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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1840 | - 10 Jan 1840—10 Jan 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
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| 2 | 1841 | - 6 Jun 1841—6 Jun 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
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| 3 | 1843 | - 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
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| 4 | 1851 | - 1 May 1851—1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
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| 5 | 1853 | - 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
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| 6 | 1854 | - 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
- 25 Oct 1854—25 Oct 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
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| 7 | 1859 | - 24 Nov 1859—24 Nov 1859: Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'
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| 8 | 1862 | - 20 Apr 1862—20 Apr 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
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| 9 | 1863 | - 10 Jan 1863—10 Jan 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
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| 10 | 1865 | - 14 Apr 1865—14 Apr 1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
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| 11 | 1868 | - 1868—1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
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| 12 | 1869 | - 1869—1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
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| 13 | 1870 | - 1870—1870: Water closets come into wide use
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| 14 | 1872 | - 1872—1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
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| 15 | 1874 | - 5 Apr 1874—5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world - features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
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| 16 | 1876 | - 14 Feb 1876—14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
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| 17 | 1878 | - 1878—1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
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| 18 | 1880 | - 1880—1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
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| 19 | 1883 | - 27 Aug 1883—27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
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| 20 | 1884 | - 13 Oct 1884—13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
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| 21 | 1885 | - Mar 1885—Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
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| 22 | 1887 | - 1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
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| 23 | 1888 | - 20 Mar 1888—20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
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| 24 | 1889 | - 3 Jun 1889—3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
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| 25 | 1891 | - 1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
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| 26 | 1893 | - 1893—1893: Zip fastener invented
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| 27 | 1895 | - Nov 1895—Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
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| 28 | 1897 | - 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
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| 29 | 1900 | - 1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
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| 30 | 1901 | - 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 12 Dec 1901—12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
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| 31 | 1902 | - 1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
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| 32 | 1906 | - 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
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| 33 | 1907 | - 1907—1907: First airship flies over London
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| 34 | 1908 | - 1 Jul 1908—1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
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| 35 | 1909 | - 25 Jul 1909—25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
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| 36 | 1912 | - 14 Apr 1912—14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
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| 37 | 1914 | - 4 Aug 1914—4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
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| 38 | 1917 | - 7 Nov 1917—7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
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| 39 | 1918 | - 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 8 Mar 1918—8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
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| 40 | 1923 | - 16 Feb 1923—16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
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| 41 | 1926 | - 1926—1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
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| 42 | 1927 | - 1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
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| 43 | 1928 | - 1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
- 15 Sep 1928—15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
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| 44 | 1929 | - 1929—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
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| 45 | 1934 | - 1934—1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
- 18 Jul 1934—18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
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| 46 | 1936 | - 5 May 1936—5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
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| 47 | 1938 | - 30 Oct 1938—30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
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| 48 | 1939 | - 3 Sep 1939—3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
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| 49 | 1940 | - 15 Sep 1940—15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the
RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
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| 50 | 1941 | - 1941—1941: First use of antibiotics
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| 51 | 1942 | - 6 Sep 1942—6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
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| 52 | 1944 | - 6 Jun 1944—6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
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| 53 | 1945 | - 8 May 1945—8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe). Atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
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| 54 | 1947 | - 1 Apr 1947—1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
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| 55 | 1948 | - 5 Jul 1948—5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
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Bef 1838 - 
