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18 April 1791: Horace Walpole reported that sedan chairs...

Building and people item

18 April 1791

Horace Walpole reported that sedan chairs were dying out as a form of transport: London was now too big.
Walpole, Horace. The Letters of Horace Walpole. Editor Toynbee, Mrs Paget, Clarendon, 1903–1925, 16 vols.
14: 416

26 May 1868: A Ladies Conference of the National Temperance...

National or international item

26 May 1868

A Ladies Conference of the National Temperance League was held in London.
Hall, Anna Maria, and National Temperance League. “Introduction”. Woman’s Work in the Temperance Reformation, W. Tweedie, 1868.
3

Cecil Frances Alexander

CFA wrote both hymns and verse, the latter also usually adaptable for music. Her work was mainly directed towards young audiences, as she excelled
Julian, John, editor. A Dictionary of Hymnology. Dover Publications, 1957, 2 vols.
at writing for children.
Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford University Press, 1993.
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.
Over the course of her career in...
Cecil Frances Alexander Black and white photograph of Cecil Frances Alexander, seated at a desk. There are writing supplies on the desk and she clasps a book on her lap with one hand. The other elbow rests on the desk, with that hand to the side of her head.

October 1939: Pianist Myra Hess began giving special wartime...

Building and people item

October 1939

Pianist Myra Hess began giving special wartime after-work concerts, starting at 5:30, at the National Gallery (from which the most precious pictures had already been removed as a precaution against destruction by bombs).
Maxtone Graham, Ysenda. The Real Mrs Miniver. John Murray, 2001.
120

October 1955: Evelyn Adelaide Sharp (later a baroness;...

Building and people item

October 1955

Evelyn Adelaide Sharp (later a baroness; not to be confused with suffragist and writer Evelyn Sharp ) was named head of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government , becoming the first woman Permanent Secretary...

Frances Bellerby

In her own eyes FB was a poet first and foremost. Writing over a fifty-year span during the twentieth century, she published five volumes of poetry, though she felt able to write it only in...

13 November 1942: British troops (having landed, with other...

National or international item

13 November 1942

British troops (having landed, with other Allies in French North Africa, and and after the German invasion of so far unoccupied France had ended existing armistice arrangements) regained control of Tobruk.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
118, 119, 121-2

3 December 1895: Psychologist Anna Freud was born in Vienna,...

Building and people item

3 December 1895

Psychologist Anna Freud was born in Vienna, Austria.
Stevens, Gwendolyn, and Sheldon Gardner. The Women of Psychology. Schenkman, 1982, 2 vols., http://HSS.
II: 17
Hergenhahn, Baldwin Ross. An Introduction to the History of Psychology. 2nd ed., Wadsworth Publishing, 1992, http://HSS.
461

1856: J. A. Froude published the first volumes...

Writer or writing item

1856

J. A. Froude published the first volumes of his influential twelve-volume History of England from the Death of Cardinal Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada; it was completed in 1870.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

1835: Alexis de Tocqueville published the first...

Writer or writing item

1835

Alexis de Tocqueville published the first part of La démocratie en Amérique.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
986

1966: Montserrat became a Crown Colony....

National or international item

1966

Montserrat became a Crown Colony.
Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and the Carib to the Present. Revised, Facts on File, 1999.
249

October 1947: Detective Sergeant Alberta Mary Law was the...

Building and people item

October 1947

Detective Sergeant Alberta Mary Law was the first female recipient of the King's Police Medal.
Luck, Joan. The British Policewoman: Her Story. R. Hale, 1979.
195
“Palmer’s Index to the Times”. Historical Newspapers Online.
(October-December 1947): 279

After March 1854: The Irish sisterhoods were asked to serve...

