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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1670 | - 1670: Hudson's Bay Company established - early settlers in Canada
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| 2 | 1673 | - 1673: Test Act was passed to try to help differentiate between Anglicans and Catholics. Public officeholders were required to swear an oath of allegiance (which recognised the monarch as the head of the Church of England) and accept communion by Protestant form
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| 3 | 1675 | - 1675: Whig party formed under Shaftsbury
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| 4 | 1679 | - 1679: Tories first named
- 1679: Habeas Corpus Act becomes law in England
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| 5 | 1682 | - 1682: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
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| 6 | 1684 | - 1684: Presbyterian settlement in Stuart's Town in South Carolina
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| 7 | 1685 | - 1685: James II King of England 1685 - 1688
- 1685: Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes - 320 executed, 800 transported
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| 8 | 1688 | - 1688: The Glorious Revolution James effectively abdicates
- 1688: Abolition of Hearth Tax
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| 9 | 1689 | - 1689: William and Mary Joint Reign (William prince of Orange and Mary Daughter of James II 1689 - 1694
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| 10 | 1694 | - 1694: William II King of England Sole ruler after death of Mary 1694 - 1702
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| 11 | 1695 | - 1695: Freedom of Press in England
- 1695: Act of Parliament imposes a fine on all who fail to inform the parish minister of the birth of a child (repealed 1706)
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| 12 | 1696 | - 1696: Act of Parliament establishes Workhouses
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| 13 | 1697 | - 1697: Official opening of St Paul's Cathedral
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| 14 | 1701 | - 1701: Act of Settlement bars Catholics from the British throne
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| 15 | 1702 | - 1702: Anne Queen of England 1702 - 1714
- 1702: 1702 - 1713 War of the Spanish Succession
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| 16 | 1705 | - 1705: First working Newcomen Steam Engine
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| 17 | 1707 | - 1707: Kingdom of Great Britain Established English and Scottish Parliaments united by an Act of the English Parliament.
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| 18 | 1708 | - 1708: First Jacobite rising in Scotland
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| 19 | 1712 | - 1712: Imposition of Soap Tax (abolished 1853)
- 1712: Treaty of Utrecht concludes the War of the Spanish Succession
- 1712: Second Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender
- 1712: First Prime Minister Robert Walpole - 1742 (Whig)
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| 20 | 1714 | - 1714: George I King of England 1714 - 1727
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| 21 | 1719 | - 1719: Third abortive Jacobite rising
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| 22 | 1723 | - 1723: The Waltham Black Acts add 50 capital offences to the penal code - people could be sentenced to death for theft and poaching
- 1723: The Workhouse Act or Test - to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
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| 23 | 1725 | |
| 24 | 1727 | - 1727: George II King of England 1727 - 1760
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| 25 | 1729 | - 1729: Methodists formed at Oxford
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| 26 | 1730 | |
| 27 | 1733 | - 1733: Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed - some continued in Latin for a few years
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| 28 | 1738 | - 1738: John Wesley has his conversion experience
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| 29 | 1741 | - 1741: Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites - The Morovians later were instrumental in converting and educating black slaves in the West Indies
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| 30 | 1742 | - 1742: England goes to war with Spain - incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) for the sake of trade
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| 31 | 1743 | - 1743: Battle of Dettingen - last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle - the Kettle Drums were captured by the Third King's Own Dragoon Guards
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| 32 | 1745 | - 1745: Charles Edward Stuart the young pretender to the English throne lands in Scotalnd Defeated at Culloden 1746
- 1745: Jacobite rebellion in Scotland - Bonnie Prince Charlie (The Young Pretender) lands in the western Highlands - raises support among Episcopalian and Catholic clans - The Pretender's army invades Perth, Edinburgh, and England as far as Derby
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| 33 | 1746 | - 1746: April 17 1746 Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite rebellion crushed for all time.
