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22 September 1761: King George III and Queen Charlotte were...

National or international item

22 September 1761

King George III and Queen Charlotte were crowned; Horace Walpole and Thomas Gray each left a vivid account of the occasion, while Catherine Talbot wrote a prose poem about non-attendance, about spending a festal day...

1795: Uvedale Price published his influential contribution...

Building and people item

1795

Uvedale Price published his influential contribution to the romantic concept of landscape: Essays on the Picturesque.
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.

1862: A War Office and Admiralty committee recommended...

National or international item

1862

A War Office and Admiralty committee recommended a system of voluntary treatment for diseased prostitutes, rather than legislating their medical care.
Walkowitz, Judith R. ’We Are Not Beasts of the Field’: Prostitution and the Campaign Against the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1869-1886. University of Rochester, 1974.
110
Walkowitz, Judith R. ’We Are Not Beasts of the Field’: Prostitution and the Campaign Against the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1869-1886. University of Rochester, 1974.
110

1744: The earliest book of nursery-rhymes in English...

Building and people item

1744

The earliest book of nursery- rhymes in English was published, under the title Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Paul, Lissa. The Children’s Book Business. Routledge, 2011.
82-3

28 October 1701: The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was...

National or international item

28 October 1701

The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was chartered.
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.

1871: The New Chelsea Theatre (opened the previous...

Building and people item

1871

The New Chelsea Theatre (opened the previous year) became known as the Royal Court Theatre .
Mander, Raymond, and Joe Mitchenson. The Theatres of London. Rupert Hart-Davis, 1963.
284

September 1920: The Irish Citizen, launched in May 1912,...

National or international item

September 1920

The Irish Citizen, launched in May 1912, published its final issue.
McKillen, Beth. “Irish Feminism and Nationalist Separatism, 1914-23”. Éire-Ireland, Vol.
17
, No. 3, 4, 1982, pp. 52 - 67, 72.
84

P. D. James

PDJ was a crime writer with a major reputation in both Britain and the United States. As well as her mystery novels, she wrote non-mystery novels, one excursion into science fiction, non-fiction, a play...
P. D. James Photograph of P. D. James in Cologne, 2013. She sits with pen in hand, ready to sign a book. She is wearing a loose-fitting grey turtleneck, with a chunky necklace and a wristwatch, and glasses. Her grey hair is chin-length.

May 1703: Nicholas Rowe published his she-tragedy The...

Writer or writing item

May 1703

Nicholas Rowe published his she-tragedyThe Fair Penitent.
Watson, George, and Ian Roy Wilson, editors. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1969, 5 vols., http://U of A, HSS Ruth N Flr 1 Ref.

By January 1872: Gustave Moynier, an instigator of the Red...

National or international item

By January 1872

Gustave Moynier , an instigator of the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention, decided (reversing his earlier opinion) that an International Criminal Court to try war crimes was desirable.
Waal, Alex de. “Dangers of Discretion”. London Review of Books, 21 Jan. 1999, pp. 27-9.
27

1570: The potato was introduced into Europe from...

Building and people item

1570

The potato was introduced into Europe from South America.
Cameron, Jennifer. A Dangerous Innovator: Mary Ward (1585-1645). St Pauls Publications, 2000.
237

Fanny Kingsley

Fanny Kingsley 's literary activity centres around the life of her husband, the writer and clergyman Charles Kingsley. She edited his letters for publication after his death, as well as several volumes of his...

1970: The London entertainments guide Time Out...

Writer or writing item

1970

The London entertainments guide Time Out was launched on an initial capital of £70, the founding editor's twenty-first birthday present.
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 1892: The British Women's Temperance Association...

Building and people item

By 1892

The British Women's Temperance Association had 195 branches, and had united over 570 smaller groups, all campaigning for temperance.
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. “’Changes Are Dangerous’: Women and Temperance in Victorian England”. Religion in the Lives of English Women, 1760-1930, edited by Gail Malmgreen, Indiana University Press, 1986, pp. 193-15.
204-6, 209

1990: The proportion of the British student-age...

