CHRISTOPHER A LONG - Dates In British History

Significant Dates in British History

Of Particular Use to Genealogists

I'm grateful to a number of people who have contributed dates to this list and suggest that anyone seeking accurate information should double-check that the entries below are correct.

Derived from various sources with additions by Christopher Long

See Main Index

BC55: Caesar's first British expedition (second in BC54)
AD 43: Roman Conquest of Britain begun by Emperor Claudius - Camulodunum (Colchester) captured and becomes first Roman Base in England
AD60: Revolt of Boudicca (Boadicea)
ca.80-85: Campaign of Agricola in southern Scotland
ca.85: Battle of Mons Graupius, massive defeat of Caledonians by Roman forces
122: Beginning of Hadrian's Wall (completed AD126)
ca.140: Antonine Wall built in central Scotland
180: Beginning of the 'decline of the Roman Empire' (Gibbon) - Defeat of Romans in Caledonia - they retreat behind Hadrian's Wall
207-11: Campaign of Severus in southern Scotland
304: St Alban first Christian martyr in Britain
ca.350: St Ninian first to preach Christian religion in Scotland, arrives Solway Firth
367: Invasion of northern England by Picts and Scots
406/412: Probable end of Roman military occupation of Britain
ca.400 - c600: Migration and settlement of Angles, Jutes and Saxons
432: St Patrick begins mission to Ireland
449: Beginning of invasions by Jutes, Angles and Saxons - Hengist and Horsa invade and settle in Kent
ca.500: Irish "Scots" arrived in western Scotland
537: Death of King Arthur
ca.550: Anglian settlement in south-east, Scotland
563: Columba arrives in Iona and founds the Celtic Christian Church (c565)
597: Death Of Columba, later sanctified
597/8: St Augustine lands in Kent - converts King Ethelbert - introduces Roman Christian Church to England - later becomes first Archbishop of Canterbury
604: St Paul's Cathedral in London founded; Death of St Augustine
617: Edwin becomes king of Northumbria (to 633) - founds Edinburgh
663: Synod of Whitby: Roman Christianity triumphs over Celtic
664: Roman Christianity established in Northumbria
673: Birth of the Venerable Bede, first English historian (d. 735); First synod of clergy in England (at Hertford)
685-7: Cuthbert served as Bishop of Lindisfarne
710: Roman Christianity established in Pictland
747: King Offa first divided a pound of silver into 240 silver pennies
802: Norsemen plunder Iona
827: Egbert King of Wessex and Mercia effectively first king of England (d. 839)
844: Kenneth I MacAlpin, king of Scots, becomes King of Picts - start of Scottish kingdom
872: Curfew introduced at Oxford by King Alfred to reduce fire risks
889: Donald II, first King of Picts & Scots (d. in battle 900)
899: Death of King Alfred the Great
ca.960: Edinburgh held by King of Alba
1010: London Bridge torn down by Vikings with grappling irons - (Olaf II Haraldsson, later St Olaf, took part)
1016: Canute (Knut) becomes king of Denmark, Norway and England (d. 1035)
1018: Battle of Carham in Scotland
1034: Strathclyde annexed by King of Scots becomes part of Scottish Kingdom
1040: Macbeth king of Scots (d. 1057); Lady Godiva, wife of earl of Mercia, rode naked through Coventry
1042: Edward the Confessor King of England (d. 1066)
1052: Building of Westminster Abbey starts (consecrated 1065?)
1066: Jan 6: Edward the Confessor dies - Harold II reigned for 9 months; Sep 25: Battle of Stamford Bridge: Harold II defeats Norwegian invasion; Oct 14: Invasion of England by Duke William of Normandy - Battle of Hastings; Dec 25 William crowned King of England at Winchester
1069: King Malcolm Canmore of Scotland marries Margaret (later St Margaret)
1072: King Malcolm III of Scotland submitted to William the Conqueror
1070: Construction of Canterbury Cathedral begins (completed 1495)
1071: Norman conquest of England complete
1079: Construction of Winchester Cathedral begins (completed 1093)
1081: Building of Tower of London starts [others say 1067]
1086: Compilation of Domesday Book
1098: Expedition of Magnus Barelegs to Scottish coasts
1102: Synod of Westminster under St Anselm forbids clergy to marry
1110: Introduction in England of Pipe Rolls, recording exchequer payments
1120s: First references in Scotland to Burghs and Sheriffs
1138: Battle of The Standard
1154: Dec 4: Nicholas Breakspear (Adrian IV) becomes only English pope (d. 1 Sep 1159)
1163: Danegeld tax abolished
1166: Establishment of trial by jury
1170: Dec 29: Murder of Thomas ‡ Becket in Canterbury Cathedral
1172: Pope decrees that Henry II of England is feudal lord of Ireland
1175: Treaty of Falaise signed - William the Lyon surrenders Scottish crown to King Henry II of England
1176: London Bridge construction in stone started (from tax on wool) - completed 1209
1189: Richard I 'Lionheart' becomes king of England (d. 1199) - acknowledges the independence of Scotland; Sep 1: Legal Memory dates from accession of Richard I
1190: 'Early English' Gothic period in English architecture (till about 1280)
1215: Jun 15: Magna Carta signed at Runnymede by King John; First Lord Mayor's Show in London
1222: Introduction of a poll tax in England; King Alexander II of Scotland conquers Argyll
1228: First recorded mention of the Royal Mint
1231: Cambridge University organised and granted Royal Charter
1237: Treaty of York signed
1247: Foundation of Bedlam (Bethlehem Hospital), London, by Simon Fitzmary
1248: Charter granted to Oxford University by Henry III
1264: First recorded reference to Justice of the Peace in England
1263: Battle of Largs, Ayrshire - King Alexander defeats Norwegian invaders under King Haakon
1265: Start of English Parliament?
