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1520
Susannah Hornebolt (later, Whorstly) was the first known female artist in England.
1536
Wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, beheaded for 'adultery'.
1542
Wife of Henry VIII, Catherine Howard, beheaded for 'improper conduct'.
1546
Poet Anne Askew (1521-1546) tortured in the Tower of London and burnt at the stake as a heretic.
1558
John Knox published The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.
1566
Mother Waterhouse became the first Englishwoman hanged for the 'crime' of witchcraft.
1576
Bessie Dunlop of Lyne, Ayrshire, became the first Scottish woman to be burned as a witch.
1579
Publication of The Praise and Dispraise of Women (Anon, or poss C. Pyrrye.).
1582
St Osyth witch trials. Ursula Kempe and Elizabeth Bennet put to death.
1589
Jane Anger published Jane Anger: Her Protection for Women.
1606
Elizabeth Grymeston published Miscellanea.
1611
Emilia Lanyer published Salve Deus Rex Iudaeorum.
1613
Lady Elizabeth Carew's play The Tragedie of Marian the faire Queen of Jewry was the first play by a woman to be published.
1616
Rachel Speght published her defence of women, as A Mouzell (i.e. muzzle) for Melastomus, The Cynicall Bayter of, and foule mouthed Barker against Evahs Sex. Or an Apologetical Answere to the Irreligious and Illiterate Pamphlet made by Joseph Swetnam.
1617
Ester Sowernam (pseud) published her defence of women, as Ester hath hang'd Haman, or An Answere to a lewd Pamphlet, entituled, The Arraignment of Women
1617
Constantia Munda (pseud) published her defence of women, as The Worming of a mad Dogge.
1631
Richard Brathwaite published English Gentlewoman, which emphasised widows' chastity.
1632
The Law's Resolutions of Women's Rights laid out the laws then in place regarding women's legal rights and duties in each of her three estates: unmarried virgin, wife, and widow.
1632
Publication of The Lawes Resolutions of Women's Rights, or the Lawes Provision for Woemen, A Methodicall Collection of such Statutes and Customes, with the Cases, Opinions, Arguments and Points of Learning in the Law as doe properly concern Women (by an anonymous man).
1633
Dorothy Leigh published The Mothers Blessing.
1637
First patent granted to a woman: Amye Everard, for her method of making tinctures from flowers
1637
William Austin published Haec Homo Wherein the Excellency of the Creation of Woman is described by way of an Essaie.
1640
Mary Tattle-well and Ioane Hit-him-home (pseuds) published The Women's Sharpe Revenge.
1641
Publication of A True Copie of the Petition of the Gentlewoman and Tradesmen's Wives in and about the City of London. Delivered to the Honorable the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons in Parliment the 4th of February 1641.
1641
Thomas Heywood published Gynaikeion: or, Nine bookes of various history. Concerning women.
1647
The maids petition. To the Honourable members of both Houses. Or the humble petition of the well-affected, within and without the lines of communication, virgins, maids, and other young women not married.
1648
Leveller women demonstrated in London, calling for equal rights for women and presenting a petition.
1649
Ten thousand Leveller women signed the second women's petition to parliament. To the supream authority of England the Commons assembled in Parliament. The humble petition of diverse wel-affected weomen.
1650
Mary Stiff published The good womens cryes against the excise of all their commodities.
1652
Pierre Le Moyne published The gallery of heroick women.
1655
Publication of The gossips braule, or the women weare the breeches.
1656
George Horton published Now or never: or, a new Parliament of women assembled and met together neer the Popes-Head in Moor-Fields, on the Back-side of Allsuch; adjoyning upon Shoreditch.
1656
George Fox published The woman learning in silence: or, The mysterie of the womans subiection to her husband.
1657
T. Heywood published The Generall History of Women, containing lives of the most Holy and Profane, the most Famous and Infamous of all ages.
