History of England/Timelines
(Sources (in addition to those shown): 1700-1899 Norman Davies: The Isles, A History", Appendix 42, Macmillan 1999.
Key Dates of Parliament, House of Commons, 2008.[[1]] Chris Scarre (ed) The Human Past, Thames and Hudson, 2005)
Prehistory
- Canyon Cave Man [c 8980 BCE]
- Cheddar Man [2][3] [c 7,000 BCE]
- The Sleeve (La Manche) The English Channel[4] separates Britain from the European mainland [c 6000 to 4000 BCE].
- Farmers in Britain and Ireland [from c 4000 BCE]
- The Beaker people [5] [c 2500 to 1600].
- Megalith builders [6]
- - Stonehenge[7].[c 3000 to 1500 BCE]
600 BCE to 48 AD
- Celtic immigration[8]
- Goidals reach Ireland and Brythons reach Britain
49 to 410AD
- Roman occupation 49 - 410 AD
- Claudius begins the conquest [49]
- Suetonius defeats Boadicea
- Agricola [78]
- Hadrian's wall[9] [122]
- Christianity reaches Britain [200+]
- St Alban's martrydom[10]
- Septimus Severus' campaign [208-211}
- Edict of Caracalla - all free men eligible for Roman citizenship [212]
- Constantius' campaign [306]
- Edict of Milan - the tolerance of Christianity [313]
- Theodosius' campaign against Picts and Scots {367]
- Withdrawal of the legions [401]
- The end of Britain's allegiance to Rome [410]
401 to 800
- Celtic Ireland
- Saint Patrick reaches Éire [432]
- Saxon Britain
- Saint Ninian[11] [397].
- Saint Columba lands on Iona and founds a monastery [563]
- Saint Augustine [12](597-604)
- Synod of Whitby (664)[13] - agreement between Saxon and Roman churchmen.
- Adam Bede's [14]History of the English Church and People(731).
801 to 1066
- Danish invasions
- Viking settlements at Dublin, Waterford and Limerick [914-920]
- Alfred the Great, King of Wessex (871-899)
- Brian Boru King of Munster [946-1014]
- (King of Ireland from 1002)
11th century
- Norman Conquest
- Feudal system.
- Domesday Book (1086)[15]
- Rory O'Connor, High King of Ireland [1166-1175]
12th century
- Norman invasion of Ireland [16]
13th century
- Magna Carta(1215) - the founding principles of the British constitution.
- Model Parliament" (1295) - summoned by Edward I and generally regarded as the first representative assembly.
14th century
15th century
1413 Henry V (1413-22)
1415 Agincourt
1422 Henry VI (1422-61)
1461 Edward IV (1461-83)
1483 Richard III (1483-85)
1485 Henry VII (1485-1509)
16th century
1509 Henry VIII (1509-47)
1547 Edward VI (1547-53)
1549 Cranmer's English Prayer Book.
1553 Mary I (1553-58)
1558 Elizabeth I (1559-1603)
1559 The Armada
17th century
1603 James I (1603-25).
1625 Charles I (1625-49)
1642 Charles I enters the Commons to arrest dissidents and the Speaker replies:
- "May it please Your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here, and I humbly beg Your Majesty's pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what Your Majesty is pleased to demand of me".
1643-46 Civil War.
1660 Restoration. Charles II (1660-85)
1673 Test Act. Catholics excluded from office.
1685 James II (1685-88)
Monmouth Rebellion.
1688 "The Glorious Revolution" and Bill of Rights [17] - limited the power of the king over Parliament.
1689 William and Mary.
1694 The Bank of England
18th century
1707 Act of Union - with Scotland [18].
1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
1714 Hanoverian succession.
George I (1714-27)
1727 Geoge II (1727-1760)
1715 First Jacobite Rising
1739-48 War of Jenkins Ear - with Spain.
1744-8 War of the Austrian Succession.
1745 Second Jacobite Rising - "the '45"
1746 Battle of Culloden.
1756-63 Seven Years War - acquisition of India and Canada.
1760 George III (1760-1820).
1775-81 War of American Independence - the creation of the United States of America.
1787 Kingdom of Ireland granted autonomy.
1789-1815 French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
19th century
1801 Act of Union - with Ireland.
1805 Battle of Trafalgar.
1815 Battle of Waterloo.
1820 George IV (1820-30).
1830 William IV (1830-37).
1832 Reform Act Raised the proportion of adult English males entitled to vote to 20 per cent.
1837 Queen Victoria (1837-1901)/
1845-50 Irish Famine.
1846 Repeal of Corn Laws.
1833-36 Crimean War.
1857-58 Indian Mutiny.
1874 Disraeli's First Conservative Government (1874-80).
1880 Gladstone's Liberal Government.
1898 Battle of Omdurman
1899-1902 Boer War.
20th century
1902-05 Balfour's Conservative Government.
1902 Edward VII (1902-10).
1905-08 Campbell-Bannerman's Liberal Government.
1908-1915 Asquith's Liberal Government (Lloyd George Chancellor of the Exchequer)
1911 George V (1911-36).
Lloyd George's National Insurance Bill.
1914-18 First World War.
1915-16 Asquith's Coalition Government.
1916 Easter Rising
The inter-war years
1918 Representation of the People Act - gave the vote to men over 21 and women over 30 - increasing the electorate from 8 million to 21 million.
1919 Treaty of Versailles.
1919-23 Lloyd George's Coalition Governments.
1920 Ireland gets Home Rule.
1922-23 Bonar Law's Conservative Government.
1923-24 Baldwin's First Conservative Government
1924 Macdonald's First Labour Government.
1924-29 Baldwin's Second Conservative Government.
1926 General Strike.
Baird's television system.
1928 Fleming discovers penicillin
1929-31 Macdonald's Second Labour Government.
1931 Britain leaves the gold standard.
1931-35 Macdonald's National Government.
1935-37 Baldwin's National Government.
1936 Abdication of Edward VII.
1937 George VI (1937-52}
1937-40 Chamberlain's Conservative Government.
1938 Munich Pact with Germany.
1939-45 Second World War
1940-45 Churchill's Wartime Coalition Government.
Post-war Britain
1945 Churchill's First Conservative Government.
1945-51 Atlee's Labour Government
1948 National Health Service.
1951-55 Churchill's Second Conservative Government.
1953 Elizabeth II.
Crick and Watson establish the structure of DNA.
1955-57 Eden's Conservative Government.
1956 Suez war.
1957-63 MacMillan's Conservative Government.
1963-70 Home's Conservative Government.
1970 -79 Heath's Conservative Government.
1973 Britain joins the European Community. European Communities Act[19] makes EC law enforceable in the UK.
1979-1990 Thatcher's Conservative Governments.
1986 Single European Act - introduced Qualified Majority Voting to most European Union decisions [20].
1982 Falklands war.
1990 Major's Conservative Government