1266: Western Isles acquired by Scotland
1283: Annexation of Wales to England
1280: 'Decorated' Gothic period in English architecture (till about 1370)
1290: Death of the 'maid of Norway' heiress to the Scottish crown
1291-2: Competition for the Scottish Crown between some eleven "Competitors" (including John Baliol, John Comyn and Robert Bruce the elder) all claiming the right to succeed
1291: Start of building York Minster (completed 1345)
1292: King Edward I awards Scottish crown to John Baliol ('Toon Tabard')
1295: Signing of the "Auld Alliance" between Scotland and France - one of the world's oldest mutual defence treaties
1296: Annexation of Scotland by England - Scotland's Coronation Stone the "Stone of Destiny" or "Stone of Scone" was removed to Westminster Abbey by the English King Edward I, temporarily 'returned' to Scotland in 1950, and permanently returned in 1996; John Baliol dethroned by Edward I; Beginning of uprising led by William Wallace (the Guardian of Scotland)
1297: Battle of Stirling Bridge, defeat of English Army
1298: Battle of Falkirk
1301: Feb 7: Son of Edward I created first Prince of Wales
1305: Unlawful trial and execution of William Wallace
1306: Robert the Bruce crowned King Robert I of Scots
1314: Jun 24: Battle of Bannockburn - Scots under Robert the Bruce routed the English led by Edward II - resulted in Scottish independence
1320: Declaration of Arbroath; a statement of Scottish independence
1326: First Scottish Parliament (at Cambuskenneth)
1327: Deposition and regicide of King Edward II of England
1328: Treaty of Northampton, formalised peace between England and Scotland
1329: Death of Robert the Bruce; succeeded by King David II of Scots
1346: Battle of Neville's Cross; English capture King David II
1348: Order of the Garter founded by King Edward III of England - motto 'Honi soit qui mal y pense'
1349: Black Death reaches England
1351: Statute of Labourers - attempt to regulate wages and prices at 1340 levels
1362: English becomes official language in English Parliament and Law Courts; Quarter Sessions established by statute
1366: Statues of Kilkenny belatedly forbid intermarriage of English and Irish - Gaelic culture unsuccessfully suppressed
1370: 'Perpendicular' Gothic period in English architecture (till about 1550)
1371: Accession of Robert II, the first Stewart king of Scots
1381: Peasants' Revolt under Wat Tyler in protest at poll tax of 1380
1382: First translation of the Bible into English, by John Wycliffe
1383: Regular series of wills starts in Prerogative Court of Canterbury
1388: Battle of Otterburn, Northumberland (Chevy Chase)
1387: Chaucer (d. 1400) begins writing The Canterbury Tales
1397: Dick Whittington (d. 1423) first becomes Lord Mayor of London
1399: Deposition of King Richard II; Henry IV establishes Lancastrian dynasty
1412: Foundation of the University of St Andrews
1437: Assassination of King James I of Scots at Perth
1451: University of Glasgow founded
1453: Gutenberg prints the bible, using movable type [some say 1454]; End of Hundred Years' War (Battle of Castillon, Jul 17); Aug: Battle of Stamford Bridge first in Wars of the Roses (1455 - 87)
1455: Fall of the Black Douglases in Scotland
1457: First recorded mention of golf in Scotland
1460: Aug 3: King James II of Scots killed by an exploding cannon at Kelso
1465: Irish living near English settlements made to take English surnames
1468: Orkney and Shetland Islands acquired from Norway by Scotland
1472: St Andrews made a bishopric
1476: Caxton sets up press in Westminster
1484: Introduction of bail for defendants in legal courts; English first used for parliamentary statutes
1485: Aug 22: Battle of Bosworth Field; Richard III killed - beginning of Tudors (Henry VII); Formation of the Yeomen of the Guard
1495: Foundation of the University of Aberdeen (as King's College)
1497: Parish registers instituted in Spain by Cardinal Ximenes
1503: Marriage of King James IV of Scots and Margaret Tudor
1505-6: Royal College of Surgeons founded in Edinburgh
1507: First printing press in Scotland set up in Edinburgh by Andrew Myllar
1509: Naturalisation papers start in England
1512: Admiralty founded in London; The "Auld Alliance" treaty with France - all Scottish citizens became French and vice versa
1513: Sep 9: Battle of Flodden, defeat of Scottish Army - death of King James IV of Scots
1514: Recording of Testaments (wills) begins in Scotland
1529: Diet of Speyer: origin of the word Protestant
1532: Foundation of the Court of Session in Scotland
1534: Reformation of the Catholic Church in England church (Henry VIII)
1536: Dissolution of monasteries starts in England
1538: English and Welsh parish registers start
1540: Statute of Wills allows freehold land to be bequeathed; Feb 9: First recorded horse racing event in Britain, at Chester
1541: Henry VIII proclaimed king (rather than feudal lord) of Ireland
1542: The Rout of Solway Moss and the death of King James V of Scots
1544-5: Mary of Guise Regent of Scotland; Henry's VIII's "Rough Wooing" of the Scottish Borders
1547: English replaced Latin in church services in England and Wales; Battle of Pinkie; The injunction to keep parish register reiterated
1549: Jun 9: First Book of Common Prayer sanctioned by English Parliament; Wedding ring finger changed from right to left hand; First Act of Uniformity in England made Catholic Mass illegal; English Parliament declares enclosures legal
1550: Walloon Protestants arrive as refugees from the Low Countries
1551: Scotland: General Provincial Council orders each parish to keep a register of baptisms and banns of marriage
1554-1558: Brief Catholic restoration under Queen Mary Tudor
1557: The First Covenant signed in Scotland (foundation of the Presbyterian Church)
1558: Scottish parish registers start; Chancery Proceedings Indexes begin
1558-1603: Reign of Elizabeth I - Policy of Plantation begins; System of counties adopted
1559: John Knox returns from Continent - strengthens case for Presbyterianism in Scotland
1560: Establishment of Protestantism in Scotland - commissary courts thrown into confusion - some records lost
1562: African slave trade starts
1563: Papal recusants heavily fined for non-attendance at Church; The Test Act excludes Roman Catholics from governmental office
1565: Marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Darnley
1566: Murder of Riccio in Holyrood House
1567: Murder of Darnley outside Holyrood House in an explosion - marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and Bothwell; Earliest date in the French Protestant and Walloon registers
1568: Battle of Langside - Mary's flight to England and her imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth I
1571: Beginning of penal legislation against Catholics in England; Opening of the Royal Exchange, founded by Sir Thomas Gresham
1571-1572: Presbyterianism introduced into England by Thomas Cartwright
1574: Colonial State Papers published - continued to 1738
1578: Earliest Quaker registers begin
1579: Act of Uniformity in matters of religion enforced
1580: Colonisation of Ireland; Congregational movement founded by Robert Browne about this time
1582: Gregorian calendar introduced in some countries: Spain and Portugal, France, Low Countries, part of Italy, Denmark
1583: Foundation of Cambridge University Press by Thomas Thomas; University of Edinburgh founded
1585: Foundation of Oxford University Press; Shakespeare started seriously to write about this time
1587: Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, by English at Fotheringay Castle, near Peterborough; Aug 11: Raleigh's second expedition to New World lands in North Carolina - first child born in the New World of English parents, Virginia Dare (Aug 18); Introduction of potatoes to England
1588: Jul 29: Defeat of Spanish Armada (had set sail from Lisbon May 20); Invention of shorthand by Dr Timothy Bright
1592: A Congregational (or Independent) Church formed in London; Scotland: Presbyterian Church formally established - all ministers equal - no bishops - secular commissaries appointed by the Crown
1593: British statute mile established by law
1597: Poor Law Act for erection of parish workhouses for the Poor - Poor Rate collection allowed
1598: Bishop's transcripts of English and Welsh parish registers start [some say 1597]; Edict of Nantes gives Huguenots toleration in France
