The Timeline

Our ancestors (like us) were shaped by the world they lived in and the sudden movement of a family, for example, from their birthplace to another part of the country could be explained by what was happening in the wider world. We hope that this historical timeline will help you to put the personal life of your ancestors in context with the social and political situation of the time. Related pages in The Reference Library General History Getting Started The Classified Index

---

Eleventh Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS AND CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1000	Sweyn	The Mark unit of currency	West Saxon, Mercian and Danish Law governs England
1002			Ethelred's massacre of the Danes
1014	Ethelred II The Unready
1016					The Danish Viking Canute (Cnut) son of Sweyn has victory at Ashington
1020
1028
1031					Canute's Scotland campaigns
1040
1042	Edward The Confessor	Edward's Court of Normandy	French & Latin courtly languages
1050			Westminster Abbey founded, building began
1065	Harold II the last Saxon	Edward dies 5 Jan Witan declare Harold king on 6 Jan
1066	William I of Normandy The Conqueror 25 Dec	Battle of Hastings	Bayeux Tapestry attributed to Matilda of Flanders, William I's wife or to Bishop Odo		The Norman Conquest
1072			Building of Durham Castle commenced
1075		Uprisings of Hereford, Norfolk and Northumberland quashed
1077			First Cluniac House at Lewes (Benedictine Order)
1079			Building of Winchester Cathedral commenced
1083			Ely Cathedral commenced on former nunnery site
1086		Domesday book completed			Henry, Holy Roman Emperor & German King born (last Salian dynasty)
1087	William II 26 Sep		Introduction of Feudalism		Normanization of England
1090
1093		greatest scholar is Anselm of Beck
1095		First Crusade
1096		William Rufus embarks on First Crusade
1097					Stephen born Blois France
1099					Ranierus becomes Pope Paschal II - fosters the First Crusade
1100	Henry I 5th Aug	William Rufus killed while hunting	Building of Durham Cathedral commenced

Back to Top

Twelfth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1105					Ronando Bandinelli born (becomes Pope Alexander II)
1119			Foundation of the Knights Templar		Pope Calixtus II
1122					Pope Calixtus II - Concordant of Worms
1123			St Bartholomew's Hospital, London founded by Rahere		David I becomes King of Scotland
1129			Cistercians (Order of St. Bernard) arrive from Cheaux France
1132
1135	Stephen of Blois 25 Dec
1141	Matilda (Maud)	Civil War
1147		Second Crusade
1150					Pope Alexander II named as cardinal
1154	Henry II Plantagenet 19 Dec
1162			Thomas Becket appointed Archbishop of Canterbury		Fredrick I forced into exile by Pope Alexander II
1163					Building of Notre Dame in Paris begins
1164		Constitution of Clarendon
1166			Assize (possessory) of Clarendon
1170	Henry the Young King	crowned by Archbishop of York
1172			Thomas Becket murdered at Canterbury Cathedral
1176			Assize (possessory) of Northampton
1179					Third Laterin Council by Pope Alexander III
1189	Richard I 3rd Sep	Third Crusade
1199	John 27 May

Back to Top

Thirteenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS AND CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1204		Fourth Crusade
1215		Signing of Magna Carta			Fourth Laterin Council Pope Innocent III
1216	Henry III 28 Oct	Two regents, William the Marshal and Hubert de Burgh, rule as Henry is only 9
1217		Treaty of Lambeth
1218		Fifth Crusade
1219		Death of William the Marshal
1222		Hugh de Burgh supresses an insurrection at Oxford
1223
1224
1227		Henry takes full control of government of England. Hug de Burgh retained as principal adviser.
1228
1230
1232		Peter de Riveaux appointed Treasurer of England
1236		Henry marries Eleanor of Provence
1238		Simon de Monfort marries Henry's sister, Eleanor
1258		De Monfort leads the English barons to rebel
1258		Henry signs the Provisions of Oxford
1261		Henry repudiates the Provisions of Oxford
1262
1263
1264		Battle of Lewes
1265		Battle of Evesham	The poet, writer and philospher Dante born in Florence Italy
1268
1270		Seventh Crusade
1272	Edward I 20 Nov
1277		English conquest of Wales begins
1278
1279
1280
1282
1288
1290		Death of Eleanor of Castile	Jews expelled from England
1299		Edward marries Margaret of France			Ottoman Empire begins

