London timeline
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The Great Plague of London
Plague was not a new disease for London in 1665. In that year it just happened that conditions meant that all was in place for an epidemic: a mild... Read more
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Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to... Read more
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London Beer Flood
The London Beer Flood occurred on October 17, 1814 in the parish of St. Giles, London, England. At the Meux and Company Brewery on Tottenham Court... Read more
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'Frankenstein' is Published
Over the course of time, Frankenstein's monster has usurped the very name of his creator, Victor Frankenstein, the precocious student of natural... Read more
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Founding of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) of London, Commonly Known as Scotland Yard
Metropolitan Police patrols took to the streets on 29 September 1829, despite resistance from certain elements of the community who saw them to be... Read more
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Douglass Delivers London Reception Speech at Finsbury Chapel
Starting in August 1845, Douglass spent two years in Great Britain and Ireland, where he gave many lectures, mainly in Protestant churches or... Read more
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Charles Darwin Publishes 'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties'
This famous paper originally appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology, but has been printed in books, in part or in whole,... Read more
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'Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There' is Published
Fortunately, Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass has also been recognized for its surprising radicalism despite being very much a literary product... Read more
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Oscar Wilde Marries Constance Lloyd
On May 29, 1884, Oscar married Constance Lloyd. Constance was four years younger than Oscar and the daughter of a prominent barrister who died when... Read more
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Theodore Roosevelt Marries Edith Kermit Carow
Following the election, he went to London in 1886 and married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. They honeymooned in Europe, and... Read more
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Oscar Wilde is Appointed Editor of 'The Lady's World'
His flair, having previously only been put into socialising, suited journalism and did not go unnoticed. With his youth nearly over, and a family... Read more
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Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols Murdered in Whitechapel
Polly's Last Hours About 11 p.m. 30 August Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was seen walking the Whitechapel Road, at 1.30 a.m. she was seen to leave a... Read more
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Mohandes Gandhi Travels to London to Train as a Barrister
On 4 September 1888, less than a month shy of his 19th birthday, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London and... Read more
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Annie Chapman Murdered in Spitalfields
Annie Chapman's Last Hours Shortly after midnight on the morning of her death, Chapman, like Mary Ann Nichols, found herself without money for... Read more
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Elizabeth Stride Murdered in Whitechapel
Elizabeth Stride was killed on the night of the "Double Event" that saw the murder of Catherine Eddowes less than an hour later. Stride's body was... Read more
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Catherine Eddowes Murdered in the City of London
At 8.30 pm on Saturday the 29 September Eddowes was found lying in the road drunk on Aldgate High Street by PC Louis Robinson and taken into... Read more
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Mary Jane Kelly Murdered in Spitalfields
On the morning of 9 November 1888, the day of the annual Lord Mayor's Day celebrations, Kelly's landlord John McCarthy sent his assistant, Thomas... Read more
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'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' is Published
In this story, the main character is introduced by Lady Windermere to Mr Septimus R. Podgers , a chiromantist, who reads his palm and tells him... Read more
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Oscar Wilde Meets Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas
In the summer of 1891, Oscar met Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, the third son of the Marquis of Queensberry. Bosie was well acquainted with Oscar's... Read more
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'Lady Windermere's Fan' Is Produced in London
Lady Windermere's Fan: A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James Theatre in... Read more
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'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' is Published
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective and illustrated by Sidney... Read more
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'A Woman of No Importance' Premieres in London
This play is considered to be Wilde's least successful drama, largely because it is not successfully epigrammatic in its structure and themes.... Read more
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'An Ideal Husband' Opens at the Haymarket Theatre in London
One of the issues being worked out in the Victorian theater was the so-called woman question. Plays like Pinero's The Second Mrs.Tanqueray... Read more
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'The Importance of Being Ernest' Premieres in London
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. Read more
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Oscar Wilde Brings Libel Charges Against the Marquess of Queensberry
At the Albemarle Club where Wilde dined, Queensberry left his calling card complete with misspelling of the libelous word: "To Oscar Wilde, posing... Read more