1600: Memoirs of Officers of the Royal Navy begin
1601: Great English Poor Law Act passed; First use of fruit juice as a preventative for scurvy by James Lancaster; East India Company founded
1603: Mar 24: Death of Elizabeth I: union of Scottish and English crowns - under King James VI of Scots and I of England (d. 1625)
1606: Apr 12: Adoption of Union Jack as the flag of "Great Britain"; The London Company chartered to colonise Virginia; Episcopacy established in Scotland (against wishes of the Scots)
1607: Flight of the Earls - leading Ulster families go into exile
1610: James VI established the Episcopal Church in Scotland- Prebyterians persecuted and many of their records lost
1611: Plantation of Ulster with English and Scottish colonists; Authorised (King James) Version of Bible in England; James VI and I created the title of baronet
1616: Apr 23: Death of Shakespeare; Ben Jonson becomes first Poet Laureate
1617: Register of Sasines (land leases) established in Scotland - record of the transfer of land and property
1620: Dec 21 (Dec 16 OS): The Mayflower reaches America - founds Plymouth, New England; Manufacture of coke patented by Dud Dudley
1621: Chimneys to be made of brick and be four and a half feet above the roof
1622: First English newspaper appeared
1624: Monopoly Act in England: patents protected
1625: The size of bricks standardised in England around this time; Death of King James VI and I
1625-1649: Carolean Age
1629: Parliament dissolved by King Charles I - did not meet for another 11 years
1630-1750: Baroque Period (Art & Antiques)
1630-1750: Renaissance Period (Art & Antiques)
1635: Letter Office of England & Scotland started; Flintlock invented around this time
1636: Hackney Carriages in use by now in London
1637: Scottish Prayer Book published
1638: Charles regarded protests against the prayerbook as treason - forced Scots to choose between their church and the King - a "Covenant", swearing to resist these changes to the death, was signed in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh and was accepted by hundreds of thousands of Scots (revival of Presbyterian Church)
1639: Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
1641: Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England; Charles I and the English Parliament acknowledge the Prebyterian Church in Scotland
1642: Aug 22: Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham - First Civil War in England (to 1649)- first engagement at Edgehill - Scottish Covenanters side with the English rebels who take power - the Earl of Montrose sided with King Charles, strife spilled into Scotland; The Civil War interrupted the keeping of parish registers; English theatres closed by Puritans (till 1660)
1643: Solemn League and Covenant signed in Scotland
1644: Earliest Independent (Congregational) registers; Earliest Presbyterian registers
1644-5: Montrose's Venture (Montrose executed in 1650)
1645: Battle of Philiphaugh in Scotland; Inquisitions Post Mortem end; Scotland: Each county and burgh ordered to raise and maintain a number of foot soldiers, according to population, to serve as militia - population of Scotland estimated at 420,000; Plague made its last appearance in Scotland
1646: Jun 20: Royalists sign articles of surrender at Oxford
1647: Earliest Baptist registers survive from this year
1649: Jan 30: King Charles I executed; May 19: Commonwealth declared; Cromwell's Irish campaign starts; King Charles II proclaimed King of Scots and England in Scotland
1649-1660: Commonwealth Period - Oliver Cromwell
1650 George Fox founds Society of Friends (Quakers): Coffee brought to England about this time
1651-1652: The second English Civil War; Scottish prisoners transported to the English settlements in America
1653: Commonwealth registers start; Commonwealth changed into Cromwell's Protectorate; Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land (in Ireland?)
1653-1660: Provincial probate courts abolished - probates granted only in London
1657: Post Office established by Act of Parliament [others say 1660]; A few Jews permitted to settle in England
1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell
1658-1660: Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver) Lord Protector
1659: Feb 6: date of first known cheque to be drawn
1660s: Quaker-Scottish colony was established in East New Jersey
1660-: Restoration Period
1660: May 29: Restoration of British monarchy - 'Oak Apple Day' - theatres reopened; Commonwealth registers ended, Parish Registers resumed; Provincial Probate Courts re-established; Regicides are executed; Clarendon code restricts Puritans' religious freedom; Dec 8: First actress plays in London (Margaret Hughes as Desdemona); Composition of light discovered by Newton; Honourable East India Company founded by British; First British in Japan; Scotland adopts Gregorian calendar
1661: Persecution of Non-conformists in England; Restoration of Episcopacy in Scotland; Board of Trade founded in London; Hand-struck postage stamps first used; Corporation Act prevents non-Anglicans from holding municipal office
1662: Hearth Tax; Poor Relief Act "Act of Settlement" - gave JPs the power to return any wandering poor to the parish of origin; Act of Uniformity - About 2,000 vicars and rectors driven from their parishes as nonconformists (Presbyterians and Independents) - Persecution of all non-conformists - Presbyterianism dis-established - Episcopalian Church of England restored
1663: Earliest Roman Catholic registers
1665: Great Plague of London
1666: Sep 2-6: Great Fire of London, after a drought beginning 27 June; Use of semaphore signalling pioneered by Lord Worcester; Act of Parliament - burials to be in woollen
1666-1689: Considerable religious unrest on Scotland (The Covenanters) - Covenanters Rising at St John's Town of Dalry
1669: Earliest Lutheran registers survive from this year
1670: Earliest Synagogue registers - Bevis Marks
1672: High Court of Justiciary established in Scotland; War with Holland - British Army increased to 10,000 men
1673: First Test Act deprives British Catholics and Non-conformists of Public Office
1675: Beginning of Whig party under Shaftsbury; Aug 10: Building of Royal Greenwich Observatory started
1677: Lee's "Collection of Names of Merchants in London" published
1678: Extension of Test Act to peers
1679: May 27: Habeas Corpus Act becomes law in England - (later repealed from time to time); Tories first so named; Battle of Bothwell Brig in Scotland; Burial in Woollen more strictly enforced
1680: William Dockwra(y) begins his London Penny Post
1680-1770: Chinoiserie Period (Art & Antiques)
1681: Second Test Act (against non-conformists) passed by Westminster Parliament; Oil lighting first used in London streets
1682: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn; Library of Advocates founded in Edinburgh - later National Library of Scotland
1683: Jun 6: Ashmolean Museum opened at Oxford - first museum in Britain
1684: Presbyterian settlement in Stuart's Town in South Carolina; Huguenot registers begin in London
1685: Earl of Argyll's Invasion of Scotland; James the Second (1685-1689, died 1701) - Monmouth rebellion and battle of Sedgemoor - British Army raised to 20,000 men; Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes - 320 executed, 800 transported; Revocation of the Edict of Nantes - drove thousands of Protestants (Huguenots) from France - many settled in England
1686: Release of all prisoners held for their religious beliefs
1688: Feb: Edward Lloyd's Coffee House - later became Lloyd's of London; Nov: The Glorious Revolution: James II abdicates - William of Orange lands in England - William of Hanover and Mary, daughter of James II, jointly take the throne - (only William, however, has regal power); British Army raised to 40,000; Bill of Rights limits the powers of the monarchy over parliament; Hearth Tax abolished; Mutiny Act
1689: Deposed James VII and II flees to Ireland - defeated at the Battle of the Boyne (1690); Earliest Royal Dutch Chapel registers; Siege of Londonderry; Toleration Act for Protestant non-conformists; Battle of Killiecrankie in Scotland
1690: Great Synagogue founded; Presbyterianism finally established in Scotland; Battle of the Boyne
1691: Earliest date in known German Lutheran registers
1692: The massacre of Glencoe - Clan Campbell side with the King and murder members of Clan McDonald [1691?]
