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Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sunderland

While Dorothy, Countess of Sunderland , has been known historically as the Sacharissa of Edmund Waller 's poetry, she was also a respected and memorable letter writer. Most of her surviving letters date from her...

5 November 1686: Mother Frances Bedingfield (using, for safety,...

Building and people item

5 November 1686

Mother Frances Bedingfield (using, for safety, the alias Frances Long) signed the contract for the purchase of property on the site of the present Bar Convent in York, to use as a girls' school .
Gregory, M., and Isobel Grundy. Email about Mother Mary Davies to Isobel Grundy. 19 Apr. 2002.
Lerner, Gerda. The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy. Oxford University Press, 1993.
199

April 1955: The announcement was publicly made of the...

Building and people item

April 1955

The announcement was publicly made of the discovery by Jonas Salk of Canada of a vaccine for polio: the first effective protection against the infectious disease of poliomyelitis, which could cripple for life.
Dolan, Josephine A. History of Nursing. 12th ed., Saunders, 1968.
298
Radford, Tim. “Nobel scientist warns of human hazard from bird flu”. Guardian Weekly, 22–28 Apr. 2005, p. 13.
13

Henrietta Camilla Jenkin

HCJ was the author of eleven novels published over three and a half decades of the mid nineteenth century. They draw on her wide European and—perhaps most powerfully in her unflinching depiction of slavery—her Jamaican...

1834: The Pantheon in London was converted into...

Building and people item

1834

The Pantheon in London was converted into a Bazaar specializing in fancy goods such as children's clothing, books, and accessories.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
22

September 2006: J. T. LeRoy, the author of earthy and outspoken...

Writer or writing item

September 2006

J. T. LeRoy , the author of earthy and outspoken bestselling novels such as The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things and Sarah, who had been assumed to be male, was revealed to be...

1819: Prince Pomare of Tahiti built a massive Christian...

National or international item

1819

Prince Pomare of Tahiti built a massive Christian church with the help of members of the London Missionary Society ; he was baptised there in front of 4,000 citizens, and Christianity spread throughout the island.
Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. 2nd ed., Penguin, 1990.
252

1899: Two-thirds of 12,000 British men examined...

Building and people item

1899

Two-thirds of 12,000 British men examined for military service were rejected for failing to meet requirements for height (5 feet 3 inches), weight (115 pounds, or over eight stone), or chest measurement.
Lively, Penelope. A House Unlocked. Penguin, 2002.
203-4

6 November 1841: Charles MacKay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions...

Building and people item

6 November 1841

Charles MacKay 's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds described a mesmeric session in terms highly suggestive of the sexual stimulation of the predominantly female devotees. It was published in three volumes; the...

24 March 1670: The divorce of Lord Ros or Roos, on grounds...

Building and people item

24 March 1670

The divorce of Lord Ros or Roos, on grounds of his wife's adultery, passed the House of Lords : the first such occasion since Henry VIII , said John Evelyn .
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
538
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Clarendon Press, 1955, 6 vols.
3: 545-6 and n1
Stone, Lawrence. Road to Divorce: England 1530-1987. Oxford University Press, 1990.
309

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.

November 2014: Emma Watson, the young performer who played...

Building and people item

November 2014

Emma Watson , the young performer who played Hermione Grainger in the films of J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter books, made a speech on gender equality, by invitation, to the United Nations assembly in New York.
Kamen, Paula. “Unfun Feminism”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
33
, No. 5, Sept.–Oct. 2016, pp. 3-5.
4

From March 1871: The Vigilance Association for the Defence...

Building and people item

From March 1871

The Vigilance Association for the Defence of Personal Rights, especially in relation to Women , founded this month, advocated equality of legal treatment for citizens regardless of sex or class.
Petrow, Stefan. Policing Morals: The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office 1870-1914. Clarendon Press, 1994, p. 343.
22-3, 122, 125
Prochaska, F. K. Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century England. Clarendon, 1980.
214

10 December 1824: Novelist George MacDonald was born at Upper...

Writer or writing item

10 December 1824

Novelist George MacDonald was born at Upper Pirriesmill, Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
163

