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5 February 1909: In Belgium a chemist named Leo Baekeland...

Building and people item

5 February 1909

In Belgium a chemist named Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic. Its commercial production began soon afterwards.

May 1881: The Sentinel, which supported the Contagious...

Building and people item

May 1881

The Sentinel, which supported the Contagious Diseases Acts and emphasized social purity, began monthly publication in London.

Caroline Scott

CS published three anonymous novels over a span of almost thirty years, beginning under the patronage of her novelist cousin Lady Charlotte Bury . Meanwhile she had become an Evangelical Christian, who put her fervent...

Dora Carrington

DC is known predominantly for her personal relationships with writer Lytton Strachey and other members of the Bloomsbury Group, but she produced much striking work—visual and literary—herself. André Derain and Simon Bussy gave her...

May 1777 to April 1778: The Magazin à La Mode, a French-language...

Writer or writing item

May 1777 to April 1778

The Magazin à La Mode, a French-language magazine especially designed for young women, was published in Dublin and distributed throughout Ireland.
Kennedy, Máire. “The Distribution of a Locally-Produced French Periodical in Provincial Ireland: The ’Magazin à La Mode’, 1777-1778”. Eighteenth-Century Ireland, Vol.
9
, pp. 83-98.
83-98

June 1925: Annie Jump Cannon, distinguished US astronomer,...

Building and people item

June 1925

Annie Jump Cannon , distinguished US astronomer, became the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from Oxford University .

1891: During the 1890s Hippolyte Bernheim of the...

Building and people item

1891

During the 1890s Hippolyte Bernheim of the University of Nancy in Alsace-Lorraine challenged Jean-Martin Charcot 's idea that hysteria was a physical ailment; Bernheim argued that hysteria should be considered a psychological problem.

2 August 1914: The World Alliance for Promoting International...

Building and people item

2 August 1914

The World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches was founded at a conference in Constance, Switzerland.

1970: The Education (Handicapped Children) Act...

Building and people item

1970

The Education (Handicapped Children) Act made Local Education Authorities responsible for the education of all children: no child, no matter how severely handicapped, was to be classed as ineducable.

19 February 1704: Daniel Defoe issued the first number of his...

Writer or writing item

19 February 1704

Daniel Defoe issued the first number of his long-running, one-man periodical, A Review of the State of the British Nation,, which began under the title A Weekly Review of the Affairs of France.

20 August 1853: The Customs Consolidation Act prohibited...

National or international item

20 August 1853

The Customs Consolidation Act prohibited importing obscene books and pictures into Britain.

After 1816: A court ruled against a widowed father (a...

Building and people item

After 1816

A court ruled against a widowed father (a Unitarian minister) in his suit to get his daughters back from his wife's family, who had brought them up as Baptists.

28 December 1836: The province of South Australia was foun...

National or international item

28 December 1836

The province of South Australia was founded.

After 12 July 1539: Following the Six Articles Act, a bill to...

National or international item

After 12 July 1539

Following the Six Articles Act, a bill to suppress the few remaining monasteries or convents passed through Parliament almost unnoticed.

1486: The Boke of St Albans, a treatise on hunting,...

Writer or writing item

1486

The Boke of St Albans, a treatise on hunting, was printed: persistent rumour attributes it to one Dame Juliana Berners , or Julyan Barnes , who only possibly existed.

George Gordon, sixth Baron Byron

1870s: By this date, newspapers and periodicals...

Building and people item

1870s

By this date, newspapers and periodicals were regularly accepting advertisements for female hygiene products such as Southall's Sanitary Towels.

November 1761: The Lady's Magazine, or polite companion...

Building and people item

November 1761

The Lady's Magazine, or polite companion for the fair sex printed a correspondent's letter remarking, The greatest reproach of an old maid . . . is her ill humour.

1911: Gertrude Minnie Faulding wrote verse for...

Women writers item

1911

Gertrude Minnie Faulding wrote verse for Nature Children. A Flower Book for Little Folks, illustrated by Eleanor S. March .

1973: The Equal Pay Act of 29 May 1970 was finally...

Building and people item

1973

The Equal Pay Act of 29 May 1970 was finally fully implemented, eighteen years after the government had promised gender equality in workers' pay.

1946: Rosalind Wade published her novel As the...

Women writers item

1946

Rosalind Wade published her novelAs the Narcissus.

1 March 1912: The Women's Social and Political Union smashed...

Building and people item

1 March 1912

The Women's Social and Political Union smashed shop windows in London's West End; this was the first time they had attacked private property.

After September 1940: During the London blitz, according to a US...

Writer or writing item

After September 1940

During the London blitz, according to a US literary historian, one of the earliest harbingers of rehabilitation was the appearance of books in the fetid burrows while the bombs rained overhead.

2 September 1945: Japan formally surrendered to the Allies...

National or international item

2 September 1945

Japan formally surrendered to the Allies.

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.