1692: French intention to invade England came to naught
1694: National Debt came into effect in England; Bank of England founded by William Paterson (a Scot); Triennial Act
1694-1699: Scotland: Poll Tax imposed on all over sixteen, except the destitute and insane
1695: Freedom of Press in England; Bank of Scotland founded; Act of Parliament imposes a fine on all who fail to inform the parish minister of the birth of a child (repealed 1706); Start of "Dissenters" lists in parish registers - children born but not christened in the parish church - some were named "Papist" and others "Protestants"
1696: Act of Parliament establishes Workhouses; Education Act passed by Scottish Parliament; Window Tax (replaced Hearth Tax; increased in 1747; abolished 1851)
1697: Dec 2: Official opening of St Paul's Cathedral
1698: Invention of steam engine by Capt Thomas Savery; Darien Expedition: a disastrous attempt to establish a Scots settlement in Panama; Duties (taxes) on entries in parish registers - repealed after five years
1701: Act of Settlement bars Catholics from the British throne
1702-1714: Queen Anne Period (Art & Antiques)
1702: Mar 8: Anne Stuart becomes Queen; Mar 11: First English daily newspaper The Daily Courant (till 1735); War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713)
1703: Repeal of Duties on entries in Parish Registers
1704: Battle of Blenheim; Penal Code enacted - Catholics barred from voting, education and the military
1705: First workable steam pumping engine devised by Thomas Newcomen
1707: Jan 1: Union with Scotland - Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English Parliament in return for full trading privileges - Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in March; May 1: English and Scottish Parliaments united by an Act of the English Parliament - The Kingdom of Great Britain established; Last use of veto by a British sovereign
1708: First Jacobite rising in Scotland; Earliest Artillery Muster Rolls
1709: First Copyright Act passed
1710: Tax on Apprentice Indentures
1711: Incorporation of South Sea Company, in London
1712: Imposition of Soap Tax (abolished 1853); Last trial for witchcraft in England (Jane Wenham); Toleration Act passed - first relief to non-Anglicans; Patronage Act - patronage of ministers restored
1713: Treaty of Utrecht concludes the War of the Spanish Succession
1714: Aug 1: Queen Anne Stuart dies - George I Hanover becomes king (1714-1727); Chancery Proceedings filed under Six Clerks; Schism Act; Landholders forced to take the Oath of Allegiance and renounce Roman Catholicism; Quarter Sessions Records from this date often mention Protestant dissenters and Roman Catholic recusants
1715: Riot Act passed; Second Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender ('The Fifteen')
1716: The Septennial Act of Britain leads to greater electoral corruption - general elections now to be held once every 7 years instead of every 3
1717: First Masonic Lodge opens in London
1719: Third abortive Jacobite rising
1720: South Sea Bubble, a stock-market crash on Exchange Alley; Manufacturing towns start to increase in population - rise of new wealth
1721: Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742); Bailey's Northern Directory
1722: Last trial for witchcraft in Scotland; Knatchbull's Act, poor laws
1723: Excise tax levied for coffee, tea, and chocolate; The Waltham Black Acts add 50 capital offences to the penal code - people could be sentenced to death for theft and poaching; The Workhouse Act or Test - to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
1725-1726: Treaty of Hanover: France, Prussia, England v. Spain, Austria
1726: First circulating library opened in Edinburgh; Invention of the chronometer by John Harrison
1727: Board of Manufacturers established in Scotland; Jun 11: George I dies - George II Hanover becomes king
1729: Methodists begin at Oxford
1730: Irish famine
1730-1750: Rococo Period (Art & Antiques)
1731: Invention of seed drill by Jethro Tull; Invention of sextant by John Hadley
1732: Earliest Cavalry and Infantry Muster Rolls
1733: Excise crisis: Sir Robert Walpole wanted to add excise tax to tobacco and wine - Pulteney and Bolingbroke oppose the excise tax; Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed - some continued in Latin for a few years
1734: Kent's Directory
1738: Earliest Calvinistic Methodist registers; John Wesley has his conversion experience
1739: Wesley and Whitefield commence great Methodist revival
1741: Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites - Earliest Moravian registers; Earliest Scotch Church registers
1742: England goes to war with Spain - incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) for the sake of trade
1743: Jun 16: Battle of Dettingen - last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
1744: Church of Scotland split over taking of Burgess' Oath - Burghers and Anti-Burghers; First Methodist Conference
1745: Jacobite rebellion in Scotland ('The Forty-five'); Aug: Bonnie Prince Charlie (The Young Pretender) lands in the western Highlands - raises support among Episcopalian and Catholic clans - The Pretender's army invades Perth, Edinburgh, and England as far as Derby
1746: Apr 16: Battle of Culloden - last battle fought in Britain - 5,000 Highlanders routed by the Duke of Cumberland and 9,000 loyalists Scots - Young Pretender Charles flees to Continent, ending Jacobite hopes forever - the wearing of the kilt prohibited
1747: Abolition of Heritable Jurisdictions in Scotland; Act for Pacification of the Highlands
1748-1756: Countess of Huntington's (Calvinistic) Methodist Connexion founded
1750-1770: Gothic Revival Period (Art & Antiques)
1750-1805: Neo-Classical Period (Art & Antiques)
1752: Sep 3: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England, making this Sep 14 - "Give us back our 11 days!"; Year standardised to end Dec 31 (previously Mar 24)
1753: Earliest lnghamite registers
1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used - Quakers & Jews exempt; First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India; First printed Annual Army Lists
1755: Publication of Dictionary of the English Language by Dr Johnson; Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827)
1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
1757: India: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of Plassy - the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive; Black Hole of Calcutta; The foundation laid for the Empire of India
1758: India stops being merely a commercial venture - England begins dominating it politically - The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade
1759: Jan 15: British Museum opens to the public in London; Mar: First predicted return of Halley's comet; Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels
1760: Oct 25: George II dies - George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes king; The date conventionally marks the start of the so-called "first Industrial Revolution"; Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland; May 5: First use of hangman's drop - last nobleman to be executed (Laurence, Earl Ferrers) at Tyburn
1762: Earliest Unitarian registers; France surrenders Canada and Florida; Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
1763: Treaty of Paris - gives back to France everything Pitt fought to obtain - (Newfoundland [fishing], Guadaloupe and Martininque [sugar], Dakar [gum])
1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
