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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1877 | - 1877: Edison invents microphone
Edison invents microphone and phonograph
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| 2 | 1878 | - 1878: Electric lamp invented
Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
- 1878: Red Flag Act in
Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
- 1878: CID established
Criminal Investigation Department established at New Scotland Yard
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| 3 | 1879 | - 18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations
Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
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| 4 | 1880 | - 1880: Education Act:
Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
- 1880: Malaria
Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
- 2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
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| 5 | 1881 | - 1881: Postal Orders introduced
Postal Orders introduced
- 1881: Flogging abolished
Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
- Sep 1881: First town with electricity supply
Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
- 26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
Gunfight at OK Corral
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| 6 | 1882 | - 1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
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| 7 | 1883 | - 1883: Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
- 24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
- 1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
Parcel post starts in Britain
- 27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa
Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
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| 8 | 1884 | - 31 May 1884: Kellogg's corn flakes
John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
- 13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian
Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
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| 9 | 1885 | - 1885: Carl Benz
Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
- 1885: Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
- 1885: first coated photographic paper
Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
- Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times
First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
- 5 Sep 1885: Severn Tunnel
The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
- 29 Sep 1885: Blackpool Trams
First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
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| 10 | 1886 | - 20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway opened
Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
- May 1886: Coca-Cola
Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
- 29 May 1886: Putney Bridge
Putney Bridge opens in London
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| 11 | 1887 | - 1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
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| 12 | 1888 | - 1888: Suez Canal
Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
- 1888: Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
- 1888: County Councils
County Councils set up in Britain
- 1888: Pneumatic tyre invented
Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
- 1888: First box camera
First box camera - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
- 20 Mar 1888: Football League
Football League formed
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| 13 | 1889 | - 1889: Celluloid film
Celluloid film produced
- 1889: Dock Strike
Dock Strike - docker's won their 'Docker's Tanner' 6 old pennies
- 31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
- 14 May 1889: NSPCC charity launched
Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
- 3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
- 28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
Length of a metre defined
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| 14 | 1890 | - 4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens
Forth railway bridge opens - took six years to build
- 4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens
City & South London Railway opens - London's first deep-level tube railway
and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
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| 15 | 1891 | - 1891: Primary education
Primary education made free and compulsory
- 18 Mar 1891: London & Paris
First telephone link between London & Paris
- 4 May 1891: Reichenbach Falls
Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
- 24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
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| 16 | 1892 | - 1892: Electric oven invented
Electric oven invented
- 1892: Shop Hours Act
Shop Hours Act - limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
- 6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson
Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
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| 17 | 1893 | - 1893: Henry Ford
Henry Ford's first car
- 1893: Zip fastener invented
Zip fastener invented
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| 18 | 1894 | - 1894: Picture postcard
Picture postcard introduced in Britain
- 1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal
Manchester Ship Canal opens
- 1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
Blackpool Tower opens
- 30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge first opens
- 2 Aug 1894: Death duties
Death duties first introduced in Britain
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| 19 | 1895 | - 1895: Promenade Concerts
Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
- 12 Jan 1895: The National Trust
The National Trust founded in England
- 24 May 1895: Henry Irving
Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
- 28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde sent to prison
- 12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length
First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
- 17 Oct 1895: First motor offences
First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences - John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
- Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
X-rays discovered
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| 20 | 1896 | - 5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
- 2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
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| 21 | 1897 | - 1897: Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
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| 22 | 1898 | - 1898: First photograph using artificial light
First photograph using artificial light
- 1898: Zeppelin airship
Zeppelin builds airship
- 17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched
USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
- 27 Jun 1898: First solo circumnavigation of the globe
The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by
Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
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| 23 | 1899 | - 6 Mar 1899: Aspirin
Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
- 11 Oct 1899: Second Boer War
Start of Second Boer War
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| 24 | 1900 | - 1900: School leaving age
School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
- 1900: Central Line
Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
- 1900: Escalators
Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
- 9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup
Davis Cup tennis competition established
- 27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
Labour Party formed
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| 25 | 1901 | - 1901: Commonwealth of Australia
Commonwealth of Australia founded
- 1901: Vacuum cleaner
Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies
Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king
- 2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral
Queen Victoria's funeral - interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore
Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
- Jun 1901: Concentration camps
Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
- 2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
Britain's first submarine launched
- 12 Dec 1901: Radio transmission across the Atlantic
First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
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| 26 | 1902 | - 1902: Balfour's Education Act
Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
- 1902: Cremation Act
Cremation Act - cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments, and with two death certificates issued
- 1902: Marie Curie
Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
- 24 May 1902: Empire Day
Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
- 31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging
Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
- 9 Aug 1902: Edward VII
Coronation of Edward VII
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| 27 | 1903 | - 1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA)
Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
- 1903: Women's Social and Political Union
Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
- 1903: Henry Ford
Henry Ford sets up his motor company
- 14 Dec 1903: First flight
First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
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| 28 | 1904 | - 1904: Leeds University established
Leeds University established
- 8 Apr 1904: Entente Cordiale
France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
- 4 May 1904: Panama Canal
America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French (completed 1914)
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| 29 | 1905 | - 1905: Prime Minister
The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time - placed the Prime Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
- 1905: Aliens Act in Britain
Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
- 11 Apr 1905: Special Theory of Relativity
Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
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