Back to Top

Fourteenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS AND CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307	Edward II 8th July
1308			Dante wrote The Divine Comedy between 1308 and 1321
1309					Papacy moves to Avignon
1310
1314		Battle of Bannockburn
1315-17			Great Famine in Europe
1319		Battle of Mytton: Scots defeat English
1322		Battle of Boroughbridge: crown defeats rebels
1323		Truce between Robert Bruce and Edward II but warfare continues
1325
1327	Edward III 25 Jan			First manuscript reference to a cannon	Death of Robert Bruce
1333		Battle of Halidon Hill
1336				First reference to a mounted gun aboard ship
1337					Guillaume de Machaut becomes canon at Rheims; composes "Messe de Notre Dame" during tenure
1338		Start of 100 Years War
1342
1346		Battle of Crecy
1346		Battle Of Neville's Cross
1348			Black Death reaches Europe		A third or more of the population died as a result of the Black Death
1356		Battle of Poitiers
1377	Richard II 22 June				Papacy returns to Rome Guillaume de Machaut dies
1380			Chaucer begins The Legend of Good Women
1381		The Peasants' Revolt
1382			Chaucer's: The Parlement of Foules first use of rhyme royal in English Literature
1385			Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
1387			Chaucer begins Canterbury Tales
1388		Battle of Otterburn
1399	Henry IV 30 Sep
1400		Owen Glendower revolts in Wales	Chaucer dies, London, 25 Oct

Back to Top

Fifteenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS AND CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1413	Henry V 21 March
1415		Battle of Agincourt
1422	Henry VI 1st Sep
1440			Eton College & Kings College Cambridge founded
1450		Jack Cade's rebellion
1454				Johannes Gutenberg uses movable type commercially
1455		Start of the Wars of the Roses
1455		First Battle of St Albans		Johannes Gutenberg prints 42 Line Bible in Catholic Mainz, Germany
1456
1461	Edward IV 4th Mar
1470	Henry VI
1471	Edward IV	Battle of Barnet
1476				Caxton sets up first English printing press
1477			William Caxton (first English Printer) produces Book of Curtesye & Rhymes for the Goodly Chylde
1483	Edward V 9th April
1483	Richard III 26 June
1485		Battle of Bosworth Field			Richard III dies in battle
1485	Henry VII Tudor 22 Aug
1486		Henry married Elizabeth of York, uniting the houses of York and Lancaster
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491		Perkin Warbeck claims to be Richard, Duke of York
1492					Christopher Columbus discovers America
1493
1494
1495				First dry dock built at Portsmouth
1496				First English blast furnace built in the Weald
1498				Toothbrush invented in China
1499		Perkin Warbeck hanged			Amergo Vespucci (Italian) explores and describes American coast

Back to Top

Sixteenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS AND CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1502					Death of Prince Arthur, heir to the throne
1503					Death of Elizabeth of York, Henry's wife
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509	Henry VIII 22 April	Marriage of Henry and Catherine of Aragon
1510
1511
1512
1513		Battle of Flodden Field
1514
1515		Birth of Mary I
1528
1529		Cardinal Wolsey accused of high treason
1530
1531
1532		Sir Thomas More gives up the Chancellorship
1533		Henry marries Ann Boleyn and is excommunicated by the Pope			Birth of Elizabeth I
1534		Act of Supremacy passed
1535
1536		Execution of Anne Boleyn			Act of Union between Wales and England
1537		Jane Seymour dies
1538					Parish Registers started
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543			Robert Record writes The Ground of Arts, the first ever English mathematics textbook		Six Books of Copernicus: The Revolutions (laws) of the Heavenly Orbs published in the year of his death
1544
1545
1546			First civil divorce in England
1547	Edward VI 28 Jan
1548
1549		First Act of Uniformity passed, making Roman Catholic mass illegal			The First Book of Common Prayer issued
1550
1551
1552
1553	Jane 6th July
1553	Mary I 19 July
1554		Marriage of Mary to Philip of Spain 25 July			Execution of Lady Jane Grey
1555
1557			The Stationers Company controls English book publication
1558	Elizabeth I 17 Nov
1559		Second Act of Supremacy
1560
1561
1562			Sumptuary law restricts hose, ruffs and swords
1563 to 1564			Bubonic Plague in London
1564			William Shakespeare baptised 26 April in Statford-upon-Avon Warwickshire		Galileo born
1565
1568		Mary Queen of Scots flees to England and is imprisoned by Elizabeth
1571
1575
1577				Francis Drake circumnavigates the worldto 1580
1578
1579
1580
1585					Roanoke (North America) first Englsih colony founded by Sir Thomas Raleigh
1586		Mary Queen of Scots sent for trial	Famine in England - gave rise to Poor Law system
1587		Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
1588		Spanish Armada
1589			William Byrd Elizabethan Composer creates Cantione Sacrae	Stocking Frame invented by William Lee
1590			First part of Edmund Spenser's The Fairie Queen published
1597				Tagliacozzi publishes his plastic surgery techiques
1598					Bishops' Transcripts introduced
1599			Richard Burbage, William Shakespeare & others build the Globe Theatre in London
1600				Heels on shoes became common in Europe	East India Company founded