Building and people item

After March 1854

The Irish sisterhoods were asked to serve as nurses in the Crimean War; the Sisters of Mercy agreed but the Sisters of Charity declined.
Scanlan, Pauline. The Irish Nurse: A Study of Nursing in Ireland. Drumlin, 1991.
67-71

1 July 1875: The Union of Shirt and Collar Makers and...

Building and people item

1 July 1875

The Union of Shirt and Collar Makers and the Union of Women Upholsteresses were founded.
Levine, Philippa. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900. Hutchinson, 1987.
126
Simcox, Edith J. “Eight Years of Co-Operative Shirtmaking”. Nineteenth Century, Vol.
15
, June 1884, pp. 1037-54.
1037

March 1935: The League of Nations Union organised a ballot...

National or international item

March 1935

The League of Nations Union organised a ballot in Britain (sometimes misleadingly called the Peace Ballot) on the question of intervention by other nations when one nation attacked another.
Hamilton, Mary Agnes. Remembering My Good Friends. Jonathan Cape, 1944.
289-91

1887: The New Century Guild for Working Women began...

Building and people item

1887

The New Century Guild for Working Women began publishing, in London, the Working Woman's Journal, which offered articles about work from the employees' perspective.
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
205

31 March 1966: In the general election the Labour Party...

National or international item

31 March 1966

In the general election the Labour Party under Harold Wilson increased its majority from four to nearly a hundred.
Schott, Ben. Schott’s Original Miscellany. Bloomsbury, 2002.
102

Flora Annie Steel

Publishing from the 1880s through the first three decades of the twentieth century, FAS produced some thirty books. Most of her novels describe contemporary Anglo-Indian life, though some are set in Britain (seldom in England)...
Flora Annie Steel Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of Flora Annie Steel looking straight at the viewer. She is wearing a light dress with little visible below the neckline, and a necklace with two stones in its centre. Her probably grey hair is brushed back.

1816: The menopause, as a set of medical symptoms,...

Building and people item

1816

The menopause, as a set of medical symptoms, was first delineated, by the FrenchmanC. P. L. De Gardanne .
Swenson, Kristine. “The Menopausal Vampire: Arabella Kenealy and the boundaries of true womanhood”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
10
, No. 1, 2003, pp. 27-46.
3-4 and n5

By 16 October 1768: The long-lived publishing house of John Murray...

Writer or writing item

By 16 October 1768

The long-lived publishing house of John Murray was founded, after John Murray I , born John McMurray, came south to London from Edinburgh; it survived until May 2002.
Murray, John R. “Going Strong”. The Author, Vol.
cxi
, No. 4, 1 Dec. 2000–28 Feb. 2001, pp. 182-4.
182
Abbott, John L. “Review of William Zachs, The First John Murray and the Late Eighteenth-Century Book Trade, 1998”. The Age of Johnson, edited by Paul J. Korshin, Vol.
12
, 2001, pp. 495-03.
497, 501

By January 1820: John Clare published his first volume, Poems...

Writer or writing item

By January 1820

John Clare published his first volume, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, By . . . a Northamptonshire Peasant.
Quarterly Review. J. Murray.
22 (January 1820): 565

30 November-3 December 1999: World Trade Organization talks at Seattle,...

National or international item

30 November-3 December 1999

World Trade Organization talks at Seattle, Washington, failed to reach agreement; 50,000 people gathered from around the world to protest against the WTO's methods and goals.
CNN World News: World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, Seattle. http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min99_e/min99_e.htm.

1645: The government of Sweden began publication...

Writer or writing item

1645

The government of Sweden began publication of Post och Inrikes Tidningar (PoIT), considered to be the world's oldest newspaper still in circulation.
“A Newspaper Timeline”. World Association of Newspapers.
“World’s oldest newspaper ends print version for Internet format”. Sweden.se: The Official Gateway to Sweden: News, 27 Jan. 2007.

May 1926: Eighteen-year-old actress Peggy Ashcroft...

Building and people item

May 1926

Eighteen-year-old actress Peggy Ashcroft made her professional debut in J. M. Barrie 's Dear Brutus with the Birmingham Repertory Company, when another performer was transferred.
Billington, Michael. Peggy Ashcroft, 1907-1991. Mandarin, 1991.
21-2

April 1756: Thomas Neale published a treatise on venereal...

Building and people item

April 1756

Thomas Neale published a treatise on venereal disease.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
1 (1756): 303-9
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.