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1874: St Mary's Hospital, London, chemically produced...

Building and people item

1874

St Mary's Hospital , London, chemically produced the drug heroin from morphine; it was later patented in the 1890s by the pharmaceutical company Bayer .
Berridge, Virginia, and Griffith Edwards. Opium and the People: Opiate Use in Nineteenth-Century England. St Martin’s Press, 1981.
xix
Duin, Nancy, and Jenny Sutcliffe. A History of Medicine: From Prehistory to the Year 2020. Simon and Schuster, 1992.
51

20 August 1853: The Customs Consolidation Act prohibited...

National or international item

20 August 1853

The Customs Consolidation Act prohibited importing obscene books and pictures into Britain.
Thomas, Donald. A Long Time Burning: The History of Literary Censorship in England. Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.
286
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

2 July 1954: Britain ended meat rationing (the last phase...

National or international item

2 July 1954

Britain ended meat rationing (the last phase of the food rationing which dated from World War Two).
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
407

1906: Avery Hill, a teachers' training college...

Building and people item

1906

Avery Hill , a teachers' training college founded by the London County Council , opened in London.
Edwards, Elizabeth. “The Culture of Femininity in Women’s Teacher Training Colleges 1914-1945”. This Working-Day World: Women’s Lives and Culture(s) in Britain, 1914-1945, edited by Sybil Oldfield, Taylor and Francis, 1994, pp. 54-67.
54

December 1898: Ada S. Ballin edited the first issue of Womanhood,...

Building and people item

December 1898

Ada S. Ballin edited the first issue of Womanhood, a monthly improving magazine.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
21
Tye, J. R. Periodicals of the Nineties: A Checklist of Literary Periodicals Published in the British Isles at Longer than Fortnightly Intervals 1890-1899. Oxford Bibliographical Society, 1974.
17

Hannah Lynch

HL was a journalist, novelist, and translator from the 1880s until her death in 1904. She became notorious for her anonymous, fictionalized, early memoir Autobiography of a Child. As an Irish nationalist living in...

1861: Testifying before a Select Committee on Poor...

Building and people item

1861

Testifying before a Select Committee on Poor Relief, Louisa Twining noted of poor females that service . . . is the only occupation they can follow in life.
Prochaska, F. K. Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century England. Clarendon, 1980.
154

1849: The first bombing raid from the air occurred...

National or international item

1849

The first bombing raid from the air occurred when a pilotless Montgolfier balloon was used to drop bombs on Venice.
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.
319

June 1923: Contact, an American Quarterly Review ceased...

Writer or writing item

June 1923

Contact, an American Quarterly Review ceased publication in New York.
Hanscombe, Gillian, and Virginia L. Smyers. Writing for Their Lives: The Modernist Women, 1910-1940. Women’s Press, 1987.
276

1826: Charles Tilt established himself as a publisher...

Writer or writing item

1826

Charles Tilt established himself as a publisher and bookseller at 86 Fleet Street, London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 296

8 February 1913: A newspaper reported the public-speaking...

Building and people item

8 February 1913

A newspaper reported the public-speaking debut of Helen Keller , who became blind and deaf as a baby, lived to the age of seven before she acquired language, and published a best-selling autobiography in 1903.
Hacking, Ian. “Gabble, Twitter and Hoot”. London Review of Books, 1 July 1999, pp. 15-16.
16

6 July 1885: The first instalment of W. T. Stead's Maiden...

Writer or writing item

6 July 1885

The first instalment of W. T. Stead 's Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette, exposing the alleged sale of young girls in prostitution.
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.
131
Walkowitz, Judith R. City of Dreadful Delight. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
81-3, 101

10 December 1884: The Representation of the People Act, sometimes...

National or international item

10 December 1884

The Representation of the People Act, sometimes called the Third Reform Act, extended the male-only franchise.
Craig, Fred W. S. British Electoral Facts 1832-1987. 5th ed., Parliamentary Research Services, 1989.
179
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714-1980. Longman, 1983.
61
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
309

1945: Divorce rose dramatically above 1938 levels:...

Building and people item

1945

Divorce rose dramatically above 1938 levels: 25,000 divorce petitions were filed compared to 10,000 in 1938.
Minns, Raynes. Bombers and Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45. Virago, 1980.
chronology, 199
Rowntree, Griselda, and Norman H. Carrier. “The Resort to Divorce in England and Wales, 1858-1957”. Population Studies, Vol.
11
, No. 3, Mar. 1958, pp. 188-33.
201-2

15 June 1703: Playwright and architect John Vanbrugh bought...

Building and people item

15 June 1703

Playwright and architect John Vanbrugh bought land for a new theatre in the Haymarket, London. The theatre eventually opened as the Queen's Theatre during the 1704-5 season.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
2: 25

22 May 1923: Stanley Baldwin (Conservative) became Prime...

National or international item

22 May 1923

Stanley Baldwin (Conservative ) became Prime Minister following Bonar Law 's resignation on grounds of ill health.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
363-4
Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw. Handbook of British Chronology. Editors Greenway, D. E. et al., 3rd ed., Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1986.
115

Dora Greenwell

A mid-Victorian writer of great versatility, DG published four books of religious discourse, nine collections of poetry, two volumes of essays, and two biographies. She occasionally contributed to periodicals, both her own prose as well...

2 February 1651: The second of Izaak Walton's biographies...

Writer or writing item

2 February 1651

The second of Izaak Walton 's biographies appeared, that of Sir Henry Wotton , as preface to a volume entitled Reliquiae Wottonianae.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

Summer 1774: Mother Ann Lee and her followers emigrated...

Building and people item

Summer 1774

Mother Ann Lee and her followers emigrated from England to the USA.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.

Phebe Gibbes

PG was an eighteenth-century novelist (of great gifts but extreme obscurity), who also wrote (from financial need) drama and periodical essays, and projected a sociological study of the lower classes. Her canon is, like most...

1650: The Polish astronomer Maria Cunitz, sometimes...

Building and people item

1650

The Polish astronomer Maria Cunitz , sometimes called the second Hypatia, published her Urania Propitia, which builds on the work of Johannes Kepler .
Mulvihill, Margaret E. “Old Books / New Editions. Part III of III. New Work on Margaret Cavendish’s ‘The Blazing World’ (1666; 2016)”. Rare Book Hub, Dec. 2016.

November 1868: The Lancet published formal recommendations...

Building and people item

November 1868

The Lancet published formal recommendations for improving the instruction of obstetrics.
Moscucci, Ornella. The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
68

1826: Everywoman's Book or What is Love?, by Richard...

Building and people item

1826

Everywoman's Book or What is Love?, by Richard Carlile , was first published as an 18-penny pamphlet.
Fryer, Peter. The Birth Controllers. Secker and Warburg, 1965.
76-7
Jalland, Patricia, and John Hooper. Women from Birth to Death: The Female Life Cycle in Britain 1830-1914. Harvester, 1986.
32

January 1663: Despite the Act of Uniformity, Charles II...

National or international item

January 1663

Despite the Act of Uniformity, Charles II ordered the release of many Dissenters (Quakers and others) from prison.
Bryant, Arthur. King Charles II. Longmans, Green, 1931.
155

23 October 1731: A fire at Ashburnham House in London destroyed...

Writer or writing item

23 October 1731

A fire at Ashburnham House in London destroyed the Cottonian Library: a collection of rare books and manuscripts amassed by Sir Robert Cotton , many of them in Old English.
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
1 (1731): 451