Timeline
1700 1800 1900
Friday 24 January 1755 : Birth date of William HUNTER
Tuesday 15 April 1755 : Dr Johnson publishes dictionary
1756 : Start of Seven Years' War
Sunday 20 June 1756 : 123 Britons die in the Black Hole of Calcutta
1757 : Clive defeats Bengalis - start of Empire in India
Wednesday 29 June 1757 : William Pitt becomes Prime Minister
Saturday 17 December 1757 : Birth date of Peter HUNTER
1760 : Turnpikes improve travelling by road
Sunday 1 June 1760 : Birth date of James HUNTER
Saturday 25 October 1760 : End of reign of George II
Sunday 26 October 1760 : Start of reign of George III
1761 : Link between tobacco and cancer established
1763 : End of Seven Years' War
1764 : Invention of the spinning jenny by J Hargreaves
Sunday 28 September 1766 : Birth date of Mary FORRESTER
Monday 6 October 1766 : Birth date of Peter HUNTER
1767 : Construction of Edinburgh's New Town begins
Friday 1 September 1769 : Marriage date of Nathaniel SHARP = Katharine STEIN
Sunday 6 May 1770 : Capt. Cook discovers Botany Bay
Tuesday 11 December 1770 : Birth date of Janet SHARP
Sunday 11 October 1772 : Birth date of Joseph SHARP
1774 : Isolation of oxygen by J Priestley
Saturday 23 April 1774 : Birth date of Nathaniel SHARP
Saturday 10 February 1776 : Birth date of Cecilia SHARP
Sunday 11 February 1776 : Birth date of Henry SHARP
Sunday 24 August 1777 : Birth date of Robert SHARP
Tuesday 24 February 1778 : Birth date of Jean SHARP
Friday 24 April 1778 : John Paul Jones captures the Drake at Carrickfergus
1779 : Invention of spinning mule by Samuel Crompton
Friday 16 July 1779 : Birth date of Janet SHARP
Sunday 2 July 1780 : "Gordon" riots in London
Sunday 20 August 1780 : Birth date of Daniel SHARP
Monday 1 January 1781 : World's first iron bridge completed over the River Severn
EST Sunday 20 May 1781 : Birth date of Thomas GORDON
Saturday 21 July 1781 : Birth date of William SHARP
1782 : Invention of modern steam engine by James Watt
1783 : First steam powered ship built by d'Abbans
1783 : First flight of hot-air balloon by Montgolfier brothers
Tuesday 4 February 1783 : Parliament proclaims an end to hostilities in America
Wednesday 3 September 1783 : UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the US sign the Treaty of Paris
Monday 2 August 1784 : First mail coach runs from Bristol to London
1785 : First power-driven loom invented by E Cartwright
1786 : Robert Burns publishes "Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect"
1787 : Transportation of criminals to Botany Bay begins
Sunday 3 June 1787 : Marriage date of Peter HUNTER = Mary FORRESTER
Thursday 23 October 1788 : Birth date of Mary HUNTER
Tuesday 28 April 1789 : Mutiny aboard HMS Bounty
Thursday 24 December 1789 : Birth date of Robert HUNTER
1791 : The Ordnance Survey of Great Britain is founded
Monday 13 February 1792 : Birth date of Thomas HUNTER
1793 : Invention of cotton gin by Eli Whitney
Friday 1 February 1793 : France declares war on Britain and the Netherlands
Sunday 2 February 1794 : Birth date of Jean HUNTER
1795 : Poor Law devised
1796 : Discovery of Smallpox vaccine by E Jenner
Sunday 5 June 1796 : Birth date of William HUNTER
Tuesday 21 February 1797 : French landing in Wales repulsed at Fishguard
Saturday 15 April 1797 : First naval mutiny at Spithead
Friday 30 June 1797 : Second naval mutiny at the Nore
1798 : Typhus epidemic kills thousands
Friday 7 September 1798 : Marriage date of Nathaniel SHARP = Cecilia SHARP
Wednesday 9 January 1799 : Parliament passes the first income tax
Wednesday 26 November 1800 : Birth date of Mary HUNTER
1801 : Electric arc lamp invented by Sir Humphrey Davy
Friday 6 August 1802 : Birth date of Katherine SHARP