Back to Top

Seventeenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS AND CONFLICTS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1601			Poor Law Act Relief granted to paupers only in their parish of legal settlement		Orphans and paupers' children become apprentices (see Poor Law Act)
1602
1603	James I Stuart 24 March
1604
1605		Gunpowder Plot	William Byrd Elizabethan composer creates Gradualia
1606
1607		Ulster colonized by Protestant settlers	Tidal wave and flood in Bristol Channel kills 2000 people		Settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, USA
1608			John Milton (poet) born		Quebec city founded
1609				Johannes Kepler publishes Astromia Nova, Kepler's first two Laws of Planetary Motion
1609				Galileo looks at the sky with a telescope
1610			Authorized Version of Bible
1611
1612		Henry Prince of Wales died of typhoid	10 hanged at Lancaster for witchcraft
1613			Globe Theatre London burns down
1614			Globe Theatre rebuilt by June	John Napier publishes book of logarithms	New York founded by Dutch (New Amsterdam)
1615
1616			Shakespeare dies 23 April at Statford-upon-Avon
1617				Napier's bones, a calculating tool, invented
1618
1619		Francis Bacon made Lord Chancellor		Kepler publishes Harmonices Mundi, his Third Law of Planetary Motion
1620			Francis Bacon publishes Novum Organum		Pilgrim Fathers settle in New England
1621
1622
1623
1624			Fire destroys much of Dunfermline
1625	Charles I 27 March
1626
1627		England goes to war with France
1628				William Harvey publishes An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals
1629		11 years rule without Parliament commences
1630
1631
1632
1633			Milton's On the Morning of Christ's Nativity first poem in English
1634		First writs for Ship Money issued	Smallpox epidemic
1635			Smallpox epidemic		18th Sept Emperor Ferdinand II declares War on France
1636
1637		John Hampden tried for non-payment of Ship Money	New Prayer Book introduced in Scotland
1638
1639		First Bishops War against Scots
1640		Second Bishops war Battle of Newburn Ford	Most of Gentry and Merchant classes literate
1641		Star Chamber and Court of High Commission abolished			Protestation Returns required by Parliament
1641		Irish Rebellion
1642 to 1651		English Civil Wars
1642		Royalists victory at Powick Bridge 23 Sep	Theatre banned (until 1660)		Birth of Isaac Newton
1642		Royalist advantage after Battle of Edgehill 23 Oct
1643		Crown controls Cornwall after Battle of Braddock Down 19 Jan
1643		Battle of Hopton Heath 16 Mar
1643		Battle of Stratton 16 May
1643		Battle of Chalgrove 17 Jun
1643		Battle of Adwalton Manor 30 Jun
1643		Battle of Roundway Down 13 Jul
1643		Battle of Newbury 20 Sep
1643		Parliament win Battle of Winceby 11 Oct
1644		Battle of Nantwich 25 Jan
1644		Battle of Cheriton 29 Mar	Globe Theatre destroyed by Puritans
1644		Battle of Cropredy Bridge 29 June
1644		Battle of Marston Moor 2 July	Parliament bans Christmas (lasts until Restoration)
1645
1646
1647			George Fox's spiritual revelation that leads to founding Quakers
1648					Frondes civil wars in France
January 1649	Regicide of Charles I	England declared a republic
1649 to 1660	Interregnum				Possible gaps in Parish records
1649		Irish royalists defeated at Wexford and the Siege of Drogheda
1650		Scots royalists defeated at Dunbar	First coffee-house opened in England		Cape Town founded
1651		Scots royalists defeated at Worcester			Charles II flees into exile
1652 to 1654		First Dutch War
1652			Pasqua Rosee opens London's first Coffee House
1653	Oliver Cromwell	Great fire of Malborough
1654
1655		Parliament dismissed. Country divided into 11 districts, each with a Major-General			Jamaica captured from the Spanish
1656
1657			Milton's Paradise Lost published
1658	Richard Cromwell				Oliver Cromwell dies
1659
1660	Charles II		Royal Society formed		Samuel Pepys begins diary
1661		The Corporation Act		Malpighi discovers capillaries
1662		Poor Relief Act (Act of Settlement)			The parish responsible for the relief of the poor
1662		Act of Uniformity	Charles II marries Catherine of Braganza		Book of Common Prayer (the current traditional C of E prayer book)
1662		The Quaker Act
1662 to 1689					Hearth Tax in England
1663			Mens' wigs become fashionable
1664		Conventicle Act
1665-67		2nd Dutch War	The Oxford Gazette (later the London Gazette) first published The Convertide Act The Five Mile Act
1665		Five Mile Act	Great Plague
1666			Great Fire of London		Isaac Newton's annus mirabilis
1666			The Oxford Gazette becomes the London Gazette
1667			John Milton writes Paradise Lost
1668				Newton invents reflecting telescope	Bombay granted to East India Company
1669			Christopher Wren appointed Surveyor General
1670		Secret Treaty of Dover	Milton's The History of Britain
1671
1672-74		3rd Dutch War
1673		Test Act
1674			John Milton (poet) dies
1675				John Flamsteed appointed first Astronomer Royal	Royal Observatory established at Greenwich
1676			Great Fire of Southwark	St Paul's Cathedral begun by Sir Christopher Wren
1677					Act for burying in Woollen
1678		Popish plot fabricated by Titus Oates	Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
1679		Habeas Corpus Act
1680			William Dockwra establishes the penny post	Anton van Leeuwenhoek refines the microscope and Royal Society accept his observations on single cell organisms
1681		Charles II offered sanctuary to the Huguenots
1682					Pennsylvania founded
1683
1684
1685	James II 6th Feb	Battle of Sedgmoor	Edict of Nantes revoked and many Huguenots settle in England		Johann Sebastian Bach born Georg Friedrich Handel born Halle Germany
1687				Newton publishes Principia
1688		The Glorious Revolution
1689	William III Prince of Orange and Mary II 13 Feb	Battle of Killiecrankie	Freedom of worship for Protestant dissenters
1690					First bicycle appears in France - the celerifere
1692		Glencoe Massacre			Salem witch trials in Massachusetts
1693		National Debt founded			Land tax first introduced
1694	Death of Mary II; William III rules alone 28 Dec		Foundation of the Bank of England
1695			Press licensing abandoned in England (freedom of the press)
1696			Window Tax introduced
1697					St Paul's Cathedral opened
1698				Sir Isacc Newton calculates the speed of sound
1699
1700

