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The Housemans of Nidderdale
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Harry HOUSEMAN

Male 1886 - 1961  (75 years)  Submit Photo / DocumentSubmit Photo / Document


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   Date  Event(s)
1 1764 
  • 1764—1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
  • 1764—1764: Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
  • 1764—1764: James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768)
  • 1764—1764: Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
2 1765 
  • 1765—1765: The potato becomes the most popular food in Europe
  • 22 March 1765—22 March 1765: Stamp Act passed - imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the American colonies (repealed the following year)
3 1766 
  • 1766—1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
  • 5 December 1766—5 December 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
4 1767 
  • 1767—1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
5 1768 
  • 9 January 1768—9 January 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London
  • 6 December 1768—6 December 1768: The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica' published in Edinburgh by William Smellie
6 1769 
  • 1769—1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
  • 1769—1769: Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
  • 6 September 1769—6 September 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
7 1770 
  • 1770—1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major thoroughfare for maritime communications
  • 28 April 1770—28 April 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) ? Aug 21: formally claims Australia for Britain
8 1771 
  • 1771—1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
9 1772 
  • 1772—1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
  • 1772—1772: Morning Post' first published (until 1937)
  • 14 May 1772—14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
10 1774 
  • 13 September 1774—13 September 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
11 1775 
  • 19 April 1775—19 April 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775- 1783)
12 1776 
  • 1776—1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
  • 1776—1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine
  • 4 July 1776—4 July 1776: American Declaration of Independence
  • 7 September 1776—7 September 1776: First attack on a warship by a submarine - David Bushnell's ?Turtle' attacked HMS Eagle in New York harbour. The attack was perhaps spectacular (a charge did detonate beneath the ship) but was nevertheless unsuccessful. 'Turtle' was a one man Affair man-powered [Les Moore]
13 1777 
  • 1777—1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
14 1779 
  • 1779—1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
  • 1779—1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
  • 1779—1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
  • 14 February 1779—14 February 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii
  • 23 September 1779—23 September 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
15 1780 
  • 1780—1780: Male Servants Tax
  • 1780—1780: The English Reform Movement - until now, only landowners and tenants (freeholders with 40 shillings per year or more) allowed to vote, and in open poll books
  • 1780—1780: Fountain pen invented
  • 1780—1780: About this time the word 'Quiz' entered the language, said to have been invented as a wager by Mr Daly, a Dublin theatre manager
  • 4 May 1780—4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
  • 2 June 1780—2 June 1780: Jun 2- 8: The Gordon Riots - Parliament passes a Roman Catholic relief measure - for days, London is at the mercy of a mob and destruction is widespread
16 1782 
  • 1782—1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief - the way of life of the poor beginning to alter due to industrialisation - New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce that would adjust to new work patterns
  • 1782—1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
17 1783 
  • 1783—1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794) - led to a fall in entries!
  • 3 September 1783—3 September 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
  • 3 November 1783—3 November 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
18 1784 
  • 1784—1784: Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics
  • 1784—1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England
  • 1784—1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews
  • 1784—1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
  • 2 August 1784—2 August 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
19 1785 
  • 1785—1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million)
  • 1 January 1785—1 January 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
20 1787 
  • 1787—1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
21 1788 
  • 1788—1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
  • 1788—1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced)
  • 1788—1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships
  • 1788—1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis - Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt - trying to obtain full regal powers for the Prince of Wales
  • 1788—1788: Gibbon completes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
  • 26 January 1788—26 January 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13 May 1787) ? the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
22 1789 
  • 28 April 1789—28 April 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty - Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
23 1790 
  • 1790—1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
24 1791 
  • 1791—1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the long s' (the 's' that looks like an 'f')
  • 1791—1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
  • 4 December 1791—4 December 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
25 1792 
  • 1792—1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) - Fox gets Libel Act through Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel
  • 1792—1792: Boyle's Street Directory published
  • 1792—1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
  • 1 October 1792—1 October 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
  • 1 December 1792—1 December 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
26 1793 
  • 11 February 1793—11 February 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
  • 15 April 1793—15 April 1793: ?5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
27 1794 
  • 1794—1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
  • 6 October 1794—6 October 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High Treason - he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore treasonous
28 1795 
  • 1795—1795: The Famine Year
  • 1795—1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
  • 1795—1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's wage to subsistence level - towards the end of the eighteenth century, the number of poor and unemployed increased dramatically - price increases during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) far outstripped wage rises - many small farmers were bankrupted by the move towards enclosures and became landless labourers - their wages were often pitifully low
  • 1795—1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce The Gagging Acts' or 'Two Bills' (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills) - outlawed the mass meeting and the political lecture.
