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1 April 1891: Public telephone links were established between...

Building and people item

1 April 1891

Public telephone links were established between London and Paris.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
319
Trotter, David. “The Person in the Phone Booth”. London Review of Books, Vol.
32
, No. 2, 28 Jan. 2010, pp. 20-2.
20

April 1885: Joseph Chamberlain proposed the extension...

National or international item

April 1885

Joseph Chamberlain proposed the extension of local government purview and power in Ireland; this was rejected by the Irish, who had become set on achieving Home Rule based on an Irish parliament.
Morton, Grenfell. Home Rule and the Irish Question. Longman, 1980.
29

1536: In an early example of legislation on poverty,...

Building and people item

1536

In an early example of legislation on poverty, an Act directed town officials to employ the able-bodied poor, while collecting charity as relief for those incapable of working.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
10: 140-2

Ann Hawkshaw

AH was a mid-nineteenth-century English poet who published several volumes of ambitious historical poetry under her own name. She also wrote children's verse, although probably not under the pseudonym Aunt Effie, which has been...

1789: William Blake published the first of his...

Writer or writing item

1789

William Blake published the first of his engraved books of lyrics, Songs of Innocence.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

10 April 1858: An advertisement for Mudie's Circulating...

Writer or writing item

10 April 1858

An advertisement for Mudie's Circulating Library boasted of its vast holdings of popular titles.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
(10 April 1858): 453

Pauline Johnson

PJ is best remembered for the poemThe Song My Paddle Sings, published in 1892, which has been memorized by generations of Canadian school children, but she also wrote short stories and journalism, and...
Pauline Johnson Black and white photograph of Pauline Johnson, shown from the waist up. She wears a necklace of bear claws and a loose shirt with leather fringes and ermine tails. Her dark hair is curled in front and hangs loose down her back.

1874: Sonya Kovalevsky received her PhD—the first...

Building and people item

1874

Sonya Kovalevsky received her PhD—the first mathematics doctorate granted to a woman—from the University of Göttingen .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
177

1876: Elizabeth Blackwell found a publisher for...

Building and people item

1876

Elizabeth Blackwell found a publisher for her recently completed manuscript, but only after altering the title to emphasize her authority as a doctor.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
111

About 11 June 1937: At the Moscow show trials, seven Generals...

National or international item

About 11 June 1937

At the Moscow show trials, seven Generals and one Marshal in the Soviet Army were condemned to death after being convicted of espionage and high treason.
Bishop, James. Marching to War, 1933-1935. Editor Gilbert, Martin, Bracken Books, 1989.
129

26 February 1802: Novelist and poet Victor Hugo was born in...

Writer or writing item

26 February 1802

Novelist and poet Victor Hugo was born in Besançon, France.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
192

24 September 1939: Petrol rationing began in Britain as a result...

National or international item

24 September 1939

Petrol rationing began in Britain as a result of the outbreak of war.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
385

December 1984: The feminist publisher Virago Press, under...

Women writers item

December 1984

The feminist publisher Virago Press , under its editor Carmen Callil , launched its own bookshop in Covent Garden, London; the opening was performed by Rosamond Lehmann .
Hastings, Selina. Rosamond Lehmann. Chatto and Windus, 2002.
395

Emily Faithfull

EF , Victorian feminist, was a publisher before she was an author. After years of intermittent journalistic writing and editing, she published a novel and a travel book. She also became well-known as a lecturer.
Emily Faithfull Albumen carte-de-visite of Emily Faithfull taken some time in the mid to late 1860s. (A carte-de-visite was a photo in the small size of the visiting card.) She is wearing a single-button jacket with white shirt collar and bow tie, looking quite sharp. Her hair is parted in the middle and slicked to the sides.

Daisy Ashford

Daisy Ashford was an avid writer as a child. She became famous when she rediscovered a novella she wrote at the age of nine, The Young Visiters, and it was published with a preface...
Daisy Ashford Black and white, head and shoulders photograph of the adult Daisy Ashford in 1919. She is seen in profile, with her dark hair in a bun, wearing a light gauzy dress with a brooch at the centre of the neckline. She has signed the photo with her name and "24.11.19."

1767: Man-midwife Sir John Leake assigned cost-free...

Building and people item

1767

Man-midwife Sir John Leake assigned cost-free land in Lambeth, south of the Thames, on which to build to the New Westminster Lying-in Hospital , a charity institution.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

October 1891: The Labour Church, an organization professing...

Building and people item

October 1891

The Labour Church , an organization professing Christian Socialism, held its first service, in Manchester. Its founder, John Trevor , had been a Unitarian minister.
Spartacus Educational. 28 Feb. 2003, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.
under Labour Church

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

By 17 April 1969: Philip Roth published his very funny novel...

Writer or writing item

By 17 April 1969

Philip Roth published his very funny novel Portnoy's Complaint, titled from a rant addressed to the narrator's psychiatrist and from his affliction of an obsessive urge to masturbate.
“Who Needs Dreams?”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 3503, 17 Apr. 1969, p. 405.
405

1 July 2009: A book by Swedish Fredrik Colting, 60 Years...

Writer or writing item

1 July 2009

A book by Swedish Fredrik Colting , 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye (published in Britain that spring), was permanently banned from the USA by a New York court for infringing the rights of...

October 1856: Kentucky-born white woman Mattie Griffith...

Writer or writing item

October 1856

Kentucky-born white woman Mattie Griffith published her fictionalised Autobiography of a Female Slave.
Crafts, Hannah. “Introduction”. The Bondwoman’s Narrative, edited by Henry Louis, Jr Gates, Warner Books, 2002, p. ix - lxxv.
xiv

9 April 1705: Vanbrugh's new Haymarket Theatre (at this...

Building and people item

9 April 1705

Vanbrugh 's new Haymarket Theatre (at this date also known as both the Queen's Theatre and as the Opera House) opened with an anonymous Italian opera.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
2: 75, 91

1712: A boarding school for girls at the Two Golden...

Building and people item

1712

A boarding school for girls at the Two Golden Bulls on Mile End Green near London offered domestic science in addition to the usual accomplishments.
Hans, Nicholas A. New Trends in Education in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951.
250

1959: Scientists Anne McLaren and John Biggers...

National or international item

1959

Scientists Anne McLaren and John Biggers reported success with growing mice embryos under artificial conditions and transferring them to living mice.
Spallone, Patricia. Beyond Conception: The New Politics of Reproduction. Bergin and Garvey, 1989.
87

1600: 15-20% of the English population were reckoned...

Writer or writing item

1600

15-20% of the English population were reckoned to be literate.
Hunter, J. Paul. Before Novels: The Cultural Contexts of Eighteenth Century English Fiction. W. W. Norton, 1990.
66