EN316: Revolution and Empire: British Literature from 1660-1900

This timeline presents important dates and events from the Restoration up through the end of the Victorian period, with special reference to authors and their works we read in class.

Timeline

Chronological table

Displaying 51 - 100 of 121
Date Event Created by Associated Places
15 Nov 1819

Simultaneous Scottish radical meetings

On 15 November 1819, simultaneous radical meetings occurred at Paisley, Glasgow, and other locations across Scotland.

Articles

James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

David Rettenmaier
30 Dec 1819

Gag Acts

British Coat of ArmsOn 30 December 1819, the British parliament passed the Six Acts (or Gag Acts), which labeled any meeting for radical reform as “an overt act of treasonable conspiracy.” The acts were aimed at gagging radical newspapers (the Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act, the Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act, and the Misdemeanors Act), preventing large meetings (the Seditious Meetings Prevention Act), and reducing what the government saw as the possibility of armed insurrection (the Training Prevention Act and the Seizure of Arms Act). Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

David Rettenmaier
1820

George IV becomes King

After serving as Regent for years, he eventually becomes King when his father dies.

Stacey Kikendall
1820

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Written by John Keats

Stacey Kikendall
5 May 1821

Death of Napoleon

Napoleon on his death bed painting
Horace Vernet, Napoleon on his Death Bed (1826)

Napoleon Bonaparte died on 5 May 1821 while in Exile on the island of Saint Helena. Image: Horace Vernet, Napoleon on his Death Bed (1826).

Dino Franco Felluga
16 Jun 1824

Society for Protection of Animals founded

On 16 June 1824, founding of the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPCA) in London. The Society became the Royal Society in 1840, when it was granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria, herself strongly opposed to vivisection.

Articles

Ivan Kreilkamp, “The Ass Got a Verdict: Martin’s Act and the Founding of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 1822″

Related Articles

Susan Hamilton (U Alberta), “On the Cruelty to Animals Act, 15 August 1876″

Philip Howell, “June 1859/December 1860: The Dog Show and the Dogs’ Home”

Mario Ortiz-Robles, “Animal Acts: 1822, 1835, 1849, 1850, 1854, 1876, 1900″

David Rettenmaier
Apr 1825

Stock market crash

On April 1825, the British stock market began to crash. After the speculative bubble reached its peak, falling Bank of England gold reserves and a collapse in stock prices lead to panic by the end of the year.

Related Articles

Angela Esterhammer, “1824: Improvisation, Speculation, and Identity-Construction”

David Rettenmaier
Dec 1825

Bank failures in London

Bank of EnglandOn December 1825, bank failures began in London. The collapse of important City banks lead to further bank failures across Britain and brought financial crisis to the point where the Bank of England must take extreme measures. Image: The main Bank of England façade, c. 1980. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

Articles

Alexander J. Dick, “On the Financial Crisis, 1825-26″

Related Articles

Angela Esterhammer, “1824: Improvisation, Speculation, and Identity-Construction”

Lana L. Dalley, “On Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy, 1832-34″

David Rettenmaier
1828

Test Act Repealed

Parliamentary repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts excluding Dissenters from state offices

Stacey Kikendall
1 Apr 1829

Roman Catholic Relief Act

British Coat of ArmsRoman Catholic Relief Act received the Royal Assent on 13 April 1829 (sometimes called the Catholic Emancipation Act). Image: the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Catholic Relief Act of 1829 allowed Catholics to become Members of Parliament and to hold public offices, but it also raised the property qualifications that allowed individuals in Ireland to vote. The passage of the Catholic Relief Act marked a shift in English political power from the House of Lords to the House of Commons. The Act was led by the Duke of Wellington and passed despite initially serious opposition from both the House of Lords and King George IV.

Articles

Elsie B. Michie, "On the Sacramental Test Act, the Catholic Relief Act, the Slavery Abolition Act, and the Factory Act"

Related Articles

Carolyn Vellenga Berman, “On the Reform Act of 1832″

Sean Grass, “On the Death of the Duke of Wellington, 14 September 1852″

David Rettenmaier
1 Jan 1830

Principles of Geology

Portrait of Charles LyellJanuary 1830 saw the publication of the first volume (of three) of Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology (January 1830). Image: G. J. Stodart (engraver), Portrait of Charles Lyell (unknown date).

