|
Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1865 | |
2 | 1866 | |
3 | 1867 | - 1 Jul 1867: The British North America Act takes effect, creating the Canadian Confederation
|
4 | 1868 | |
5 | 1869 | - 1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
- 4 Mar 1869—3 Mar 1877: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States
Ulysses S. Grant
- 23 Nov 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
|
6 | 1870 | - 1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
- 1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
- 1870: Water closets come into wide use
- 1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
- 1870: Smallpox epidemic in the Netherlands. In 1871 the number of deaths rises to 15,787
- 1870: Netherlands abolished the death penalty
- 1 Oct 1870: First British postcard
|
7 | 1871 | - 27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
- 29 Mar 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
- 29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
|
8 | 1872 | - 1872: Licensing hours introduced
- 1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
- 4 Dec 1872: American ship "Mary Celeste" is found abandoned by the British brig "Dei Gratia" in the Atlantic Ocean
|
9 | 1873 | - 1873: Netherlands
Aceh war . On 8 April, the Dutch colonial army lands on the coast of Sumatra
|
10 | 1874 | - 1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
- 1874: Netherlands
Children Act Samuel van Houten. Labour by children under 12 is prohibited.
- 20 Feb 1874—21 Apr 1880: Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield
- 5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world
|
11 | 1875 | - 1875: London's main sewage system completed
- 1875—1882: US Epidemic
North American smallpox epidemic
- 1 Jan 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)
|
12 | 1876 | - 1876: Netherlands
Mata Hari was born in Leeuwarden on August 7, Margaret Gertrude Zelle
- 14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone
|
13 | 1877 | - 1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
- 4 Mar 1877—3 Mar 1881: Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 19th President of the United States
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
|
14 | 1878 | - 1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
- 1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
- 1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
|
15 | 1879 | - 1879: Netherlands
Establishment of the 1st political party : the Anti- Revolutionary Party , led by Abraham Kuyper
- 18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
|
16 | 1880 | - 1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
- 1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
- 23 Apr 1880—9 Jun 1885: William Ewart Gladstone, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
William Ewart Gladstone
- 2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
|
17 | 1881 | - 1881: Postal Orders introduced
- 1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
- 4 Mar 1881—19 Sep 1881: James Abram Garfield, 20th President of the United States
James Abram Garfield
- Sep 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)
- 19 Sep 1881—3 Mar 1885: Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President of the United States
Chester Alan Arthur
- 26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
|
18 | 1882 | - 1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
|
19 | 1883 | - 1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
- 24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
- 1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
- 27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java
|
20 | 1884 | - 31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
- 13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
|
21 | 1885 | - 1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
- 1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
- 1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
- 1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
- Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
- 4 Mar 1885—3 Mar 1889: Grover Cleveland, 22nd President of the United States
Grover Cleveland
- 23 Jun 1885—26 Jan 1886: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
- 5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
- 29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
|
22 | 1886 | - 20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
- 1 Feb 1886—20 Jul 1886: William Ewart Gladstone, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
William Ewart Gladstone
- May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named
"Coca-Cola"
- 29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
- 25 Jul 1886—11 Aug 1892: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
|
23 | 1887 | - 1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
|
24 | 1888 | - 1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez
Canal in war and peace
- 1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
- 1888: County Councils set up in Britain
- 1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
- 1888: First box camera
- 20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
|
25 | 1889 | - 1889: Celluloid film produced
- 1889: Dock Strike
- 4 Mar 1889—3 Mar 1893: Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States
Benjamin Harrison
- 31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
- 14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
- 3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
- 28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
|
26 | 1890 | - 1890: Netherlands
King William III dies . Queen Emma becomes regent
- 1890: Netherlands
Birth of Princess Wilhelmina
- 4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens
- 4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens
|
27 | 1891 | - 1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
- 18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
- 4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
- 24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
|
28 | 1892 | - 1892: Electric oven invented
- 1892: Shop Hours Act
- 15 Aug 1892—2 Mar 1894: William Ewart Gladstone, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
William Ewart Gladstone
- 6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
|
29 | 1893 | - 1893: Henry Ford's first car
- 1893: Zip fastener invented
- 4 Mar 1893—3 Mar 1897: Grover Cleveland, 24th President of the United States
Grover Cleveland
|
30 | 1894 | - 1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
- 1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
- 1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
- 5 Mar 1894—25 Jun 1895: Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
- 30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
- 2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
|
31 | 1895 | - 1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
- 12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England
- 24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
- 28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
- 25 Jun 1895—11 Jul 1902: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
- 12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
- 17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences
- Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
|
32 | 1896 | - 1896: Netherlands
In 1896, the Hague photographer Adolphe Zimmermans was the first who drove a car on Dutch roads
- 5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
- 2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
|
33 | 1897 | - 1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
- 4 Mar 1897—24 Sep 1901: William McKinley, 25th President of the United States
William McKinley
|
34 | 1898 | - 1898: First photograph using artificial light
- 1898: Zeppelin builds airship
- 1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
- 1898: Netherlands
Inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina in Amsterdam.