Back to Top

Eighteenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS, CONFLICTS AND PRIME MINISTERS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1701		Act of Settlement		Jethro Tull invents the seed drill
1702	Anne 08 March	War of Spanish Succession starts	The Daily Courant published - first daily newspaper
1703			The Great Storm of 1703
1704		Battle of Blenheim
1705		The Earl of Peterborough captures Barcelona		Newcomen invents first practical steam engine
1706		Marlborough defeats the French at the Battle of Ramilles
1707		Act of Union
1708		Capture of Minorca			Prince George of Denmark, Anne's husband, dies
1709				First piano built by Bartolommeo Cristofori in Florence
1710
1711
1712
1713		The Treaty of Utrecht
1714	George I Elector of Hannover 01 August	End of the War of Spanish Succession		Mercury thermometer invented by Gabriel Fahrenheit
1715		Jacobite Rebellion defeated
1716		The Septennial Act (General Elections to be held every 7 years)
1717
1718				Thomas Lombe's silk spinning patent
1719			Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe published
1720			South Sea Bubble burst
1721		Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister (Whig)
1722			Daniel Defoe 's A Journal of the Plague Year & Colonial Jack published
1723
1726			Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift published		Death of Sophia Dorothea, wife of George I
1727	George II 11 June				Death of Sir Isaac Newton
1733				Kay's flying shuttle
1736			Witchcraft finally abolished as a crime
1737					Death of Queen Caroline
1738			Methodism begins
1739		War of Jenkins Ear
1740					War of the Austrian Succession
1742		Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington (Whig)	Henry Fielding publishes Joseph Andrews	Sheffield flatware (cutlery) developed by Thomas Boulsover
1743		Henry Pelham (Whig)
1744			John Newbery first to publish Children's Literature A Pretty Pocket Book
1745		2nd Jacobite rebellion
1746		Battle of Culloden
1747				James Lind, a Scottish naval surgeon, discovers that citrus fruits prevent scurvy
1748			Tobias George Smollet publishes The Adventures of Roderick Random
1149			Fielding publishes Tom Jones Samuel Johnson published poem A Vanity of Human Wishes
1750			London earth tremors cause panic Samuel Johnson produces The Rambler essays (1750-52)
1751			Fielding publishes Amelia Tobias Smollet publishes The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle	'
1752					Gregorian calendar introduced
1753			Foundation of the British Museum		Marriage Act
1754		Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (Whig)
1755		War with France	Samuel Johnson published The Dictionary (English)
1756		William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (Whig)	Marine Society founded
1756 to 1763		Seven Years' War
1755		Black Hole of Calcutta
1757		Battle of Plassey	William Blake born
1758		Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (Whig)
1759					Georg Friedrich Handel dies
1760	George III 25 Oct
1762		John Stuart, Earl of Bute (Tory)	Oliver Goldsmith's essay The Citizen of the World or Letters from a Chinese Philospher published
1763		George Grenville (Whig)	August hailstorms ruin Sussex harvest
1764			Oliver Goldsmith publishes The Travellor
1765		Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham (Whig)	John Newbery prints A history of Goody Two Shoes; Mother Goose's Melody
1766		William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham (Whig)	The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith published
1767		Augustus Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton (Whig)
1768			Royal Academy of Arts founded	Spinning jenny
1770		Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)			Cook charts New South Wales Ludwig van Beethoven born in Bonn
1773		Boston Tea Party	Oliver Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer appears
1774				Discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestley
1775		American War of Independence	John Harrisson's chronometer finally given prize by Parliament	James Watt develops improved steam engine
1776				Bridgewater canal completed	American Declaration of Independence
1778				First iron bridge built
1778				Bramah's flushing watercloset patented
1779 to 1783		Siege of Gibraltar
1779				Crompton's Mule
1780		4th Anglo-Dutch war	Gordon Riots in London
1781
1782		Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham (Whig)
1782		William FitzMaurice, Earl of Shelburne (Whig)
1783		William Bentinck, Duke of Portland (Tory)			Britain recognises U.S. independence
1783		William Pitt the Younger (Tory)
1784			William Blake opens own print shop;	Blake invents relief etching as a print/publishing form
1785			Separation of the Methodist Church from the Church of England	Cartwright's Power Loom
1786			Beginning of gas lighting
1787					The Constitution (United States of America) declared
1788					Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) dies in Rome
1788					Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet in Sydney Cove
1789					French Revolution
1791			Publication of The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine	The Board of Ordnance started mapping southern Britain
1793		War with France		Joseph Preistley discovered nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
1794			William Blake writes and prints Songs of Innocence and Experience
1796 to 1808		Anglo-Spanish War
1796				Grand Junction (Union) Canal opens
1796				Jenner develops smallpox vaccine
1798		Nelson wins Battle of the Nile	Beethoven writes Pathetique		Beginning of Irish Immigration to Canada
1800				Sir Humphry Davy announces the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide	Census Act