Lyell’s work, though contested, establishes the preeminence of Uniformitarian principles in the interpretation of Geological phenomena, and allows vast temporal scope for Charles Darwin’s subsequent model of evolutionary development.

Articles

Martin Meisel, "On the Age of the Universe"

Related Articles

Nancy Armstrong, “On Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man, 24 February 1871″

Ian Duncan, “On Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle

Anna Henchman, “Charles Darwin’s Final Book on Earthworms, 1881”

Cannon Schmitt, “On the Publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, 1859″

David Rettenmaier
1830

Death of George IV, William IV becomes King

Brother of George IV, son of George III

Stacey Kikendall
26 Jun 1830

Death of King George IV

King George IVOn 26 June 1830, King George IV died, prompting a dissolution of Parliament which brought the Whigs to power in a coalition government; he was succeeded by King William IV. Image: 1798 Engraving of King George IV (by Salomon Jomtob Bennett, after Sir William Beechey). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Related Articles

Carolyn Vellenga Berman, “On the Reform Act of 1832″

David Rettenmaier
Aug 1830 to Dec 1830

Swing Riots

Henry Heath printThe Swing Riots, which occurred from August 1830 to December 1830, were a series of riots by agricultural workers that resulted from the Enclosure Acts, in general, and the introduction of threshing machines in East Kent, more specifically. The Swing Riots are named after the fictitious “Captain Swing,” the figurehead for the movement. Image: Print by Henry Heath entitled “Swing!” (1830). Reproduced with permission from The British Museum.

Related Articles

Carolyn Lesjak, "1750 to the Present: Acts of Enclosure and Their Afterlife" (forthcoming)

David Rettenmaier
15 Sep 1830

Opening of Liverpool & Manchester Railway

Stephenson's RocketOn 15 September 1830, the world’s first major passenger railway opened with a huge celebration—and an unforgettable tragedy. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway stages a grand public opening with dignitaries including then-prime-minster Duke of Wellington. But, before the inaugural trains reach their destination, a fatal accident occurs to MP William Huskisson and, in Manchester, the cheering crowds give way to angry political protests. Image: The Remains of Stephenson's 'Rocket', 1829. Used with permission. Copyright (c) National Railway Museum / Science & Society Picture Library.

Articles


Paul Fyfe, “On the Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1830″

David Rettenmaier
1831

A History of Mary Prince

Story by Mary Prince, transcribed by Suzanna Strickland, edited by Thomas Pringle

Stacey Kikendall
Sep 1831 to Dec 1832

Cholera Epidemic

The first major cholera pandemic to cross the Channel began in Sunderland in September 1831, spread throughout the country, and was not determined to be over until more than a year later, in December of 1832.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"

David Rettenmaier
Oct 1831 to Oct 1836

Darwin's voyage on the Beagle

Photograph of Charles DarwinFrom October 1831 to October 1836, Charles Darwin circumnavigated the world as ship’s naturalist on board the H.M.S. Beagle; he later published his first book based on the journal of his experiences and observations during the voyage. Image: Henry Maull and John Fox, Photograph of Charles Darwin (c. 1854). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Nancy Armstrong, “On Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man, 24 February 1871″

Ian Duncan, “On Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle

Anna Henchman, “Charles Darwin’s Final Book on Earthworms, 1881”

Cannon Schmitt, “On the Publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, 1859″

Related Articles

Daniel Bivona, “On W. K. Clifford and ‘The Ethics of Belief,’ 11 April 1876″

David Rettenmaier
29 Aug 1833

Slavery Abolition Act

British Coat of ArmsThe Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 received the Royal Assent (which means it became law) on 29 August 1833. The Act outlawed slavery throughout the British Empire; Britain’s colonial slaves were officially emancipated on 1 August 1834 when the law came into force, although most entered a form of obligatory apprenticeship that ended in 1840. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Image: the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Elsie B. Michie, "On the Sacramental Test Act, the Catholic Relief Act, the Slavery Abolition Act, and the Factory Act"

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

David Rettenmaier
29 Aug 1833

Factory Act

British Coat of ArmsAct to Regulate the Labour of Children and Young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom passed on 29 August 1833. Image: the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Elsie B. Michie, "On the Sacramental Test Act, the Catholic Relief Act, the Slavery Abolition Act, and the Factory Act"

