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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1587 | - 1587: Introduction of potatoes to England
- 8 Feb 1587: Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay Castle, near Peterborough
- 19 Apr 1587: Sir Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cadiz harbour
- 11 Aug 1587: Raleigh's second expedition to New World lands in North Carolina – first child
born in the New World of English parents was Virginia Dare (Aug 18)
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2 | 1588 | - 1588: Invention of shorthand by Dr Timothy Bright
- 19 Jul 1588: Spanish Armada sighted off the Lizard (had set sail from Lisbon in late May)
- 29 Jul 1588: Defeat of Spanish Armada off Gravelines
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3 | 1591 | - 1591: Trinity College, Dublin, founded
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4 | 1592 | - 1592: A Congregational (or Independent) Church formed in London
- 1592: Scotland: Presbyterian Church formally established – all ministers equal – no bishops –
secular commissaries appointed by the Crown
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5 | 1593 | - 1593: British statute mile established by law
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6 | 1594 | - 1594: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, leads Irish rebellion against English rule (-1603)
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7 | 1597 | - 1597: Poor Law Act for erection of parish workhouses for the Poor – Poor Rate collection
allowed
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8 | 1598 | - 1598: Bishop's transcripts of English and Welsh parish registers start – parish records were to
be kept in 'great decent books of parchment' and copies or 'Bishop's Transcripts' of new entries
were to be sent each month to the diocesan centre
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9 | 1600 | - 1 Jan 1600: Scotland adopts New Year beginning 1st January (previously 25th March)
- 31 Dec 1600: British East India Company founded
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10 | 1601 | - 1601: Great English Poor Law Act passed
- 1601: First use of fruit juice as a preventative for scurvy by James Lancaster
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11 | 1602 | - 20 Mar 1602: Dutch East India Company founded
- 8 Nov 1602: Bodleian Library at Oxford University opened to the public
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12 | 1603 | - 24 Mar 1603: Death of Elizabeth I: union of Scottish and English crowns – under King James
VI of Scots and I of England (d. 1625)
- 25 Jul 1603: Coronation – James VI of Scotland is crowned first king of Great Britain
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13 | 1604 | - 1 Nov 1604: Shakespeare: "Othello" first presented
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14 | 1605 | - 5 Nov 1605: Gunpowder plot at Westminster (Guy Fawkes, etc)
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15 | 1606 | - 1606: The London Company chartered to colonise Virginia: the Susan Constant, Godspeed,
and Discovery leave England on 19th De c taking 144 days to reach America
- 1606: Episcopacy established in Scotland (against wishes of the Scots)
- 31 Jan 1606: Guy Fawkes and co-conspirators executed
- 12 Mar 1606: Adoption of Union Flag as the flag of "Great Britain" (the term Union Jack is
used officially only when the Union Flag is flown from the Jack Mast of a Royal Naval vessel)
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16 | 1607 | - 14 May 1607: Jamestown, Virginia settled – to become the first permanent British colony in
North America
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17 | 1608 | - 1608: First use of telescope by Galileo – he observed the moons of Jupiter two years later in
Jan 1610
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18 | 1610 | - 1610: James VI & I established the Episcopal Church in Scotland – Prebyterians persecuted
and many of their records lost
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19 | 1611 | - 1611: Authorised (King James) Version of Bible in Britain
- 22 May 1611: James VI & I created the title of baronet
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20 | 1613 | - 1613: A copper farthing was produced, as a silver coin would be too small
- 29 Jun 1613: The Globe Theatre in London burns during a performance of Henry the Eighth
(finally pulled down in 1644)
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21 | 1616 | - 23 Apr 1616: Tuesday Apr 23 (Julian calendar): Death of Shakespeare
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22 | 1618 | - 1618: Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I
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23 | 1619 | - 4 Dec 1619: (Nov 24 old style): Colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in
Virginia and give thanks to God (considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the
Americas)
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24 | 1620 | - 1620: Manufacture of coke (the fuel, not the drink!) patented by Dud Dudley
- 21 Dec 1620: (Dec 16 old style): The Mayflower reaches America – founds Plymouth, New
England (had initially set sail from Southampton on Aug 5)
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25 | 1621 | - 1621: Chimneys to be made of brick and to be four and a half feet above the roof
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26 | 1622 | - 1622: First English newspaper appeared - "Weekly News"
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27 | 1624 | - 1624: Monopoly Act in England: patents protected
- 1624: Edmund Gunter introduces the surveyor's chain (measurement of length)
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28 | 1625 | - 1625: The size of bricks standardised in England around this time
- 27 Mar 1625: Death of King James VI & I
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29 | 1628 | - 1 Mar 1628: Writs issued by Charles I that every county in England (not just seaport towns)
pay ship tax by this date
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30 | 1629 | - 10 Mar 1629: Parliament dissolved by King Charles I – did not meet for another 11 yea
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31 | 1633 | - Jun 1633: Galileo summoned by Inquisition for publishing in favour of Copernican theory
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32 | 1635 | - 1635: Letter Office of England & Scotland started
- 1635: Flintlock small arms invented around this time (replaces matchlock)
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33 | 1636 | - 1636: Hackney Carriages in use by now in London
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34 | 1638 | - 1638: King 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)
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35 | 1639 | - 1639: Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
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36 | 1640 | - 3 Nov 1640: Charles I forced to recall Parliament (the 'Long Parliament') due to Scottish
invasion
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37 | 1641 | - 1641: Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England
- 1641: Charles I and the English Parliament acknowledge the Prebyterian Church in Scotland
- 23 Oct 1641: 50,000 Irish killed in an uprising in Ulster
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38 | 1642 | - 1642: The Civil War interrupted the keeping of parish registers
- 1642: English theatres closed by Puritans (till 1660)
- 22 Aug 1642: Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham – First Civil War in England (to
1649)
- 13 Nov 1642: Battle of Turnham Green – Royalist forces withdraw in face of the
Parliamentarian army and fail to take London
- 24 Nov 1642: Abel Janszoon Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania)
- 18 Dec 1642: Abel Janszoon Tasman first European to set foot in New Zealand
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39 | 1643 | - 13 Dec 1643: Battle of Alton – victory for Parliamentarians – Sir Richard Bolle killed in St
Lawrence's church
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40 | 1644 | - 29 Jun 1644: Battle of Cropredy Bridge – Royalists beat the Parliamentarian forces
- 2 Jul 1644: Battle of Marston Moor, near York – Parliamentarian forces beat the Royalists
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41 | 1645 | - 1645: Battle of Philiphaugh in Scotland
- 1645: 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
- 1645: Plague made its last appearance in Scotland
- 14 Jun 1645: Battle of Naseby: Parliament's New Model Army crushes the Royalist forces
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42 | 1646 | - 5 May 1646: Charles I surrenders to the Scottish Army at Newark
- 20 Jun 1646: Royalists sign articles of surrender at Oxford
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