Monday 25 April 1803 : Birth date of John HUNTER
Wednesday 12 September 1804 : Birth date of Nathaniel SHARP
Wednesday 10 July 1805 : Birth date of Robert GORDON
Monday 21 October 1805 : Nelson dies victorious at Trafalgar
Thursday 10 April 1806 : Birth date of James HUNTER
Thursday 31 July 1806 : Birth date of Cecilia SHARP
Sunday 25 October 1807 : Birth date of John GORDON
Wednesday 20 July 1808 : Birth date of Joseph SHARP
Sunday 21 August 1808 : Sir Arthur Wellesley leads campaign in Peninsular War
Friday 28 July 1809 : French driven from Portugal
Saturday 15 September 1810 : Birth date of Thomas GORDON
Sunday 23 September 1810 : Christening date of Thomas GORDON
Monday 10 December 1810 : Birth date of Robert HUNTER
1811 : Luddites attack textile machinery
February 1811 : Prince of Wales becomes Prince Regent due to King's insanity
Thursday 21 March 1811 : Birth date of Helen SHARP
1812 : French retreat from Moscow
Wednesday 12 August 1812 : Wellington takes Madrid
Saturday 14 November 1812 : Birth date of Catherine GORDON
1813 : Birth date of Margaret DRUMMOND
1815 : Humphry Davy invents mining safety lamp
Tuesday 24 January 1815 : Birth date of Mary GORDON
Sunday 18 June 1815 : Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
Saturday 5 August 1815 : Birth date of Archibald SHARP
1816 : Invention of phosphorous match by F Derosne
1816 : Invention of bicycle by K D von Sauerbronn
1817 : Potato famine kills thousands in Ireland
Wednesday 15 October 1817 : Birth date of Isabel GORDON
1818 : Mary Shelley publishes "Frankenstein"
1819 : Invention of stethoscope by R Laennec
1819 : MacAdam revolutionises road building
Saturday 29 January 1820 : End of reign of George III
Sunday 30 January 1820 : Start of reign of George IV
1822 : Invention of electric motor by Michael Faraday
June 1822 : Birth date of James GORDON
Tuesday 27 September 1825 : First passenger train service from Stockton to Darlington
Monday 30 January 1826 : Telford's Menai suspension bridge completed
1827 : G S Ohm postulates Ohm's Law
Tuesday 22 January 1828 : Wellington becomes Prime Minister
1829 : George Stephenson builds first steam locomotive
Wednesday 28 January 1829 : William Burke hanged for murder in Edinburgh
Saturday 26 September 1829 : First proper police force established in London
Saturday 26 June 1830 : End of reign of George IV
Sunday 27 June 1830 : Start of reign of William IV
Wednesday 15 September 1830 : Liverpool to Manchester railway opens
1831 : Invention of the friction match by C Sauria
Sunday 16 January 1831 : Marriage date of Robert HUNTER = Helen SHARP
1832 : M Faraday invents electric dynamo
June 1832 : Cholera epidemic strikes Britain
Thursday 7 June 1832 : Parliament passes Reform Act
Sunday 4 November 1832 : Marriage date of Thomas GORDON = Margaret DRUMMOND
Saturday 27 April 1833 : Birth date of Jane Cairns GORDON
Monday 29 July 1833 : Slavery abolished throughout British Empire
March 1834 : Tolpuddle Martyrs sentenced to transportation
Thursday 3 July 1834 : Birth date of Mary HUNTER
1835 : Samuel Colt invents the revolver
1836 : Charles Darwin returns from South America
1836 : Invention of screw propeller by F P Smith
Saturday 28 May 1836 : Birth date of Thomas GORDON
1837 : Invention of telegraph by S F B Morse
Tuesday 20 June 1837 : End of reign of William IV
Wednesday 21 June 1837 : Start of reign of Queen Victoria
Saturday 24 March 1838 : Birth date of William Drummond GORDON
April 1838 : First steam crossing of the Atlantic
September 1838 : Grace Darling rescues survivors of the "Forfarshire"
Sunday 7 October 1838 : Birth date of Jane HUNTER
1839 : Rubber vulcanisation developed by C Goodyear