1765: Stamp Act passed
1767: First iron railroads built for mines by John Wilkinson; Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
1768: The first edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" published in Edinburgh by William Smellie
1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
1770: Hargreaves's jenny invented (textile production); Apr 28: James Cook discovers New South Wales; Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major thoroughfare for maritime communications
1772: May 14: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England; First Navy Lists published
1773-1858: The East India Company governs Hindustan
1773: Dec 16: Boston Tea Party
1775: Apr 19: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775-1783) - Irish unrest
1776: Jul 4: American Declaration of Independence
1779: Crompton's mule invented (textile production); First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson; First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
1780: May 4: First Derby run at Epsom; 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; Earliest Wesleyan registers; Male Servants Tax; 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
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; James Watt patents his steam engine
1783: Duty on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794); Sep 3: Treaty of Versailles (England/U.S.)
1784: Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics; Wesley breaks with the Church of England; First edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years); Aug 2: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol/8am London); First golf club founded at St Andrews; Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million)
1787: Earliest known Swedenborgian (Church of the New Jerusalem or Jerusalemite) registers
1788: Jan 26: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales; First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland [but see 1802]; Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced); First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships; 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
1789: Jul 14: The French Revolution begins - storming of the Bastille; Publication of Gilbert White's 'Natural History of Selborne'
1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
1791: Sugar prices rise steeply; John Bell, printer, abandons the "long s" (the "s" that looks like an "f"); Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain; Dec 4: First publication of The Observer - oldest Sunday newspaper
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; Boyle's Street Directory published; Oct 1: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain; Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot; Dec 1: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
1793: Feb 11: England declares war on France (1793-1802); Execution of Louis XVI; Apr 15: £5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties; Battle of Glorious First of June; Oct 6: 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
1795: The Famine Year; Foundation of the Orange Order; 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; 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; Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
1796: Holden's Triennial Directory published; Pitt's "Reign of Terror": More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments; Feb 26: First £1 note issued by Bank of England; Apr-Jun: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore; Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications
1798: Feb-Oct: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished; First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
1799: Jan 9: Pitt brings in 10% income tax; Jul 12: Repressive legislation in Britain against political associations and combinations; Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York; Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; Post Office New Annual Directory
1800: Jul 2: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland; Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy; Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick; Earliest Bible Christian registers; Royal College of Surgeons founded
1801: Union Jack official British flag; Jun 29: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000 - population of Britain nearly 11 million (75 per cent rural)
1802: Mar 27: 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; Charlotte Dundas on Clyde, first practical steamship, built by William Symington; First British Factory Act
1803: Invention of paper-making machine (Foudrinier); Peace of Amiens ends on 12 May - resumption of war with France - The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5); William Cobbett began unofficial publication of Parliamentary reports (taken over by Hansard report in 1811); First publication of Debrett's Peerage by John Debrett; Early locomotive constructed by Richard Trevithick; First public railway opens (Wandsworth to Croydon); Semaphore signalling perfected by Admiral Popham; Commissioners for Highland Roads and Bridges created in Scotland
1804: Dec 12: Spain declares war on Britain
1805: Oct 21: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
1806: Earliest Primitive Methodist registers
1807: Mar 25: Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 - but does not prohibit colonial slavery; Gas lighting in London streets
1808: Peninsular War (1808-1814)
1810: Bible Christians denomination formed by schism in Wesleyan Methodists
1811: Feb 5: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane; Nov: Luddite uprisings (machine breaking) in the Midlands against weaving frames started - went on until 1815 - groups of workmen rebelled against the increased mechanisation of textile production by destroying the new machinery - government fears revolutionary conspiracy - damaging property or taking Luddite oaths become capital offences
1812: Prime Minister Perceval assassinated; Jun 18: Start of American "War of 1812" against England and Canada; Oct-Dec: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses; Comet steamship launched in Scotland
1813: 'Policy for the Improvement of the Highlands' approved by British Parliament; Ireland: First recorded "12th of July" sectarian riots in Belfast; Rose's Act (1812) established a printed format for baptism & burial registers
1814: "Year of the Burning" in Sutherland and Ross; Act of Burial in Woollen repealed; First Pigot's Commercial Directory printed; Jan 1: Invasion of France by Allies; Apr 6: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba; Sugar prices reach record heights
1815: Jun 18: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena; Corn Bill passed with enormous benefit to landlords
1816: Economic depression; Income tax abolished
1817: Johnstone's London Directory printed
1818: First steamship (Savannah) to cross Atlantic (26 days)
1819: Aug 16: 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 and maiming many people; Dec: Six Acts passed against radical political Unions - prohibits assemblies similar to St. Peter's Fields and imposes press censorship
1820: Jan 29: Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent; Cato Street Conspiracy; Aug 17: 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
1822: Caledonian canal opened
1823: New laws concerning marriage by licence; Scottish testaments prior to 1823 transferred to S.R.O.