Related Articles

Peter Capuano, “On Sir Charles Bell’s The Hand, 1833″

David Rettenmaier
28 May 1836

Elizabeth Barrett Browning dinner with Wordsworth

portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, engraving
Portrait (engraving) of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

On 28 May 1836, Elizabeth Barrett Browning met William Wordsworth at a literary dinner in London; EBB's cousin, John Kenyon, was the host and the event most likely occurred at Kenyon's main residence at the time:  39 Devonshire Place, London, which is right around the corner from EBB's residence at the time:  50 Wimpole Street.  See the associated map.  

Dino Franco Felluga
1 Aug 1836

Newspaper Act

British Coat of ArmsOn 13 August 1836, the Newspaper Act was passed, an Act to Consolidate and Amend the Laws relating to the Conveyance of Newspapers by the Post. The bill reduced the stamp duty on newspapers to 1d, thus allowing the channels for communication to increase dramatically. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Related Articles

Elaine Hadley, “On Opinion Politics and the Ballot Act of 1872″

David Rettenmaier
Feb 1837 to Apr 1839

Oliver Twist

Photo of Charles DickensFrom February 1837 to April 1839, Charles Dickens published Oliver Twist. Image: Photograph of Charles Dickens by Jeremiah Gurney, c. 1867-1868 (at the Heritage Auction Gallery). This image is in the public domain in the United States as its copyright has expired.

Related Articles

Heidi Kaufman, “1800-1900: Inside and Outside the Nineteenth-Century East End”

Michelle Allen-Emerson, “On Magazine Day”

David Rettenmaier
17 Aug 1839

Act on Custody of Infants

British Coat of ArmsOn 17 August 1839, passage of an Act to Amend the Law Relating to the Custody of Infants. The Act allowed a separated wife to petition the court for custody of her children under the age of seven. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Related Articles

Rachel Ablow, “‘One Flesh,’ One Person, and the 1870 Married Women’s Property Act”

Kelly Hager, “Chipping Away at Coverture: The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857″

Jill Rappoport, “Wives and Sons: Coverture, Primogeniture, and Married Women’s Property”

David Rettenmaier
Feb 1840

First pupil-teacher training school, Battersea, established

With a fellow reformer, E. Carleton Tuftnell, Kay-Shuttleworth established in February 1840 the first pupil-teacher training school in Battersea. This system was later extended to schools administered by the National and British Societies.

Articles

Florence S. Boos, “The Education Act of 1870: Before and After”

David Rettenmaier
17 Jul 1841

Punch launched

On July 17 1841, Punch, a mass-circulation periodical, was launched.

Articles

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

David Rettenmaier
14 May 1842

The Illustrated London News launched

Masthead, Illustrated London NewsOn May 14 1842, The Illustrated London News, a mass-circulation periodical, was launched. Image: Masthead of the Illustrated London News. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

David Rettenmaier
Sep 1848

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood founded

photo of DG RossettiIn September 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The brotherhood reacts, in part, against the use of bitumen, a transparent brown used for depicting exaggerated shadows, aiming instead to reproduce the sharp, brilliant colors found in fifteenth-century art. Image: Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: albumen print. This photograph, from 7 October 1863, was reproduced as the frontispiece of: Rossetti, William Michael, Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer. London: Cassell and Company, 1898.

Related Articles

Elizabeth Helsinger, “Lyric Poetry and the Event of Poems, 1870″

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Morna O’Neill, “On Walter Crane and the Aims of Decorative Art”

Linda M. Shires, "On Color Theory, 1835: George Field’s Chromatography"

Linda M. Shires, “Color Theory—Charles Lock Eastlake’s 1840 Translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Colours)”

David Rettenmaier
Oct 1848 to Dec 1849

Cholera Epidemic

The second major cholera epidemic in the UK began in Scotland in October 1848 and is generally agreed to have largely subsided in the UK by the end of 1849.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"

David Rettenmaier
Jun 1850

In Memoriam

Carbon print of TennysonIn June 1850, publication of Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H. Image: Julia Margaret Cameron, Carbon print of Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1869, printed 1875/79 (The Art Institute of Chicago). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Related Articles

Jill Galvan, “Tennyson’s Ghosts: The Psychical Research Case of the Cross-Correspondences, 1901-c.1936″

David Rettenmaier
29 Sep 1850

Pius IX restores England’s ecclesiastical hierarchy

On 29 September 1850, Pius IX restored England’s ecclesiastical hierarchy; the post-seventeenth-century system of Vicars Apostolic was replaced with a hierarchy in line with the system still in place in Ireland. This change contributed to the so-called Papal Aggression over the years 1850-52, a campaign against Roman Catholocism.