  • 1795—1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
29 1796 
  • 1796—1796: Pitt's Reign of Terror': More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
  • 1796—1796: Legacy Tax on sums over ?20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and grandparents
  • 14 May 1796—14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
30 1797 
  • 1797—1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
  • 1797—1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
  • 1797—1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications
  • 1797—1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to the coining press
  • 22 February 1797—22 February 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
  • 26 February 1797—26 February 1797: First ?1 (and ?2) notes issued by Bank of England
31 1798 
  • 1798—1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
  • February 1798—February 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
  • 1 August 1798—1 August 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
32 1799 
  • 1799—1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
  • 1799—1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
  • 9 January 1799—9 January 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
  • 12 July 1799—12 July 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
  • 15 July 1799—15 July 1799: ?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
33 1800 
  • 1800—1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
  • 1800—1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
  • 1800—1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded
  • 1800—1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light
  • 1800—1800: Volta makes first electrical battery
  • 2 July 1800—2 July 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
34 1801 
  • 1801—1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
  • 1801—1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
  • 1 January 1801—1 January 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
  • 10 March 1801—10 March 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
  • 24 December 1801—24 December 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
35 1802 
  • 25 March 1802—25 March 1802: Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands ? the 'Peace of Amiens' as it was known brought a temporary peace of 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars ? one of its most important cultural effects was that travel and correspondence across the English Channel became possible again
36 1803 
  • 1803—1803: Poaching made a Capital offense in England if capture resisted
  • 1803—1803: Richard Trevithick built another steam carriage and ran it in London as the first self-propelled vehicle in the capital and the first London bus
  • 1803—1803: Semaphore signaling perfected by Admiral Popham
  • 30 April 1803—30 April 1803: Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
  • 12 May 1803—12 May 1803: Peace of Amiens ends ? resumption of war with France ? The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
  • 23 July 1803—23 July 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to Croydon, horse-drawn)
37 1804 
  • 1804—1804: Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed 'Australia'
  • 21 February 1804—21 February 1804: Richard Trevithick runs his railway engine on the Penydarren Railway (9.5 miles from Pen-y-Darren to Abercynon in South Wales) this hauled a train with 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers. It was commemorated by the Royal Mint in 2004 in the form of A ?2 coin.
  • 3 March 1804—3 March 1804: John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal Horticultural Society
  • 2 December 1804—2 December 1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
  • 12 December 1804—12 December 1804: Spain declares war on Britain
38 1805 
  • 1805—1805: London docks opened
  • 21 October 1805—21 October 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
  • 2 December 1805—2 December 1805: Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
39 1806 
  • 1806—1806: Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
  • 9 January 1806—9 January 1806: Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
40 1807 
  • 25 March 1807—25 March 1807: Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 ? but does not prohibit colonial slavery
41 1808 
  • 1808—1808: Gas lighting in London streets
  • 13 July 1808—13 July 1808: 'Hot Wednesday' ? temperature of 101?F in the shade recorded in London
  • 20 December 1808—20 December 1808: Beethoven premieres his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy together in Vienna
42 1809 
  • 12 February 1809—12 February 1809: Birth of Charles Darwin
  • 18 September 1809—18 September 1809: Royal Opera House opens in London
43 1810 
  • 1810—1810: John McAdam begins road construction in England, giving his name to the process of road metalling
44 1811 
  • 5 February 1811—5 February 1811: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
45 1812 
  • 11 May 1812—11 May 1812: Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, assassinated ? shot as he entered the House of Commons by a bankrupt Liverpool broker, John Bellingham, who was subsequently hanged
  • 18 June 1812—18 June 1812: Start of American 'War of 1812' (to 1814) against England and Canada
  • October 1812—October 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
46 1813 
  • 1813—1813: Ireland: First recorded '12th of July' sectarian riots in Belfast
  • 1813—1813: Jane Austen wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'
47 1814 
  • 1 January 1814—1 January 1814: Invasion of France by Allies
  • 6 April 1814—6 April 1814: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
  • 13 August 1814—13 August 1814: Convention of London signed, a treaty between the UK and the Dutch
  • 24 August 1814—24 August 1814: The British burn the White House
  • 29 November 1814—29 November 1814: 'The Times' first printed by a 'mechanical apparatus' (at 1100 sheets per hour)
  • 24 December 1814—24 December 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the 1812 war between Britain and the US
48 1815 
  • 1815—1815: Trial by Jury established in Scotland
  • 1815—1815: Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
  • 18 June 1815—18 June 1815: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
49 1816 
  • 1816—1816: Income tax abolished
  • 1816—1816: For the first time British silver coins were produced with an intrinsic value substantially below their face value ? the first official 'token' coinage
  • 1816—1816: Climate: the 'year without a summer' ? followed a volcanic explosion of the mountain 'Tambora in Indonesia the previous year the biggest volcanic explosion in 10000 years
  • 1816—1816: Large scale emigration to North America
  • 1816—1816: Trans-Atlantic packet service begins
50 1817 
  • 1817—1817: March of the Manchester Blanketeers; Habeas Corpus suspended
  • 1817—1817: Constable painted 'Flatford Mill'
51 1818 
  • 1818—1818: Manchester cotton spinners' strike
  • 20 October 1818—20 October 1818: 'Convention of 1818' signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the US-Canada border on the 49th parallel for most of its length
52 1819 
  • 1819—1819: Primitive bicycle, the Dandy Horse, becomes popular
  • 1819—1819: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 1819—1819: Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles
  • May 1819—May 1819: SS 'Savannah' first steamship to cross Atlantic reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 Days reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 Days mostly under sail)
  • 16 August 1819—16 August 1819: Peterloo Massacre at Manchester ? a large, orderly group of 60,000 meets at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester ? demand Parliamentary Reform ? mounted troops charge on the meeting, killing 11 people and and maiming many others
53 1820 
