|
Date |
Events |
| |
1520
| Henry VIII and Francis I of France meet at the field of the cloth of gold |
| |
1533
| Henry VIII secretly marries Anne Boleyn |
| |
1536
| Anne Boleyn is executed |
| |
1540
| Henry VIII marries and divorces Anne of Cleves, marries Catherine Howard |
| |
1544
| At war with France, capture Boulogne |
| |
1547
| Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII |
| |
1547/ 1/28
| Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII |
| |
1553/ 7/19
| Mary I succeeds Edward VI |
| |
1554/ 2/12
| Lady Jane Grey executed |
| |
1558/11/17
| Elizabeth I succeeds Mary I |
| |
1580/ /
| Drake circumnavigates the world |
| |
1587/ /
| Execution of Mary Queen of Scots |
| |
1588/ 7/29
| Spanish Armada defeated off Plymouth |
| |
1603
| James I succeeds Elizabeth I |
| |
1605
| Gunpowder plot |
| |
1611
| Authorised Version of Bible published |
| |
1616
| Shakespeare dies |
| |
1618
| Raleigh executed |
| |
1620
| Pilgrim Fathers set sail |
| |
1622
| Virginia settlers massacred |
| |
1625
| Charles I succeeds James I |
| |
1629
| Charles dissolves Parliament |
| |
1642/ 8/22
| Outbreak of the Civil War |
| |
1646/ 5/ 5
| Charles I surrenders at Newark |
| |
1648/ 1/15
| Start of Second Civil War |
| |
1649
| Trial and execution of Charles I |
| |
1651/ 9/ 3
| Charles II supporters defeated at Worcester, Charles escapes to France |
| |
1653
| Ctomwell becomes Lord Protector |
| |
1658/ 9/ 3
| Cromwell dies |
| |
1660/ 5/ 8
| Charles is proclaimed King |
| |
1665/ 6/ 7
| The Great Plague is first reported in London |
| |
1666/ 9/ 2
| Great Fire of London breaks out |
| |
1667
| Dutch raid the Thames |
| |
1685/ 2/ 6
| James II succeeds Charles II |
| |
1685/ 6/11
| Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis, proclaimed King at Taunton |
| |
1688/11/ 5
| William of Orange lands at Torbay |
| |
1690
| Irish Jacobites defeated at the Boyne |
| |
1694
| Bank of England founded |
| |
1698
| Savery invents first steam engine |
| |
1702/ 3/ 8
| Anne succeeds William III |
| |
1704
| Marlborough wins at Blenheim, Gibraltar captured |
| |
1706
| Marlborough wins at Ramillies |
| |
1708
| Marlborough wins at Oudenarde |
| |
1709
| Marlborough wins at Malplaquet |
| |
1712
| Last execution for withcraft |
| |
1714/ 8/ 1
| George I succeeds Anne |
| |
1719
| South Sea Bubble bursts |
| |
1727
| Death of Isaac Newton |
| |
1727/ 6/11
| George II succeeds George I |
| |
1728
| Charles Wesley founds the Oxford Methodists |
| |
1731
| Capt. Jenkins loses his ear |
| |
1741
| Famine in Ireland |
| |
1745/ 7/25
| Charles Edward (the Young Pretender) lands in Scotland |
| |
1751
| Clive captures Arcot |
| |
1752/ 1/ 1
| Officially new year begins (previously new year began on March 25) |
| |
1756
| Black Hole of Calcutta |
| |
1757
| Clive wins at Plassey |
| |
1758
| Halley's Comet |
| |
1760
| Conquest of Canada complete |
| |
1760/10/25
| George III succeeds George II |
| |
1762
| Boulton starts the Soho foundry |
| |
1763
| Boswell meets Johnson |
| |
1767/ 3/16
| Fire at Ottery St Mary |
| |
1769
| Cook lands at Tahiti, Watt's steam engine and Arkwright's water frame invented |
| |
1772/10/21
| Birth of S T Coleridge |
| |
1776/ 7/ 4
| American Declaration of Independence |
| |
1781
| British surrender at Yorktown |
| |
1787
| Cartwright patents the power loom |
| |
1789/ 7/14
