History of the United Kingdom/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.[] Chris Scarre (ed) The Human Past'', Thames and Hudson, 2005)

Prehistory

 * Canyon Cave Man [c 8980 BCE]
 * Cheddar Man [c 7,000 BCE]
 * The Sleeve (La Manche) The English Channel separates Britain from the European mainland [c 6000 to 4000 BCE].
 * Farmers in Britain and Ireland [from c 4000 BCE]
 * The Beaker people [c 2500 to 1600].
 * Megalith builders
 * - Stonehenge.[c 3000 to 1500 BCE]

600 BCE to 48 AD

 * Celtic immigration


 * 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 [122]
 * Christianity reaches Britain [200+]
 * St Alban's martrydom
 * 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 [397].
 * Saint Columba lands on Iona and founds a monastery [563]
 * Saint Augustine (597-604)
 * Synod of Whitby (664) - agreement between Saxon and Roman churchmen.
 * Adam Bede's 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)
 * Rory O'Connor, High King of Ireland [1166-1175]

12th century

 * Norman invasion of Ireland

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
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

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 (1559-1603)

1559   The Armada

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.

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  - 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.

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 1715-1815

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

1760   George III (1760-1820).

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

1783   Rotunda Parliament

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.

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 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.

1982    Falklands war. 1990    Major's Conservative Government