  • 1820—1820: Cato Street Conspiracy ? plot to assissinate British cabinet
  • 1820—1820: Abolition of the Spanish Inquisition
  • 29 January 1820—29 January 1820: Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
  • 1 August 1820—1 August 1820: Regent's Canal in London opens
  • 17 August 1820—17 August 1820: Trial of Queen Caroline to prove her infidelities so George IV can divorce her ? George tries to secure a Bill of Pains and Penalties against her ? Caroline is virtually acquitted because bill passed by such a small majority of Lords
54 1821 
  • 1821—1821: Faraday publishes 'Principles of electro-magnetic rotation'
  • 1821—1821: Constable paints 'The Hay Wain'
  • 5 May 1821—5 May 1821: Napoleon Bonaparte dies on St Helena
55 1822 
  • 14 June 1822—14 June 1822: Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
56 1823 
  • 1823—1823: New laws concerning marriage by license ? 'very troublesome' according to some the Act was repealed all in a hurry at the beginning of the next session
  • 1823—1823: Peel begins penal reforms ? death penalty abolished for over 100 crimes
  • 1823—1823: Rugby Football 'invented' at Rugby School
  • 1823—1823: Rubberised waterproof material produced by MacIntosh
  • 2 December 1823—2 December 1823: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts (the 'Monroe Doctrine')
57 1824 
  • 1824—1824: RSPCA established
  • 1824—1824: Portland cement patented
  • 4 March 1824—4 March 1824: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) founded (called the 'National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck' until 1854)
  • 10 May 1824—10 May 1824: National Gallery in London opens to the public
58 1825 
  • 27 September 1825—27 September 1825: Stockton to Darlington Railway opens ? world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
59 1827 
  • 1827—1827: Ohm's Law published
60 1828 
  • 25 October 1828—25 October 1828: St Katharine Docks in London opened (designed by Thomas Telford)
61 1829 
  • 1829—1829: London Metropolitan Police Force formed, nicknamed 'Bobbies' after Sir Robert Peel
  • 1829—1829: Louis Braille invents his system of finger-reading for the blind
  • 10 June 1829—10 June 1829: First Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race
  • 6 October 1829—6 October 1829: George Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill trials (it was the only one to complete the trial!)
62 1830 
  • 1830—1830: Uprisings and agitation across Europe: the Netherlands are split into Holland and Belgium
  • July 1830—July 1830: Revolution in France, fall of Charles X and the Bourbons ? Louis Philippe (the Citizen King) on the throne
  • 15 September 1830—15 September 1830: George Stephenson's Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened by the Duke of Wellington ? first mail carried by rail, and first death on the railway as William Huskisson, a leading politician, is run over!
63 1831 
  • 1831—1831: A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled
  • 1 June 1831—1 June 1831: James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole
  • 1 August 1831—1 August 1831: 'New' London Bridge opens (replaced 1973) ? old bridge (which had existed for over 600 years) then demolished
64 1832 
  • 1832—1832: Electoral Registers introduced
  • 1832—1832: Electric telegraph invented by Morse
  • 7 June 1832—7 June 1832: Reform Bill passed ? Representation of the People Act
65 1833 
  • January 1833—January 1833: Britain invades the Falkland Islands
  • 29 August 1833—29 August 1833: Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
66 1834 
  • 1834—1834: Babbage invents forerunner of the computer
  • 18 March 1834—18 March 1834: 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
  • 1 May 1834—1 May 1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions
67 1835 
  • 1835—1835: Christmas becomes a national holiday
  • 1835—1835: First railway boom period starts in Britain construction of Great Western Railway
68 1836 
  • 1836—1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
  • 30 January 1836—30 January 1836: Telford's Menai Straits Bridge opened ? considered the world's first modern suspension bridge
  • 25 February 1836—25 February 1836: Samuel Colt patented the 'revolver'
  • 6 March 1836—6 March 1836: The Alamo falls to Mexican troops - death of Davy Crockett
  • July 1836—July 1836: Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
69 1837 
  • 1837—1837: Pitman introduces his shorthand system
  • 1837—1837: P&O Founded
  • 20 June 1837—20 June 1837: William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
  • 1 July 1837—1 July 1837: Compulsory registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in England & Wales - Registration Districts were formed covering several parishes; initially they had the same boundaries as the Poor Law boundaries set up in 1834
  • 13 July 1837—13 July 1837: Queen Victoria moves into the first Buckingham Palace
  • 20 July 1837—20 July 1837: Euston Railway station opens - first in London
70 1838 
  • 28 June 1838—28 June 1838: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
71 1839 
  • 1839—1839: First Opium War between Britain and China (to 1842) - Britain captures Hong Kong
  • 1839—1839: Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan refines the primitive bicycle adding a mechanical crank drive to the rear wheel,thus creating the first true 'bicycle' in the modern Sense
  • 1839—1839: Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber
72 1840 
  • 1840—1840: Population Act relating to taking of censuses in Britain
  • 1840—1840: Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849, but these probably landed elsewhere)
  • 10 January 1840—10 January 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
73 1841 
  • 1841—1841: Thomas Cook starts package tours
  • 10 February 1841—10 February 1841: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp
  • 6 June 1841—6 June 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
74 1842 
  • 1842—1842: Income Tax reintroduced in Britain
  • 30 March 1842—30 March 1842: Ether used as an anesthetic for the first time (by Dr Crawford Long in America)
  • 29 August 1842—29 August 1842: Treaty of Nanking - End of First Opium War - Britain gains Hong Kong
75 1843 
  • 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
  • 27 May 1843—27 May 1843: The Great Hall of Euston station opened in London
  • 19 July 1843—19 July 1843: Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched
76 1844 
  • 6 June 1844—6 June 1844: YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
77 1845 
  • 1845—1845: Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
  • 17 March 1845—17 March 1845: The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
78 1846 
  • 10 September 1846—10 September 1846: The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
79 1847 
  • 1847—1847: US Mormons make Salt Lake City their centre
  • January 1847—January 1847: An anesthetic used for the first time in England (James Simpson used ether to numb the pain of labour)
80 1848 
  • 1848—1848: First commercial production of chewing gum
  • 24 January 1848—24 January 1848: Gold found at Sutter's Mill, California - starts the California gold rush
  • 11 July 1848—11 July 1848: Waterloo railway station in London opens
81 1849 
  • 1849—1849: Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation - which finally occurred in 1971!
82 1851 
  • 1851—1851: Gold discovered in Australia
  • 1 May 1851—1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
83 1852 
  • 1852—1852: Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
  • 1852—1852: Wells Fargo established in USA
84 1853 
  • 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
85 1854 
  • 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
  • 27 March 1854—27 March 1854: Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
  • 25 October 1854—25 October 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
86 1856 
  • 1856—1856: End of Crimean War
