Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
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Writer or writing
Author profile
Joan Aiken
JA
was a popular and successful later twentieth-century writer of short stories and longer fictions for children, most of which are fantasies or have strong supernatural or mystery elements. She also wrote adult novels (both...
3 August 1958: The USS Nautilus became the first submarine...
National or international item
3 August 1958
The USS Nautilus became the first submarine to travel under the polar ice cap from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
276
Before mid-September 2004: Melanie Abrahams of literary agency Renaissance...
Writer or writing item
Before mid-September 2004
Melanie Abrahams
of literary agency Renaissance One
organised a group photo of people of Afro, Caribbean, or Asian origin who make a significant contribution to contemporary British literature.
Levy, Andrea. “Made in Britain”. The Guardian, 18 Sept. 2004, pp. Review 34 - 5.
Weldon's Ladies' Journal ended publication in London after an 88-year run.
White, Cynthia L. Women’s Magazines 1693-1968. Michael Joseph, 1970.
55
3 August 1832: In the wake of the first Reform Bill, Henry...
National or international item
3 August 1832
In the wake of the first Reform Bill, Henry Hunt
presented Parliament with a petition for female enfranchisement on behalf of Miss Mary Smith
of Stanmore, Yorkshire.
Rover, Constance. Women’s Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain, 1866-1914. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967.
3
January 1790: The Ladies Magazine printed a frontispiece...
Building and people item
January 1790
The Ladies Magazine printed a frontispiece with verbal explanation, about the female reader's access to learning and public life.
Guest, Harriet. Small Change: Women, Learning, Patriotism, 1750-1810. University of Chicago Press, 2000.
173
1864: John Shanks developed a mechanism for flush...
Building and people item
1864
John Shanks
developed a mechanism for flush toilets, which revolutionised domestic sanitation with the introduction of water-closets.
July-October 1859: Charles Reade's historical sensation novel...
Writer or writing item
July-October 1859
Charles Reade
's historical sensation novel The Cloister and the Hearth was serialised as A Good Fight in Once A Week.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
133, 523
1878: The first telephone company in the UK began...
National or international item
1878
The first telephone company in the UK began operations, at Chislehurst, Kent; it enabled private communication by phone between two points only.
Singer, Charles et al., editors. A History of Technology. Clarendon, 1958, 8 vols.
5: 226
Ashton, Rosemary. George Eliot: A Life. Hamish Hamilton, 1996.
359
Trotter, David. “The Person in the Phone Booth”. London Review of Books, Vol.
32
, No. 2, 28 Jan. 2010, pp. 20-2.
20
25 October 1971: The Communist People's Republic of China...
National or international item
25 October 1971
The CommunistPeople's Republic of China was belatedly allowed to join the United Nations
(Taiwan having been first expelled).
Anderson, Perry. “Our Man”. London Review of Books, 10 May 2007, pp. 9-12.
12
1825: Lord Braybrooke edited and published the...
Writer or writing item
1825
Lord Braybrooke
edited and published the first selection from Pepys
's diary, written between 1 January 1660 and 31 May 1669, deciphered by John Smith.
Pepys, Samuel. The Shorter Pepys. Editor Latham, Robert, Penguin, 1987.
xlvi
1 February 1886: William Gladstone (Liberal) formed the UK...
Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw. Handbook of British Chronology. Editors Greenway, D. E. et al., 3rd ed., Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1986.
115
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
491
1872: By this date, women comprised some 54% of...
Building and people item
1872
By this date, women comprised some 54% of all patients in mental institutions across England and Wales.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. Pantheon Books, 1985.
52
1970: The Education (Handicapped Children) Act...
Building and people item
1970
The Education (Handicapped Children) Act made Local Education Authorities
responsible for the education of all children: no child, no matter how severely handicapped, was to be classed as ineducable.
Rogers, Rick. Crowther to Warnock: How fourteen reports tried to change children’s lives. Heinemann Educational Books in association with the International Year of the Child, 1980.
256
1890: Of 16,000 prostitutes interviewed by Rev....
Building and people item
1890
Of 16,000 prostitutes interviewed by Rev. G. Merrick
, only 659 reported that seduction by gentlemen had led to their downfall.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
18, 260-1
Writer or writing
Author profile
Anita Desai
AD
, an Indian writer of partly European descent who has lived in both England and the USA (where she is now settled), focuses her psychologically-oriented novels on the predicaments of women, immigrants and displaced...
18 August 1882: The Electric Lighting Act set restrictions...
National or international item
18 August 1882
The Electric Lighting Act set restrictions on electricity companies: it limited the tenure of a plant to 21 years, restricted undertakings to a single municipal area, and fixed prices.
Hardyment, Christina. From Mangle to Microwave: The Mechanization of Household Work. Polity Press, 1988.
28
Ballin, Harold Hans. The Organisation of Electricity Supply in Great Britain. Electrical Press , 1946.
9
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.
January 1964-May 1968: Abortifacient paste (Utus paste) was used...
Building and people item
January 1964-May 1968
Abortifacient paste (Utus paste) was used in Surrey to induce abortions.
Hordern, Anthony. Legal Abortion: The English Experience. Pergamon, 1971.
96
15 October 1652: For the first time in the new world a book,...
Writer or writing item
15 October 1652
For the first time in the new world a book, William Pynchon
's The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, Justification, Etc., was condemned (by the General Court of Massachusetts
, forerunner of the state...
1850s: During this decade of rapid economic expansion,...
Building and people item
1850s
During this decade of rapid economic expansion, many successful female retailers sold their businesses to men.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
25-7
1823: John Mitford published A Description of the...
Building and people item
1823
John Mitford
published A Description of the Crimes and Horrors in the Interior of Warburton
's Private Mad-House at Hoxton, Commonly Called Whitmore House: in one of these the writer Mary Lamb
had been confined.
Woodbery, Bonnie. “The Silence of the Lambs: Anti-Maniacal Regimes in the Writings of Mary Lamb”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
5
, No. 3, 1998, pp. 289-04.
291
8 October 1755: The expulsion began of about 14,000 French...
National or international item
8 October 1755
The expulsion began of about 14,000 French settlers from Acadia, an area covering what is now part of the Canadian Maritime provinces and also some of New England.
4 October 1818: Frank Smedley, novelist, cousin and mentor...
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.
1948: The Kinsey Report on Sexual Behaviour in...
Building and people item
1948
The Kinsey Report on Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male was published, questioning the notion of sexual norms as naturally determined.
Tannahill, Reay. Sex in History. Stein and Day, 1980.
404
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
241, 242
Trager, James. The Women’s Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record, from Prehistory to the Present. Henry Holt, 1994.
533
1850: US poet Frances Osgood issued at Philadelphia...
Writer or writing item
1850
US poet Frances Osgood
issued at Philadelphia her final publication, Poems (a different collection from the one published at New York in 1846 under the same title).
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.
