Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
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By 1940: The advance of totalitarianism meant that...
National or international item
By 1940
The advance of totalitarianism meant that only five of more than twenty-five European states were now democracies.
Anderson, Perry. “Confronting Defeat”. London Review of Books, 17 Oct. 2002, pp. 10-17.
14
1870: Isaac Butt published the nationalist pamphlet...
National or international item
1870
Isaac Butt
published the nationalist pamphlet Irish Federalism, and became a leader of the new nationalist movement.
Morton, Grenfell. Home Rule and the Irish Question. Longman, 1980.
13
1866: Louisa Twining and several prominent male...
White, Rosemary. Social Change and the Development of the Nursing Profession: A Study of the Poor Law Nursing Service, 1848-1948. H. Kimpton, 1978.
22
27 December 1979: Russia invaded Afghanistan: Soviet troops...
National or international item
27 December 1979
Russia invaded Afghanistan: Soviet troops entered Kabul, claiming that their assistance had been requested. The USA meanwhile supported the anti-Soviet side.
Bradsher, Henry S. Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Duke University Press, 1983.
189, 173
Roy, Arundhati. The Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan. Associated Publishing House, 1987.
v
February 1814: Severe cold weather gave an opportunity for...
Building and people item
February 1814
Severe cold weather gave an opportunity for the first frost fair in London since 1788: from Blackfriars Bridge a double line of stalls set up on the ice did a roaring trade.
Wilson, Frances. The Courtesan’s Revenge. Faber, 2003.
134
1845: It was discovered that women eject eggs for...
Building and people item
1845
It was discovered that women eject eggs for reproduction spontaneously.
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
43
26 February 1780: La Belle Assemblée, an all-female debating...
Building and people item
26 February 1780
La Belle Assemblée
, an all-female debating club, opened in London, following the rapid growth of male ones.
Andrew, Donna T. “’The Passion for Public Speaking’: Women’s Debating Societies”. Women and History: Voices of Early Modern England, edited by Valerie Frith, Coach House Press, 1995, pp. 165-88.
167
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
50 (1780): 71
Escott, Angela. “The School of Eloquence and ’Roasted Square Caps’: oratory and pedantry as fair theatrical game?”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
8
, No. 1, 2001, pp. 59-79.
64-5, 67
January 1847-July 1848: William Makepeace Thackeray's most famous...
Writer or writing item
January 1847-July 1848
William Makepeace Thackeray
's most famous novel, Vanity Fair, was serialised in monthly instalments with illustrations by the author.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
By 1 April 1854: Anna Elizabeth Blunden exhibited The Song...
Marsh, Jan, and Pamela Gerrish Nunn. Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement. Virago, 1989.
60
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1379 (1 April 1854): 411-2
1957: A third blood test for venereal disease was...
Building and people item
1957
A third blood test for venereal disease was developed based on a non-infectious spirochete called the Reiter treponeme.
Rosebury, Theodor. Microbes and Morals: The Strange Story of Venereal Disease. Viking Press, 1971.
201
15 June 2007: Tatiana de Rosnay, born in France in 1961...
Writer or writing item
15 June 2007
Tatiana de Rosnay
, born in France in 1961 to an English mother and Russian father, published her first and most famous English-language novel Sarah's Key, which in 2015 had sold nine million copies...
January 1975: Britain lifted its direct rule from Northern...
National or international item
January 1975
Britain lifted its direct rule from Northern Ireland, only to re-impose it in May.
Moody, Theodore William et al., editors. A New History of Ireland. Clarendon, 1976–2025, 10 vols.
8: 464-5, 466
1851: By mid-century, newspapers were the largest...
Building and people item
1851
By mid-century, newspapers were the largest vehicle for advertisements in the United Kingdom.
Fenstermaker, John J. “Thomas Carlyle, Popular Advertising, and the Commerical Spirit in Victorian England”. Studies in Popular Culture, Vol.
15
, No. 1, 1992, pp. 25-36.
29
2 November 1917: The Balfour Declaration announced the UK's...
National or international item
2 November 1917
The Balfour Declaration announced the UK's support for creation of a national homeland for Jews in Palestine (now the state of Israel).
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 231
Williams, Neville. Chronology of the Modern World: 1763 to the Present Time. David McKay, 1967.
466
21 February 1848: Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx published...
Writer or writing item
21 February 1848
Friedrich Engels
and Karl Marx
published their Manifesto of the Communist Party, often known as the Communist Manifesto.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
319
Nairn, Tom. “History’s Postman”. London Review of Books, 26 Jan. 2006, pp. 11-13.
11
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
21 February 2011
January 1858: In an unsuccessful assassination attempt,...
National or international item
January 1858
In an unsuccessful assassination attempt, Felice Orsini
, a follower of Mazzini
, threw a bomb at the carriage of Napoleon III
and Eugénie
as they made their way to the Opera House in Paris.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
229
By 6 July 1872: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu published In A Glass...
Writer or writing item
By 6 July 1872
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
published In A Glass Darkly, including the lesbian vampire story Carmilla.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2332 (1872): 13
1683: John Bunyan published a tract examining the...
Writer or writing item
1683
John Bunyan
published a tract examining the relation of women to the church: A Case of Conscience Resolved.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.
Beaumont, Agnes. “Introduction”. The Narrative of the Persecutions of Agnes Beaumont, edited by Vera J. Camden, Colleagues Press, 1992, pp. 1-33.
7
14-17 July 1791: The Priestley riots in Birmingham, beginning...
National or international item
14-17 July 1791
The Priestley riots in Birmingham, beginning with offence taken over a Bastille Day dinner, caused much destruction and disturbance.
Messenger, Ann. Woman and Poet in the Eighteenth Century: The Life of Mary Whateley Darwall (1738-1825). AMS Press, 1999.
175-6
Writer or writing
Author profile
Charles Dickens
A prolific novelist, journalist, and editor of periodicals such as Household Words and All the Year Round, CD
crucially shaped Victorian fiction both by developing it as a dialogical, multi-plotted, and socially aware form...
7 December 1666: This was probably the first day a public...
Building and people item
7 December 1666
This was probably the first day a public theatre opened in London after a seventeen-month closure owing to the plague.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
1: 98
Writer or writing
Author profile
Caroline Clive
Caroline Clive's writing, though largely obscure today, was celebrated during the mid-nineteenth century. She published four novels and several collections of poetry, and contributed to a number of periodicals. As an initiator of the sensation...
Owen, David. English Philanthropy, 1660-1960. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1964.
377
12 May-25 June 1940: Germany carried through its successful invasion...
National or international item
12 May-25 June 1940
Germany carried through its successful invasion of France.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
32, 34-5
Keegan, John. The Second World War. Viking, 1990.
61, 70-1, 86-7
By 8 October 1881: Dante Gabriel Rossetti published Ballads...
Writer or writing item
By 8 October 1881
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
published Ballads and Sonnets, which included the latter part of his sonnet sequence The House of Life and new historical ballads like The King's Tragedy and The White Ship.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2815 (1881): 457
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.