1659
Anna Maria von Schurman (a German) published in London The Learned Maid; or, Whether a Maid May Be a Scholar? A logick exercise written in latine by that incomparable virgin Anna Maria a Schurman of Vtrecht.
1667
Maria Askew published Women's Speaking.
1670
The first play written by a woman was performed on the stage. Aphra Behn's The Forc'd marriage ran for six days at the Duke's Theatre, Lincoln's Inn.
1673
Mrs. Bathsua Makin published An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen in Religion, Manners, Arts and Tongues.
1674
T. Golborne published A Friendly Apology on behalf of Women's Excellency, with Examples of more Women Worthies.
1676
George Fox published This is an encuragement to all the womens-meetings in the world.
1677
Francois Poulain de La Barre published The woman as good as the man, or, The equallity of both sexes.
1683
Publication of Haec Et Hic, or the Feminine Gender more Worthy than the Masculine (Anon), with a Dedication in MS to Mrs Eldridge.
1693
First ever women's magazine. The Ladies' Mercury was a single sheet, published by John Dunton, and consisting of a problem page.
1684
Alice Molland of Exeter became the last Englishwoman to be hanged as a witch.
1694
Mary Astell published A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest, by a Lover of Her Sex. Dedicated to Princess Ann of Denmark. (Anon)
1697
Mary Astell published An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex, in a Letter to a Lady, by a Lady (Anon).
1694
Publication of The Ladies' Dictionary. (Written by men, mainly about property law.)
1700
Philgynes published The freedom of the fair sex asserted: or, Woman the crown of the creation.
1700
Mary Astell published Some Reflections Upon Marriage Occasioned by the Duke and Duchess of Mazarine's Case.
1700
Publication of Baron and Feme: a Treatise of the Common Law Concerning Husbands and Wives.
1701
Lady Mary Lee Chudleigh published The Ladies Defence.
1709
First women's magazine edited by a woman - The Female Tatler - was published by Mary de la Riviere Manley.
1712
Jane Wenham, the wise woman of Walkerene, became the last woman to be tried for 'witchcraft'.
1716
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu published Answer to a Love Letter.
1727
Janet Horne or Dornoch became the last woman in Scotland to be burned as a witch.
1732
Publication of A Treatise of Feme Couverts: Or, the Lady's Law, Containing all the Laws and Statutes Relating to Women.
1734
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu published (as 'Sophia') Woman not Inferior to Man.
1735
Publication of An Essay in Praise of Women, or a Looking Glass for Ladies (Anon).
1735
Publication of The Hardships of the English Laws, In relation to Wives. With an Explanation of the Original Curse of Subjection Passed Upon the Woman. In an Humble Address to the Legislature. (by an anonymous woman).
1736
Sir Matthew Hale's Pleas of the Crown decreed that no husband can be guilty of rape for on marriage every woman gives up her right ever to refuse sex.
1736
Statues against witchcraft repealed.
1739
Mary Collier published The Woman's Labour.
1743
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu published (as 'Sophia') Woman's Superior Excellence over Man.
1745
Hannah Snell enlisted in the army, disguised as a man. She became a marine, and her true sex was not discovered until 1750.
1750
Amy Hutchinson of Ely became the first documented female poisoner when she laced her husband's ale with arsenic. She was convicted of 'petit treason' and burned to death.
1751
Publication of Beauty's Triumph, or the Superiority of the Fair Sex invincibly Proved. (Anon).
1752
George Ballard (Magdalen College, Oxford) published Memoirs of Several Ladies of Great Britain who have been celebrated for their Writings or Skill in the Learned Languages.
1755 (45?)
Mrs Eliza Haywood published The Female Spectator, the first magazine for women written by a woman. (Pub. as 'Anon' - only in the 7th edition was her name printed.)
1758
Lucy Hutchinson published her republican history of the Interregnum (she also wrote about her early life and the biography of Elizabeth Cary was written by one of her daughters)
1763
Catherine Macaulay published History of England (in eight volumes, final one pub. 1783).