  • 29 January 1856—29 January 1856: Victoria Cross created by Royal Warrant, backdated to 1854 to recognise acts during the Crimean War (first award ceremony 26 June 1857)
87 1857 
  • 1857—1857: Work starts on the laying of the Transatlantic cable
88 1858 
  • 1858—1858: 'The great stink' - smell of the River Thames forced Parliament to stop work
  • 1858—1858: Royal Opera House opens in Covent Garden, London
89 1859 
  • 1859—1859: Peaceful picketing legalised in Britain
  • 25 April 1859—25 April 1859: Work started on building the Suez canal (opened 17 Nov 1869)
  • 4 May 1859—4 May 1859: Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge opened at Saltash giving rail link between Devon and Cornwall
  • 24 November 1859—24 November 1859: Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'
90 1860 
  • 29 August 1860—29 August 1860: First tram service in Europe starts in Birkenhead
91 1861 
  • 25 May 1861—25 May 1861: American Civil War begins
92 1862 
  • 1862—1862: Lincoln issues first legal US paper money (Greenbacks)
  • 20 April 1862—20 April 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
93 1863 
  • 1863—1863: Football Association founded (UK)
  • 1863—1863: Opening of state institution for criminally insane at Broadmoor, England
  • 10 January 1863—10 January 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
94 1864 
  • 1864—1864: A man-powered submarine, 'Hunley' sank a Federal steam ship USS Housatonic at the entrance to Charleston harbour in 1864 - the first recorded successful attack by a submarine on a surface ship
  • 11 March 1864—11 March 1864: The Great Sheffield Flood - over 250 died when a new dam broke while it was being filled for the first time
  • 20 August 1864—20 August 1864: Red Cross established - Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention
  • 8 December 1864—8 December 1864: Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon officially opened
95 1865 
  • 1865—1865: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) becomes first woman doctor in England [she later became the first woman mayor in England, in Aldeburgh 1908]
  • 1865—1865: First concrete roads built in Britain
  • 14 April 1865—14 April 1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
  • 14 April 1865—14 April 1865: Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth
  • 5 July 1865—5 July 1865: William Booth (1829-1912) founds Salvation Army, in London
96 1867 
  • 1 July 1867—1 July 1867: The British North America Act takes effect, creating the Canadian Confederation
97 1868 
  • 1868—1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
98 1869 
  • 1869—1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
  • 23 November 1869—23 November 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
99 1870 
  • 1870—1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
  • 1870—1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
  • 1870—1870: Water closets come into wide use
  • 1870—1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
  • 1 October 1870—1 October 1870: First British postcard - halfpenny post
100 1871 
  • 27 March 1871—27 March 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
  • 29 March 1871—29 March 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
  • 29 June 1871—29 June 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
101 1872 
  • 1872—1872: Licensing hours introduced
  • 1872—1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
  • 4 December 1872—4 December 1872: American ship 'Mary Celeste' is found abandoned by the British brig 'Dei Gratia' in the Atlantic Ocean
102 1874 
  • 1874—1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
  • 5 April 1874—5 April 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world - features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
103 1875 
  • 1875—1875: London's main sewage system completed
  • 1 January 1875—1 January 1875: Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
104 1876 
  • 14 February 1876—14 February 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
105 1877 
  • 1877—1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
106 1878 
  • 1878—1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
  • 1878—1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
  • 1878—1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
107 1879 
  • 18 September 1879—18 September 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
108 1880 
  • 1880—1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
  • 1880—1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
  • 2 August 1880—2 August 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
109 1881 
  • 1881—1881: Postal Orders introduced
  • 1881—1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
  • September 1881—September 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
  • 26 October 1881—26 October 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
110 1882 
  • 1882—1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
111 1883 
  • 1883—1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
  • 24 May 1883—24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
  • 1 August 1883—1 August 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
  • 27 August 1883—27 August 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
112 1884 
  • 31 May 1884—31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
  • 13 October 1884—13 October 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
113 1885 
  • 1885—1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
  • 1885—1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
  • 1885—1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
  • 1885—1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
  • March 1885—March 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
  • 5 September 1885—5 September 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
  • 29 September 1885—29 September 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
114 1886 
  • 20 January 1886—20 January 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
  • May 1886—May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
  • 29 May 1886—29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
115 1887 
  • 1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
116 1888 
  • 1888—1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
  • 1888—1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
  • 1888—1888: County Councils set up in Britain
  • 1888—1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
  • 1888—1888: First box camera - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
  • 20 March 1888—20 March 1888: Football League formed
117 1889 
  • 1889—1889: Celluloid film produced
  • 1889—1889: Dock Strike - docker's won their 'Docker's Tanner' 6 old pennies
  • 31 March 1889—31 March 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
  • 14 May 1889—14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
  • 3 June 1889—3 June 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
  • 28 September 1889—28 September 1889: Length of a metre defined
118 1890 
  • 4 March 1890—4 March 1890: Forth railway bridge opens - took six years to build
  • 4 November 1890—4 November 1890: City & South London Railway opens - London's first deep-level tube railway and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
119 1891 
  • 1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
  • 18 March 1891—18 March 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
  • 4 May 1891—4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
  • 24 August 1891—24 August 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
120 1892 
  • 1892—1892: Electric oven invented
  • 1892—1892: Shop Hours Act - limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
  • 6 October 1892—6 October 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
121 1893 
  • 1893—1893: Henry Ford's first car
  • 1893—1893: Zip fastener invented
122 1894 
  • 1894—1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