12 July 1690: William III heavily defeated James II at...

National or international item

12 July 1690

William III heavily defeated James II at the battle of the Boyne in Ireland, in which 62,000 men fought.
Defoe, Daniel. Selected Poetry and Prose of Daniel Defoe. Editor Shugrue, Michael F., Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
324
Kelly, Matthew. “With Bit and Bridle”. London Review of Books, Vol.
32
, No. 15, 5 Aug. 2010, pp. 12-13.
22

7 October 1920: At the beginning of Oxford University's academic...

Building and people item

7 October 1920

At the beginning of Oxford University 's academic year, the women's statute came into effect: women were finally eligible to become Senior Members of the University.
Brittain, Vera. The Women at Oxford. George G. Harrap, 1960.
152
Winter, J. M. “Oxford and the First World War”. The History of the University of Oxford Vol. VIII: The Twentieth Century, edited by Brian Harrison, Clarendon, 1994, pp. 3-26.
14
Reeves, Marjorie. St. Anne’s College, Oxford. St Anne’s College, 1979.
10 and n4

15 June 1953: BBC television made its first broadcast from...

Building and people item

15 June 1953

BBC television made its first broadcast from a ship at sea, during a Royal Naval Review.
BBC Handbook: 1960. BBC, 1960, http://U of A HSS HE 8690 B86.
240

April 1971-April 1972: Ink newspaper briefly flourished in London...

Writer or writing item

April 1971-April 1972

Ink newspaper briefly flourished in London as an offshoot of Oz, intended by its male editors as a link between national papers and the 1960s underground press.
Callil, Carmen. “The stories of our lives”. Guardian Unlimited, 26 Apr. 2008.

Summer 2005: An installation by Giancarlo Neri entitled...

Writer or writing item

Summer 2005

An installation by Giancarlo Neri entitled The Writer was erected on Hampstead Heath. It takes the form of a gigantic, empty table and chair, which the sculptor calls a monument to the loneliness of...

September 1894: The first British viewcards (picture-postcards)...

Building and people item

September 1894

The first British viewcards (picture-postcards) were issued by the London branch of George Stewart and Company of Edinburgh.
Staff, Frank. The Picture Postcard and Its Origins. F. A. Praeger, 1966.
88
“Raphael Tuck & Sons”. Emotions Greetings Card Museum.

1 December 1969: The Calthorpe Nursing Home opened in Birmingham...

Building and people item

1 December 1969

The Calthorpe Nursing Home opened in Birmingham as Britain's only clinic dealing solely with abortions.
Hindell, Keith, and Madeleine Simms. Abortion Law Reformed. Peter Owen, 1971.
217
Hordern, Anthony. Legal Abortion: The English Experience. Pergamon, 1971.
181

12 March-1 October 1713: Richard Steele published a periodical entitled...

Writer or writing item

12 March-1 October 1713

Richard Steele published a periodical entitled the Guardian.
Steele, Sir Richard et al., editors. The Guardian. University Press of Kentucky, 1982.
41, 569

April 1761-May 1762: Andrew Kippis edited, and Ralph Griffiths...

Writer or writing item

April 1761-May 1762

Andrew Kippis edited, and Ralph Griffiths published, a periodical called the Library; or, Moral and Critical Magazine.
Forster, Antonia. Email about Mary Jones to Isobel Grundy. 25 Apr. 2005.

1867: The Belfast Ladies' Institute was founded...

Building and people item

1867

The Belfast Ladies' Institute was founded in support of women's higher education by six women from prominent local families.
Breathnach, Eibhlín. “Charting New Waters: Women’s Experience in Higher Education, 1879-1908”. Girls Don’t Do Honours: Irish Women in Education in the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Mary Cullen, Women’s Education Bureau, 1987, pp. 55-78.
55
Jordan, Alison. “‘Opening the Gates of Learning’: The Belfast Ladies’ Institute, 1867-97”. Coming into the Light: The Work, Politics and Religion of Women in Ulster, 1840-1940, edited by Janice Holmes and Diane Urquhart, The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast, 1994, pp. 33-57.
34, 53
O’Connor, Anne V. “The Revolution in Girls’ Secondary Education in Ireland, 1860-1910”. Girls Don’t Do Honours: Irish Women in Education in the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Mary Cullen, Women’s Education Bureau, 1987, pp. 31-54.
32

1964: At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Mary Rand,...

Building and people item

1964

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Mary Rand , a long jumper, became the first woman gold medal winner from Britain.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.