| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 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
|
| 2 | 1591 | - 1591: Trinity College, Dublin, founded
|
| 3 | 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
|
| 4 | 1593 | - 1593: British statute mile established by law
|
| 5 | 1594 | - 1594: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, leads Irish rebellion against English rule (-1603)
|
| 6 | 1597 | - 1597: Poor Law Act for erection of parish workhouses for the Poor – Poor Rate collection
allowed
|
| 7 | 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
|
| 8 | 1600 | - 1 Jan 1600: Scotland adopts New Year beginning 1st January (previously 25th March)
- 31 Dec 1600: British East India Company founded
|
| 9 | 1601 | - 1601: Great English Poor Law Act passed
- 1601: First use of fruit juice as a preventative for scurvy by James Lancaster
|
| 10 | 1602 | - 20 Mar 1602: Dutch East India Company founded
- 8 Nov 1602: Bodleian Library at Oxford University opened to the public
|
| 11 | 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
|
| 12 | 1604 | - 1 Nov 1604: Shakespeare: "Othello" first presented
|
| 13 | 1605 | - 5 Nov 1605: Gunpowder plot at Westminster (Guy Fawkes, etc)
|
| 14 | 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)
|
| 15 | 1607 | - 14 May 1607: Jamestown, Virginia settled – to become the first permanent British colony in
North America
|
| 16 | 1608 | - 1608: First use of telescope by Galileo – he observed the moons of Jupiter two years later in
Jan 1610
|
| 17 | 1610 | - 1610: James VI & I established the Episcopal Church in Scotland – Prebyterians persecuted
and many of their records lost
|
| 18 | 1611 | - 1611: Authorised (King James) Version of Bible in Britain
- 22 May 1611: James VI & I created the title of baronet
|
| 19 | 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)
|
| 20 | 1616 | - 23 Apr 1616: Tuesday Apr 23 (Julian calendar): Death of Shakespeare
|
| 21 | 1618 | - 1618: Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I
|
| 22 | 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)
|
| 23 | 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)
|
| 24 | 1621 | - 1621: Chimneys to be made of brick and to be four and a half feet above the roof
|
| 25 | 1622 | - 1622: First English newspaper appeared - "Weekly News"
|
| 26 | 1624 | - 1624: Monopoly Act in England: patents protected
- 1624: Edmund Gunter introduces the surveyor's chain (measurement of length)
|
| 27 | 1625 | - 1625: The size of bricks standardised in England around this time
- 27 Mar 1625: Death of King James VI & I
|
| 28 | 1628 | - 1 Mar 1628: Writs issued by Charles I that every county in England (not just seaport towns)
pay ship tax by this date
|
| 29 | 1629 | - 10 Mar 1629: Parliament dissolved by King Charles I – did not meet for another 11 yea
|
| 30 | 1633 | - Jun 1633: Galileo summoned by Inquisition for publishing in favour of Copernican theory
|
| 31 | 1635 | - 1635: Letter Office of England & Scotland started
- 1635: Flintlock small arms invented around this time (replaces matchlock)
|
| 32 | 1636 | - 1636: Hackney Carriages in use by now in London
|
| 33 | 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)
|
| 34 | 1639 | - 1639: Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
|
| 35 | 1640 | - 3 Nov 1640: Charles I forced to recall Parliament (the 'Long Parliament') due to Scottish
invasion
|
| 36 | 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
|
| 37 | 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
|
| 38 | 1643 | - 13 Dec 1643: Battle of Alton – victory for Parliamentarians – Sir Richard Bolle killed in St
Lawrence's church
|
| 39 | 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
|
| 40 | 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
|
| 41 | 1646 | - 5 May 1646: Charles I surrenders to the Scottish Army at Newark
- 20 Jun 1646: Royalists sign articles of surrender at Oxford
|
| 42 | 1648 | - 1648: Society of Friends (Quakers) founded by George Fox
- 1648: First practical thermometers made
|
| 43 | 1649 | - 1649: Cromwell's Irish campaign starts
- 1649: King Charles II proclaimed King of Scots and England in Scotland
- 6 Jan 1649: 'Rump' Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial
- 30 Jan 1649: King Charles I executed
- 19 May 1649: Commonwealth declared
- 20 Dec 1649: Theatres banned by Cromwell
- 20 Dec 1649: Christmas banned by Cromwell
|
| 44 | 1650 | - 1650: Coffee brought to England about this time
|
| 45 | 1651 | - 1651: The second English Civil War (1651-1652)
- 1651: Scottish prisoners transported to the British settlements in America
- 3 Sep 1651: Battle of Worcester
|
| 46 | 1653 | - 1653: Commonwealth registers start
- 1653: Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land
- 1653: Provincial probate courts abolished – probates granted only in London
- 20 Apr 1653: Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament
- 16 Dec 1653: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England,
Scotland and Ireland
|
| 47 | 1657 | - 1657: Post Office established by Act of Parliament [others say 1660]
- 1657: A few Jews permitted to settle in England
|
| 48 | 1658 | - 1658: Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver) Lord Protector (-1660)
- 3 Sep 1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell
|
| 49 | 1659 | - 1659: Start of national meteorological Temperature records in the UK
- 6 Feb 1659: Date of first known bank cheque to be drawn
|
| 50 | 1660 | - 1660: Commonwealth registers ended, Parish Registers resumed
- 1660: Provincial Probate Courts re-established
- 1660: Clarendon code restricts Puritans' religious freedom
- 1660: Composition of light discovered by Newton
- 1660: Honourable East India Company founded by British
- 1 Jan 1660: Samuel Pepys starts his diary
- 29 May 1660: Restoration of British monarchy (Charles II) – 'Oak Apple Day' – theatres
reopened
- 17 Oct 1660: Ten Regicides are executed at Charing Cross or Tyburn
- 28 Nov 1660: Twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir
Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society
- 8 Dec 1660: First actress plays in London (Margaret Hughes as Desdemona)
|
| 51 | 1661 | - 1661: Restoration of Episcopacy in Scotland
- 1661: Board of Trade founded in London
- 1661: Hand-struck postage stamps first used
- 1661: Corporation Act prevents non-Anglicans from holding municipal office
- 30 Jan 1661: Oliver Cromwell formally 'executed', having been dead for over two years!
|
1588 - 1661 (73 years)
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