1824: Combination Acts repealed (Trades Unions allowed)
1825: Horse-drawn buses in London [but see 1829]; Stockton to Darlington Railway opens; Hobhouse makes amendments to Acts to protect Child Labour in cotton factories
1826: Scotland's first commercial railway was opened, Edinburgh to Dalkeith; White's first Commercial Directory - Hull
1828: Apr 28: Repeal of Test and Corporation Acts - had kept non-Anglicans (Catholics and Dissenters) from holding public office and deprived them of other rights
1829: Apr 4: Catholic Emancipation Act restores civil liberties to Roman Catholics; Earliest Irvingite registers; First two omnibuses (pulled by three horses) introduced by George Schillibeer; London Metropolitan police force formed; George Stephenson's Rocket; Lucifer matches first manufactured
1830: Jun 26: George IV dies - his brother, William IV, accedes to the throne; First mail carried by rail between Liverpool & Manchester; Agricultural 'Swing' Riots in southern England, repressed with many transportations
1830-1880: Eclectic Period (Art & Antiques)
1831: First Reform Bill introduced by Lord George Russell; A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled; British Association founded; Faraday discovers electro-magnetic induction
1832: Jun 7: Reform Bill passed - Representation of the People Act - dramatic effects for grossly underrepresented places like Scotland (the number of Scottish people allowed to vote increased from 4,000 to 65,000 out of 2.5 million people) - changed voting from an aristocratic privilege to a middle class right, but by later standards not much was accomplished - approximately doubled the electorate to about 800,000 voters out of a total population in Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales of around 24 million (1831 census), and increasing by 1 million a year; Electoral Registers introduced; Electric telegraph invented by Morse
1833: Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions; Poor Law amendment, tightening up relief; 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported for Trades Union activities; Dec 23: Hansom Cab patented by Joseph Hansom
1835: Christmas becomes a national holiday; Earliest Universalist registers; Municipal Corporations Act; Word 'socialism' first used; First surviving photograph taken by William Fox Talbot
1836: First Potato famine in Ireland; Economic downturn that lasts until 1842; Newspaper tax reduced from 4 pence to one penny
1837: Mar 14: Wheatstone & Cooke send first British telegraph message; Jun 20: William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901); Jul 1: Compulsory registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in England & Wales; Jul 20: Euston Railway station opens - first in London
1838: First Ocean Steamers to the U.S.; Chartism, a working-class movement for the extension of the franchise, comes into existence - 6-point charter: universal suffrage, secret ballot, annual elections, payment of Members, no property qualification for MPs, equal electoral districts
1838-1849: The Chartist Movement
1839: Bicycle invented; Chartist riots
1840: Jan 10: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally; Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849); Population Act relating to taking of censuses in Britain
1841: Feb 10: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp; June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded
1842: Mail steamship to India; Civil Registration in Channel Islands started; Government report 'The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population'; Laws outlawing women and children in the mines
1843: First Christmas card in England; Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched; Disruption of the Church of Scotland - 474 ministers signed the Deed of Demission and formed the Free Church of Scotland (the "Wee Free"); Factory safety regulations enacted
1844: Outdoor Relief Prohibition Order - parish relief received only in a workhouse
1845: Excise tax on glass production repealed; Potato famine in Ireland (to 1848) - temporary repeal of the Corn Laws; Kelly's Directories; Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham); First voyage of 'Great Britain' - to America; Royal Naval Biographical Dictionary published
1846: Free Church of Scotland formed; An anaesthetic used for the first time in England
1847: United Succession becomes the United Presbyterian Church; Ten Hours Act shortens factory work day to ten hours for women and children
1848: General revolutionary movement throughout the Continent; Rotary press first introduced; Public Health Act
1849: Civil Registration of Births in Isle of Man started
1850: Telegraph cable Dover to Calais [others say 1851]
1851: Mar 30: Second full British Census - improvements in data compared with the first; May 1: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ("Crystal Palace" exhibition) opened in Hyde Park; Photography is popularised by introduction of "wet collodion" process; Gold discovered in Australia
1852: First voyage of 'Great Britain' to Australia
1854: Sep 14: Allied armies land in Crimea; Cigarettes introduced into Britain
1855: Jan 1: Registration of births, marriages & deaths made compulsory in Scotland; First London pillar boxes; Cellulose nitrate, first synthetic plastic material, invented by Alexander Parkes
1857: Transatlantic cable laid; London postal districts introduced
1857-8: Indian Mutiny
1858: Jan: Legally proved Wills start to be entered into an index (Eng & W) - taken out of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; Jan 31: 'Great Eastern' launched; East India Company dissolved
1859: Darwin publishes Origin of Species
1861: American Civil War begins; Apr 7: Third full British Census; Dec 15: Prince Albert dies
1863: Football Association founded; London's first Underground Railway opens
1864: Civil Registration in Ireland starts; Civil Registration of marriages in Isle of Man starts
1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA; William Booth founds Salvation Army
1867: Dominion of Canada founded; The Second Reform Bill - vote given to town householders; Fanny Adams murdered in Alton
1868: Last British election for which Poll Books available; Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
1869: Nov 18: Suez Canal opens; Cutty Sark launched; Ballbearings, celluloid, margarine, washing machine all invented
1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies; Oct 1: First British postcard - halfpenny post; Board Schools start attempting to impose consistent spelling; Dr. Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
1870-1900: Art & Crafts Period (Art & Antiques)
1871: Apr 2: Fourth full British census; Jun 29: Trades Unions legalised in Britain
1872: Secret Ballot introduced in Britain (no further Poll Books produced); Licensing hours introduced; Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
1875: London's main sewage system completed; Captain Webb swims channel; Submarine invented; Artisan's Dwellings Act; Climbing Boys Act passed
1876: Bell invents telephone; Annual centralised list of Scottish Wills from now (and most from 1823 also); Civil Registration of deaths in Isle of Man started; Victoria proclaimed Empress of India
1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph; First tennis championships at Wimbledon
1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
1879: First telephone exchanges opened in London & Manchester; Tay Bridge Disaster - bridge collapsed in storm taking train with it - enquiry revealed corners had been cut during construction to reduce costs
1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
1881: Apr 3: Fifth full British Census; Postal Orders introduced
1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
1884: The Third Reform Bill - vote given to agricultural workers
1884-1918: Art Noveau Period (Art & Antiques)