- 1746: Battle of Culloden - last battle fought in Britain - 5,000 Highlanders routed by the Duke of Cumberland and 9,000 loyalists Scots - Young Pretender Charles flees to Continent, ending Jacobite hopes forever - the wearing of the kilt prohibited. Many Scots exiled to Jamaica
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| 34 | 1752 | - 1752: Year standardised to end Dec 31 (previously Mar 24) Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England
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| 35 | 1754 | - 1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used - Quakers & Jews exempt
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| 36 | 1756 | - 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
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| 37 | 1757 | - 1757: India: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of Plassy - the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive - The foundation laid for the Empire of India
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| 38 | 1758 | - 1758: India stops being merely a commercial venture - England begins dominating it politically - The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade
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| 39 | 1759 | - 1759: Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels
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| 40 | 1760 | - 1760: George III King of England 1760 - 1820
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| 41 | 1762 | - 1762: France surrenders Canada and Florida
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| 42 | 1763 | - 1763: Treaty of Paris of 1763 - In a nutshell, Britain emerged as the world?s leading colonial empire. Her possessions stretched from India to Africa to the West Indies to North America. The British shocked knowledgeable people of the day by choosing to take the barren wasteland of Canada from France, rather than the prosperous West Indian sugar islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.North America.
Received Canada from France - Received Florida from Spain - Ceded recently taken Guadeloupe and Martinique back to France - Ceded recently taken Cuba and the Philippines to Spain - Received Grenada and the Grenadines from France - Received extensive Indian rights from France - Received Senegal from France - Received Minorca from France and Spain
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| 43 | 1767 | - 1767: First iron railroads built for mines by John Wilkinson Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt - First one installed at Tipton
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| 44 | 1769 | - 1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
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| 45 | 1770 | - 1770: Boston Massacre - On March 5th crowds protesting against the presence of British soldiers are fired upon.
- 1770: Hargreaves's jenny invented (textile production)
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| 46 | 1772 | - 1772: Judge Lord Mansfield rules in the case of James Somerset a negro that there is no legal basis for slavery in England.
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| 47 | 1773 | - 1773: The Boston Tea Party - American Colonists protest at excise duties.
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| 48 | 1775 | - 1775: American rebel forces enter Canada and capture Montreal
- 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775-1783)
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| 49 | 1776 | - 1776: Canada : As a result of the American Revolution, 1,124 people from New England arrived in Halifax in the first wave of United Empire Loyalists. In total, about 40,000 Americans remain loyal to Britain and flee north, to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the St. Lawrence Valley, and the lands bordering the Great Lakes. These include a large number of Black Loyalists ie Slaves who escaped and served in the British Forces
- 1776: British forces capture New York
- 1776: American Declaration of Independence
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| 50 | 1777 | - 1777: British Forces capture Philadelphia but surrender at Saratoga
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| 51 | 1778 | - 1778: France hoping for to take advantage of British problems in North America declare war.
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| 52 | 1779 | - 1779: Spain declares war on Britain hoping to regain territories lost in 1763
- 1779: First iron bridge built, over the River Severn by John Wilkinson
- 1779: Abraham Darby completes the first iron bridge across the Severn at Coalbrookdale
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| 53 | 1780 | - 1780: Holland declares war on Britain hoping for rich pickings.
- 1780: The English Reform Movement - until now, only landowners and tenants--freeholders with 40 shillings per year or more--allowed to vote, and in open poll books
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| 54 | 1782 | - 1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief - the way of life of the poor beginning to alter due to industrialisation - New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce that would adjust to new work patterns
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| 55 | 1783 | - 1783: Parliament demanded an end to the war, largely due to its expense. The Prime Minister, now Lord North, resigned and, on 3 September 1783, treaties were signed at Versailles. Britain retained Canada and the West Indian Islands but the thirteen rebellious states were formally recognised as the United States of America.