ABT 1840 : Development of photography
Wednesday 6 May 1840 : Penny Post introduced
Tuesday 2 June 1840 : Britain annexes New Zealand
Sunday 20 September 1840 : Birth date of Catherine HUNTER
Tuesday 6 July 1841 : First national census taken
September 1841 : Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister
1842 : First use of ether as anesthetic by CW Long
EST 1843 : Birth date of Robert HUNTER
Sunday 31 December 1843 : Charles Dickens publishes "A Christmas Carol"
June 1844 : Mines Act prohibits use of women and boys in mines
EST 1845 : Birth date of Margaret HUNTER
1845 : Invention of pneumatic tyre by R W Thompson
Wednesday 5 March 1845 : Birth date of James GORDON
July 1846 : Potato famine hits Ireland and Scotland
Sunday 17 January 1847 : Birth date of Peter HUNTER
April 1847 : Thousands emigrate from Ireland on "Coffin" ships
November 1849 : Cholera epidemic takes 2000 lives a week
1850 : Invention of refrigerator by Twining / Harrison
Sunday 21 April 1850 : Birth date of Anne HUNTER
Wednesday 26 February 1851 : Birth date of Margaret Drummond GORDON
Monday 31 March 1851 : 1851 national census taken
Thursday 1 May 1851 : Great Exhibition opened in Hyde Park
Sunday 8 August 1852 : Birth date of Cecilia HUNTER
ABT 1853 : Transportation of criminals to Australia ends
1853 : Smallpox vaccination becomes compulsory
Sunday 26 March 1854 : Start of Crimean War
Sunday 26 March 1854 : Britain and France declare war on Russia
1855 : Invention of the safety match by J E Lundstrom
Sunday 30 March 1856 : End of Crimean War
Sunday 10 May 1857 : Sepoy mutiny in India
1859 : First oil well sunk by E L Drake in Pennsylvania
Thursday 24 November 1859 : Charles Darwin publishes "The Origin of Species"
Friday 15 June 1860 : Marriage date of William Drummond GORDON = Jane HUNTER
1861 : Gatling gun invented by R J Gatling
Monday 8 April 1861 : 1861 national census taken
Tuesday 7 May 1861 : Birth date of Thomas Drummond GORDON
Saturday 10 January 1863 : London Underground opens
Monday 27 July 1863 : Birth date of Robert Hunter GORDON
Wednesday 19 July 1865 : Birth date of Helen GORDON
ABT 1866 : Invention of the breech-loading rifle
September 1866 : Cholera sweeps London
1867 : Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
1867 : Invention of the typewriter by Sholes and Glidden
1867 : Joseph Lister pioneers antiseptic techniques
Wednesday 6 November 1867 : Birth date of Margaret Hunter Drummond GORDON
February 1868 : Disraeli becomes Prime Minister
1869 : D Mendeleev constructs Periodic Table of elements
1870 : Electric incandescent lamp invented by T A Edison
Wednesday 26 January 1870 : Birth date of William Drummond GORDON
Monday 3 April 1871 : 1871 national census taken
May 1872 : Gladstone becomes Prime Minister
Sunday 16 June 1872 : Birth date of James GORDON
December 1872 : "Marie Celeste" discovered abandoned
1873 : Invention of pianoforte by J Broadwood
1876 : Invention of the telephone by A G Bell
Tuesday 18 January 1876 : Death date of Helen SHARP
Friday 7 July 1876 : Birth date of Mary Jane Hunter GORDON
1877 : Invention of reinforced concrete by J Monier
1877 : Phonograph invented by Thomas Edison
Monday 2 June 1879 : Birth date of Catherine Hunter GORDON
Sunday 28 December 1879 : Tay Bridge disaster
Wednesday 14 January 1880 : Death date of Robert HUNTER
Sunday 3 April 1881 : 1881 national census taken
1882 : Isolation of tuberculosis bacteria by R Koch
1883 : Cholera bacteria isolated by Robert Koch
Tuesday 24 July 1883 : Death date of William Drummond GORDON
Sunday 26 August 1883 : Krakatoa erupts
1884 : Fountain pen invented by L E Waterman
1885 : First internal combustion carriage built by K. Benz