  • 1 January 1894—1 January 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
  • 1 March 1894—1 March 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
  • 30 June 1894—30 June 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
  • 2 August 1894—2 August 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
123 1895 
  • 1895—1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
  • 12 January 1895—12 January 1895: The National Trust founded in England
  • 24 May 1895—24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
  • 28 May 1895—28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
  • 12 July 1895—12 July 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
  • 17 October 1895—17 October 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences - John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
  • November 1895—November 1895: X-rays discovered
124 1896 
  • 5 April 1896—5 April 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
  • 2 June 1896—2 June 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
125 1897 
  • 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
126 1898 
  • 1898—1898: First photograph using artificial light
  • 1898—1898: Zeppelin builds airship
  • 1898—1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
  • 17 March 1898—17 March 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
  • 27 June 1898—27 June 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
127 1899 
  • 6 March 1899—6 March 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
  • 11 October 1899—11 October 1899: Start of Second Boer War
128 1900 
  • 1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
  • 1900—1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
  • 1900—1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
  • 9 February 1900—9 February 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
  • 27 February 1900—27 February 1900: Labour Party formed
129 1901 
  • 1901—1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
  • 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
  • 22 January 1901—22 January 1901: Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king
  • 2 February 1901—2 February 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral - interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
  • June 1901—June 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
  • 2 October 1901—2 October 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
  • 12 December 1901—12 December 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
130 1902 
  • 1902—1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
  • 1902—1902: Cremation Act - cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments, and with two death certificates issued
  • 1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
  • 24 May 1902—24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
  • 31 May 1902—31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
  • 9 August 1902—9 August 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
131 1903 
  • 1903—1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
  • 1903—1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
  • 1903—1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
  • 14 December 1903—14 December 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
132 1904 
  • 1904—1904: Leeds University established
  • 8 April 1904—8 April 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
  • 4 May 1904—4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French (completed 1914)
133 1905 
  • 1905—1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time - placed the Prime Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
  • 1905—1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
  • 1905—1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
  • 11 April 1905—11 April 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
134 1906 
  • 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
  • 10 February 1906—10 February 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
  • 15 March 1906—15 March 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
  • 26 May 1906—26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
  • 20 September 1906—20 September 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
135 1907 
  • 1907—1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
  • 1907—1907: Imperial College, London, is established
  • 1907—1907: First airship flies over London
  • 1907—1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
  • July 1907—July 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its shape after being heated
  • 1 August 1907—1 August 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
  • 9 November 1907—9 November 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
136 1908 
  • 1908—1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
  • 1908—1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
  • 1908—1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
  • 1 July 1908—1 July 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
  • 12 August 1908—12 August 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
137 1909 
  • 1909—1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
  • 1909—1909: Peary reaches the north pole
  • 1909—1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite - start of the plastic age
  • 1 January 1909—1 January 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
  • 16 January 1909—16 January 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
  • 15 March 1909—15 March 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
  • 25 July 1909—25 July 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
138 1910 
  • 1910—1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
  • 1910—1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
  • 1910—1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
  • 1910—1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
  • 1910—1910: Halley's comet reappears
  • 1910—1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
  • 6 May 1910—6 May 1910: Edward VII dies - George V becomes King
139 1911 
  • 1911—1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
  • 1911—1911: British MPs receive a salary
  • 1911—1911: First British Official Secrets Act
  • 1911—1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
  • 1911—1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
  • 2 April 1911—2 April 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
  • 22 June 1911—22 June 1911: Coronation of George V
  • 14 December 1911—14 December 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
140 1912 
  • 1912—1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
  • 1912—1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
  • 1912—1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' - hoax, exposed in 1953
  • 18 January 1912—18 January 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition - he and his team reach the south pole on Jan 18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November
  • 14 April 1912—14 April 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
  • 13 May 1912—13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
141 1913 
  • 1913—1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords - threat of civil war in Ireland - formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
  • 1913—1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London - Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
  • 1913—1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes
  • 1913—1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
  • 1913—1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
  • 4 June 1913—4 June 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby and dies
142 1914 
  • 1914—1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War
  • 1914—1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
  • 28 June 1914—28 June 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
  • 4 August 1914—4 August 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