Building and people item

1990

The proportion of the British student-age population in higher education rose above 20% for the first time.
Ainley, Patrick. Degrees of Difference: Higher Education in the 1990s. Laurence and Wishart, 1994.
12

1947: Anna Freud founded the Hampstead Child-Therapy...

Building and people item

1947

Anna Freud founded the Hampstead Child-Therapy Course and Clinic , which became a major training and research centre in child psychology.
Stevens, Gwendolyn, and Sheldon Gardner. The Women of Psychology. Schenkman, 1982, 2 vols., http://HSS.
II: 21
Hergenhahn, Baldwin Ross. An Introduction to the History of Psychology. 2nd ed., Wadsworth Publishing, 1992, http://HSS.
478

1965: Giles Gordon did a series of interviews for...

Women writers item

1965

Giles Gordon did a series of interviews for The Scotsman with female authors: a species of writer that at the time wasn't particularly recognised, although it certainly had been in the previous century.
Gordon, Giles. “Reading Ann Quin’s Berg”. Context: A Forum for Literary Arts and Culture, 2001.

6 August 1861: The Offences Against the Person Act eliminated...

National or international item

6 August 1861

The Offences Against the Person Act eliminated capital punishment for all crimes except murder and high treason; abortion remained illegal in England, Wales, and Ireland.
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
278
Law Reports: Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866–2026.
564
Brookes, Barbara. Abortion in England: 1900-1967. Croom Helm, 1988.
1, 22
Hordern, Anthony. Legal Abortion: The English Experience. Pergamon, 1971.
7
Tobias, John Jacob. Urban Crime in Victorian England. Shocken Books, 1972.
199-200

Maggie Gee

MG 's novels are deeply marked by the various threats that dominated the late twentieth century: nuclear damage, global warming, urban disintegration. They often centre on the particular difficulties and dilemmas of women's lives and...
Maggie Gee Head-to-toe colour photo portrait of Maggie Gee at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, 9 October 2010. She is wearing a black and red outfit, complete with red-laced shoes, a red coat, and red rings on her fingers. The photo is taken outside.

20 January 2021: Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America, with Kamala Harris sworn in as the first female, Black and South Asian woman to become vice-president

National or international item

20 January 2021

Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America, with Kamala Harris sworn in as the first female, Black and South Asian woman to become vice-president at the United...

1938-9: Of 50,002 full-time students at the twenty-one...

Building and people item

1938-9

Of 50,002 full-time students at the twenty-one universities existing in Britain, 11,634 were women: that is just over 23% of the total.
Mountford, Sir James Frederick. British Universities. Oxford University Press, 1966.
96
Collini, Stefan. “HiEdBiz”. London Review of Books, 6 Nov. 2003, pp. 3-9.
5

About 730: The exquisite Kentish Vespasian Psalter was...

Writer or writing item

About 730

The exquisite Kentish Vespasian Psalter was transcribed and decorated, perhaps by nuns at Minster-in-Thanet. The abbess there, Eadburh , later known as Saint Eadburh , remains somewhat obscure.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Brown, Michelle P. “Writing in the Insular world”. The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, edited by Richard Gameson, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 121-66.

29 October 1889: The British South Africa Company under Cecil...

National or international item

29 October 1889

The British South Africa Company under Cecil Rhodes was chartered; the following year Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
587
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Houghton Mifflin, 1952.
855
Strachey, Lytton. Queen Victoria. Harcourt Brace, 1921.
199, 216n11

February 1886: A poem about women as bread-winners, signed...

Writer or writing item

February 1886

A poem about women as bread-winners, signed Ella—Type-lifter, appeared in the Scottish Typographical Circular.
Cockburn, Cynthia. Brothers: Male Dominance and Technological Change. 2nd ed., Pluto Press, 1991.
181-2, 187

16 November 1682: The recently-formed United Company gave its...

Writer or writing item

16 November 1682

The recently-formed United Company gave its first stage performance at Drury Lane Theatre .
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
1: 299, 316