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15 August 1838: The Irish Tithe Commutation Act was passed;...

National or international item

15 August 1838

The Irish Tithe Commutation Act was passed; a dubious victory at best for the peasantry.
MacDonagh, Oliver. Ireland: the Union and its Aftermath. George Allen and Unwin, 1977.
22
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

1839-1900: The infant mortality rate in England and...

National or international item

1839-1900

The infant mortality rate in England and Wales averaged 151 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Smith, Francis Barrymore. The People’s Health, 1830-1910. Croom Helm, 1979.
65-6

B. M. Croker

BMC was a sharp-eyed observer of people and places. Her nearly fifty novels (published between 1881 and 1917), and her stories in periodicals and collections, are often set either in her native Ireland or in...
B. M. Croker Black-and-white photograph portrait of B. M. Croker, wearing a blouse or dress with puff sleeves and a star brooch.

29 April 1892: George Gissing published his novel Born in...

Writer or writing item

29 April 1892

George Gissing published his novel Born in Exile.
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.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

9 December 1909: The Lord Chief Justice ruled in favour of...

National or international item

9 December 1909

The Lord Chief Justice ruled in favour of forcible feeding of suffragists, arguing that it was the duty of the prison medical officer to prevent prisoners from committing suicide.
Tickner, Lisa. The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign, 1907-1914. University of Chicago Press, 1988.
105

April 1918: The Women's Royal Air Force was established,...

National or international item

April 1918

The Women's Royal Air Force was established, with Violet Douglas-Pennant serving as its First Commandant, taking over from Gertrude Crawford 's tenure of less than a year.
Pugh, Martin. Women and the Women’s Movement in Britain 1914 - 1959. Macmillan Education, 1992.
31
Marwick, Arthur. Women at War, 1914-1918. Croom Helm, 1977.
94
Spartacus Educational. 28 Feb. 2003, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.
under Violet Douglas-Pennant

22 November 1641: Late at night John Pym's demand, the Grand...

National or international item

22 November 1641

Late at night John Pym 's demand, the Grand Remonstrance, passed through Parliament .
Purkiss, Diane. The English Civil War, A People’s History. Harper Perennial, 2007.
118-19

1813: The monthly Female Preceptor, essays on the...

Writer or writing item

1813

The monthly Female Preceptor, essays on the duties of the female sex, conducted by a lady and dedicated to Hannah More , began publication.
Beetham, Margaret. A Magazine of Her Own?: Domesticity and Desire in the Woman’s Magazine, 1800-1914. Routledge, 1996.
216
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.

12 November 1908: The Times published a letter by the National...

Building and people item

12 November 1908

The Times published a letter by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies stating their disapproval of suffragette militancy; the letter had been sent to all Members of Parliament as well as the press.
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
52-3

July 1981: Race violence erupted in several British...

Building and people item

July 1981

Race violence erupted in several British cities: at Toxteth in Liverpool, in Manchester, and at Southall in London.
“Race riots”. The Independent on Sunday, 1 July 2001, p. 9.
9

1019: Knut or Canute united the kingdoms of England...

National or international item

1019

Knut or Canute united the kingdoms of England (whose army had chosen him ruler) and the Danelaw (that part of northern England which had been under Danish rule).
Morgan, Kenneth O., editor. The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. Oxford University Press, 1984.
93

Margaret Haig, Viscountess Rhondda

MHVR , is remembered for her leading role in the struggle for suffrage and equality, as a founder of the Six Point Group , and the woman who made possible the very influential Time and...
Margaret Haig, Viscountess Rhondda Black and white, head-and-shoulders photo of Margaret Haig, Viscountess Rhondda. She is wearing a white open-neck shirt, dark jacket, fur-trimmed coat, and a large wide-brimmed hat.

Ellis Cornelia Knight

ECK , whose life was lived close to some makers of history during the French Revolutionary period and later, indulged her scholarly or literary bent in unusual or pioneering genres: a sequel to Samuel Johnson
Ellis Cornelia Knight Photograph of the painting of Ellis Cornelia Knight bywearing Angellica Kauffman. Knight is seated at a desk or table bearing books, papers, and a quill pen in inkstand. She has her left elbow propped up on the desk and another pen in her right hand. She is a simple white dress and blue shawl, with a black belt at her high waist fastened with a cameo. Her dark, curly hair, held by a headband, falls below her shoulders. Her expression is meditative. Manchester Art Gallery.