Articles

Miriam Burstein, “The ‘Papal Aggression’ Controversy, 1850-52″

Related Articles

Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi (Stanford), “14 July 1833: John Keble’s Assize Sermon, National Apostasy”

Laura Mooneyham White (U Nebraska, Lincoln), “On Pusey’s Oxford Sermon on the Eucharist, 24 May 1843″

David Rettenmaier
Jan 1851

London Labour and the London Poor

Engraving of Henry Mayhew1851 saw the publication of Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor. London Labour appeared as a series of articles in the Morning Chronicle throughout the 1840s, before being compiled into three volumes in 1851. Exact month of publication unknown; if you have information about the correct date, please email felluga@purdue.edu with this information. The articles were innovative in the way they articulated the voices of the poorer classes of London. As an ethnographic study, Mayhew’s work explores the multicultural textures of Britain’s center, drawing attention to the ethnic diversity within a nation determined to maintain a stable national and cultural identity. Image: Henry Mayhew, taken from the 1861 edition of London Labour and the London Poor. This image is in the public domain in the United States as its copyright has expired.

Articles

Lesa Scholl, “Irish Migration to London During the c.1845-52 Famine: Henry Mayhew’s Representation in London Labour and the London Poor

Heidi Kaufman, “1800-1900: Inside and Outside the Nineteenth-Century East End”

David Rettenmaier
5 Sep 1852

Manchester Public Library opens

ON 5 Sept 1852, the Manchester Public Library opened. This was Britain’s first free public lending library, opened under the 1850 Public Libraries Act.

Related Articles

Amy Woodson-Boulton, “The City Art Museum Movement and the Social Role of Art”

David Rettenmaier
28 Mar 1854

Britain declares war against Russia

Illustration of the Crimean War

On 28 March 1854, Britain declares war against Russia, thus entering the Crimean War. Image: Russo-British skirmish during Crimean War (anonymous plate). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

In 1854, in defense of the Turks and of British access to eastern trade routes, Britain entered into war in the Crimea. The two-year campaign represented the nation’s first major military engagement since the end of the Napoleonic wars. It thus sheds light on mid-Victorian attitudes towards national identity, offering a counter-narrative to views of the 1850s dominated by responses to the Great Exhibition of 1851. As literary and visual representations of the war reveal, reactions to this conflict were both more nuanced and more ambivalent than our preconceptions about Victorian jingoism might anticipate.

Articles

Stefanie Markovits, "On the Crimean War and the Charge of the Light Brigade"

David Rettenmaier
10 Jun 1854

Sydenham Crystal Palace opens

Sydenham Crystal Palace on Fire

Opening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham on 10 June 1854. Image: The Crystal Palace on fire (30 November 1936; author unknown). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

The resurrection of the Crystal Palace of 1851 in its new setting at Sydenham, with an expanded architectural complex and enhanced functional brief, embodies the Victorian emphasis upon visuality as a means of acquiring and conveying knowledge. In addition, the new Crystal Palace was shaped by prevailing concepts of rational recreation and beneficial commerce that insisted that private and public interests could be simultaneously satisfied and lead to a stronger nation and even Empire.

Articles

Anne Helmreich, "On the Opening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 10 June 1854"

Related Articles

Audrey Jaffe, "On the Great Exhibition"

Aviva Briefel, "On the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition"

Anne Clendinning, “On The British Empire Exhibition, 1924-25″

David Rettenmaier
14 Mar 1856

Petition for Reform of Married Women’s Property Law

On 14 March 1856, presentation of the Petition for Reform of the Married Women’s Property Law, 1856. The petition began the joint effort by lawmakers and public women to grant married women control of their own wealth.

