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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...

Building and people item

1866

Louisa Twining and several prominent male reformers joined together to found the Association for the Improvement of Workhouse Infirmaries .
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...

Building and people item

By 1 April 1854

Anna Elizabeth Blunden exhibited The Song of the Shirt, based on Thomas Hood 's poem about garment outworkers, at the Society of British Artists .
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

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

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...

: Following a tour of inspection of working...

Building and people item

Spring 1848

Following a tour of inspection of working class housing, Prince Albert assumed a more active role in his presidency of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes .
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.