6 May 1955: The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications)...

Writer or writing item

6 May 1955

The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1955, was passed; it dealt with the proliferation of horror comics depicting scenes of violence, crime, and cruelty.
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
121
Law Reports: Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866–2026.
1955: 491

2 May 1982: During the Falklands war, the Argentinian...

National or international item

2 May 1982

During the Falklands war, the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by British cruiser missiles just outside Britain's exclusion zone in the Falklands.
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
(3 May 1982): 1

28 August 1858: Dr Alexander Wood published a paper in the...

Building and people item

28 August 1858

Dr Alexander Wood published a paper in the British Medical Journal on a new medical therapy involving morphine injections through a hypodermic syringe.
Parssinen, Terry M. Secret Passions, Secret Remedies: Narcotic Drugs in British Society 1820-1930. Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1983.
80-1

September 1965: Lucy Cavendish College was legally established...

Building and people item

September 1965

Lucy Cavendish College was legally established as a college for women graduate students and teachers at Cambridge University.
The World of Learning. 45th ed., Allen and Unwin, 1995.
1593
Whitaker’s Almanack. 119th ed., J. Whitaker, 1987.
505
Little, Bryan. The Colleges of Cambridge, 1286-1973. Adams and Dart, 1973.
160-1

1500: British female literacy rates at this time...

Writer or writing item

1500

British female literacy rates at this time have been estimated as 1%, against a male rate of 10%.
Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997.
167

17 March 1968: In London's biggest anti-Vietnam-War demonstration...

National or international item

17 March 1968

In London's biggest anti-Vietnam-War demonstration so far, about 10,000 people demonstrated peacefully in Trafalgar Square before marching to Grosvenor Square, where violence broke out.
“1968: Anti-Vietnam demo turns violent”. BBC News: On This Day, 17 Mar. 1968.

Anne Wharton

AW was a late-seventeenth-century poet who also wrote verse drama. Her recent editors identified with some certainty twenty-four of her poems; their hope, realised within a few years of their edition, was that this tiny...
Anne Wharton Reproduction of a black-and-white image of Anne Wharton from A catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, 1806. Her hair is long with short pieces in the front that are curled, and she is wearing a voluminous dress.

10 September 1898: Empress Elizabeth of Austria was assassinated...

National or international item

10 September 1898

Empress Elizabeth of Austria was assassinated in Geneva, Switzerland, by Luigi Luccheni , an Italian anarchist.
“Elizabeth, empress of Austria and queen of Hungary”. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online: The Columbia Encyclopedia.

Early August 1591: Sir John Harington's translation of Ariosto's...

Writer or writing item

Early August 1591

Sir John Harington 's translation of Ariosto 's heroic romance Orlando Furioso (which means something like Roland Run Mad) was published.
Sidney, Sir Philip. “Critical Materials”. The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, edited by William A., Jr Ringler, Clarendon Press, 1962, p. various pages.
563
Munby, Alan Noel Latimer. “Jane Austen’s Ariosto”. The Private Library, Vol.
4
, No. 3, July 1962, p. 46.
46

15 March 1773: Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer...

Writer or writing item

15 March 1773

Oliver Goldsmith 's She Stoops to Conquer (second of his two comedies) had its first performance.
Goldsmith, Oliver. Collected Works. Editor Friedman, Arthur, Clarendon, 1966, 5 vols.
5: 89

By April 1774: A Father's Legacy to His Daughters, by Dr...

Building and people item

By April 1774

A Father's Legacy to His Daughters, by Dr John Gregory , was posthumously published.
Hunt, Margaret R. The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and the Family in England, 1680-1780. University of California Press, 1996.
75
Burney, Frances. The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame D’Arblay). Editors Hemlow, Joyce and Althea Douglas, Clarendon Press, 1972–1984, 12 vols.
1: 36n92
O’Brien, Karen. Women and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
101

14 June 1910: The Conciliation Bill, which would extend...

National or international item

14 June 1910

The Conciliation Bill, which would extend the vote to women based on the municipal qualification (granted in the Representation of the People Act, 1884) and which would thus enfranchise one million women, passed its...