- 1783: Cornwallis surrenders at the battle of Yorktown
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| 56 | 1784 | - 1784: Canada : New Brunswick created - With the arrival of so many Loyalists from American colonies, New Brunswick is created as a separate colony with an elected assembly.
- 1784: Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics
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| 57 | 1785 | - 1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million)
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| 58 | 1788 | - 1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships
- 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales
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| 59 | 1789 | - 1789: The French Revolution begins - storming of the Bastille
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| 60 | 1792 | - 1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) - Fox gets Libel Act through Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel
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| 61 | 1793 | - 1793: Execution of Louis XVI of France - England declares war on France (1793-1802)
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| 62 | 1794 | - 1794: Abolition of the slave trade in North America, not slavery - Widely ignored and not enforced
- 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High Treason - he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore Treason
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| 63 | 1795 | - 1795: Great English Famine after crop failure. Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's wage to subsistence level.
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| 64 | 1798 | - 1798: 1798- 1802 First war with Napoleon - Feb-Oct: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished
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| 65 | 1800 | - 1800: Union of Great Britain and Ireland - Union Jack official British flag
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| 66 | 1801 | - 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000 - population of Britain nearly 11 million (75 per cent rural)
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| 67 | 1805 | - 1805: Battle of Trafalgar - Nelson Killed in Action
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| 68 | 1806 | - 1806: First colonists leave Britain for South Africa
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| 69 | 1807 | - 1807: Abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire
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| 70 | 1813 | - 1813: Printed Parish Registers introduced for Baptisms and Burials
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| 71 | 1815 | - 1815: The Corn Laws - Cereals could not be imported into Britain until the domestic price reached eighty shillings a quarter. This price meant that cereals and bread were more expensive than they needed to be and this caused considerable agitation
- 1815: Battle of Waterloo
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| 72 | 1819 | - 1819: First Factory Act - limiting those aged nine and above to a twelve hour day.
- 1819: Peterloo massacre in Manchester
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| 73 | 1820 | - 1820: George IV King of England 1820 - 1830
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| 74 | 1829 | - 1829: Catholic Emancipation Act passed, allowing Catholics to participate in British & political life.
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| 75 | 1830 | - 1830: William IV King of England 1830 - 1837
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| 76 | 1832 | - 1832: Introduction of Electroal Rolls
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| 77 | 1833 | - 1833: 2nd Factory Act - rohibited the employment of under nines in mills and further restricted the time over nines could work.
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| 78 | 1834 | - 1834: Abolition of the institution of slavery in the British Empire
- 1834: Poor Law Ammendment Act - Radical changes to poor relief grouping parishes into Poor Law Unions.
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| 79 | 1835 | - 1835: Tithe Redemtion Act
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| 80 | 1836 | - 1836: Following the second French Revolution influx of French Immigrants
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| 81 | 1837 | - 1837: Victoria Queen of England 1837 - 1901
- 1837: Civil registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in England & Wales is introduced in the Septemper Quarter.
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| 82 | 1838 | - 1838: Rise of the Chartist Movement
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| 83 | 1840 | - 1840: New Zealand declared a Crown colony
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| 84 | 1842 | - 1842: Mines Act - No female was to be employed underground, no boy under 10 years old was to be employed underground.Parish apprentices between the ages of 10 and 18 could continue to work in the mines.
There were no clauses relating to hours of work, and inspection could only take place on the basis of checking the 'condition of the workers'. Ironically, many women were annoyed that they could no longer earn the much needed money
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| 85 | 1845 | - 1845: Beginning of the Irish Potato Famine
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| 86 | 1846 | - 1846: After the approval of 273 new lines the Railway System rapidly expands
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| 87 | 1850 | - 1850: Factories Act Extended - restricted all women and young people to no more than ten-and-a-half hours work a day.