1885: Carl Benz builds single-cylinder motor car; Eastman makes first coated photographic paper; Secretary for Scotland appointed
1886: Crofters Act
1887: Jun 21: Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
1888: County Councils set up in Britain
1889: Celluloid film produced; Dock Strike - docker's won their "Docker's Tanner", 6 old pennies
1890: London's first electric Underground; Mar 4: Forth railway bridge opens - took six years to build
1891: Mar 18: First telephone link between London & Paris; Apr 5: Sixth full British Census; Primary education made free and compulsory
1892: Electric oven invented; Shop Hours Act - limit 74 hours per week for under-18s; May 20: Last broad-gauge train leaves Paddington for Plymouth; Married Women's Property Act
1893: Keir Hardy founds Independent Labour Party; Henry Ford's first car; Zip fastener invented
1894: Jan 1: Manchester Ship Canal opens; Local Government Act passed (start of civil parish councils, etc); Picture postcard introduced in Britain; Jun 30: Tower Bridge opens
1895: Jan 12: The National Trust founded in England; Mar 22: First public showing of film on screen in Paris by LumiËres; Rˆntgen discovers x-rays; Gugliemo Marconi invents wireless telegraphy - message over a mile; Safety razor invented by King C Gillette; Jul 12: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain; Oct 17: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences - John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
1896: Opening of the Underground Railway (the "shooglie") in Glasgow - remains the only underground in Scotland
1897: Jun 22: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
1898: First photograph using artificial light; Zeppelin builds airship; The Curies discover Radium
1899-1902: Boer War
1899: Oct: Start of Boer War; Valdemar Poulsen invents tape recorder; Aspirin invented
1900: Commonwealth of Australia founded
1901: Jan 22: Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king; Mar 31: Seventh full British Census (available for inspection Jan 2002); Britain's first submarine launched; Dec 12: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi
1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
1905: Einstein publishes theory of relativity
1906: Labour Party formed; Free school meals for poor children
1907: School medical system begins
1909: Jan 1: Old Age Pensions Act came into force; Bleriot flies across the Channel; Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
1910: Union of South Africa formed; May 6: Edward VII dies - George V king
1911: Census: Pop. E&W 36M, Scot 4.6M, NI 1.25M; Dec 14: National Insurance in Britain
1911-1912: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers
1912: Apr 14: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage; Captain Scott's last expedition
1914-1918: First World War (the "Great War")
1914: Aug 4: war declared
1916: Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence
1917: First use of massed tanks (Cambrai); George V adopts Windsor as surname; Mar 12: USA enters the war
1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons); Nov 11: Peace treaty signed at Versailles
1918-1939: Art Deco Period (Art & Antiques)
1919: First woman in House of Commons (Viscountess Astor); Alcock and Brown fly Atlantic; Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
1921: Census: Pop. E&W 37.9M, Scot 4.9M, NI 1.25M; Dec 6: Irish Free State and Northern Ireland formed; Irish Regiments of British Army disbanded
1922: BBC begins transmissions
1923: Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy; First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) - "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" popular song of the time, became West Ham anthem
1924: First Labour government, headed by Ramsey MacDonald
1926: Apr 26: General Strike begins, till May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
1928: Women over 21 get vote - same qualification for both sexes
1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain; Sir Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin; Wall Street crash
1930: Oct 5: R101 airship disaster
1931: Census: Pop. E&W 40M, Scot 4.8M, NI 1.24M; Oct 21: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis
1933: Jan 30: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany; Oxford Union: "This House will in no circumstances fight for King and Country"
1936: Jan 20: George V dies; Edward VIII king; First public TV transmission; Jet engine first tested; Jul 18: Spanish Civil War starts; Dec 5: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - carol that Xmas: "Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King"; Duke of York becomes George VI
1937: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth, launched on Clydebank
1939-45: Second World War (the "Peoples War")
1939: Sep 3: War declared
1941: No census - total pop. estimated at 48.2M
1944: Jun 6: D-Day invasion of Normandy
1945: May 8: VE Day; Jun 26: UN Charter signed; Sep 2: VJ Day
1947: Jan 1: Coal Mines nationalised; Apr 1: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
1948: Jan 1: British Railways nationalised; Jul 1: Berlin airlift starts (to 12 May 1949)
1949: Mar 15: Clothes rationing ends
1950: May 19: Points rationing ends; May 26: Petrol rationing ends; Jun 25: Korean War starts ( to 27 Jul 1953); Sep 9: Soap rationing ends
1951: Census: Pop. E&W 43.7M, Scot 5M. NI 1.37M; May 3: Festival of Britain opens on South Bank, London
1952: Feb 6: George VI dies; Elizabeth II queen, returns from Kenya; Feb 21: Identity Cards abolished in Britain; Nov: Hydrogen Bomb detonated
1953: Feb 4: Sweet rationing ends; May 29: Everest conquered; Jun 2: Coronation of Elizabeth II; Sep 26: Sugar rationing ends (after nearly 14 years)
1954: May 6: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister); Jul 3: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
1956: Jun3: 3rd class travel abolished on British Railways; Sep 25: Submarine telephone cable across the Atlantic opened; Oct 31: Britain and France invade Suez; Nov 16: Suez canal blocked (till 5 Jun 1975)
1957: Jun 1: Premiun Bonds first prizes drawn; Oct 4: Sputnik launched
1958: Feb 25: CND launched; Jul 26: Charles created Prince of Wales
1959: May 24: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day; Aug: BMC Mini car launched; Sep 5: Introduction of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain; Oct 3: Postcodes introduced in Britain; Nov 1: First section of M1 motorway opened
1960: Feb 3: Macmillan 'wind of change' speech in S. Africa; Mar 17: New ú1 notes issued by Bank of England; Mar 18: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named; Sep 12: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced; Oct 1: HMS Dreadnought (nuclear submarine) launched
1961: Jan 1: Farthing ceases to be legal tender; Mar 8: First US Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch; Mar 13: Black & White £5 notes cease to be legal tender; Mar 14: New English Bible (New Testament) published; Apr 12: Yuri Gagarin flight into space and back; Apr 23: Census: Pop. E&W 46M, Scot 5.1M, NI 1.4M; May 1: Betting shops legal in Britain; Oct 10: Volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha - whole population evacuated to Britain
1962: May 25: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz); Jun 15: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley, Glos); Jul 10: First live TV between US and Europe (Telstar); Oct 24: Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war; Dec 22: No frost-free nights in Britain till 5 Mar 1963
1963: Mar 27: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe'); Aug 1: Minimum prison age raised to 17; Aug 8: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train; Sep 17: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational; Sep 25: Denning Report on Profumo affair; Nov 18: Dartford Tunnel opens; Nov 22: President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1964: Apr 9: First Greater London Council (GLC) election; Apr 21: BBC2 TV starts; Sep 4: Forth road bridge opens; 'Beatlemania' begins