  • 5 August 1914—5 August 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph links to the outside world
  • 15 August 1914—15 August 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1)
  • October 1914—October 1914: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
  • 27 November 1914—27 November 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
  • 16 December 1914—16 December 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
143 1915 
  • 1915—1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
  • 1915—1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
  • 19 January 1915—19 January 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
  • February 1915—February 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
  • April 1915—April 1915: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
  • 25 April 1915—25 April 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
  • 7 May 1915—7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
  • 16 May 1915—16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll (aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
144 1916 
  • 1916—1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
  • February 1916—February 1916: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
  • 24 April 1916—24 April 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence
  • 21 May 1916—21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
  • 31 May 1916—31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and German fleets
  • 5 June 1916—5 June 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
  • 3 August 1916—3 August 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
  • 15 September 1916—15 September 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
  • 7 December 1916—7 December 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
145 1917 
  • 1917—1917: Battle of Cambrai - first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
  • 1917—1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
  • February 1917—February 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
  • 16 April 1917—16 April 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
  • 17 April 1917—17 April 1917: USA declares war on Germany
  • 26 May 1917—26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July)
  • July 1917—July 1917: Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
  • 7 November 1917—7 November 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
  • 6 December 1917—6 December 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision, obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion
  • 9 December 1917—9 December 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
146 1918 
  • 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
  • 1918—1918: War of Independence in Ireland
  • 18 January 1918—18 January 1918: Bentley Motors founded
  • 8 March 1918—8 March 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
  • July 1918—July 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
  • 1 October 1918—1 October 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
  • 11 November 1918—11 November 1918: Armistice signed
  • December 1918—December 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein member refused to take her seat
147 1919 
  • 1919—1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
  • 1919—1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
  • 15 June 1919—15 June 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
  • 28 June 1919—28 June 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
148 1920 
  • 1920—1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
  • 1920—1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
  • 1920—1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
  • February 1920—February 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
149 1921 
  • 1921—1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
  • 1921—1921: Insulin discovery announced
  • 1921—1921: First birth control clinic
  • 19 June 1921—19 June 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
  • 6 December 1921—6 December 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
150 1922 
  • 1922—1922: Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
  • 1 June 1922—1 June 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
  • October 1922—October 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)
151 1923 
  • 1923—1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
  • 1923—1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
  • 1923—1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
  • 1 January 1923—1 January 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR - lasted until nationalisation in 1948
  • 16 February 1923—16 February 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
  • 28 April 1923—28 April 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) - 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ' popular song of the time became the West Ham anthem
  • 28 September 1923—28 September 1923: First publication of Radio Times
152 1924 
  • 4 January 1924—4 January 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
  • 5 February 1924—5 February 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC
  • 31 March 1924—31 March 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)
153 1925 
  • 1925—1925: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 18 July 1925—18 July 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
154 1926 
  • 1926—1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
  • 1926—1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
  • 1926—1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
  • 1926—1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
  • 21 April 1926—21 April 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
  • 3 May 1926—3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
  • 31 October 1926—31 October 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
155 1927 
  • 1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
  • 7 January 1927—7 January 1927: First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
  • 22 January 1927—22 January 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
  • 1 May 1927—1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris
  • 20 May 1927—20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33? hours
  • 31 May 1927—31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
  • 24 July 1927—24 July 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
156 1928 
  • 1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
  • 26 April 1928—26 April 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
  • 15 September 1928—15 September 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
157 1929 
  • 1929—1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
  • 1929—1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
  • 1929—1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
158 1930 
  • 1930—1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
  • 1930—1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
  • 30 January 1930—30 January 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
  • 31 January 1930—31 January 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
  • 6 March 1930—6 March 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
  • 5 October 1930—5 October 1930: R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
159 1931 
  • 1931—1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
  • 1931—1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
  • 14 April 1931—14 April 1931: Highway Code first issued
  • 26 April 1931—26 April 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2)
  • 21 October 1931—21 October 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off gold standard
160 1932 
  • 1932—1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
  • 1932—1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
