Historical Events


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

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.