Society & Reform

  • 1381: Peasants’ Revolt begins at Brentwood

    On 30 May 1381, resistance to the poll tax broke out in Brentwood, Essex. The government was trying to raise money for the war with France. The poll tax had already caused anger because it was difficult to avoid and fell on many ordinary people. When officials came to investigate unpaid taxes in Essex, they…

  • 1752: Britain changes to the Gregorian calendar

    On 14 September 1752, Britain began using the Gregorian calendar. The previous day had been Wednesday, 2 September. Thursday was dated 14 September, removing eleven dates from the British calendar. Nobody actually lost eleven days. Time continued normally from Wednesday to Thursday. The dates 3 to 13 September disappeared. Britain had continued to use the…

  • 1759: William Wilberforce is born in Hull

    William Wilberforce was born in Hull on 24 August 1759. The son of a wealthy merchant, he entered Parliament at 21 and later became the principal parliamentary spokesman for the campaign to abolish the British slave trade. Wilberforce studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he became friends with the future prime minister William Pitt.…

  • 1806: John Stuart Mill is born in London

    John Stuart Mill was born in London on 20 May 1806. The date points forward to one of the central arguments of nineteenth-century British politics: who should be free, who should be represented and who had the right to take part in public life. Mill became one of Victorian Britain’s clearest writers on liberty. His…

  • 1833: The Slavery Abolition Act receives Royal Assent

    The Slavery Abolition Act received Royal Assent on 28 August 1833. It was a major change in British law, but it did not immediately free everyone enslaved across the British Empire. Parliament had prohibited the British slave trade in 1807. Slavery itself continued in British colonies, including the Caribbean, where plantation economies remained dependent on…

  • 1834: The Slavery Abolition Act comes into force

    On 1 August 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into force across most British colonies. Around 750,000 people ceased to be legally classified as slaves, but many did not receive immediate full freedom. Britain had abolished the British slave trade in 1807. That law prohibited British participation in the trade but did not free people…

  • 1838: The Battle of Bossenden Wood takes place in Kent

    On 31 May 1838, soldiers confronted a small group of followers in Bossenden Wood, near Dunkirk in Kent. By the end of the clash, 11 people were dead. The group had gathered around John Nichols Tom, who called himself Sir William Courtenay. He made religious and political claims, and some people in the local area…

  • 1840: Parliament acts to end the use of climbing boys

    On 7 August 1840, the Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act became law. Parliament intended to stop children being used as climbing chimney sweeps, but the practice continued. Children had been sent inside chimneys for generations. Their size allowed them to climb narrow flues that adults could not enter. Some were apprenticed to master sweeps,…

  • 1896: Bridget Driscoll is killed by a motor car at Crystal Palace

    Bridget Driscoll was killed by a motor car in the grounds of the Crystal Palace on 17 August 1896. She became the first recorded pedestrian in Britain to die after being struck by a car. Driscoll, who lived in Croydon, was visiting Crystal Palace with her teenage daughter and a friend. Motor cars from the…

  • 1920: Women become full members of Oxford University

    Women became full members of the University of Oxford on 7 October 1920, when the Divinity School held the first formal matriculation ceremony for women. Women had already been studying at Oxford for decades. Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened in 1879, followed by other women’s colleges and societies. Women attended lectures and took university…

  • 1930: The remaining inhabitants leave St Kilda

    On 29 August 1930, the remaining 36 inhabitants of St Kilda left the islands aboard HMS Harebell. They were not removed against their wishes. Three months earlier, community members had asked the government to help them leave. St Kilda lies more than 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, with the main settlement on Hirta.…

  • 1933: Annie Besant Dies in Adyar

    Annie Besant died at Adyar, near Madras in British India, on 20 September 1933. She was 85. Born Annie Wood in London in 1847, Besant spent much of her adult life involved in political, religious and social causes. In Britain, she became a prominent secularist, supported women’s rights, and campaigned on the conditions faced by…

  • 1935: The compulsory driving test begins in Great Britain

    The compulsory driving test began in Great Britain on 1 June 1935. It came as motor traffic was becoming a normal part of British life. Roads carried cars, buses, lorries, bicycles, pedestrians and older forms of traffic. More vehicles meant more risk, and road safety became a public concern rather than a private worry. The…

  • 1936: The Jarrow Crusade begins its march to London

    Two hundred unemployed men left Jarrow for London on 5 October 1936, beginning a march intended to bring the town’s unemployment crisis directly to Parliament. Jarrow had been badly affected by the decline of its heavy industries. Palmer’s shipyard, once the town’s main employer, had closed, while other industrial employment had also disappeared. The marchers…

  • 1948: The National Health Service begins operating

    On 5 July 1948, the National Health Service began operating across England and Wales. For the first time, most healthcare was available without direct payment when treatment was needed. The NHS was created under the National Health Service Act 1946 and introduced by the Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan. It brought together voluntary hospitals, municipal…

  • 1948: The British Nationality Act receives Royal Assent

    On 30 July 1948, the British Nationality Act received Royal Assent. It created citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies and reorganised a nationality system developed across the British Empire. Before the Act, British nationality rested mainly on the status of British subject. The category covered people connected with Britain, its colonies and the self-governing…

  • 1953: Elizabeth II is crowned at Westminster Abbey

    Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. She had been queen since 6 February 1952, when George VI died. Still, the coronation gave the reign its formal public and religious shape. The coronation followed a ceremony that had developed over many centuries. It was held at the Abbey, where English and…

  • 1954: Food rationing ends in Britain

    On 4 July 1954, food rationing ended in Britain. Meat came off ration at midnight, bringing an end to the last major food restriction left from the wartime and post-war years. Food rationing had begun in January 1940, a few months after the start of the Second World War. Britain depended heavily on imported food,…

  • 1961: Amnesty International begins with ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’

    On 28 May 1961, Peter Benenson’s article ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ appeared in The Observer. The appeal helped begin Amnesty International. Benenson was a British lawyer. His article focused on people jailed for their beliefs, politics or religion, provided they had not used or advocated violence. He called them ‘prisoners of conscience’, a phrase that gave…