  • 1932—1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
  • 1932—1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
  • 21 May 1932—21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
  • 3 October 1932—3 October 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
  • 3 October 1932—3 October 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
161 1933 
  • 1933—1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
  • 1933—1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
  • 12 November 1933—12 November 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
162 1934 
  • 1934—1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
  • 18 July 1934—18 July 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
  • 26 September 1934—26 September 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
  • 30 November 1934—30 November 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
163 1935 
  • 1935—1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
  • 1935—1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
  • 28 February 1935—28 February 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from New York-London)
  • 12 March 1935—12 March 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
  • 1 June 1935—1 June 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
  • 30 July 1935—30 July 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
164 1936 
  • 1936—1936: Jet engine first tested
  • 20 January 1936—20 January 1936: George V dies
  • 5 May 1936—5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
  • 24 July 1936—24 July 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
  • 2 November 1936—2 November 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
  • 30 November 1936—30 November 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
  • 5 December 1936—5 December 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'
165 1937 
  • 1937—1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
  • 1937—1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
  • 12 April 1937—12 April 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
  • 12 May 1937—12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
  • 28 May 1937—28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
  • 3 June 1937—3 June 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
  • 4 December 1937—4 December 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
166 1938 
  • 1938—1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
  • 1938—1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
  • 1938—1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
  • 12 March 1938—12 March 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
  • 3 July 1938—3 July 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
  • 27 September 1938—27 September 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
  • 29 September 1938—29 September 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
  • 30 October 1938—30 October 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
167 1939 
  • 1939—1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
  • 1939—1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
  • 1939—1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
  • 1 September 1939—1 September 1939: Germany invades Poland
  • 3 September 1939—3 September 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
  • 6 September 1939—6 September 1939: First air-raid on Britain
  • 11 September 1939—11 September 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
  • 14 October 1939—14 October 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
  • 7 December 1939—7 December 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
  • 17 December 1939—17 December 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
168 1940 
  • 1 April 1940—1 April 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
  • 11 May 1940—11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
  • 13 May 1940—13 May 1940: Germany invades France
  • 27 May 1940—27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
  • 25 June 1940—25 June 1940: Fall of France to Germany
  • 7 September 1940—7 September 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
  • 15 September 1940—15 September 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
  • 14 November 1940—14 November 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
169 1941 
  • 1941—1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
  • 1941—1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
  • 1941—1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
  • 1941—1941: First use of antibiotics
  • 10 May 1941—10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
  • 27 May 1941—27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
  • 22 June 1941—22 June 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
  • 1 July 1941—1 July 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
  • December 1941—December 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
  • December 1941—December 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
  • 7 December 1941—7 December 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
  • 8 December 1941—8 December 1941: USA enters WWII
  • 24 December 1941—24 December 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
170 1942 
  • 1942—1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
  • 1942—1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
  • 30 May 1942—30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
  • 4 June 1942—4 June 1942: Battle of Midway
  • 19 August 1942—19 August 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
  • 6 September 1942—6 September 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
  • 3 October 1942—3 October 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
  • 23 October 1942—23 October 1942: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
  • 2 December 1942—2 December 1942: 'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
171 1943 
  • 1943—1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
  • 16 May 1943—16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
  • 24 July 1943—24 July 1943: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
172 1944 
  • 6 April 1944—6 April 1944: PAYE income tax begins
  • 4 June 1944—4 June 1944: Allies enter Rome
  • 6 June 1944—6 June 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
  • 12 June 1944—12 June 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
  • 8 September 1944—8 September 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
  • 11 September 1944—11 September 1944: Allies enter Germany
  • 16 December 1944—16 December 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
173 1945 
  • 4 February 1945—4 February 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
  • 29 March 1945—29 March 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
  • 25 April 1945—25 April 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
  • 30 April 1945—30 April 1945: Hitler commits suicide
  • 8 May 1945—8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
  • 9 May 1945—9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
  • 26 June 1945—26 June 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
  • 16 July 1945—16 July 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on 2nd Dec 1942)
  • 26 July 1945—26 July 1945: Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
  • 29 July 1945—29 July 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
  • 6 August 1945—6 August 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
  • 9 August 1945—9 August 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
  • 15 August 1945—15 August 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
  • 2 September 1945—2 September 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
  • 24 October 1945—24 October 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
  • 4 November 1945—4 November 1945: UNESCO founded
174 1946 
  • 1946—1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