Back to Top

Nineteenth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS, CONFLICTS AND PRIME MINISTERS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1801				Regents Canal opens	Census 10th March (of limited use to family historians)
1801		Henry Addington (Tory)	Earl of Mansfield's monument completed by John Flaxman	First Ordnance Survey map published, the 1 inch map of Kent
1802			John Flaxman illustrates Dantes' The Divine Comedy
1804		William Pitt the Younger (Tory)		World's first steam-hauled railway journey at Merthyr Tydfil,Wales
1805		Battle of Trafalgar
1806		William Grenville, Lord Grenville (Whig)	State funeral of Lord Nelson		Birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
1807		Abolition of Slavery Act
1807		William Bentinck, Duke of Portland (Tory)
1808 to 1814		Peninsular War
1809		Spencer Perceval (Tory)			First 'free' settlers to NSW
1810			First curry house opens in England
1811		Prince George appointed Regent when his father's health deteriorates (porphyria)	Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility published		Census 27th May (of limited use to family historians)
1812-15		Anglo-American War
1812		Spencer Perceval PM assassinated		First commercial European paddle steamer	Rose's Act passed. Entry of baptisms, marriages and burials in Anglican churches standardised in bound volumes
1812		Robert Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool (Tory)
1813			Publication of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
1814			Publication of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
1815		Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo	Emma by Jane Ausen published	Leeds Liverpool canal completed
1816				Davy lamp improves mining safety	Year without a summer following volcanic eruption
1816				René Laënnec invents the stethoscope
1816				The draisine (bicycle) appears in Germany
1817			Jane Austen's Persuasion and Northanger Abbey published postumously
1818			Nelson's monument completed by John Flaxman	James Blundell, British obstetrician, performs the first successful human blood transfusion	Death of Queen Charlotte
1818				Curride (bicycle) appears in England (known as the hobbyhorse)
1819		Peterloo Massacre			Jacques Offenbach French Composer born
1820	George IV 29 Jan	Failure of the Cato Street Conspiracy
1821					Census May 28th (of limited value to family historians)
1822			Birth of Louis Pasteur	Caledonian Canal completed
1823
1824
1825				First railway, Stockton-Darlington
1826			Machine breaking & riots in Lancashire	First steamship crosses Atlantic
1827		George Canning (Tory)		Endoscope invented by Pierre Segalas
1827		Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich (Tory)			Ludwig van Beethoven dies
1828		Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (Tory)
1829		The Catholic Relief Act passed - Catholics permitted to becomes MPs	Metropolitan Police established	Stephenson's "Rocket" locomotive	WA declared British possession
1830	William IV 26 June	Charles Grey, Earl Grey (Whig )		Liverpool & Midlands Railway opens
1831					Census: 30th May (of limited use to family historians)
1831 to 1832			First Cholera Epidemic
1832		The Reform Bill of 1832
1833		Slavery Abolition Act
1834		Poor Law Amendment Act	Tolpuddle Martyrs sentenced to transportation to Australia
1834		William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (Whig)
1834		Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (Tory)
1834		Sir Robert Peel (Tory)
1835		William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (Whig)
1836		Sentence of Tolpuddle Martyrs remitted under public pressure	Charles Dickens serializes The Pickwick Papers
1837	Victoria 20 June			Electric Telegraph invented	Civil Registration introduced
1837				Alfred Bird invents custard powder
1838		Chartism:The People's Petition		Daguerrotype photographical process	Public Record Office established
1839 to 1842		First Afghan War
1839		Foundation of the anti-Corn Law League		Macmillan produces the self propelled hobbyhorse
1840			Charles Booth, Ship owner and Sociologist born
1840			Uniform Penny Post introduced		Victoria married Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
1841		Sir Robert Peel (Tory)	Thomas Cook travel company founded	London-Brighton railway completed	Census: 6th June
1842		Income Tax Act	Income tax re-introduced	Invention of Kilner jar enables easier home preservation of fruit and vegetables
1843			Rebecca riots in Wales
1844				Nitrous oxide first used as an anesthetic by Dr. Horace Wells, American dentist
1844				Safety match invented in Sweden
1845			Start of the Irish Potato Famine	RW Thompson (UK) patents the pneumatic tyre but no vehicles suitable to make it a commercial success!	Emigration from Ireland rises steeply
1845 to 1872		New Zealand Colonial Wars
1846		Lord John Russell (Whig) Repeal of the Corn Laws	Dickens publishes Dombey and Son (1846-48)		Hans Christian Anderson's stories translated into English
1847				First use of chloroform in childbirth	Greenwich Mean Time adopted across mainland Great Britain
1848 to 1849			2nd Cholera Epidemic
1848		1st Public Health Act	Foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood	First aircraft to fly under its own power in Chard, Somerset	Influx of academic and middle class Europeans to London
1849			Dickens releases David Copperfield
1850		First Public Library Act			First convicts arrive in Perth 'Scindian'
1851			The Great Exhibition	Australian Gold Rush	Census: 30th March
1852		Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby (Conservative)	Foundation of the Museum of Manufactures (later the Victoria & Albert Museum)