| Outbreak of the French Revolution |
| |
1793/ 2/ 1
| French Republic declares war on Britain |
| |
1796
| Jenner's cowpox vaccination is tested |
| |
1799
| Napoleon comes to power |
| |
1803
| Napoleonic wars begin |
| |
1805
| Nelson wins and dies at Trafalgar |
| |
1808
| Peninsula War begins |
| |
1811/ 2/ 5
| Prince of Wales becomes Prince Regent |
| |
1812
| Anglo-American War begins |
| |
1814
| Gas lighting is installed at Westminster, Napoleon is exiled to Elba |
| |
1815/ 6/15
| Battle of Waterloo |
| |
1819
| Peterloo massacre, East India Company buys Singapore |
| |
1820/ 1/29
| George IV succeeds George III |
| |
1821
| Death of Napoleon |
| |
1825
| Stockton and Darlington Railway opened |
| |
1829
| Stephenson's Rocket succeeds at trials |
| |
1830/ 6/26
| William IV succeeds George IV |
| |
1831/ 6/ 4
| Reform Bill |
| |
1836
| Act for the Registration of births, marriages and deaths |
| |
1837/ 6/20
| Victoria succeeds William IV |
| |
1838
| Afghan War breaks out |
| |
1845
| Irish famine starts |
| |
1848
| Cholera epidemic |
| |
1851/ 5/ 1
| Great Exhibition opens |
| |
1854/ 3/28
| Crimea War starts |
| |
1857/ 5/10
| Indian Mutiny begins |
| |
1859
| Darwin's Origin of Species |
| |
1861
| Death of Prince Albert |
| |
1861/ 4/12
| American Civil War commences |
| |
1866/ 5/25
| Great Fire of Ottery St Mary |
| |
1873
| Outbreak of Ashanti War |
| |
1878
| Second Afghan War and Zulu War begin |
| |
1881
| The first Boer War and the Mahdi's rebellion begin |
| |
1888
| Jack the Ripper murders six women in London |
| |
1894
| The Manchester Ship Canal is opened |
| |
1899/10/10
| The second Boer War begins |
| |
1901/ 1/22
| Edward VII succeeds Victoria |
| |
1902
| End of Boer War |
| |
1905
| First motor bus service in London, Picadilly and Bakerloo tubes opened |
| |
1910/ 5/ 6
| George V succeeds Edward VII |
| |
1914/ 8/ 4
| Great War begins |
| |
1918/11/11
| Great War ends |
| |
1921
| The Irish Free State is created |
| |
1926/ 5/ 3
| General Strike begins |
| |
1929
| The great depression begins |
| |
1933
| Adolf Hitler becomes German chancellor |
| |
1935
| Italy invades Ethiopia |
| |
1936/ 1/20
| Edward VIII succeeds George V |
| |
1936/12/10
| Edward VIII abdicates, succeeded by George VI |
| |
1938
| Munich agreement |
| |
1939/ 9/ 3
| Second World War begins |
| |
1940/ 5/11
| Churchill succeeds Chamberlain as prime minister |
| |
1942/ 2/25
| Surrender of Singapore |
| |
1944/ 6/ 6
| D-Day |
| |
1945/ 5/ 8
| Second World War against Germany ends |
| |
1945/ 8/ 6
| H bomb dropped |
| |
1945/ 9/ 2
| Victory over Japan |
| |
1947
| India becomes independant and partitioned |
| |
1950
| Korean war breaks out |
| |
1952/ 2/ 6
| Elizabeth II succeeds George VI |
| |
1956/10/31
| Invasion of Egypt over Suez |
| |
1957/10/ 4
| Sputnik I, first satellite launched |
| |
1961/ 5/25
| JFK announces programme for a manned landing on the Moon |
| |
1963
| Assassination of John F Kennedy |
| |
1969/ 7/20
| Manned landing on the Moon by Aldrin and Armstrong using Apollo rocket |
| |
1971
| Decimal currency is introduced |
| |
1973
| Energy crisis, three day week, VAT introduced |
| |
1975
| First oil from North Sea comes ashore |
| |
1979/ 1/
| Overthrow of Shah of Iran |
| |
1982/ 4/ 2
| Falklands War begins |
| |
1989/11/ 9
| Berlin Wall opened |
| |
1991/ 1/16
| Gulf War begins |