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21 August 1911: Leonardo da Vinci's painting La Gioconda...

Building and people item

21 August 1911

Leonardo da Vinci 's painting La Gioconda or the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris; it was recovered two years later when the Italian thief tried to return it to the...

24 October 1860: The Treaty of Peking put an end to the war...

National or international item

24 October 1860

The Treaty of Peking put an end to the war between Britain and China which had begun on 8 October 1856; it also settled the border between Russia and China.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
341
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
281
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 782-3
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History 1714-1987. 2nd ed., Longman, 1988.
233

1678: Roger L'Estrange published the first English...

Writer or writing item

1678

Roger L'Estrange published the first English translation (out of ten before 1740) of G. J. Guilleragues ' Portuguese Letters (often called Letters of a Portuguese Nun), which in French dated from 1669.
Spencer, Jane. The Rise of the Woman Novelist. Blackwell, 1986.
23 and n60

By late October 1975: The short-story volume Angels at the Ritz,...

Writer or writing item

By late October 1975

The short-story volume Angels at the Ritz, by expatriate Irish writer William Trevor (born Trevor Cox in 1928), was hailed by Graham Greene as probably the best collection of stories since Joyce 's Dubliners...

By June 1893: Sir Charles Hallé founded the Royal Manchester...

Building and people item

By June 1893

Sir Charles Hallé founded the Royal Manchester College of Music.
Ford, Boris, editor. The Cambridge Guide to the Arts in Britain. Vol. 9 vols, Cambridge University Press, 1988–2026.
7: 290; 8: 119

14 October 1799: Napoleon reached Paris, where he intended...

National or international item

14 October 1799

Napoleon reached Paris, where he intended to seize power.
Kafker, Frank A., and James M. Laux, editors. The French Revolution: Conflicting Interpretations. 4th ed., R. E. Krieger, 1989.
xv

October 1870: Elizabeth Garrett was asked to stand for...

National or international item

October 1870

Elizabeth Garrett was asked to stand for the London School Board elections in the local area of Marylebone.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
128-9

26 June 1909: Edward VII opened the Victoria and Albert...

Building and people item

26 June 1909

Edward VII opened the Victoria and Albert Museum , South Kensington, London.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
342

May 1919: The Committee on Recruitment in the Civil...

Building and people item

May 1919

The Committee on Recruitment in the Civil Service , chaired by Lord Gladstone , concluded that women are apt to fall behind as the work became more responsible or complex . . . Women do...

Eleanor Tatlock

ET is an earnestly religious poet of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, with some humour and some feminist consciousness. She writes narrative poems, hymns, odes, and fables.

1753: The History of the Female Shipwright purported...

Building and people item

1753

The History of the Female Shipwright purported to be the autobiography of Mary Lacy , the facts of whose life are borne out by Admiralty records.
Burmester, James et al. English Books. James Burmester Rare Books, 1985–2026, Numbered catalogues.
63: 20

End of 2004: In Britain spending by means of plastic credit...

National or international item

End of 2004

In Britain spending by means of plastic credit or debit cards first overtook cash spending.
Boggan, Steven. “Paper Chase”. The Guardian, 24 June 2006, pp. Weekend 21 - 6.
Weekend 26

: When parliament (which Charles I had prorogued...

National or international item

Autumn 1629

When parliament (which Charles I had prorogued on 26 June) re-assembled, he dissolved it for what he intended to be the last time, having decided to rule without it.
Morrill, John. “The Stuarts (1603-1688)”. Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, edited by Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 286-51.
310

1928: The first prose work by poet Siegfried Sassoon,...

Writer or writing item

1928

The first prose work by poet Siegfried Sassoon , his early autobiography Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, became the first best-seller published by Faber and Faber (which adopted this name the following year).
Mount, Ferdinand. “Trouble down there: Tea With Sassoon”. London Review of Books, 7 Aug. 2003, pp. 11-13.
1
Mullan, John. “Style council”. The Guardian, 25 Sept. 2004, pp. Review 34 - 5.
Review 34

28 August 1907: The Qualification of Women (County and Borough...

National or international item

28 August 1907

The Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act and Qualification of Women (County and Town Councils) (Scotland) Act allowed women ratepayers to serve as councillors or aldermen on county or borough councils...

Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy

MCA , novelist or historical romance-writer, travel-writer, author of fairy tales and scandal fictions, was highly influential in each of these roles in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, as well as...
Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy Head-and-shoulders engraving of Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy after a painting by Elisabeth Cheron. She wears a plain V-neck bodice with no jewellery except a metal bandolier; her hair is brushed back and frizzed. The oval portrait stands on a plinth inscribed: "Marie Catherine le Jumel de Berneville Comtesse d’Aulnoi" with the date of her death.

October 1914: The first Voluntary Aid Detachment (under...

Building and people item

October 1914

The first Voluntary Aid Detachment (under Katharine Furse ) was sent to France, that is to the front, to feed and care for the wounded.
McLaren, Barbara. Women of the War. Hodder and Stoughton, 1917.
106
Marwick, Arthur. Women at War, 1914-1918. Croom Helm, 1977.
21, 84
Ouditt, Sharon. Fighting Forces, Writing Women: Identity and Ideology in the First World War. Routledge, 1994.
13
Summers, Anne. Angels and Citizens: British Women as Military Nurses 1854-1914. Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1988.
286

11 October 1948: The first outside BBC television broadcast...

National or international item

11 October 1948

The first outside BBC television broadcast was made: from Number 10 Downing Street for the Commonwealth Conference .
BBC Handbook: 1960. BBC, 1960, http://U of A HSS HE 8690 B86.
239

January 1982: Scarlet Women ended publication....

Building and people item

January 1982

Scarlet Women ended publication.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
131

April 1798: With debating clubs under threat from British...

Building and people item

April 1798

With debating clubs under threat from British government repression, and the brief era of women's debating clubs over, one club debated the topic of women's writing versus women's domesticity.
Escott, Angela. “The School of Eloquence and ’Roasted Square Caps’: oratory and pedantry as fair theatrical game?”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
8
, No. 1, 2001, pp. 59-79.
65

1818: A surgeon pressed his ear against a woman's...

Building and people item

1818

A surgeon pressed his ear against a woman's corset and first heard a foetal heartbeat; the medical establishment soon began to monitor embryonic development.
Trager, James. The Women’s Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record, from Prehistory to the Present. Henry Holt, 1994.
221

1976: Anne Warburton, appointed British Ambassador...

Building and people item

1976

Anne Warburton , appointed British Ambassador to Denmark, became the first Englishwoman actually to take up an ambassadorship.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1836: American T. Daddy Rice introduced the black...

Building and people item

1836

American T. Daddy Rice introduced the black minstrelsy song Jim Crow to the London stage.
Bratton, Jacqueline S., editor. Music Hall: Performance and Style. Open University Press, 1986.
73-4

1 May 1749: Elizabeth Chudleigh created a sensation by...

Building and people item

1 May 1749

Elizabeth Chudleigh created a sensation by appearing at a masquerade in the character of Iphigenia, in a dress so transparent that she was as good as naked.
Rizzo, Betty. Companions Without Vows: Relationships Among Eighteenth-Century British Women. University of Georgia Press, 1994.
67

By September 1807: Byron published his second verse collection,...

Writer or writing item

By September 1807

Byron published his second verse collection, Hours of Idleness, a year after the first was suppressed.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
3rd ser. 12 (1808): 47-53
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.