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John PIERCE

Male 1588 - 1661  (73 years)


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   Date  Event(s)
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
1591 
  • 1591: Trinity College, Dublin, founded
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
1593 
  • 1593: British statute mile established by law
1594 
  • 1594: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, leads Irish rebellion against English rule (-1603)
1597 
  • 1597: Poor Law Act for erection of parish workhouses for the Poor – Poor Rate collection allowed
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
1600 
  • 1 Jan 1600: Scotland adopts New Year beginning 1st January (previously 25th March)
  • 31 Dec 1600: British East India Company founded
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!