Articles

Jill Rappoport, “Wives and Sons: Coverture, Primogeniture, and Married Women’s Property”

Related Articles

Rachel Ablow, “‘One Flesh,’ One Person, and the 1870 Married Women’s Property Act”

Anne D. Wallace, “On the Deceased Wife’s Sister Controversy, 1835-1907″

David Rettenmaier
30 Mar 1856

Treaty of Paris

Illustration of the Treaty of Paris

On 30 March 1856, signing of the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War. Image: Treaty of Paris, the participants (Contemporary woodcut, published in Magazin Istoric, 1856). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Stefanie Markovits, "On the Crimean War and the Charge of the Light Brigade"

David Rettenmaier
15 Nov 1856

Aurora Leigh

Engraving of a photo of BrowningOn 15 November 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh was published by Chapman and Hall in Great Britain. Aurora Leigh—a verse-novel and modern epic—set off literary, social, and political reverberations in Britain, North America, and Europe up to the end of the century. Given its innovative, generically mixed form and its controversial contemporary subject matter, it figured in debates over poetry and poetics, the nature of the realist novel, class divisions and social reform, women’s rights, religion, and the politics of nations. Image: An 1871 engraving of an 1859 photograph of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (photograph by Macaire Havre, engraving by T. O. Barlow). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Marjorie Stone, “The ‘Advent’ of Aurora Leigh: Critical Myths and Periodical Debates”

David Rettenmaier
10 May 1857 to 20 Jun 1858

Indian Uprising

print of the hanging of two rebelsThe Indian Rebellion or Uprising, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions. It was not contained until the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858. Image: Felice Beato, Print of the hanging of two rebels, 1858 (albumen silver print). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Priti Joshi, “1857; or, Can the Indian ‘Mutiny’ Be Fixed?”

Related Articles

Julie Codell, “On the Delhi Coronation Durbars, 1877, 1903, 1911″

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

David Rettenmaier
25 May 1857 to 25 Jun 1857

Pre-Raphaelite Art Exhibit

photo of DG RossettiPre-Raphaelite Art Exhibit, Russell Square, London, from 25 May to 25 June 1857. This was the first exhibition devoted solely to the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. Image: Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: albumen print. This photograph, from 7 October 1863, was reproduced as the frontispiece of: Rossetti, William Michael, Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer. London: Cassell and Company, 1898. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Related Articles

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

David Rettenmaier
24 Aug 1857

Start of 1857 financial crisis in the US

engraving of a run on the seamen's savings' bankOn 24 August 1857, the fall of the Ohio State Life and Trust Company in the United States marked the beginning of the 1857 financial crisis. Image: "Run on the Seamen's Savings' Bank during the Panic of 1857" by Unknown - w:Harper's Weekly available at Library of Congress. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Articles

Lynn Shakinovsky, “The 1857 Financial Crisis and the Suspension of the 1844 Bank Act”

Related Articles

Crosby, Mark. “The Bank Restriction Act (1797) and Banknote Forgery”


Dick, Alexander J. “On the Financial Crisis, 1825-26″

Gooch, Joshua. “On ‘Black Friday,’ 11 May 1866″

David Rettenmaier
28 Aug 1857

Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857

British Coat of ArmsOn 28 August 1857, passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. The Act legalized divorce and protected a divorced woman’s property and future earnings. The grounds for divorce for men was adultery (in legal terms, criminal conversation), for women adultery combined with bigamy, incest, bestiality, sodomy, desertion, cruelty, or rape. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Kelly Hager, “Chipping Away at Coverture: The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857″

Related Articles

Rachel Ablow, “‘One Flesh,’ One Person, and the 1870 Married Women’s Property Act”

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Jill Rappoport, “Wives and Sons: Coverture, Primogeniture, and Married Women’s Property”

David Rettenmaier
27 Oct 1857

Start of the 1857 financial crisis in England

engraving of a run on the seamen's savings' bankOn 27 October 1857, the failure of the Liverpool Borough Bank marked the beginning of the 1857 financial crisis in England. Image: "Run on the Seamen's Savings' Bank during the Panic of 1857" by Unknown - w:Harper's Weekly available at Library of Congress. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Articles

Lynn Shakinovsky, “The 1857 Financial Crisis and the Suspension of the 1844 Bank Act”

Related Articles

Crosby, Mark. “The Bank Restriction Act (1797) and Banknote Forgery”

