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1953: At its annual meeting (at Blackpool) the...

Building and people item

1953

At its annual meeting (at Blackpool) the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds resolved to become a pressure group for lobbying public and political bodies.
“Records of the Townswomen’s Guilds: Harrow on the Hill Branch”. AIM25: London Metropolitan University: Women’s Library.

1795-7: Margaret Leeson, alias Peg Plunkett, who...

Building and people item

1795-7

Margaret Leeson , alias Peg Plunkett, who was well-known for her thirty years as a courtesan and brothel-keeper, mostly in Dublin, set out to raise cash by publishing Memoirs of Mrs. Margaret Leeson.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

29 March 1867: The British North America Act united Upper...

National or international item

29 March 1867

The British North America Act united Upper Canada (as Ontario), Lower Canada (as Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into the Dominion of Canada.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
II: 473
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
835

Late May 1798: A Catholic uprising began in Ireland; this...

National or international item

Late May 1798

A Catholic uprising began in Ireland; this became known as the Irish Rebellion.
Butler, Marilyn. Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography. Clarendon, 1972.
137-8
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
68 (1798): 614ff.

4 April 1968: The Rev. Martin Luther King, civil rights...

National or international item

4 April 1968

The Rev. Martin Luther King , civil rights leader, was assassinated at a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History. 3rd revised, Simon and Schuster, 1991.
560, 564
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
262
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
428
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
3 April 2008

12 December 1963: Kenya became independent within the Commonwealth;...

National or international item

12 December 1963

Kenya became independent within the Commonwealth; its first Prime Minister (following elections in May) was Jomo Kenyatta , who had been released from imprisonment on 14 August 1961.
Reader, John. “Scram from Africa”. London Review of Books, 16 Mar. 2000, pp. 31-4.
34
Maathai, Wangari. Unbowed. A Memoir. Arrow Books, 2007.
91

1 September 1894: Great Britain's post offices began to accept...

National or international item

1 September 1894

Great Britain's post offices began to accept privately printed postcards of a specified size.
Staff, Frank. The Picture Postcard and Its Origins. F. A. Praeger, 1966.
57, 89

1 January 1900: The Net Book Agreement went into effect,...

Writer or writing item

1 January 1900

The Net Book Agreement went into effect, establishing minimum prices for the sale of books.
Feather, John. A History of British Publishing. Croom Helm, 1988.
147-8
Kingsford, Reginald John Lethbridge. The Publisher’s Association, 1896-1946. Cambridge University Press, 1970.
17
Curwen, Peter. The UK Publishing Industry. Pergamon Press, 1981.
41

1825-1839: Catherine Gilbert, daughter of Davies Gilbert...

Writer or writing item

1825-1839

Catherine Gilbert , daughter of Davies Gilbert (President of the Royal Society from 1828-1831), conducted most of the work of the small private printing press established by her father in their home at Eastbourne.
Cave, Roderick. The Private Press. Faber and Faber, 1971.
122-4

1971: Most Swiss women finally acquired the right...

National or international item

1971

Most Swiss women finally acquired the right to vote; however, several states or cantons continued to disallow women's suffrage until 1994.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1974: The Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that a...

National or international item

1974

The Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that a law forbidding the import of contraceptives was unconstitutional.
Francome, Colin. “United Kingdom”. International Handbook on Abortion, edited by Paul Sachdev, Greenwood, 1988, pp. 458-61.
461

May 1977: Breaking Chains began as the bimonthly newspaper...

Building and people item

May 1977

Breaking Chains began as the bimonthly newspaper of the Abortion Law Reform Association based in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
147
Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory 1999. 37th ed., R. R. Bowker, 1998.
806

From September 1939: Four out of every six schools in London,...

Building and people item

From September 1939

Four out of every six schools in London, and six out of every ten schools in Manchester, were requisitioned for official uses anticipated during the coming war.
Minns, Raynes. Bombers and Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45. Virago, 1980.

1966: The Times was taken over by Canadian magnate...

Writer or writing item

1966

The Times was taken over by Canadian magnate Roy Thomson (who already owned the British group Kemsley Newspapers ).
Stevens, Ronald. “A Different Sort of Tory”. London Review of Books, 12 Dec. 2002, pp. 16-17.
16

Elinor Mordaunt

Beginning in the very early twentieth century, EM wrote and published more than fifty books, most of them popular novels but also including remarkable travel books as well as short stories, books for children, and...

24 January 1752: Henry Fielding's Covent Garden Journal reported...

Building and people item

24 January 1752

Henry Fielding 's Covent Garden Journal reported the case of a sixteen-year-old girl decoyed into a brothel and kept there by force; he advocated reform of the prostitution laws which were proving the ruin of...

By 2 January 1858: Matthew Arnold's Merope: a Tragedy was p...

Writer or writing item

By 2 January 1858

Matthew Arnold 's Merope: a Tragedy was published.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
(2 January 1858): 13

1830: Physician John Conolly popularized the concept...

Building and people item

1830

Physician John Conolly popularized the concept of moral management, in his Inquiry Concerning the Indications of Insanity.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. Pantheon Books, 1985.
33, 83, 264n28

1903: The employment of an English sculptor, Eric...

Writer or writing item

1903

The employment of an English sculptor, Eric Gill , by the German press Insel-Verlag represented the start of a vigorous, international influence in book design.
Gentry, Helen, and David Greenhood. Chronology of Books and Printing. Rev. ed., Macmillan, 1936.
125
Gentry, Helen, and David Greenhood. Chronology of Books and Printing. Rev. ed., Macmillan, 1936.
125
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
169

4 September 1847: The printing firm Messrs Biggar and Odhams...

Writer or writing item

4 September 1847

The printing firm Messrs Biggar and Odhams was founded by William Biggar and William Odhams at 15 Beaufort Buildings, London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 112. Gale Research, 1991.
237

5 December 1837: After declaring a provisional government,...

National or international item

5 December 1837

After declaring a provisional government, W. L. Mackenzie led the revolt in Upper Canada, launched the previous day when rebels gathered at Montgomery's Tavern in what is now Toronto.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
II: 460
Williams, Neville. Chronology of the Modern World: 1763 to the Present Time. David McKay, 1967.
180, 182
Burroughs, Peter. The Canadian Crisis and British Colonial Policy, 1828-1841. Macmillan of Canada, 1972.
93, 108
McInnis, Edgar. Canada: A Political and Social History. Revised ed., Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.
223

1975: Junko Tabei from Japan climbed Mount Everest,...

Building and people item

1975

Junko Tabei from Japan climbed Mount Everest, the first woman to do so.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

13 June 2005: The week after winning the Orange Prize for...

Writer or writing item

13 June 2005

The week after winning the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver contributed a thoughtful piece to the Guardian about how women in competitive situations differ...

Elizabeth Jane Howard

EJH , a novelist of the later twentieth century, has also written short stories (some of them ghost stories), plays, film and television scripts, reviews and articles, biographies, a memoir, and she has edited several...
Elizabeth Jane Howard Black-and-white protrait photo of Elizabeth Jane Howard looking off-camera, circa 1956. She wears a dark turtleneck, beaded stud earrings, and has short hair that falls above her ear and is cut in bangs.

1922: A motor baby carriage or pram, with a platform...

Building and people item

1922

A motor baby carriage or pram, with a platform at the rear for a nursemaid to stand on, was offered for sale in England, but British law did not permit it on pavements.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
198