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17 November 1794: George Grote, historian, was born at Clay...

Writer or writing item

17 November 1794

George Grote , historian, was born at Clay Hill near Beckenham, in Kent.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.

1888: The Ladies' Gallery at the House of Commons...

National or international item

1888

The Ladies' Gallery at the House of Commons was closed on account of suffragists repeatedly shouting from it in order to disrupt parliamentary proceedings.
Cesvette, Debbie, and Isobel Grundy. Email about the Ladies’ Gallery in the British House of Commons to Isobel Grundy. 23 June 2004.

By 1830: An estimated 1,400,000 children in England...

Building and people item

By 1830

An estimated 1,400,000 children in England and Wales were regularly attending Sunday schools, which numbered almost 6,000.
Colley, Linda. Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837. Yale University Press, 1992.
226

1834: A parliamentary committee investigating public...

National or international item

1834

A parliamentary committee investigating public intemperance failed to offer legislative solutions to drunkeness.
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. Crusade against Drink in Victorian England. Macmillan, 1988.
15-16

1920: Arabella Kenealy urged women, for the sake...

Building and people item

1920

Arabella Kenealy urged women, for the sake of their profounder and more vital interests and . . . those of the race, to surrender freely all the essentially masculine employments into which mischance has cast...

10 April 1827: George Canning, a Tory, became Prime Minister...

National or international item

10 April 1827

George Canning , a Tory, became Prime Minister after Lord Liverpool had a stroke.
Parry, Jonathan. The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain. Yale University Press, 1993.
44, 312
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714-1980. Longman, 1983.
50

1737: The London pleasure-grounds of Vauxhall Gardens,...

Building and people item

1737

The London pleasure-grounds of Vauxhall Gardens, on the south bank of the Thames, were extensively re-modelled; this gained them new status and popularity
Italia, Iona. Philosophers, Knights-Errant, Coquettes and Old Maids. Cambridge University, 1997.
91

1941: The Parker 51 fountain pen came into production;...

Building and people item

1941

The Parker 51 fountain pen came into production; by 1972, 41 million of these pens had been sold.
Marshall, Jim. “Fountain Pens”. The Author, Vol.
cx
, No. 4, 1 Dec.–28 Feb. 1999, pp. 173-4.
173

April 1916: The British Red Cross Society organized the...

Building and people item

April 1916

The British Red Cross Society organized the Women's Motor Ambulance Unit in northern France under the command of Mrs Graham Jones .
McLaren, Barbara. Women of the War. Hodder and Stoughton, 1917.
113

December 1807: A French army occupied Lisbon; Napoleon had...

National or international item

December 1807

A French army occupied Lisbon; Napoleon had ordered the invasion of Portugal because it was defying the Berlin Decrees which prohibited trade with Britain.
Collier, Simon. “Old Iron-Arse”. London Review of Books, 9 Aug. 2001, pp. 30-1.
31

12 March 1610: Galileo published at Venice his recent astronomical...

Building and people item

12 March 1610

Galileo published at Venice his recent astronomical discoveries (including the existence of the moons of Jupiter) in Sidereus Nuncius, or The Starry Messenger.
Sobel, Dava. Galileo’s Daughter. Viking, 1999.
33, 34-5

18 November 2017: A group of poets and academics calling itself...

Building and people item

18 November 2017

A group of poets and academics calling itself FIRED! , formed to protest the absence of women from the new Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets, held its first event, at an arts centre in Belfast.
Fired! Irish Women Poets and the Canon. Jan. 2018, http://awomanpoetspledge.com/about-us/.

4 May 2000: In the first election for the newly created...

National or international item

4 May 2000

In the first election for the newly created position of Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone was elected (standing as an Independent after being de-selected by the Labour Party ).

1839: Theodor Schwann published the results of...

Building and people item

1839

Theodor Schwann published the results of his cell research, translated into English in 1847 as Microscopical Researches into the Accordance in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plants.
Merrill, Lynn L. The Romance of Victorian Natural History. Oxford University Press, 1989.
119
Science in the Nineteenth Century. Editor Taton, René, Translator Pomerans, Arnold J., Vol.
3
, Basic Books, 1965.
350

24 October 1890: The British Astronomical Association, founded...

National or international item

24 October 1890

The British Astronomical Association , founded this year for amateur astronomers, held its first meeting.
Gascoigne, Robert Mortimer. A Chronology of the History of Science, 1450-1900. Garland, 1987.
411
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.

Catherine Sinclair

CS was perhaps best known during her lifetime as a prominent Edinburgh philanthropist, but as a writer she is best remembered for her Evangelical fiction aimed at young people or children, such as Modern Accomplishments...
Catherine Sinclair Monument to CS at Charlotte Square and Queen Street in Edinburgh.

17 August 1839: The Custody of Infants Act, or Infant Custody...

National or international item

17 August 1839

The Custody of Infants Act, or Infant Custody Bill, allowed judges in England, Wales, and Ireland to grant separated mothers access to their children, on their petitioning the special court and proving their...

December 2001: Women writers for the first time outnumbered...

Women writers item

December 2001

Women writers for the first time outnumbered men in the Guardian newspaper's annual listing of the fastest-selling paperbacks in Britain.
Gibbons, Fiachra. “Women lead the way in ’hottest’ books list”. The Guardian, 29 Dec. 2001, p. 5.
5

23 June 1838: A twopenny weekly for women entitled the...

Writer or writing item

23 June 1838

A twopenny weekly for women entitled the Gem and Ladies' Album began publication in London; it lasted for only three issues.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
8

1837: Black musician Frank Johnson and his Philadelphia...

Building and people item

1837

Black musician Frank Johnson and his Philadelphia band were the first American band to tour Britain.
Sanjek, Russell. American Popular Music and its Business. Oxford University Press, 1988.
215-16

16 January 1926: Father Ronald Knox created widespread alarm...

Building and people item

16 January 1926

Father Ronald Knox created widespread alarm with his broadcast of a fictitious report about a mob of unemployed workers who roasted a philanthropist alive.
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
367

February 1929: Le Chien andalou, the first film by Spanish...

Building and people item

February 1929

Le Chien andalou, the first film by Spanish director Luis Buñuel , was shown in Montmartre, Paris; few English people saw his work before Viridiana, 1961.
Wood, Michael. “That Wooden Leg”. London Review of Books, 7 Sept. 2000, pp. 3-7.
3

By 15 April 1882: Elinor Louisa Huddart, writing as Louisa...

Women writers item

By 15 April 1882

Elinor Louisa Huddart , writing as Louisa Ronile, published Via Crucis.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2842 (1882): 473
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.

1385: It was ruled that English was to be taught...

Writer or writing item

1385

It was ruled that English was to be taught instead of French in British grammar schools.
Warren, Michael. “A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related Services in Britain: 1066 - 1999”. Michael Warren’s Chronology, 6 Jan. 2003.