Timeline: Martha 'Mattie' BABCOCK: Some New Hampshire Jamesons

	Date	Event(s)
1	1868	1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
2	1869	1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented 23 Nov 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
3	1870	1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised) 1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children 1870: Water closets come into wide use 1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa 1 Oct 1870: First British postcard â€“ halfpenny post
4	1871	27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh 29 Mar 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London 29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
5	1872	1872: Licensing hours introduced 1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales) 4 Dec 1872: American ship "Mary Celeste" is found abandoned by the British brig "Dei Gratia" in the Atlantic Ocean
6	1874	1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week 5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world â€“ features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
7	1875	1875: London's main sewage system completed 1 Jan 1875: Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
8	1876	14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone â€“ Bell awarded the rights
9	1877	1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
10	1878	1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp 1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph 1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
11	1879	18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
12	1880	1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds 1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria 2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
13	1881	1881: Postal Orders introduced 1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy Sep 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904) 26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
14	1882	1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
15	1883	1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France 24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River) 1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain 27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java â€“ 30,000 killed by tidal wave
16	1884	31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes 13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
17	1885	1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car 1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle 1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper 1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking 5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel 29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
18	1886	20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named "Coca-Cola" 29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
19	1887	1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
20	1888	1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace 1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year 1888: County Councils set up in Britain 1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre 1888: First box camera â€“ George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film 20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
21	1889	1889: Celluloid film produced 1889: Dock Strike â€“ docker's won their "Docker's Tanner", 6 old pennies 31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution) 14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London 3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast 28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
22	1890	4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens â€“ took six years to build 4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens â€“ London's first deep-level tube railway and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
23	1891	1891: Primary education made free and compulsory 18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris 4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893) 24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
24	1892	1892: Electric oven invented 1892: Shop Hours Act â€“ limit 74 hours per week for under-18's 6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
25	1893	1893: Henry Ford's first car 1893: Zip fastener invented
26	1894	1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain 1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens 1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens 30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens 2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
27	1895	1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London 12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England 24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted 28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison 12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain 17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences â€“ John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
28	1896	5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens 2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
29	1897	1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
30	1898	1898: First photograph using artificial light 1898: Zeppelin builds airship 1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded 17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine 27 Jun 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
31	1899	6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer 11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War
32	1900	1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years 1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified 1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition 9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established 27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
33	1901	1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded 1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner 22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies â€“ Edward VII king 2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral â€“ interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War 2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched 12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi â€“ Morse code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
34	1902	1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education 1902: Cremation Act â€“ cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments, and with two death certificates issued 1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity 24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated 31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War 9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
35	1903	1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain 1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst 1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company 14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
36	1904	1904: Leeds University established 8 Apr 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale 4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French (completed 1914)
37	1905	1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time â€“ placed the Prime Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York 1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration 1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship 11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
38	1906	1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children 10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship 15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered 26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London 20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
39	1907	1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion 1907: Imperial College, London, is established 1907: First airship flies over London 1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its shape after being heated 1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island 9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
40	1908	1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day 1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain 1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement 1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress 12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
41	1909	1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges 1909: Peary reaches the north pole 1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite â€“ start of the plastic age 1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force 16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole 15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London 25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
42	1910	1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain 1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain 1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville 1910: Madame Curie isolates radium 1910: Halley's comet reappears 1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe 6 May 1910: Edward VII dies â€“ George V becomes King
43	1911	1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords 1911: British MPs receive a salary 1911: First British Official Secrets Act 1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures 1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912) 2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million 22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V 14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
44	1912	1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain 1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system 1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' â€“ hoax, exposed in 1953 18 Jan 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition â€“ he and his team reach the south pole on Jan 18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November 14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage â€“ loss of 1,513 lives 13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
45	1913	1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords â€“ threat of civil war in Ireland â€“ formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule 1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London â€“ Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned 1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes 1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield 1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity 4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby and dies
46	1914	1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War 1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films 28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo 4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason 5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph links to the outside world 15 Aug 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1) Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres â€“ beginning of trench warfare on western front 27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain 16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
47	1915	1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane 1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain 19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia â€“ four killed Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres â€“ poison gas used for first time 25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916) 7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland â€“ 1,198 died 16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll (aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
48	1916	1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun â€“ appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues 24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland â€“ after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence 21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK 31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland â€“ only major naval battle between the British and German fleets 5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener 3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason 15 Sep 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties) 7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
49	1917	1917: Battle of Cambrai â€“ first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual 1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates 16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile 17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany 26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July) Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele â€“ little gained by either side (Jul-Nov) 7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia â€“ Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar 6 Dec 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision, obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion 9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
50	1918	1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons) 1918: War of Independence in Ireland 18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded 8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug) 1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus 11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn FÃ©in member refused to take her seat