1885 : Vaccine against rabies discovered by Louis Pasteur
Monday 26 January 1885 : General Gordon killed at Khartoum
1887 : Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle
1888 : Invention of hand-held camera by George Eastman
February 1888 : Death date of Robert GORDON
Saturday 28 April 1888 : Death date of Margaret DRUMMOND
October 1888 : Jack the Ripper terrorises London's East End
1889 : Invention of the bolt-action rifle by P von Mauser
Thursday 14 November 1889 : Completion of the Forth Bridge - first large steel structure
1890 : Discovery of diphtheria vaccine by E von Behring
1891 : Invention of the zip fastener by W L Judson
Wednesday 1 April 1891 : 1891 national census taken
1893 : Thomas Edison invents motion pictures
Sunday 6 August 1893 : Death date of Thomas GORDON
1894 : Tower Bridge opens in London
1895 : Wireless telegraphy invented by G Marconi
1895 : Discovery of x-rays by W K Roentgen
1896 : Discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel
Tuesday 22 June 1897 : Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee
1899 : Introduction of aspirin by Felix Hoffman
1899 : Invention of first tape recorder by V Poulsen
October 1899 : Start of Boer War
1900 : Invention of rigid airship by von Zeppelin
1900 : Invention of agricultural tractor by B Holt
August 1900 : Boxer rebellion in Peking
1901 : First successful safety razor sold by K Gillette
Tuesday 22 January 1901 : End of reign of Queen Victoria
Wednesday 23 January 1901 : Start of reign of Edward VII
Saturday 5 April 1902 : 20 killed as terracing collapses at Ibrox Park
Sunday 1 June 1902 : End of Boer War
Wednesday 4 October 1905 : Convicted Suffragettes choose to go to prison
1906 : Wassermann test for syphilis developed
1907 : Albert Einstein postulates "E=mc²" theory
1910 : Invention of first synthetic plastic, Bakelite
Friday 6 May 1910 : End of reign of Edward VII
Saturday 7 May 1910 : Start of reign of George V
Sunday 31 July 1910 : Radio used to arrest Dr Crippen fleeing to Quebec
1911 : E. Rutherford puts forward nuclear model of the atom
Tuesday 3 January 1911 : Three policemen die in the Seige of Sidney Street
Thursday 31 August 1911 : Troops clash with strikers in north of England
Monday 15 April 1912 : SS Titanic sinks with loss of 1513 lives
Monday 10 February 1913 : Capt. Scott found dead in Antartica
June 1913 : Suffragette dies under King's horse at Epsom
1914 : Invention of military tank by E Swinton
Sunday 28 June 1914 : Austrian Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
Tuesday 28 July 1914 : Start of World War I
Tuesday 28 July 1914 : Austria declares war on Serbia
August 1914 : Battle of Tannenberg
Saturday 1 August 1914 : Germany declares war on Russia
Monday 3 August 1914 : Germany declares war on France
Tuesday 4 August 1914 : Germany invades Belgium
Tuesday 4 August 1914 : Britain declares war on Germany
September 1914 : First Battle of the Marne
Sunday 4 October 1914 : First bombs fall on London
February 1915 : Start of German submarine blockade of Britain
Thursday 22 April 1915 : Germans first use of mustard gas at Ypres
Monday 26 April 1915 : British land in Turkey
Friday 7 May 1915 : SS Lusitania sunk by German submarine
Saturday 22 May 1915 : 200 soldiers killed in train crash at Quintinshill
Monday 6 September 1915 : Poland and Lithuania overrun by Germany
Thursday 14 October 1915 : Britain and France declare war on Bulgaria
Monday 20 December 1915 : British withdraw from Gallipoli
February 1916 : Battle of Verdun
Monday 24 April 1916 : 450 die in Easter Rising in Dublin
Wednesday 31 May 1916 : Battle of Jutland
Saturday 1 July 1916 : Start of Battle of the Somme