  • 1946—1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
  • 1 January 1946—1 January 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
  • 1 March 1946—1 March 1946: Bank of England nationalised
175 1947 
  • 1947—1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
  • 1947—1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
  • 1 January 1947—1 January 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
  • 23 February 1947—23 February 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
  • 1 March 1947—1 March 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
  • 1 April 1947—1 April 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
  • 26 October 1947—26 October 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
  • 20 November 1947—20 November 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
176 1948 
  • 1948—1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
  • 1948—1948: Transistor radio invented
  • 1948—1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
  • 1 January 1948—1 January 1948: British Railways nationalised
  • 5 July 1948—5 July 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
  • 29 July 1948—29 July 1948: London Olympics begin
177 1949 
  • 1949—1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
  • 1949—1949: De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
  • 15 March 1949—15 March 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
  • 4 April 1949—4 April 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
178 1950 
  • 19 May 1950—19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
  • 26 May 1950—26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
  • 11 July 1950—11 July 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
  • 9 September 1950—9 September 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
  • 28 December 1950—28 December 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
179 1951 
  • 3 May 1951—3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
  • 28 May 1951—28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
  • 20 December 1951—20 December 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
180 1952 
  • 1952—1952: Contraceptive pill invented
  • 1952—1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
  • 1952—1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
  • 1952—1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
  • 6 February 1952—6 February 1952: King George VI dies
  • 21 February 1952—21 February 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
  • 2 May 1952—2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
  • 5 July 1952—5 July 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
  • 16 August 1952—16 August 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
  • 6 September 1952—6 September 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
  • 3 October 1952—3 October 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
  • 1 November 1952—1 November 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA - the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised.
  • 25 November 1952—25 November 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
  • 4 December 1952—4 December 1952: Great smog hits London
181 1953 
  • 31 January 1953—31 January 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century - severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives - - effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
  • 5 February 1953—5 February 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
  • 5 March 1953—5 March 1953: Death of Stalin
  • 26 March 1953—26 March 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
  • 24 April 1953—24 April 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
  • 25 April 1953—25 April 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
  • 2 June 1953—2 June 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
  • 26 September 1953—26 September 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
182 1954 
  • 1954—1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
  • 1954—1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
  • 1954—1954: First transistor radios sold
  • 6 May 1954—6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
  • 3 July 1954—3 July 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
  • 5 July 1954—5 July 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
  • 30 September 1954—30 September 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
183 1955 
  • 1955—1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
  • 27 July 1955—27 July 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
  • 22 September 1955—22 September 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
184 1956 
  • 1956—1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
  • 1 March 1956—1 March 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
  • 17 April 1956—17 April 1956: Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
  • 3 June 1956—3 June 1956: 3rd class travel abolished on British Railways (renamed 'Third Class' as 'Second Class', which had been abolished in 1875 leaving just First and Third Class)
  • 31 October 1956—31 October 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
185 1957 
  • 1957—1957: Britain introduces parking meters
  • 1957—1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
  • 11 January 1957—11 January 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
  • 14 May 1957—14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
  • 15 May 1957—15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
  • 25 May 1957—25 May 1957: Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg - became operational Jan 1958
  • 4 December 1957—4 December 1957: Lewisham rail disaster - 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct collapses on top of them
  • 25 December 1957—25 December 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
186 1958 
  • 1958—1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
  • 1958—1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
  • 1958—1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
  • 13 May 1958—13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
  • 26 July 1958—26 July 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
  • 5 December 1958—5 December 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
  • 5 December 1958—5 December 1958: Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
187 1959 
  • 3 February 1959—3 February 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
  • 17 February 1959—17 February 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
  • 24 May 1959—24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
  • August 1959—August 1959: BMC Mini car launched
  • 3 October 1959—3 October 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
  • 1 November 1959—1 November 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
188 1960 
  • 17 March 1960—17 March 1960: New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
  • 18 March 1960—18 March 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
  • 21 July 1960—21 July 1960: Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II (took 40 days), winning the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race which he co-founded
  • 12 August 1960—12 August 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
  • 12 September 1960—12 September 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
  • 1 October 1960—1 October 1960: HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
  • 2 November 1960—2 November 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
189 1961 
  • 1 January 1961—1 January 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
  • 13 March 1961—13 March 1961: Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
  • 14 March 1961—14 March 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
  • 1 May 1961—1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
  

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