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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 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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2 | 1621 | - 1621: Chimneys to be made of brick and to be four and a half feet above the roof
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3 | 1622 | - 1622: First English newspaper appeared - "Weekly News"
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4 | 1624 | - 1624: Monopoly Act in England: patents protected
- 1624: Edmund Gunter introduces the surveyor's chain (measurement of length)
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5 | 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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6 | 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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7 | 1629 | - 10 Mar 1629: Parliament dissolved by King Charles I – did not meet for another 11 yea
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8 | 1633 | - Jun 1633: Galileo summoned by Inquisition for publishing in favour of Copernican theory
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9 | 1635 | - 1635: Letter Office of England & Scotland started
- 1635: Flintlock small arms invented around this time (replaces matchlock)
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10 | 1636 | - 1636: Hackney Carriages in use by now in London
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11 | 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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12 | 1639 | - 1639: Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
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13 | 1640 | - 3 Nov 1640: Charles I forced to recall Parliament (the 'Long Parliament') due to Scottish
invasion
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14 | 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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15 | 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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16 | 1643 | - 13 Dec 1643: Battle of Alton – victory for Parliamentarians – Sir Richard Bolle killed in St
Lawrence's church
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17 | 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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18 | 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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19 | 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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20 | 1648 | - 1648: Society of Friends (Quakers) founded by George Fox
- 1648: First practical thermometers made
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21 | 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
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22 | 1650 | - 1650: Coffee brought to England about this time
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23 | 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
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24 | 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
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25 | 1657 | - 1657: Post Office established by Act of Parliament [others say 1660]
- 1657: A few Jews permitted to settle in England
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26 | 1658 | - 1658: Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver) Lord Protector (-1660)
- 3 Sep 1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell
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27 | 1659 | - 1659: Start of national meteorological Temperature records in the UK
- 6 Feb 1659: Date of first known bank cheque to be drawn
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28 | 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)
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29 | 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!
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30 | 1662 | - 1662: 'Hearth Tax' introduced – until 1689 (1690 in Scotland)
- 1662: Poor Relief Act or "Act of Settlement" – gave JPs the power to return any wandering
poor to the parish of origin (repealed 1834)
- 1662: Tea introduced to Britain
- 24 Aug 1662: Act of Uniformity – Acceptance of Book of Common Prayer required – About
2,000 vicars and rectors driven from their parishes as nonconformists (Presbyterians and
Independents) – Persecution of all non-conformists – Presbyterianism dis-established –
Episcopalian Church of England restored
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