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20 March 1869-20 June 1870: Jules Verne serially published in French...

Writer or writing item

20 March 1869-20 June 1870

Jules Verne serially published in French his science-fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Gallagher, Edward Joseph et al. Jules Verne: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography. G. K. Hall, 1980.
8

17 February 1959: Australian soprano Joan Sutherland sang Lucia...

Building and people item

17 February 1959

Australian soprano Joan Sutherland sang Lucia in the Franco Zeffirelli version of the opera Lucia di Lammermoor at Covent Garden.
Drogheda, Charles Garrett Ponsonby Moore, Earl of et al. The Covent Garden Album: 250 Years of Theatre, Opera, and Ballet. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981.
149

November 1914: The Crayford Agreement allowed women workers...

National or international item

November 1914

The Crayford Agreement allowed women workers on repetition work only.
Braybon, Gail, and Penny Summerfield. Out of the Cage: Women’s Experiences in Two World Wars. Pandora, 1987.
35

1991: The initiative Opportunity 2000 began. Its...

Building and people item

1991

The initiative Opportunity 2000 began. Its purpose was to promote the role and number of women in a variety of public activities.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

December 1905: A young British officer, Hugh Trenchard,...

National or international item

December 1905

A young British officer, Hugh Trenchard , ordered the massacre of inhabitants of the village of Ahiara in southern Nigeria in retaliation for the killing of another officer.
Gott, Richard. “Shoot them to be sure”. London Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2002, pp. 26-9.
28

1931: The Courtauld Institute of Art, the first...

Building and people item

1931

The Courtauld Institute of Art , the first institute for the study of art history, was established at the University of London through an endowment by Samuel Courtauld .
Windsor, Alan, editor. Handbook of Modern British Painting 1900-1980. Scolar Press, 1992.
69

1864: The Reform League, an organization pressing...

National or international item

1864

The Reform League , an organization pressing for the extension of the vote to working class men, and for the secret ballot, was founded in London.
Wright, D. G. Democracy and Reform: 1815-1885. Longmans, 1970.
65-6
Sheppard, Francis Henry Wollaston. London, 1808-1870: The Infernal Wen. Secker and Warburg, 1971.
339
Moore, David Cresap. The Politics of Deference: A Study of the Mid-Nineteenth Century English Political System. Harvester Press, 1976.
370
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
660

September 1726-Spring 1727: Madam Violante ran her first season of pantomime,...

Building and people item

September 1726-Spring 1727

Madam Violante ran her first season of pantomime, dancing, and acrobatics at the Haymarket Theatre .
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
2: 879

April-August 1870: The Siege of Devonport was undertaken by...

National or international item

April-August 1870

The Siege of Devonport was undertaken by national leaders and members of the movement to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
151-70

27 April 1831: Fantee independence was recognized under...

National or international item

27 April 1831

Fantee independence was recognized under the treaty of peace and commerce between the Ashanti and the British.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 604

14 June 1645: Cromwell's New Model Army scored its first...

National or international item

14 June 1645

Cromwell 's New Model Army scored its first signal victory, at the battle of Naseby in Northamptonshire. This defeat for Charles I was a step towards his surrender in May 1646 and the end...

1979: A prison at Dungavel in Scotland appointed...

Building and people item

1979

A prison at Dungavel in Scotland appointed Agnes Curran as its governor, making her the first British woman to hold such a post.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

: Martin Eve founded Merlin Publishing in ...

Writer or writing item

Summer 1956

Martin Eve founded Merlin Publishing in London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 112. Gale Research, 1991.
208

4 October 1535: Miles Coverdale published at Antwerp the...

National or international item

4 October 1535

Miles Coverdale published at Antwerp the first translation of the complete Bible into English, done by himself and William Tyndale .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
ODNB under Coverdale

10 May 1652: John Evelyn the diarist, who happened to...

Building and people item

10 May 1652

John Evelyn the diarist, who happened to be passing by, saw a woman burned to death at Smithfield, London, for murdering her husband.
Brett, Simon, b. 1945, editor. The Faber Book of Diaries. Faber, 1987.
165
Murder of a husband by a wife was petty treason, for...

1642: Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici (A Physician's...

Writer or writing item

1642

Sir Thomas Browne 's Religio Medici (A Physician's Faith) was most imperfectly and surreptitiously printed (in the words of the title-page of next year's authorised edition).
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

May 1862: Mrs Daniel Jones demonstrated at the 1862...

Writer or writing item

May 1862

Mrs Daniel Jones demonstrated at the 1862 Exhibition a miniature Albion Press and a prayer which she had printed in forty-six languages.
Cave, Roderick. The Private Press. Faber and Faber, 1971.
122-4

Edith Templeton

The fiction of ET , novelist, short-story writer, and travel writer, acquired a high reputation for its force and distinctive style and tone, and notoriety for a degree of sexual explicitness rare in serious women...
Edith Templeton Black-and-white photo of Edith Templeton and V S Pritchett smoking cigarettes as they chat at a party celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Book Society, Knightsbridge, London, 1946.

1942: Following a police raid on the Plymouth premises...

Writer or writing item

1942

Following a police raid on the Plymouth premises of Economy Educator Services Ltd , a destruction order for ten book titles was issued under the Act of 1857.
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
106
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
105-7

1861: Alexander II of Russia issued the Edict of...

National or international item

1861

Alexander II of Russia issued the Edict of Emancipation, granting freedom and property to some twenty million Russian serfs.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
214
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
214

Mary Elizabeth Braddon

MEB made her name, scandalously, in the early 1860s as a founder of the intricately plotted sensation novel, and was particularly known for her transgressive heroines. Although still most strongly associated with this and the...
Mary Elizabeth Braddon Painting of Mary Elizabeth Braddon by William Powell Frith, exhibited 1865. She stands beside a desk with writing materials and stacks of books, looking at the viewer, in a long dark dress. The wall behind her and the desk chair are red. Her red-brown hair is coiled over her ears, and her clasped hands hold a handkerchief. National Portrait Gallery.

1973: The inaugural Businesswoman of the Year award...

Building and people item

1973

The inaugural Businesswoman of the Year award was bestowed upon Stella Brummel , managing director of the machinery company Benford Ltd .
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

John Oliver Hobbes

Writing for a brief period at the turn of the twentieth century, the pseudonymous JOH (whose actual married name was Pearl Craigie ) was the author of over a dozen novellas, novels, and several plays...
John Oliver Hobbes Sepia toned photograph of John Oliver Hobbes, shown from the shoulders up. Her dark wavy hair is pulled back, and she wears small, white, circular stud earrings.

By about 1800: In a ballad entitled The London Heiress,...

Building and people item

By about 1800

In a ballad entitled The London Heiress, about a cross-dressed woman in battle, an earlier version was rewritten to play down the sexual element.
Dugaw, Dianne. Warrior Women and Popular Balladry 1650-1850. Cambridge University Press, 1989.
54-64

1984: Valerie Gillies published her second collection...

Women writers item

1984

Valerie Gillies published her second collection of poetry Bed of Stone, whose title came from the greatest greyhound ever.
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.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.