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1851: As the author of Brampton Rectory (her first...

Women writers item

1851

As the author of Brampton Rectory (her first novel, on a religious theme), Mary Matilda Howard edited and published Memorials of James Mackness at London.
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.
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.

April 1978: A number of punk and rock bands performed...

Building and people item

April 1978

A number of punk and rock bands performed at the large-scale Rock Against Racism concert in Victoria Park in East London.
Sweeting, Adam. “Poly Styrene”. The Guardian, 27 Apr. 2011, p. 37.
37

1818: Judges in Britain began sentencing some juvenile...

Building and people item

1818

Judges in Britain began sentencing some juvenile delinquents to privately funded reformatories, instead of to jails.
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
275

Mary Palmer

MP wrote, in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, some lively dialogues which may be the earliest literary writing to use the local dialect of Devon. They remained unpublished for nearly a hundred...
Mary Palmer Title-page of Mary Palmer's "A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect", probably written in the mid eighteenth century and published in 1837.

1906: Stanley Paul and Company Limited was founded...

Writer or writing item

1906

Stanley Paul and Company Limited was founded by Stanley Paul at 31 Essex Street, London, after he left the staff of Hutchinson and Company .
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 112. Gale Research, 1991.
246

1 January 1785: The Daily Universal Register began publication...

Writer or writing item

1 January 1785

The Daily Universal Register began publication in London; it became The Times, or Daily Universal Register, and then on 18 March 1788 simply the Times.
University of Alberta Libraries On-line Catalogue. http://www.library.ualberta.ca/.

August 1918: Irish suffragist groups campaigned against...

National or international item

August 1918

Irish suffragist groups campaigned against Regulation 40.D of the Defence of the Realm Act (40.D DORA), under which any woman accused by a soldier of having venereal disease could be detained and medically examined.
Owens, Rosemary Cullen. Smashing Times: A History of the Irish Women’s Suffrage Movement 1889-1922. Attic, 1984.
122-24

June 1916: The General Service Scheme broadened Voluntary...

National or international item

June 1916

The General Service Scheme broadened Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) employment for women to include medical workers such as x-ray and laboratory attendants, as well as clerks, cooks, telephone operators, and store keepers.
Ouditt, Sharon. Fighting Forces, Writing Women: Identity and Ideology in the First World War. Routledge, 1994.
15
Summers, Anne. Angels and Citizens: British Women as Military Nurses 1854-1914. Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1988.
269
Marwick, Arthur. Women at War, 1914-1918. Croom Helm, 1977.
84

Timberlake Wertenbaker

TW , an American-born European who writes for the British stage, is an experimental dramatist, adaptor, translator, and radio dramatist. Central topics in her work are the efforts of individuals, particularly women: pursuing quests, seeking...
Timberlake Wertenbaker Colour photo of Timberlake Wertenbaker onstage at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, DC, 29 December 2017. Shown in profile and backlit, her hands are clasped behind her back and her eyes are closed.

1858: Charles Frederick Worth, founder of grande...

Building and people item

1858

Charles Frederick Worth , founder of grande couture (later haute couture), opened a dressmaking business with Otto Gustaf Bobergh at 7 rue de la Paix, Paris.
Perrot, Philippe. Fashioning the Bourgeoisie: A History of Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. Translator Bienvenu, Richard, Princeton University Press, 1994.
184
de Marly, Diana. Worth: Father of Haute Couture. Elm Tree Books, 1980.
32

6 May 1913: The House of Commons defeated a private member's...

National or international item

6 May 1913

The House of Commons defeated a private member's Representation of the People Bill which would have enfranchised women over twenty-five who were either householders or wives of householders.
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
190n190
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Clarendon Press, 1990.
417

November 1880: Alfred Tennyson published Ballads and Other...