1852		George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen (Conservative)	Dickens releases Bleak House 1852-1853
1853			3rd Cholera Epidemic
1853		Compulsory Vaccination Act	Jacques Offenbach composes and performs Pepito	Alexander Wood invents hypodermic syringe
1854 to 1856		The Crimean War	Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War
1854			Broad Street cholera outbreak	John Snow discovers cause of cholera
1854			Dickens publishes Hard Times
1855		Viscount Palmerston (Liberal)	Dickens releases Little Dorrit		Civil Registration introduced in Scotland
1856			Crinoline becomes popular	Synthetic dyes invented
1856			Cage crinoline invented	Bessemer converter enables large scale steel production
1856			First commercial production of condensed milk
1857			The Museum of Manufactures moved to South Kensington and became South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum)		Matrimonial Causes Act
1858		Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby (Conservative)
1858		Viscount Palmerston (Liberal)			Secular Court of Probate created
1858		Jews permitted to become MPs
1859				Louis Pasteur paper published suggesting that microorganisms may cause many human and animal diseases	Charles Darwin’s On The Origin Of Species published
1860
1861			Death of Prince Albert from typhoid		Census: 7th April
1861 to 1865		American Civil War	Lancashire Cotton Famine
1862
1863			Formation of Football Association	First underground railway opens in London
1864		First diagnosis of swine fever in Bristol	Dickens serializes Our Mutual Friend until 1865
1864			First diagnosis of swine fever in Bristol
1865 to 1866			4th Cholera Epidemic
1865		Locomotives on Highways Act also known as the 'Red Flag Act'	Great Cattle Plague to 1857
1865		John Russell, Earl Russell (Liberal)	Lewis Carrol (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1866		Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby (Conservative)
1867		Second Reform Act - number of voters doubled	Joseph Lister publishes paper on Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery	Suez canal opens. First commercially successful typewriter invented
1868		Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative)	Lousia Alcott's Little Women published		Last convicts transported to Western Australia
1868		William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)	Jacques Offenbach composes Orpheus of the Underworld	Margarine invented in France by Hippolyte Mege-Mouriez
1870		Education Act makes primary education compulsory	First Barnardo's Home opens
1870			Charles Dickens dies and The Mystery of Edwin Drood published postumously	Germ theory of disease established by Robert Kock and Louis Pasteur
1871		Trade Unions legalized	Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass and what Alice Found There published	James Starling invents pennyfarthing bicycle ("highwheeler")	Census: 2nd April
1871			Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, entrepreneur and philanthropist born
1872		2nd Public Health Act introduced	Compulsory vaccination against smallpox introduced
1873
1874		Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative)	Bustles begin to be fashionable
1875		3rd and 4th Public Health Act introduced and were compulsory		First electric dental drill patented by George Green
1876			New Central Committee of Nation Society for Women's Suffrage founded Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer published	Both Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell file patents for the telephone
1877			First Lawn Tennis Championship at Wimbledon	Edison invents phonograph
1878				Joseph Swan invents and patents the electric light bulb
1878 to 1880		Second Afghan War
1879		Zulu War		First vaccine for Cholera introduced
1880		William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)	Jacques Offenbach composes The Tales of Hoffman
1880 to 1881		First Boer War	Death of Jacques Offenbach
1881		Some women granted the vote in the Isle of Man		First vaccine for anthrax introduced	Census: 3rd April
1883			Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island published	First electric railway opens in Brighton	20 May eruption of Krakatoa Cholera Epidemic in India
1884			Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published
1885		Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)	Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verse published	Modern style chain driven bicycle invented Benz builds first motor car
1886		William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)		Coca Cola invented in USA by Dr John Stith Pemberton
1886		Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)	R L Stevenson's Kidnapped Published
1887				Adolf Frick invents contact lenses	Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
1888			Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Tales published
1890				Antitoxins discovered by Emil von Behring who used them to develop tetanus and diphtheria vaccines
1891					Census: 5th April
1892		William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)
1893		First Matabele War		Marconi invents Wireless Telegraph
1894		Earl of Rosebery (Liberal)
1895		Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)		Rontgen discovers X rays
1896		Second Matabele War		First vaccine for typhoid fever
1897				First vaccine for plague	Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
1898				Marie Curie (1867-1934) discovers radioactive substances
1899		Women gain the right to vote in Western Australia	Museum of South Kensington becomes the Victoria and Albert Museum	Bayer begin marketing Aspirin

