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6 February 1756: A national fast day was held in Britain,...

National or international item

6 February 1756

A national fast day was held in Britain, to pray for success in the Seven Years War.
Steele, Anne. The Works of Mrs. Anne Steele. Munroe, Francis and Parker, 1808, 2 vols.
1: 226

25 July 1914: The first example of underwater photography,...

Building and people item

25 July 1914

The first example of underwater photography, an image of a diver at the bottom of the sea, was published in the Illustrated London News.
Bishop, James. The Illustrated London News Social History of the First World War. Angus and Robertson, 1982.
14

1912: The London Journal, a working-man's periodical,...

Writer or writing item

1912

The London Journal, a working-man's periodical, ceased publication after sixty-seven years.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
381

August 1651: Christopher Love, a clergyman, was executed...

National or international item

August 1651

Christopher Love , a clergyman, was executed by order of Parliament for disobeying its dictates, in spite of the campaign of petitions organized by his wife, Mary .
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.

1707: George Hickes published, as Instructions...

Building and people item

1707

George Hickes published, as Instructions for the Education of a Daughter, a translation of Fénelon 's Traité de l'éducation des filles, 1687.
Reynolds, Myra. The Learned Lady in England, 1650-1760. Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
291

13 October 1940: Princess Elizabeth made her first BBC radio...

National or international item

13 October 1940

Princess Elizabeth made her first BBC radio broadcast, directed to children of the Empire.
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
376

31 July 1868: The Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act...

Building and people item

31 July 1868

The Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act provided for compulsory governmental purchase and demolition of insanitary housing.
Rodger, Richard. Housing in Urban Britain, 1780-1914: Class, Capitalism and Construction. Macmillan, 1989.
50
Owen, David. English Philanthropy, 1660-1960. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1964.
384-5
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

1836: A ballad entitled The Female Smuggler had...

Building and people item

1836

A ballad entitled The Female Smuggler had great success in both Britain and America; its heroine, a smuggler's daughter, is pardoned and married by the commander she has shot.
Dugaw, Dianne. Warrior Women and Popular Balladry 1650-1850. Cambridge University Press, 1989.
78-82

August 1756: Frederick II of Prussia invaded neutral Saxony,...

National or international item

August 1756

Frederick II of Prussia invaded neutral Saxony, finally precipitating the Seven Years' War.
Furneaux, Rupert. The Seven Years War. Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1973.
31
Newman, Gerald, editor. Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837: An Encyclopedia. Garland, 1997.
643

4 June 1989: The Chinese government ruthlessly suppressed...

National or international item

4 June 1989

The Chinese government ruthlessly suppressed a massive pro-democracy demonstration held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing; hopes for the development of democratic government faded.
Forbes, Peter, editor. Scanning the Century. Viking, 1999.
358
Wang, Chaohua. “Diary”. London Review of Books, 5 July 2007, pp. 38-9.
38-9

November 1871: The Senate of Edinburgh University decided...

Building and people item

November 1871

The Senate of Edinburgh University decided to rescind all regulations allowing women entrance into the medical faculty.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
142

1883: The Princess of Wales assumed a role of leadership...

National or international item

1883

The Princess of Wales assumed a role of leadership in English fashion, by preventing the return of the crinoline, and maintaining the current small bonnet despite opposing practice in France.
Adburgham, Alison. A Punch History of Manners and Modes 1841-1940. Hutchinson, 1961.
135

1715: A music festival was held which developed...

Building and people item

1715

A music festival was held which developed into an annual event: first known as the triennial music festival, held in rotation in the cathedral cities of Hereford, Worcester, and Gloucester, it later...

August 1779-1783: Gibraltar sustained its longest blockade...

National or international item

August 1779-1783

Gibraltar sustained its longest blockade during its years as a British possession; writers like Mary Darwall and Catharine Upton chronicled this siege's acts of heroism, while Susanna Blamire gave voice to an ordinary soldier.
Messenger, Ann. Woman and Poet in the Eighteenth Century: The Life of Mary Whateley Darwall (1738-1825). AMS Press, 1999.
143-4

1281: A City of London Regulation prohibited pigs...

Building and people item

1281

A City of London Regulation prohibited pigs wandering in the streets. A further Regulation in 1297 required the removal of all pigsties from city streets.
Warren, Michael. “A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related Services in Britain: 1066 - 1999”. Michael Warren’s Chronology, 6 Jan. 2003.

1970: Loving, a weekly magazine of romantic stories,...

Building and people item

1970

Loving, a weekly magazine of romantic stories, began publication in London.
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
166
Braithwaite, Brian, and Joan Barrell. The Business of Women’s Magazines. Associated Business Press, 1979.
151

26 September 1994: In the USA plans initiated by Hillary Clinton...

Building and people item

26 September 1994

In the USA plans initiated by Hillary Clinton to introduce a health-care system finally collapsed.
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
524

7 November 1868: Women who claimed their right to vote lost...

National or international item

7 November 1868

Women who claimed their right to vote lost in the case of Chorlton v. Lings, heard by the Court of Common Pleas .
Levine, Philippa. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900. Hutchinson, 1987.
75
Rover, Constance. Women’s Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain, 1866-1914. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967.
32, 224

8 March 1907: With the support of the National Union of...

National or international item

8 March 1907

With the support of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies , Liberal Member of Parliament Willoughby H. Dickinson introduced a Women's Enfranchisement Bill for its second reading.
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
34-5

1911: William Waldorf Astor bought the Observer...

Writer or writing item

1911

William Waldorf Astor bought the Observer newspaper (founded in 1791) from Lord Northcliffe for £5,000.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under William Waldorf Astor

5 March 1936: The prototype of the British Spitfire, the...

National or international item

5 March 1936

The prototype of the British Spitfire, the fighter plane which became one of the most famous aircraft of World War II, made its first flight.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
228

1135-1142: Supporters of Matilda (sometimes called Maud)...

National or international item

1135-1142

Supporters of Matilda (sometimes called Maud) and Stephen , rival claimants for the English throne, waged a civil war.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
8: 379, 11: 586-7

1888: Americans John Wesley Hyatt and John Carbutt...

Building and people item

1888

Americans John Wesley Hyatt and John Carbutt produced clear sheets of celluloid for commercial use in photography.
Singer, Charles et al., editors. A History of Technology. Clarendon, 1958, 8 vols.
5: 729
Sources give conflicting dates for Parke's discovery of celluloid: either 1826, 1855, or 1861.
Panati, Charles. Panati’s Browser’s Book of Beginnings. Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
366
Derry, Thomas Kingston, and Trevor I. Williams. A Short History of Technology From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900. Clarendon, 1960.
658
Singer, Charles et al., editors. A History of Technology. Clarendon, 1958, 8 vols.
vol. 5
).

July 1855: The first issue of the National Review was...

Writer or writing item

July 1855

The first issue of the National Review was published; it became the most celebrated Unitarian periodical and one of the most illustrious quarterlies of the century.
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
3: 144
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
3: 135-7, 142, 144, 147

Rosalind Coward

RC is the author or co-author of nine books and many articles, ranging in subject from critical and feminist theory through cultural analysis to biography. Her important works of the late 1970s and the 1980s...