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16 January 1777: George Colman the elder bought the Haymarket...

Writer or writing item

16 January 1777

George Colman the elder bought the Haymarket Theatre ; he subsequently authored more than thirty plays.
Lavoie, Chantel Michelle. Poems by Eminent Ladies: A Study of an Eighteenth-Century Anthology. University of Toronto, 1999.
41
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5.1: 7

2 July 1877: John Ruskin wrote a scathing review of Whistler...

Building and people item

2 July 1877

John Ruskin wrote a scathing review of Whistler 's Nocturne in Black and Gold, accusing the artist of flinging a pot of paint in the public's face; Whistler sued for libel.
Spencer, Robin. The Aesthetic Movement: Theory and Practice. Studio Vista, 1972.
81-5, 91

1906: William and Gilbert Foyle (already active...

Writer or writing item

1906

William and Gilbert Foyle (already active as booksellers) opened their shop at 119-125 Charing Cross Road, which became the biggest bookshop in London.
Samuel, Bill. “Proper Bookselling”. The Author, Vol.
cxiii
, No. 3, 1 Sept.–30 Nov. 2002, pp. 123-4.
123
“Foyles and Book-Buying”. infed: the encyclopedia of informal information.

By 20 February 1869: Matthew Arnold published his sweeping work...

Writer or writing item

By 20 February 1869

Matthew Arnold published his sweeping work of cultural criticism, Culture and Anarchy.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2156 (1869): 271

1827: Henry Hallam published The Constitutional...

Writer or writing item

1827

Henry Hallam published The Constitutional History of England, his influential history extending to the death of George II .
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

4 May 1870: Jacob Bright introduced an unsuccessful women's...

National or international item

4 May 1870

Jacob Bright introduced an unsuccessful women's suffrage bill in the House of Commons ; it was the first time female enfranchisement was considered as an issue unto itself.
Rover, Constance. Women’s Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain, 1866-1914. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967.
218, 61
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 25th ed., G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1911.
1513
Mitchell, Sally. Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer. University of Virginia Press, 2004.
199

27 October 1832: The weekly Maids', Wives', and Widows' Penny...

Writer or writing item

27 October 1832

The weekly Maids', Wives', and Widows' Penny Magazine and Gazette of Fashion began publication.
Beetham, Margaret. A Magazine of Her Own?: Domesticity and Desire in the Woman’s Magazine, 1800-1914. Routledge, 1996.
216
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
14, 18

1793: William Wilberforce led an unsuccessful attempt...

Building and people item

1793

William Wilberforce led an unsuccessful attempt to get the East India Company 's statutes charter amended, to commit it to furthering the work of missionaries.
Church Missionary Society Archive: Section VI: Missions to India. Adam Matthew.

16 February 1728: Henry Fielding's first play, Love in Several...

Writer or writing item

16 February 1728

Henry Fielding 's first play, Love in Several Masques, opened on stage.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
2.2: 959

1619: Blacks were sold for the first time as slaves...

National or international item

1619

Blacks were sold for the first time as slaves in Jamestown, Virginia.
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
549
Walvin, James. Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery. Howard University Press, 1994.
xi

14 May 1787: The first settlers (perhaps sixty people...

National or international item

14 May 1787

The first settlers (perhaps sixty people of European descent and between three and four hundred blacks) arrived from England in Sierra Leone in West Africa.
Crooks, John Joseph. A History of the Colony of Sierra Leone, Western Africa. Metro Books, 1972.
foreword, 364
Walvin, James et al. “Ignatius Sancho: The Man and His Times”. Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters, National Portrait Gallery, 1997, pp. 93-113.
108

1859: Charles Lyell's address as president of the...

Building and people item

1859

Charles Lyell 's address as president of the geological section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) supported the new consensus that humans had lived among now-extinct mammals in a Europe that...

1789-98: Essays in Physiognomy (translated by Henry...

Building and people item

1789-98

Essays in Physiognomy (translated by Henry Hunter from Johann Kaspar Lavater ), with engravings by Johann Heinrich Füssli (known in England as Henry Fuseli), set off crazes for physiognomy and silhouettes.
Donato, Clorinda. “Reading the Face: Lavater in the Twenty-first Century”. Lumen, edited by William Kinsley et al., Vol.
xx
, 2001, pp. 83-100.
83, 89-90, 91, 97 and n12

28 November 1905: The Sinn Féin League was founded by Arthur...

National or international item

28 November 1905

The Sinn Féin League was founded by Arthur Griffith , later President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, at a meeting in Dublin.
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
223
Alderman, Geoffrey. Modern Britain 1700-1983: A Domestic History. Croom Helm, 1986.
153
Davis, Richard. “Arthur Griffith, 1872-1922: Architect of Modern Ireland”. History Today, Vol.
29
, No. 3, 1979, pp. 139-46.
140-1
Foster, Robert Fitzroy. Modern Ireland 1600-1972. Allen Lane, 1988.
456-7, 611

January 1944: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt resolved...

National or international item

January 1944

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt resolved to set up a War Refugee Board to rescue victims of enemy oppression in imminent danger of death.
Guardian Weekly.
(7 February 1999): 28

1939: Pope Pius XII became the first pope to use...

National or international item

1939

Pope Pius XII became the first pope to use a motor car regularly.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
233

By September 1819: Facing debts of £90,000, Drury Lane Theatre...

Building and people item

By September 1819

Facing debts of £90,000, Drury Lane Theatre was forced to close.
Roose-Evans, James. London Theatre from the Globe to the National. Phaidon, 1977.
76, 78
Dobbs, Brian. Drury Lane: Three Centuries of the Theatre Royal, 1663-1971. Cassell, 1972.
141-3

1825: Thomas Moore published Memoirs of the Life...

Writer or writing item

1825

Thomas Moore published Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
96

9 May 1873: The crash of the stock market in Vienna signaled...

National or international item

9 May 1873

The crash of the stock market in Vienna signaled the end of the great European railway boom and brought on the first modern globalized financial crisis.
Steinberg, Jonathan. “Princely Pride”. London Review of Books, Vol.
34
, No. 9, 10 May 2012, pp. 30-1.
31

December 1915: Henry Ford's Peace Ship, the Oskar II, left...

Building and people item

December 1915

Henry Ford 's Peace Ship, the Oskar II, left harbour at Hoboken, New Jersey, with one hundred and sixty people on board; they were sailing to Europe to promote mediation in the hope of...

Mary Stott

MS is best known as a later twentieth-century feminist journalist and specifically as editor of The Guardian women's page. She is also worthy of notice for her own various non-fiction writing, in essays, monographs, and...

April 1860: A monthly periodical for women entitled Magdalen's...

Building and people item

April 1860

A monthly periodical for women entitled Magdalen's Friend and Female Homes' Intelligencer began publication in London.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
14

11 January 1902: At a convention held at Cassel,a constitution...

Building and people item

11 January 1902

At a convention held at Cassel,a constitution was drawn up for the Anti-Duelling League (proposed at Frankfort-on-Main almost a year before).
“The Catholic Encyclopedia”. New Advent.

By February 1793: John Burton's Lectures on Female Education...

Building and people item

By February 1793

John Burton 's Lectures on Female Education and Manners was published.
Burton, John. “Lectures on Female Education and Manners”. Classics in the Education of Girls and Women, edited by Shirley Nelson Kersey, Scarecrow Press, 1981.
185
Kersey, Shirley Nelson, editor. Classics in the Education of Girls and Women. Scarecrow Press, 1981.
184-91