Sunday 27 August 1916 : Romaina declares war on Austria-Hungary
Monday 16 October 1916 : Death date of Jane HUNTER
Wednesday 15 November 1916 : End of Battle of the Somme
Friday 6 April 1917 : USA declares war on Germany
October 1917 : Start of Battle of Caporetto
December 1917 : End of Battle of Caporetto
Friday 7 December 1917 : USA declares war on Austria-Hungary
Saturday 15 December 1917 : Russian Bolsheviks now allies with Germany
Thursday 21 March 1918 : Start of German offensive
Monday 1 April 1918 : Royal Air Force created
Saturday 18 May 1918 : Sinn Féin banned and leaders arrested
July 1918 : Second Battle of the Marne
Thursday 8 August 1918 : End of German offensive
Friday 4 October 1918 : Germany offers surrender
Monday 11 November 1918 : Hostilities cease on Western Front
Monday 11 November 1918 : End of World War I
Saturday 28 December 1918 : Women allowed to vote for the first time
Thursday 16 January 1919 : Death date of Thomas Drummond GORDON
March 1919 : Spanish flu kills 150,000 throughout Britian
Sunday 28 December 1919 : Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister
Monday 18 October 1920 : State of emergency declared as miners strike
Sunday 21 November 1920 : "Bloody Sunday" - 12 Irish killed by the Black and Tans
Tuesday 6 December 1921 : Irish Free State created
1922 : Banting and MacLeod isolate human insulin
Wednesday 23 April 1924 : First royal transmission by wireless
1926 : Invention of the liquid-fuelled rocket by R Goddard
1926 : First demonstration of television by J L Baird
Monday 10 May 1926 : TUC calls first General Strike
Saturday 7 January 1928 : River Thames floods killing 14
Sunday 30 September 1928 : Penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
EST 1929 : Death date of Mary Jane Hunter GORDON
Saturday 24 May 1930 : Amy Johnson flies solo to Australia
Sunday 5 October 1930 : Airship R101 crashes in France killing 48
Friday 12 February 1932 : Whipping of children under 14 is banned
Friday 30 September 1932 : Unemployment reaches 25%
1934 : Invention of first practical radar by Watson-Watt
Friday 21 September 1934 : 262 killed in blast at Gresford colliery
Monday 18 March 1935 : Thousands protest in Wales at "means test"
1936 : Sir Frank Whittle invents the jet engine
1936 : Invention of helicopter by H Focke
Monday 20 January 1936 : End of reign of George V
Tuesday 21 January 1936 : Start of reign of Edward VIII
Wednesday 11 November 1936 : Jarrow Crusade reaches London
Thursday 10 December 1936 : Edward VIII abdicates
Thursday 10 December 1936 : End of reign of Edward VIII
Friday 11 December 1936 : Start of reign of George VI
Friday 28 May 1937 : Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister
1938 : Discovery of nuclear fission by Hahn and Strassmann
Monday 11 July 1938 : Last British troops leave Eire
Friday 25 August 1939 : IRA bomb Coventry killing 5
September 1939 : Children evacuated from London and major cities
Friday 1 September 1939 : Germany invades Poland
Sunday 3 September 1939 : Start of World War II
Sunday 3 September 1939 : Britain and France declare war on Germany
Sunday 17 December 1939 : the Graf Spee scuttled off Montevideo
Friday 10 May 1940 : Churchill takes over as Prime Minister
Friday 10 May 1940 : Germany invades Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg
Sunday 12 May 1940 : Germany invades France
Sunday 26 May 1940 : Allied evacuation from Dunkirk begins
Monday 10 June 1940 : Italy invades France
Monday 10 June 1940 : Italy declares war on France and Britain
Friday 14 June 1940 : Germans enter Paris unopposed
Saturday 22 June 1940 : France surrenders to Germany
Thursday 14 November 1940 : Coventry bombed