51	1919	1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week 1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom 15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic 28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
52	1920	1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts 1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain 1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun) Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK â€“ opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
53	1921	1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies â€“ only four remained 1921: Insulin discovery announced 1921: First birth control clinic 19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million 6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
54	1922	1922: Law of Property Act â€“ the manorial system effectively ended 1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded Oct 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)
55	1923	1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers 1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way 1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain 1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR â€“ lasted until nationalisation in 1948 16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun 28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) â€“ "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," popular song of the time, became the West Ham anthem 28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
56	1924	4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald 5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC 31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies â€“ became BOAC in 1940)
57	1925	1925: Britain returns to gold standard 18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
58	1926	1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird 1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain 1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film 1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood 21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born 3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more) 31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
59	1927	1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer) 7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call â€“ New York City to London 22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury) 1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris 20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33Â½ hours 31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line 24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
60	1928	1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain â€“ same qualification for both sexes 26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London 15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
61	1929	1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain 1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21 1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
62	1930	1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag 1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain 30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany 31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape 6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas 5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster â€“ British abandons airship construction
63	1931	1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states 1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close 14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued 26 Apr 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2) 21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis â€“ Britain comes off gold standard
64	1932	1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London 1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists 1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus 1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot 3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain 3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
65	1933	1933: ICI scientists discover polythene 1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year 12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
66	1934	1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany 18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel 26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched 30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
67	1935	1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme 1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell 28 Feb 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from New York-London) 12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain 1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK 30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
68	1936	1936: Jet engine first tested 20 Jan 1936: George V dies 5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire 24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK 2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission 30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire 5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) â€“ popular carol that Christmas: "Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King"
69	1937	1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London 1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp 12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft 12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI 28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister â€“ policy of appeasement towards Hitler 3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson 4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
70	1938	1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain 1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar 1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro 12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria 3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive 27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank 29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich â€“ promises 'peace in our time' 30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
71	1939	1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia 1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London 1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time 1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland 3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany 6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain 11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France 14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives 7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain â€“ 7,400 men on 5 ships 17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
72	1940	1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd 11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill 13 May 1940: Germany invades France 27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun) 25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany 7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing 15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF â€“ Hitler postpones invasion of Britain 14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
73	1941	1941: Britain introduces severe rationing 1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle 1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge 1941: First use of antibiotics 10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland 27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk 22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa) 1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America 7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour 8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII 24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
74	1942	1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann â€“ used to crack German codes 1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam 30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne 4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway 19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops 6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad 3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany â€“ first man-made object to reach space 23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein â€“ Montgomery defeats Rommel 2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' â€“ a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
75	1943	1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins 16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF 24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy â€“ Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
76	1944	6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins 4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome 6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy 12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London 8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London 11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany 16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
77	1945	4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin 29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack 25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops 30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide 8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe) 9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated 26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco 16 Jul 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on 2nd Dec 1942) 26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election â€“ Churchill out of office 29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts 6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima 9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki 15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan) 2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri 24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence 4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded
78	1946	1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948) 1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio â€“ until 2004 1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport 1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
79	1947	1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year â€“ heavy snow and much flooding later 1947: First British nuclear reactor developed 1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised 23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded 1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations 1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain 26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq 20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
80	1948	1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports 1948: Transistor radio invented 1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark 1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised 5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain 29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin
81	1949	1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap) 1949: De Haviland produces the Comet â€“ first jet airliner 15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain 4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
82	1950	19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain 26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain 11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV 9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain 28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
83	1951	3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London 28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast 20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
84	1952	1952: Contraceptive pill invented 1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia 1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects 1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany 6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies 21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain 2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg 5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross) 16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster 6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed 3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain 1 Nov 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA â€“ the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised. 25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London 4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London
85	1953	31 Jan 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century â€“ severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives â€“- effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths] 5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain 5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin 26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine 24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted 25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA 2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II 26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)

