Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
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Writer or writing
Author profile
Sarah Austin
Sarah Austin
was primarily known as a translator of weighty books, but was also an editor and an author of works on female education and German intellectual history. From the 1820s to the 1850s she...
IB
was the author of the classic book of household management which became a standard reference work for generations following her death—probably, says critic Michael Mason
, less common only than the Bible, Shakespeare and...
17 March 1838: David Bruce of New York patented the first...
Writer or writing item
17 March 1838
David Bruce
of New York patented the first successful type-casting machine.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
144-5
15 September 1830: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the...
National or international item
15 September 1830
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first large-scale passenger steam railway, was officially opened; public timetabled service began on 17 September.
Carlson, Robert E. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Project 1821-1831. Augustus M. Kelley, 1969.
231-6
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
256
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
81, 84-5
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.
17-18
22 June 1925: The Film Society was incorporated in London,...
Building and people item
22 June 1925
The Film Society
was incorporated in London, where it operated until 1939.
Maclean, Caroline. “Gloomy Sunday Afternoons”. London Review of Books, Vol.
31
, 10 Sept. 2009, pp. 28-9.
29
16 July 1985: The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act...
National or international item
16 July 1985
The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act made it an offence to excise, infibulate or mutilate female genitals or to aid or abet such procedure in the UK.
Law Reports: Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866–2026.
(1985): 969-70
McVeigh, Tracy. “Female genital mutilation rising in Britain”. Guardian Weekly, 30 July 2010, p. 15.
15
1767: Oliver Goldsmith selected and edited Poems...
Writer or writing item
1767
Oliver Goldsmith
selected and edited Poems for Young Ladies, dividing it into three sections: Devotional, Moral, and Entertaining.
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.
Writer or writing
Author profile
Beatrix Potter
BP
gained fame as a writer of little books for children, about animals which to some degree resemble humans, illustrated in watercolour by herself. Some of them draw on fable, riddles, and fairy stories. She...
FK
was a prolific nineteenth-century writer best known for her journals, which covered her life in the theatre and her residence in the American south. Her first-hand documentation of the institution of slavery was particularly...
March 1917: British troops invading Ottoman territory,...
National or international item
March 1917
British troops invading Ottoman territory, having suffered defeat at Kut the previous spring, succeeded in capturing Baghdad.
Glass, Charles. “Iraq Must Go!”. London Review of Books, 3 Oct. 2002, pp. 12-13.
12
4 January 1960: The Stockholm Convention or EFTA Convention...
National or international item
4 January 1960
The Stockholm Convention or EFTA Convention was signed, setting up the European Free Trade Association
; it came into force on 3 May.
European Free Trade Association. EFTA (European Free Trade Association) at a Glance: 40 Years of Free Trade. http://www.efta.int/content/about-efta/history.
1691: Jean Racine's heroic tragedy Athalie, written...
Writer or writing item
1691
Jean Racine
's heroic tragedy Athalie, written from a biblical subject for performance by a girls' school, was both printed and staged.
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.
February 2001: At the International Criminal Court in The...
Baxandall, Rosalyn. “Wide World of Women”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xix
, No. 9, June 2002, pp. 7-8.
7
1696: A fort was built at Calcutta,West Bengal,...
Building and people item
1696
A fort was built at Calcutta,West Bengal, India (which had been founded as a British settlement in 1687); trade built up quickly.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
2: 751
Just before 27 July 1723: The government called for all and every person...
National or international item
Just before 27 July 1723
The government called for all and every person whatsoever over eighteen years of age (male or female) in Great Britain to take the oaths of allegiance.
Colley, Linda. Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837. Yale University Press, 1992.
202
: Meic Stephens founded Poetry Wales, published...
Writer or writing item
Spring 1965
Meic Stephens
founded Poetry Wales, published at Merthyr Tydfil, partly in order to allow English-language poets to contribute to the revitalised nationalist culture of the period.
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.
By the late 1880s: Frances Low was pursuing a successful career...
Women writers item
By the late 1880s
Frances Low
was pursuing a successful career as a journalist and an editor for The Queen.
Onslow, Barbara. Women of the Press in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Macmillan, 2000.
154, 230
1781: Alexander Hamilton published a Treatise of...
Building and people item
1781
Alexander Hamilton
published a Treatise of Midwifery, arguing (like others) that this subject was too important to be left to women.
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.
27 October 1931: In the general election, the National Coalition...
National or international item
27 October 1931
In the general election, the National Coalition Government won a landslide victory (a majority of nearly five hundred seats over the combined opposition) but became much more Conservative
in tone than it had been. Most...
1888: The Society of Friends' Peace Committee was...
Ceadel, Martin. Pacifism in Britain, 1914-1945 : The Defining of a Faith. Clarendon, 1980, http://U of A HSS.
Appendix I
1843: Scottish neurologist Sir David Ferrier examined...
Building and people item
1843
Scottish neurologist Sir David Ferrier
examined the brains of living primates and other animals to locate and map the motor and sensory regions of the brain. He was later tried for vivisection.
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.
311
Collins, Wilkie. Heart and Science. Chatto and Windus, 1883, 3 vols.
15-6
January 1902: The British Post Office eased the restriction...
National or international item
January 1902
The British Post Office
eased the restriction of writing on the address-side of a picture postcard by allowing writing to appear on one half of the side reserved for the address.
Staff, Frank. The Picture Postcard and Its Origins. F. A. Praeger, 1966.