Thursday 17 April 1941 : Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany
Sunday 27 April 1941 : British leave Greece
Sunday 22 June 1941 : Germany attacks Russia
Thursday 14 August 1941 : Britain and USA sign Atlantic Charter
Sunday 7 December 1941 : Japan attack USA at Pearl Harbour
Thursday 11 December 1941 : Germany and Italy declare war on USA
Thursday 11 December 1941 : Britain and USA declare war on Japan
Sunday 15 February 1942 : British surrender Singapore to Japanese
Thursday 9 April 1942 : USA surrenders Bataan peninsula to Japanese
Wednesday 6 May 1942 : USA surrenders Corregidor Island to Japanese
Wednesday 10 June 1942 : Lidice, Czechoslovakia razed by Germans
Sunday 8 November 1942 : British and US troops land in North Africa
Thursday 14 January 1943 : Casablanca conference
Monday 1 February 1943 : Germans surrender at Stalingrad
Wednesday 12 May 1943 : War in Africa ends
Sunday 25 July 1943 : Mussolini deposed
Friday 3 September 1943 : Allies land in Italy
Wednesday 8 September 1943 : Italy surrenders
Friday 10 September 1943 : Germans take Rome
Monday 22 November 1943 : Cairo conference
Sunday 28 November 1943 : Teheran Conference
Saturday 22 January 1944 : British and US troops land at Anzio
Sunday 4 June 1944 : British and US troops enter Rome
Friday 25 August 1944 : Paris liberated
Friday 13 October 1944 : Athens liberated
Friday 20 October 1944 : USA invades Philippines
Saturday 16 December 1944 : Battle of the Bulge
Sunday 11 February 1945 : Yalta agreement
Saturday 28 April 1945 : Mussolini killed at Lake Como
Tuesday 1 May 1945 : Hitler's suicide announced
Wednesday 2 May 1945 : Berlin falls
Monday 7 May 1945 : VE Day. Germany surrenders
Tuesday 17 July 1945 : Potsdam conference
Monday 6 August 1945 : USA drops atom bomb on Hiroshima
Wednesday 8 August 1945 : USSR declares war on Japan
Thursday 9 August 1945 : USA drops atom bomb on Nagasaki
Tuesday 14 August 1945 : Japan surrenders
Sunday 2 September 1945 : VJ Day. Japanese sign surrender aboard USS Missouri
Sunday 2 September 1945 : End of World War II
February 1946 : 50,000 "GI brides" shipped out to the USA
December 1946 : Fuel and food shortages continue
Thursday 20 November 1947 : Princess Elizabeth marries the Duke of Edinburgh
Thursday 1 January 1948 : Railways nationalised
Monday 28 June 1948 : Troops break dockers' strike
December 1948 : Labour government constructs "Welfare State"
Tuesday 15 March 1949 : Clothes rationing ends
Monday 18 April 1949 : Eire becomes Republic of Ireland
ABT 1950 : Albert Einstein puts forward theories of relativity
Wednesday 28 June 1950 : Royal Navy enters Korean War
Monday 25 December 1950 : Stone of Destiny taken from Westminster Abbey
Tuesday 17 April 1951 : Death date of Robert Hunter GORDON
Thursday 7 June 1951 : Soviet spies Burgess and MacLean disappear
Wednesday 6 February 1952 : End of reign of George VI
Thursday 7 February 1952 : Start of reign of Elizabeth II
Monday 24 November 1952 : "Mousetrap" opens in London
Thursday 11 December 1952 : Derek Bentley sentenced to hang
1953 : Discovery of measles vaccine by Enders and Peebles
Saturday 31 January 1953 : Ferry Princess Victoria sinks in the Irish Sea
Tuesday 3 February 1953 : Hundreds die as East Coast is flooded
Saturday 30 May 1953 : Edmund Hillary reaches the top of Mount Everest
1954 : Discovery of first polio vaccine by J E Salk
May 1954 : "Teddy Boys" appear
Saturday 3 July 1954 : Rationing ends
Wednesday 13 July 1955 : Ruth Ellis is the last woman to be hanged
Friday 23 March 1956 : Death date of Catherine Hunter GORDON
Wednesday 31 October 1956 : Britain invades Suez
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