Date

Event(s)

1868

1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)

1869

1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
23 Nov 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton

1870

1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
1870: Water closets come into wide use
1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
1 Oct 1870: First British postcard â€“ halfpenny post

1871

27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
29 Mar 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal

1872

1872: Licensing hours introduced
1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
4 Dec 1872: American ship "Mary Celeste" is found abandoned by the British brig "Dei Gratia" in the Atlantic Ocean

1874

1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world â€“ features of it later copied in Central Park, New York

1875

1875: London's main sewage system completed
1 Jan 1875: Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)

1876

14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone â€“ Bell awarded the rights

1877

1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph

1878

1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard

1879

18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time

1880

1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK

1881

1881: Postal Orders introduced
1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
Sep 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral

1882

1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed

1883

1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java â€“ 30,000 killed by tidal wave

1884

31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world

1885

1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool

1886

20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named "Coca-Cola"
29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London

1887

1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car

1888

1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
1888: County Councils set up in Britain
1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
1888: First box camera â€“ George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
20 Mar 1888: Football League formed

1889

1889: Celluloid film produced
1889: Dock Strike â€“ docker's won their "Docker's Tanner", 6 old pennies
31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined

1890

4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens â€“ took six years to build
4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens â€“ London's first deep-level tube railway and first major railway in the world to use electric traction

1891

1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera

1892

1892: Electric oven invented
1892: Shop Hours Act â€“ limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere

1893

1893: Henry Ford's first car
1893: Zip fastener invented

1894

1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain

1895

1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England
24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences â€“ John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
Nov 1895: X-rays discovered

1896

5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio

1897

1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector

1898

1898: First photograph using artificial light
1898: Zeppelin builds airship
1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
27 Jun 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)

1899

6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War

1900

1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed

1901

1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies â€“ Edward VII king
2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral â€“ interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi â€“ Morse code from Cornwall to Newfoundland

1902

1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
1902: Cremation Act â€“ cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments, and with two death certificates issued
1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII

1903

1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright

1904

1904: Leeds University established
8 Apr 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French (completed 1914)

1905

1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time â€“ placed the Prime Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity

1906

1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne

1907

1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
1907: Imperial College, London, is established
1907: First airship flies over London
1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its shape after being heated
1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday

1908

1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made

1909

1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
1909: Peary reaches the north pole
1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite â€“ start of the plastic age
1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)

1910

1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
1910: Halley's comet reappears
1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
6 May 1910: Edward VII dies â€“ George V becomes King

1911

1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
1911: British MPs receive a salary
1911: First British Official Secrets Act
1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain

1912

1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' â€“ hoax, exposed in 1953
18 Jan 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition â€“ he and his team reach the south pole on Jan 18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November
14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage â€“ loss of 1,513 lives
13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain

1913

1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords â€“ threat of civil war in Ireland â€“ formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London â€“ Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes
1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby and dies

1914

1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War
1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph links to the outside world
15 Aug 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1)
Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres â€“ beginning of trench warfare on western front
27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough

1915

1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia â€“ four killed
Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres â€“ poison gas used for first time
25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland â€“ 1,198 died
16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll (aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey

1916

1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun â€“ appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland â€“ after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence
21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland â€“ only major naval battle between the British and German fleets
5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
15 Sep 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government

1917

1917: Battle of Cambrai â€“ first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July)
Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele â€“ little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia â€“ Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
6 Dec 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision, obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion
9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem

1918

1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
1918: War of Independence in Ireland
18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn FÃ©in member refused to take her seat

1919

1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed

1920

1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK â€“ opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road

1921

1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies â€“ only four remained
1921: Insulin discovery announced
1921: First birth control clinic
19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland

1922

1922: Law of Property Act â€“ the manorial system effectively ended
1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
Oct 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)

1923

1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR â€“ lasted until nationalisation in 1948
16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) â€“ "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," popular song of the time, became the West Ham anthem
28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times

1924

4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC
31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies â€“ became BOAC in 1940)

1925

1925: Britain returns to gold standard
18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf

1926

1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini

1927

1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call â€“ New York City to London
22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris
20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33Â½ hours
31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres

1928

1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain â€“ same qualification for both sexes
26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)

1929

1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions

1930

1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster â€“ British abandons airship construction

1931

1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued
26 Apr 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2)
21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis â€“ Britain comes off gold standard

1932

1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface

1933

1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken

1934

1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')

1935

1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
28 Feb 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from New York-London)
12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched

1936

1936: Jet engine first tested
20 Jan 1936: George V dies
5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) â€“ popular carol that Christmas: "Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King"

1937

1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister â€“ policy of appeasement towards Hitler
3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published

1938

1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich â€“ promises 'peace in our time'
30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA

1939

1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland
3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain
11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain â€“ 7,400 men on 5 ships
17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo

1940

1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
13 May 1940: Germany invades France
27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany
7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF â€“ Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed

1941

1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
1941: First use of antibiotics
10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII
24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese

1942

1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann â€“ used to crack German codes
1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway
19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany â€“ first man-made object to reach space
23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein â€“ Montgomery defeats Rommel
2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' â€“ a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction

1943

1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy â€“ Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July

1944

6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins
4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome
6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany
16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive

1945

4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide
8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
16 Jul 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on 2nd Dec 1942)
26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election â€“ Churchill out of office
29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded

1946

1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio â€“ until 2004
1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised

1947

1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year â€“ heavy snow and much flooding later
1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey

1948

1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
1948: Transistor radio invented
1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised
5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin

1949

1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
1949: De Haviland produces the Comet â€“ first jet airliner
15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO

1950

19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park

1951

3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor

1952

1952: Contraceptive pill invented
1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies
21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
1 Nov 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA â€“ the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised.
25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London

1953

31 Jan 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century â€“ severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives â€“- effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin
26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)