Dick, Alexander J. “On the Financial Crisis, 1825-26″

Gooch, Joshua. “On ‘Black Friday,’ 11 May 1866″

David Rettenmaier
1858

English Woman’s Journal first published

photo of ParkesMarch 1858 saw the first issue of England’s first feminist monthly magazine, the English Woman's Journal. Aimed primarily at a middle-class audience, the magazine promoted new employment and educational opportunities for women, and featured a mix of political and social commentary, reportage of current events, poetry, book reviews, and a correspondence column. Image: Photograph of Bessie Rayner Parkes Belloc (date unknown). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Janice Schroeder, “On the English Woman’s Journal, 1858-62″

David Rettenmaier
24 Nov 1859

On the Origin of Species

Photograph of Charles DarwinOn 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin publishes his On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Image: Henry Maull and John Fox, Photograph of Charles Darwin (c. 1854). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Nancy Armstrong, “On Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man, 24 February 1871″

Ian Duncan, “On Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle”

Anna Henchman, “Charles Darwin’s Final Book on Earthworms, 1881”

Martin Meisel, "On the Age of the Universe"

Cannon Schmitt, “On the Publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, 1859″

Related Articles

Daniel Bivona, “On W. K. Clifford and ‘The Ethics of Belief,’ 11 April 1876″

David Rettenmaier
Mar 1862

Goblin Market and Other Poems Published

"Golden curl by golden curl," title page for Goblin Market

Goblin Market is a Victorian narrative poem written by Christina Rossetti and illustrated by her brother Dante Gabriel. Rossetti felt that the collaboration with her brother was crucial to her overall work, that she deliberately delayed the publication until Dante Garbiel’s illustrations were ready for press. He designed a total of two illustrations, the frontispiece and title page, for The Goblin Market. Both images were pressed using wood engravings, evoking the pre-raphaelite designs popular during the 1860’s. The passages appeal to the senses through vivid descriptions of colours, textures, aromas and taste. Critics assigned the poem to various general categories over the following decades and throughout the twentieth century. It was first viewed as a fairytale but was later viewed as an allegorical piece. Feminist critics often analyzed the poem’s social commentary on gender relations and the relationship between two sisters. Later in the nineteenth century, readers, reviewers, illustrators, and composers began to focus on the poem’s powerful aesthetic qualities. Its sensuous patterns, religious images, and social implications inspired the focus of school studies and as well as musical settings and performances. The power of its visual images, and the two wood-engraved designs by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the poem’s first publication, turned to evoke numerous artistic interpretations, ranging from stained glass windows to gift books.

Curated by Kisha Rendon, Joseph Pereira, and Payton Flood

Public Domain; source: COVE Goblin Market edition by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Antony Harrison

Payton Flood
Jul 1866

Permanent transatlantic cable established

In July 1866, in the aftermath of the Civil War, a permanent transatlantic cable was re-established after a failed attempt in 1858.

Articles

John M. Picker, “Threads across the Ocean: The Transatlantic Telegraph Cable, July 1858, August 1866″

David Rettenmaier
15 Aug 1867

Second Reform Act

British Coat of ArmsOn 15 August 1867, the Representation of the People Act, 1867 (also known as the Second Reform Act), received the royal assent. This act increased the electorate of England and Wales to approximately one man in three, theoretically including substantial numbers of working-class men. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Janice Carlisle, "On the Second Reform Act, 1867"

Related Articles

Carolyn Vellenga Berman, “On the Reform Act of 1832″

Elaine Hadley, “On Opinion Politics and the Ballot Act of 1872″

Herbert F. Tucker, "On Event"

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

David Rettenmaier
26 Jul 1869

Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act

British Coat of ArmsOn 26 July 1869, the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, received the royal assent. This act reinstated compounding, the collection of tenants’ poor rates along with their rent, a practice that had been eliminated by the passage of the Second Reform Act Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Janice Carlisle, "On the Second Reform Act, 1867"

David Rettenmaier
Feb 1870

Elementary Education Act

British Coat of ArmsIn February 1870, passage of the Elementary Education Act Parliament provides for universal, nonsectarian education of British children at public expense and with public oversight. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Related Articles

Herbert F. Tucker, "On Event"

David Rettenmaier

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