Back to Top

Twentieth Century

YEAR	MONARCH	POLITICAL EVENTS, CONFLICTS AND PRIME MINISTERS	SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS	INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES	NOTABLE EVENTS
1900			Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit published
1901	Queen Victoria died 22nd Jan			Satori Kato invents powdered instant coffee	Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research opens in New York City
1901	Edward VII			The existence of different human blood types discovered by Karl Landsteiner	Australia granted dominion status
1901					Census 1st April
1902		Arthur Balfour (Conservative)	Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Gloucester published	Marmite first produced in Burton on Trent	Anglo Japanese Alliance treaty, first signed on 30th January
1903				Wilbur and Orville Wright make the first manned flight
1903				Willem Einthoven invents electrocardiograph, King Camp Gillette invents the safety razor
1905		Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Liberal)
1906				Diagnostic test for syphilis introduced by German researcher August von Wasserman.	San Francisco earthquake
1907			First mention of a brassiere in Vogue	Skin test for TB introduced by Clemens Von Pirquet.	New Zealand granted dominion status
1907				First successful human blood transfusion using Landsteiner's ABO blood typing technique
1908		Herbert H. Asquith (Liberal Coalition)	The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame published		4th Olympic Games held in London
1908		Women's Suffrage bill carried by 179 votes			Triple Entente between Russia, France and Great Britain signed
1909			Old age pension introduced in Britain	National Committee for Mental Hygiene founded to promote prevention and cure of mental diseases.
1909			Labour Exchange system introduced
1910	George V			First large scale production of rayon
1911		National Insurance Act			Census 2nd April
1912			Suffragette newspaper founded by the Pankhursts		Sinking of the Titanic First Blackpool illuminations
1913			Senghenydd Colliery Disaster
1914 to 1918		World War One			Sinking of the Lusitania
1914		Suffragettes suspended militancy and joined war effort
1915		Coalition government formed
1916		David Lloyd George (Liberal - Coalition Government)
1916		Battle of the Somme
1917					Russian Revolution
1918		Qualification of Women Act	Influenza pandemic		First opportunity for women to vote
1919		Third Afghan War (May-Aug)		Ernest Rutherford splits the atom	Lady Astor becomes the first woman MP
1919		Sex Disqualification Act	Children's Book Week introduced in USA
1920		Married Women's Property Act	Collapse of Farrow's Bank affects thousands of small investors
1921				Edward Mellanby discovers vitamin D
1922		Andrew Bonar Law (Conservative)		BBC begins radio broadcasts
1923		Stanley Baldwin (Conservative)	26th April Marriage of Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth	First vaccine for diphtheria	Anglo Japanese Alliance treaty terminated
1923				Clarence Birdseye perfects technique for freezing food
1924		First Labour Government formed by James Ramsay MacDonald		First Greenwich time signal broadcast	Death of Lenin
1924		Stanley Baldwin (Conservative)
1925		The Guardianship of Infants Act
1926			General Strike in support of coalminers	John Logie Baird makes the first public demonstration of television	Formal Legal Adoption Commenced
1926			Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne published	First vaccine for pertussis (whooping cough).
1927		Princess Elizabeth born April 21st		First vaccine for tuberculosis
1927				First vaccine for tetanus
1928		Representation of the People Act	House At Pooh Corner by A A Milne published	Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1929		James Ramsay MacDonald (Labour)	The Wall Street Crash		Start of the Great Depression
1930			Princess Margaret Rose born	Jacob Schlick's electric razor introduced	Discovery of the planet Pluto
1931		James Ramsay MacDonald (National Labour - National Government)
1932			BBC World Service begins
1933				Manfred Sakel discovers insulin shock therapy
1933 to 1945		Adolf Hitler, Chancellor and Head of state of Germany(Dictator)
1935		Stanley Baldwin (Conservative - National Government)	Driving test introduced	Bra cup sizes introduced in USA
1936	Edward VIII January to December	Death of George V	First vaccine for yellow fever		Olympic Games Berlin Germany
1936	George VI (Windsor)		Maiden voyage of the liner the Queen Mary	World's first television service launched in Britain
1937		Neville Chamberlain (Conservative - National Government)		First vaccine for typhus	Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