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| 88 | 1856 | - 1856: Crimean War begins. Ends 1856
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| 89 | 1857 | - 1857: Divorce becomes obtainable through the civil courts in England & Wales (Matrimonial Causes Act)
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| 90 | 1858 | - 1858: Start of the British Raj as India is delclared a Crown Colony
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| 91 | 1861 | - 1861: - 1865 American civil war between the emancipationist North and the slaveowning South.
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| 92 | 1865 | - 1865: After the defeat of the south the thirteenth amendment passed effectively abolishing slavery in the USA.
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| 93 | 1867 | - 1867: Canada Becomes A Dominion
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| 94 | 1872 | - 1872: Public Health Act establishes urban & rural sanitary authorities.
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| 95 | 1873 | - 1873: Return of Owners of Land is made listing owners of more than 1 acre in Britain & Ireland.
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| 96 | 1875 | - 1875: Civil registration of Births and Deaths now a legal obligation.
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| 97 | 1879 | |
| 98 | 1882 | - 1882: Married Women's Property Act
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| 99 | 1889 | - 1889: Boer War begins. Ends 1902
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| 100 | 1890 | - 1890: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
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| 101 | 1894 | - 1894: Third Reform Bill Votes for Agricultural Workers
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| 102 | 1901 | - 1901: Edward VII King of England 1901 - 1910
- 1901: Australia joins the Commonwealth
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| 103 | 1902 | - 1902: The Cremation Act enables public burial authorities to provide & maintain crematoriums out of the rates.
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| 104 | 1905 | - 1905: Aliens Act limits immigration
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| 105 | 1906 | - 1906: British Labour Party Formed
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| 106 | 1910 | - 1910: George V King of England 1910 - 1936
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| 107 | 1911 | - 1911: 1911 - 1912 Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers
- 1911: Census: Pop. England & Wales 36M, Scotand 4.6M, Northern Ireland 1.25M
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| 108 | 1912 | - 1912: The Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage 14 April
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| 109 | 1914 | - 1914: Start of the first World War, Britain houses 200,000 homeless war refugees from Belgium
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| 110 | 1916 | - 1916: Easter Rising erupts in Dublin as Irish nationalists demand Home Rule.
- 1916: World War I - Battle of the Somme 420,000 British casualties
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| 111 | 1917 | - 1917: On 12 March USA enters war
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| 112 | 1918 | - 1918: End of the First World War - Women over the age of 30 win the right to vote.
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| 113 | 1919 | - 1919: Viscountess Astor First Woman in Commons
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| 114 | 1921 | - 1921: Census: Pop. England & Wales 37.9M, Scotland 4.9M, Northern Ireland 1.25M
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| 115 | 1922 | - 1922: Partition of Ireland creates Northern Ireland & the Irish Free State
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| 116 | 1926 | |
| 117 | 1927 | - 1927: Adopted Children Register begins in England & Wales
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| 118 | 1928 | - 1928: Women over 21 are allowed to vote
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| 119 | 1929 | - 1929: Legal age of marriage with parent's consent raised to 16 (from 12 for girls & 14 for boys)
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| 120 | 1936 | - 1936: Edward VIII uncrowned King of England
- 1936: George VI King of England 1936 - 1952
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| 121 | 1939 | - 1939: Second World War begins.
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| 122 | 1945 | - 1945: Second World War ends
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| 123 | 1947 | - 1947: Indian Independance Partion creates the Muslim State of Pakistan
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| 124 | 1948 | - 1948: National Health Service Established
- 1948: Registrations of British nationality are issued to citizens of British colonies - SS Empire Windrush brings first large-scale influx of immigrants from the West Indies
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| 125 | 1952 | - 1952: Elizabeth II Queen of England
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| 126 | 1962 | - 1962: Commonwealth immigration restricted to skilled workers & dependents
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| 127 | 1969 | - 1969: Voting age reduced to 18
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| 128 | 1973 | - 1973: Britain joins the EEC (European Economic Community)
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| 129 | 1982 | |
1883 -