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 [15](871-899)

Brian Boru King of Munster [16] [946-1014]

- King of Ireland from 1002 .

11th century

King Canute (1016 - 1035)

King Harold (1035 - 1066)

Defeat of MacBeth at Dunsinane

Malcolm King of Scotland (1058 - 1093)

Harold subdues Wales (1063)

Norman Conquest

William I (1066 - 1087

Domesday Book (1086)[17]

William II (1087 - 1100)

First Crusade (1096)

Feudal system [18].

12th century

Henry I (1100 - 1135)

Stephen (1135 - 1154)

Civil War (1139 - 1147)

Plantagenet era 1154 - 1485

Henry II (1154-1189)

Thomas à Becket Archbishop of Canterbury (1162 -1170)

Rory O'Connor, High King of Ireland [1166-1175]

Richard I (1189 - 1199)

Norman invasion of Ireland (1169)[19][20]

Third Crusade 1189

John (1199 - 1216)

13th century

Magna Carta[21] (1215) - the founding principles of the British constitution.

Henry III (1216 - 1272)

Edward I (1272 - 1307)

Model Parliament" (1295) - summoned by Edward I and generally regarded as the first representative assembly.

Alliance between Scotland and France (1295)

John Baliol yields Scottish Throne to Edward I who thus becomes King of Scotland (1296 -1306)

14th century

1300    Edward I invades Scotland.

1302    Truce between England and Scotland

1306    Robert Bruce King of Scots

1307    Edward II (1307-1327)

1318    Edward Bruce King of Ireland

1327    Edward III (1327 - 1377)

1329    David II King of Scots

1346    Battle of Crecy

1366    Statutes of Kilkenny [22]

1371    Robert II King of Scots

1377    Richard II (1377-1399)

1390    Robert III King of Scots

1390    Richard IIIs Irish expedition

1399    Henry IV (1399 -1413)

15th century

1413    Henry V (1413-22)

1415    Agincourt

1422    Henry VI (1422-61)

1460    Statute of Drogheda - proclaims Ireland's separate status.

1461    Edward IV (1461-83)

1483    Richard III (1483-85)

Tudor Era 1485-1605

1485    Henry VII (1485-1509)

1494    Poynings Law -

16th century

1509    Henry VIII (1509-47)

1541    Henry VIII King of Ireland

1547     Edward VI (1547-53)

1549   Cranmer's English Prayer Book.

1553     Mary I (1553-58)

1558    Elizabeth I [23](1559-1603)

1559    The Armada [24]

1570    Gunpowder Plot

1592 The Great Plague - kills 15,000 Londoners

17th century

Stuart Era 1605-1688

1605    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[25].

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 [26] - limited the power of the king over Parliament.

1689    William and Mary.

1694    The Bank of England [27]

18th century

1707    Act of Union - with Scotland [28].

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.

Industrial Revolution[29] 1715-1815

1756-63 Seven Years War - acquisition of India and Canada.

1760    George III (1760-1820).

War of American Independence[30] 1775 -81
- the creation of the United States of America.

1783    Rotunda Parliament

1787     Kingdom of Ireland granted autonomy.

Napoleonic Wars 1789 - 1815.

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)/

Irish Famine 1845-1850.

1846    Repeal of Corn Laws.

Crimean War 1833 - 36.

Indian Mutiny 1857 - 8.

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.

First World War. 1914-18

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.

Second World War 1939-45

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[31] 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 [32].

1982    Falklands war.

1990    Major's Conservative Government