1939 to 1945		World War Two		Dupont begin producing nylon
1940		Winston Churchill (Conservative - Coalition Government)		Radar developed by British scientists
1941
1942
1943				Colossus, the first programmable computer, operational at Bletchley Park
1944
1945					Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945		Clement Attlee (Labour)		First vaccine for influenza
1947			Notably severe winter in UK		India and Pakistan granted independence
1948					The National Health Service comes into effect on the 5th of July 1948
1948					Berlin Blockade and Air Lift
1949
1950				John Hopps invented the first cardiac pacemaker
1951		Winston Churchill (Conservative)			Festival of Britain
1952	Elizabeth II	USA tests the first hydrogen bomb		Jonas Salk invented polio vaccine
1953				Paracetamol first marketed
1954			Rationing finally ends
1955		Sir Anthony Eden (Conservative)		Contraceptive pill invented by Gregor Pincus
1956		Suez Crisis
1957		Harold Macmillan (Conservative)		First space satellite launched
1958
1959 to 1975		Vietnam War
1959
1960					Cyprus gains independence from UK
1961				First manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin	Creation of Berlin Wall
1962				First oral polio vaccine (as an alternative to the injected vaccine)	U.S. Congress passes legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid.
1963		Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Conservative)	Very severe winter
1963		Assassination of President John F Kennedy in the USA
1964		Harold Wilson (Labour)		First vaccine for measles
1965					U.S. Congress passes law requiring label on cigarette packages: "Warning: Cigarette Smoking may be Hazardous to your Health."
1966					Decimal currency and dollars in Australia
1967				First vaccine for mumps.	South African heart surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant.
1968		USSR invades Czechoslovakia			Martin Luther King assassinated
1969					Apollo 11 moonlanding - 1st man on the moon
1970		Edward Heath (Conservative)		First vaccine for rubella.
1971					Introduction of decimal currency
1973				CAT scan invented by Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack
1974		Harold Wilson (Labour)		First vaccine for chicken pox.
1974
1976		James Callaghan (Labour)
1977				First vaccine for pneumonia
1978				First test-tube baby is born in the U.K.
1979		Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)		ultrasound scan invented by Ian Donald
1980					W.H.O. (World Health Organization) announces smallpox is eradicated.
1981				First vaccine for hepatitis B. IBM Personal Computer released
1982		Falklands War
1983				HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is identified.
1984				Leprosy Vaccine made
1985
1986					Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine
1987
1988
1989				Tim Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web	Fall of the Berlin Wall Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia
1990		Nelson Mandela released from prison			Reunification of Germany
1990		John Major (Conservative)
1991		Break-up of Soviet Union
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996			Written theory section of driving test introduced
1997		Tony Blair (Labour)
1998
1999

Back to Top

Adding an event to the timeline

It will sometimes be necessary to make a value judgement into which column something will fit. If that column is already "full", then another row should be added.

The columns will remain the same width, and any long text will wrap onto extra lines automatically. It will also be vertically aligned.

Please keep the text as short as possible - if you feel that more information is needed, it is usually possible to add a hyperlink to a website such as Wikipedia!!

If there is a relevant page elsewhere in The Reference Library, please use an internal link.

Click on [edit]

You will see the code:

Adding an event

Count along the row and just type in the spaces - be careful to leave || in between each item.

| DATE || MONARCH || type in here || type in here || type in here || type in here

Adding a new row

Each row in the list needs:

|-valign="top"

| DATE || MONARCH || type in here || type in here || type in here || type in here

N.B. One | at the beginning of the line

N.B. Nothing at the end of the line

Adding hyperlinks

[http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/goldrush/ Australian Gold Rush]

[[Records Office Guide|Civil Registration introduced]]

Alternatively, members can post a thread in the Wiki Community Board, using the Timeline prefix, and someone will upload the details on your behalf.

For more information about wiki coding please see The Wiki Guide How to use The Wiki.

Back to Top

---

Back to The Reference Library

---