government .
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 760
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
883
Nicholls, C. S. Elspeth Huxley. HarperCollins, 2002.
2, 3

Mid-February 1934: Martial law was declared in Vienna following...

National or international item

Mid-February 1934

Martial law was declared in Vienna following Nazi terrorist incidents, a demonstration of peasants in support of the coalition government of Engelbert Dollfuss , and the taking up of arms by Socialists.
Benton, Jill. Naomi Mitchison: A Biography. Pandora, 1992.
98-9
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
9 June 1933: 13; 14 February 1934: 12

November 1939: Open Door, a journal about women's employment,...

National or international item

November 1939

Open Door, a journal about women's employment, ended publication.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
50
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
385

3 May 1830: The Tyler Hill Tunnel, the first railway...

Building and people item

3 May 1830

The Tyler Hill Tunnel, the first railway tunnel used for passenger traffic, was opened.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
84
Ellis, Hamilton. British Railway History: An Outline from the Accession of William IV to the Nationalisation of Railways 1830-1876. George Allen and Unwin, 1954.
37-8
Historians differ: Hamilton Ellis gives this date; Leonard Bruno gives 4 May.

17-18 June 1837: Some 200 soldiers recently enlisted in the...

National or international item

17-18 June 1837

Some 200 soldiers recently enlisted in the 1st West India Regiment of Trinidad, and newly arrived from West Africa, organised a mutiny against their British officers.
Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and the Carib to the Present. Revised, Facts on File, 1999.
163
Joseph, Edward Lanza. History of Trinidad. Frank Cass, 1970.
259-72

1705: The German-born entomologist Maria Sibilla...

Writer or writing item

1705

The German-born entomologist Maria Sibilla Merian (1647-1717) published at Amsterdam her handsome folio titled in Latin Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium and illustrated by herself.
Her second name is variously spelled. The British Library Catalogue records Sibylla...

1867: Ellen Ranyard's Bible and Domestic Female...

Building and people item

1867

Ellen Ranyard 's Bible and Domestic Female Mission provided employment for 234 poor women in London.
Prochaska, F. K. Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century England. Clarendon, 1980.
127-8

6 April 1757: William Pitt was dismissed from office as...

National or international item

6 April 1757

William Pitt was dismissed from office as Secretary of State.
Black, Jeremy. Pitt the Elder. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
138, 141-3
Brown, Peter Douglas. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, the Great Commoner. Allen and Unwin, 1978.
144

Dylan Thomas

DT acquired instant fame as a very young man in the 1930s when his earliest poems were published. Throughout his short life he turned out journalistic hack work and reviews; as well as poetry he...

1832: The Select Committee on Dramatic Literature...

National or international item

1832

The Select Committee on Dramatic Literature considered factors affecting theatre audiences.
Booth, Michael R. Theatre in the Victorian Age. Cambridge University Press, 1991.
2, 12, 22

Katie Arnstein performed her solo show Sexy Lamp at the Edinburgh fringe festival.

Writer or writing item

August 2019

Katie Arnstein performed her solo show Sexy Lamp at the Edinburgh fringe festival. The show features shocking revelations about auditions and casting call notices, and was inspired by the #MeToo movement.
Akbar, Arifa. “Theatre and #MeToo: ’There’s a new anger in women’s stories’”. The Guardian, 27 Aug. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/27/women-theatre-metoo-movement-sexy-lamp-bitter-wheat-harvey.

1817: The Juvenile Review, a periodical giving...

Writer or writing item

1817

The Juvenile Review, a periodical giving serious attention to pedagogical writing and books for children, began publication in London.
Butts, Dennis. Mistress of our Tears, A Literary and Bibliographical Study of Barbara Hofland. Scolar Press, 1992.
43

April 1863: Henry Mansel in the Quarterly Review attacked...

Writer or writing item

April 1863

Henry Mansel in the Quarterly Review attacked sensation novels as preaching to the nerves and as indications of a wide-spread corruption, of which they are in part both the effect and the cause; called into...

25 July 1658: Sir William Davenant's masque The Cruelty...

Building and people item

25 July 1658

Sir William Davenant 's masque The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, Exprest by instrumentall and vocall musick, and by the art of perspective in scenes, etc., was published; it had been performed...

About 25 January 1801: The second edition of Lyrical Ballads appeared,...

Writer or writing item

About 25 January 1801

The second edition of Lyrical Ballads appeared, in two volumes, including along with its poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge the former's famous Preface, written in 1800.
Moorman, Mary. William Wordsworth: A Biography. Clarendon Press, 1957–1965, 2 vols.
1: 501

June 1957: Parliament passed a new Rent Act that deregulated...

Building and people item

June 1957

Parliament passed a new Rent Act that deregulated the amount a landlord could charge for rent; this had serious consequences for people living in cheap rented housing.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
413-4

January 1996: Virago Press resumed operations as an imprint...

Building and people item

January 1996

Virago Press resumed operations as an imprint of another larger company, Little Brown . Its board took the decision to sell in 1995, two years after its twentieth birthday.
“The History of Virago”. Virago, 2012.

12 December 1610: The Stationers' Company agreed to deposit,...

Writer or writing item

12 December 1610

The Stationers' Company agreed to deposit, free of charge, in the Bodleian Library one copy of every book that was published.
Barnard, John. “Politics, Profits and ?Idealism: John Norton, The Stationers’ Company and Sir Thomas Bodley”. Bodleian Library Record, Vol.
xvii
, No. 6, Oct. 2002, pp. 385-30.
399

7 April 1944: Rudolf Vrba and Fred Wetzler escaped from...

National or international item

7 April 1944

Rudolf Vrba and Fred Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz in Poland. They headed for Slovakia, where by the end of the month they submitted a report on the Nazi death-camp to the Slovak Judenrat

7 December 1975: Indonesia under President Suharto invaded...

National or international item

7 December 1975

Indonesia under President Suharto invaded East Timor, one day after this move was approved by US President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger .
Milbank, Dana. “Seizure of East Timor got U.S. go-ahead”. Guardian Weekly, 13–19 Dec. 2001, p. 33.
33

1716: Parliament passed the Septennial Act, which...

National or international item

1716

Parliament passed the Septennial Act, which set the maximum duration of a British government at seven years before an election had to be called (more than twice the previous three-year term).
Johnson, Samuel. Samuel Johnson: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Editor Greene, Donald, Oxford University Press, 1984.
794n14

1807-1813: The widely publicized case of Ann Moore,...

Building and people item

1807-1813

The widely publicized case of Ann Moore , the contentious Fasting Woman of Tutbury, raised the profile of self-starvation, or fasting girls and incited debate as to its causes.
Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. Fasting Girls. Harvard University Press, 1988.
54-9
Hollis, Karen. “Fasting Women: Bodily Claims and Narrative Crises in Eighteenth-Century Science”. Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
34
, No. 4, 1 June 2001–2026, pp. 523-38.
532, 534

14 March 1878: A Bill to restrain the licence of the Indian...

Writer or writing item

14 March 1878

A Bill to restrain the licence of the Indian press was passed at Calcutta.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 825