Writer or writing item

November 1880

Alfred Tennyson published Ballads and Other Poems, which included Rizpah, The Defence of Lucknow, and The Revenge.
Martin, Robert Bernard. Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart. Clarendon Press, 1983.
529
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

11 July 1784: Sarah Farley's Bristol Journal reported how...

Building and people item

11 July 1784

Sarah Farley 's Bristol Journal reported how a lawyer had advised a lower-class man whose wife had left him that he should publicly sell her to her lover.
Gillis, John R. For Better, For Worse: British Marriages, 1600 to the Present. Oxford University Press, 1985.
213-14 and n129

October 1972: Elaine Morgan published her most famous book,...

Women writers item

October 1972

Elaine Morgan published her most famous book, a treatise on evolution, which she titled, constrasting with Darwin 's The Descent of Man, The Descent of Woman.
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.
British Books in Print. J. Whitaker and Sons, 1874–1987.
1973

February 1912: Helen Houston produced the first issue of...

Building and people item

February 1912

Helen Houston produced the first issue of Business Girl, a monthly publication from the Institution of Women Shorthand Typists in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
32
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
60

9 November 1757: John Wesley recorded his practice of giving...

Building and people item

9 November 1757

John Wesley recorded his practice of giving one hour a day to using a special apparatus on people who came to be electrified, thereby curing them of various disorders.
Brett, Simon, b. 1945, editor. The Faber Book of Diaries. Faber, 1987.
403

15 May 1800: King George III narrowly escaped death when...

National or international item

15 May 1800

King George III narrowly escaped death when a bullet aimed for him lodged in the pillar of his box at Drury Lane Theatre .
Dobbs, Brian. Drury Lane: Three Centuries of the Theatre Royal, 1663-1971. Cassell, 1972.
128

1867: Rebecca Strong, who would later become Matron...

Building and people item

1867

Rebecca Strong , who would later become Matron of the Royal Glasgow Infirmary , began training at the Nightingale Training School .
McGann, Susan. The Battle of the Nurses: A Study of Eight Women who Influenced the Development of Professional Nursing, 1880-1930. Scutari, 1992.
103

1868: The Central Association for Stopping the...

Building and people item

1868

The Central Association for Stopping the Sales of Intoxicating Liquors on a Sunday annexed the Sunday Closing Association to become the Central Sunday Closing Association .
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. Crusade against Drink in Victorian England. Macmillan, 1988.
87-8

1834: Mazzini and several hundred supporters planned...

National or international item

1834

Mazzini and several hundred supporters planned an invasion of Savoy to overthrow the King of Piedmont.
Gildea, Robert. Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914. Oxford University Press, 1987.
71
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
115

21 March 1874: The Criterion Theatre opened in London....

Building and people item

21 March 1874

The Criterion Theatre opened in London.
Mander, Raymond, and Joe Mitchenson. The Theatres of London. Rupert Hart-Davis, 1963.
61, 284

Christine de Pisan

Christine de Pisan wrote for a living (years before any woman did this in Britain). She is remarkable both as a sophisticated, polished, and versatile writer of poetry in French, and as a proto-feminist. Her...
Christine de Pisan Illumination from the Queen’s Manuscript, c. 1410–14, with a portrait of Christine de Pisan in her study. She is sitting at a cloth-draped desk writing in a book with a box for writing materials beside her. She is wearing a white hat that appears to be bat ears or a large V on her head. She is wearing a double horned headdress with gauzy white veil and a bright blue dress (both the signs of high birth or status). A small white dog sits at her feet. (It is absent from a closely related picture that giv

19 May 1941: The Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo Road, London,...

Building and people item

19 May 1941

The Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo Road, London, was bombed.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
402

13 April 1668: Six days after the death of Sir William Davenant,...

Writer or writing item

13 April 1668

Six days after the death of Sir William Davenant , the Poet Laureate, John Dryden was appointed to fill the position.
Johnson, Samuel. The Lives of the Poets. Editor Lonsdale, Roger, Clarendon Press, 2006, 4 vols.
2: 314n26

1 January 1946: London Airport (later Heathrow) opened for...

Building and people item

1 January 1946

London Airport (later Heathrow) opened for civil aviation. By 1954 twenty-three international airlines were flying into it, and plans were afoot for expansion.
British Book News. British Council.
(July 1954): 388