- 17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
- 25 Apr 1898: Spanish-American War
- 27 Jun 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)
|
35 | 1899 | |
36 | 1900 | - 1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
- 1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
- 1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
- 9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
- 27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
|
37 | 1901 | - 1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
- 1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 1901: Netherlands
Queen Wilhelmina marries Prince Henry , Duke of Mecklenburg
- 22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies
- 2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral
- Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
- 14 Sep 1901—3 Mar 1909: Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
Theodore Roosevelt
- 2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
- 12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi
|
38 | 1902 | - 1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
- 1902: Cremation Act
- 1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
- 24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
- 31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
- 11 Jul 1902—5 Dec 1905: Arthur James Balfour, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Arthur James Balfour
- 9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
|
39 | 1903 | - 1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
- 1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
- 1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
- 14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
|
40 | 1904 | - 1904: Leeds University established
- 8 Apr 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
- 4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French
(completed 1914)
|
41 | 1905 | - 1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time
- 1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
- 1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
- 11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
- 5 Dec 1905—7 Apr 1908: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
|
42 | 1906 | - 1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
- 10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
- 15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
- 26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
- 20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
|
43 | 1907 | - 1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
- 1907: Imperial College, London, is established
- 1907: First airship flies over London
- 1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
- Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its
shape after being heated
- 1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
- 9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
|
44 | 1908 | - 1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
- 1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
- 1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
- 7 Apr 1908—7 Dec 1916: Herbert Henry Asquith, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
Herbert Henry Asquith
- 1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
- 12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
|
45 | 1909 | - 1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
- 1909: Peary reaches the north pole
- 1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite
- 1909: Netherlands
Princess Juliana born
- 1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
- 16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
- 4 Mar 1909—3 Mar 1913: William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States
William Howard Taft
- 15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
- 25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
|
46 | 1910 | - 1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
- 1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
- 1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
- 1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
- 1910: Halley's comet reappears
- 1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
- 6 May 1910: Edward VII dies
|
47 | 1911 | - 1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
- 1911: British MPs receive a salary
- 1911: First British Official Secrets Act
- 1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
- 1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
- 2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
- 14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
|
48 | 1912 | - 1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
- 1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
- 1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man'
- 18 Jan 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition
- 14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage
- 13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
|
49 | 1913 | - 1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords
- 1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London
- 1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political
purposes
- 1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
- 1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
- 4 Mar 1913—3 Mar 1921: Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States
Woodrow Wilson
- 4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the
Epsom Derby and dies
|
50 | 1914 | - 1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster
to be decided after the War
- 1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
- 28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
- 4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
- 5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph
links to the outside world
- 15 Aug 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)
- Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres
- 27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
- 16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
|
51 | 1915 | - 1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
- 1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
- 19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia
- Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
- Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres
- 25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
- 7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland
- 16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll
(aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
|
52 | 1916 | - 1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
- Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun
- 24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland
- 21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
- 31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland
- 5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
- 3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
- 15 Sep 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 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
- 7 Dec 1916—19 Oct 1922: David Lloyd George, UK Prime Minister (Liberal)
David Lloyd George
|
53 | 1917 | - 1917: Battle of Cambrai
- 1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
- Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
- 6 Apr 1917: World War I
- 16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
- 17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
- 26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal
proclamation on 17 July)
- Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele
- 7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia
- 6 Dec 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 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
|
54 | 1918 | - 1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 1918: War of Independence in Ireland
- 1918: Epidemic
The Spanish flu caused over 20 million deaths worldwide
- 18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
- 8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
- Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
- 1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
- 11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
- Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn F
|
55 | 1919 | - 1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
- 1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
- 15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
- 28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
|
56 | 1920 | - 1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
- 1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
- 1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
- Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK
|
57 | 1921 | - 1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies
- 1921: Insulin discovery announced
- 1921: First birth control clinic
- 4 Mar 1921—2 Aug 1923: Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President of the United States
Warren Gamaliel Harding
- 19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free
State and Northern Ireland
|
58 | 1922 | - 1922: Law of Property Act
- 1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
- Oct 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)
- 23 Oct 1922—20 May 1923: Andrew Bonar Law, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Andrew Bonar Law
|
59 | 1923 | - 1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
- 1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
- 1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
- 1923: Netherlands
Queen Wilhelmina celebrates its 25th jubilee
- 1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main
companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR
- 16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
- 28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2)
- 23 May 1923—16 Jan 1924: Stanley Baldwin, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Stanley Baldwin
- 2 Aug 1923—3 Mar 1929: Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States
Calvin Coolidge
- 28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
|
60 | 1924 | - 4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
- 22 Jan 1924—4 Nov 1924: James Ramsay MacDonald, UK Prime Minister (Labour)
James Ramsay MacDonald
- 5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were
first broadcast by the BBC
- 31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British
airline companies
- 4 Nov 1924—5 Jun 1929: Stanley Baldwin, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Stanley Baldwin
|