1965: Feb 7: First US raids against N Vietnam; Apr 6: Launch of Early Bird commercial communications satellite; Aug 1: TV ban on cigarette advertising in Britain; Sep 21: Oil strike by BP in North Sea; Oct 28: Death penalty abolished in Britain for murder [some say 18 Dec 1969]; Nov 11: Declaration of UDI in Rhodesia; Dec 22: 70mph speed limit on British roads
1966: Feb 3: Soft landing on moon by unmanned Luna 9; Mar 23: Archbishop of Canterbury meets Pope in Rome; May 16: Seamen's strike (ended 1 Jul); Jul 30: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany); Sep 8: First Severn road bridge opens; Oct 21: Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children; Dec 1: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
1967: Jan 27: Three US astronauts killed in fire during launch pad test; Mar 18: Torrey Canyon oil tanker runs aground off Lands End; May 28: Francis Chichester arrives in Plymouth after solo non-stop circumnavigation (knighted 7 Jul); Jul 1: First colour TV in Britain; Jul 13: Public Record Act - records now closed for only 30 years (but census still closed for 100 years); Jul 18: Withdrawal from East of Suez by mid-70s announced; Sep 3: Sweden changes rule of road to drive on right; Sep 20: QE2 launched on Clydebank; Sep 27: Queen Mary arrives Southampton at end of last transatlantic voyage; Oct 5: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts; Dec 3: First human heart transplant (in S Africa)
1968: Feb 18: British Standard Time introduced; Apr 23: Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins; May 6: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration; May 10: Student riots in Paris; Jul 29: Pope encyclical condemns all artificial forms of birth control; Sep 15: Severe flooding in England; Sep 16: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain; Oct 5: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
1969: Mar 2: Maiden flight of Concorde; Mar 7: Victoria Line tube opens in London; Apr 17: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18; Jul 1: Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle; Jul 21: First men land on the moon; Jul 31: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender; Oct 14: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
1970: Mar 16: Publication of complete New English Bible; Jun 17: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain; Jul 30: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims; Nov 20: Ten shilling note goes out of circulation in Britain
1971: Jan 1: Divorce Reform Act (1969) comes into force; Jan 3: Open University starts; Feb 15: Decimalisation of coinage in Britain; Aug 9: Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland; Oct 28: Parliament votes to join Common Market
1972: Feb 9: Power workers crisis; Oct 5: United Reformed Church founded out of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches in E&W
1973: Jan 1: Britain enters Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark); Jan 27: Vietnam ceasefire agreement signed; Apr 1: VAT introduced in Britain; Dec 31: Energy crisis - Three-day week (till 9 Mar 1974) to conserve power
1974: Aug 8: President Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal; Several new 'counties' formed
1975: Feb 11: Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition); Apr 30: End of Vietnam war; Jun 5: Suez canal reopens (after 8 years closure); Nov 3: First North Sea oil comes ashore [some say 11 June]; Dec 27: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
1976: Jan 21: Concorde enters supersonic passenger service; Aug 6: Drought Act 1976 comes into force; Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
1977: Mar 23: Lib-Lab pact; Jun 1: Road speed limits: 70mph dual roads; 60mph single; Jun 7: Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London
1978: Apr 8: Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts; May 1: First May Day holiday in Britain; Jul 25: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham; Oct 15: Pope John Paul II, first non-Italian for 450 years; Nov 30: Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
1979: Feb 1: Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran; Mar 1: 32.5% of Scots vote in favour of devolution (40% needed) - Welsh vote overwhelmingly against; Mar 31: Withdrawal of Royal Navy from Malta; May 4: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman Prime Minister; Aug 27: Lord Mountbatten killed in bomb blast of coast of Sligo; Sep 18: ILEA voted to abolish corporal punishment in its schools; Nov 13: The Times returns to circulation
1980: May 5: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages; Dec 8: John Lennon assassinated in New York
1981: Jan 25: Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four'; Mar 29: First London marathon run; Apr 5: Census day in Britain; Apr 12: US Shuttle launched; Apr 25: Worst April blizzards this century in Britain; Jul 29: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
1982: Jan 26: Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population); Mar 18: Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia; Apr 2: Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands; Apr 5: Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands; Jun 14: Ceasefire in Falklands; Jun 21: Birth of Prince William of Wales; Oct 11: Mary Rose raised (sank 1545); Oct 31: Thames Barrier raised for first time; Nov 4: Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads; Dec 12: Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov 1983)
1983: Jan 17: Start of breakfast TV in Britain; Jan 31: Seat belt law came into force; Apr 21: £1 coin into circulation in Britain; Oct 7: Plans to abolish GLC announced
1984: Jan 9: FTSE index exceeded 800; Jun 22: Inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic; Oct 12: Bomb explodes at Tory conference hotel in Brighton - 4 killed; Oct 24: High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets; Dec 3: British Telecom privatised - shares make massive gains on first day's trading; George Orwell got it wrong (his book '1984', written in 1948)
1985: Mar 3: Miners agree to call off strike; Mar 11: Al Fayed buys Harrods; Jul 13: Live Aid pop concert raises over £50M for famine relief; Sep: Wreck of Titanic found (sank 1912)
1986: Mar 31: GLC and 6 metropolitan councils abolished; Apr 28: Chernobyl nuclear accident - radiation reached Britain 2 May; May 7: Mannie Shinwell, veteran politician, dies aged 101
1987: Terry Waight kidnapped in Beirut (released Nov 1991); Car ferry "Herald of Free Enterprise" capsizes off Zeebrugge - 188 die; Order of the Garter opened to women; Oct: The 'Hurricane' sweeps southern England; 'Black Monday' in the City of London - Stock Market crash
1988: Copyright Act; Dec 21: Lockerbie disaster - Pan Am flight 103 blows up over Scotland
1989: Poll Tax implemented in Scotland; House of Commons proceedings first televised
1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns as Conservative party leader (and Prime Minister); Poll Tax implemented in England & Wales - riots; Aug 2: Iraq invades Kuwait; Channel Tunnel excavation teams meet in the middle
1991: Poll Tax replaced (by Council Tax); Robert Maxwell drowns at sea
1992: Coal industry privatised
1993: Jul: Ratification of Maastricht Treaty; Betty Boothroyd first woman Speaker of the House of Commons
1994: Nov: National Lottery starts; Channel Tunnel open to traffic

See Main Index

The information above is derived from various sourcesand accuracy cannot be guaranteed. You are advised to cross-check the accuracy of any date or event listed above!

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