1767
Publication of An Unfortunate Mother's Advice to her Absent Daughters, in a letter to Miss Pennington. 4th edition. (Anon.)
1768
Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser (Mrs Lloyd) became the first two women elected to the Royal Academy.
1770
A law was passed against women entrapping husbands by 'scents, paints, cosmetics, washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, high-heeled shoes or bolstered hips'.
1773
Poor Law stipulated that fathers must pay towards support of illegitimate children.
1773
Mr Russell published Essay on the Character, Manners and Genius of Women in different ages. Enlarged from the French of M. Thomas.
1775
Mrs Hester Chapone published Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, with a Dedication to Mrs Elizabeth Carter.
1777
Publication of The Law Respecting Women as they Regard their Natural Rights, or their Connections and Conduct.
1778
Fanny Burney published Evelina.
1779
The Ladies of LLangollen - Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831) and Lady Eleanor Butler - eloped and set up home together.
1780
Royalist Margaret Cavendish's pubished her science-fiction utopia The Blazing World.
1780
Justice Buller opined that a man may beat his wife.
1782
William Alexander M.D. published The History of Women from the Earliest Antiquity to the Present Time 3rd edition.
1787
Mary Wollstonecraft published Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, with Reflections on Female Conduct.
1788
Sisterhood of Hand-Spinners formed in Leicester, possibly the first female trades union.
1790
Catherine Macaulay published Letters on Education.
1791
Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
1795
Maria Edgeworth published Letters for Literary Ladies.
1797
Thomas Gisborne M.A. published An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex.
1797
Mary Hays published An Appeal to the Men of Great Britain on Behalf of the Women (Anon.)
1798
Priscilla Wakefield published Reflections on the Present Condition of the Female Sex, with Suggestions for its Improvement
1799
Edward Moore published Fables for the Female Sex.
1799
Mary Ann Radcliffe published The Female Advocate, or an attempt to Recover the Rights of Women from Male Usurpation.
1799
Anne Frances Randall (pseud. of Mary Darby Robinson) published Letter to the Women of England on the Injustice of Mental Subordination.
1801
Census reveals that women outnumber men by 400,000 (surplus of unmarried women).
1803
Mary Hays published Female Biography.
1803
Methodist conference bans women from preaching.
1804
First woman jockey to compete in a horse race: Alicia Meynell (age 22), riding Colonel Thornton's 20 year-old-horse horse Vingarillo against one other competitor over four miles at York. She rode side-saddle, and lost.
1809
An anonymous woman in Leominster became the last one in England to be ducked as a common scold.
1810
Lucy Aikin published Epistles on Women, exemplifying their Character and Condition at Various Ages.
1811
Female lace workers combined to raise wages at Loughborough.
1814
Elizabeth Hamilton published Letters addressed to the Daughter of a Nobleman, on the Formation of Religious and Moral Principle. 3rd edition.
1821
Harriet Martineau published Female Writers on Practical Divinity (under a male pseudonym).
1822
Miss Sarah Berry appointed by the Dean of Wells as Registrar of the Consistorial Diaconal Court of Wells.
1823
John Stuart Mill jailed for distributing pamphlets on birth control.
1824
Hannah More published Essays on Various Subjects, Principally Designed for Young Ladies.
1824
Mrs Taylor of Ongar published Maternal Solicitude for a Daughter's best Interests. 11th edition.
1825
Anna Wheeler/William Thompson published Appeal of One Half of the Human Race, Women, against the Pretentions of the Other half, Men, to retain them in political and thence in civil and domestic slavery.
1826
'S.E.' wrote an impassioned letter to the Liverpool Mercury on the Condition of Women in Society.
1826
Mrs B. published Women as Professionals.
1831
Mr Hunt MP presented Mary Smith's petition for votes for women to the House of Commons.
1832
Reform Act increased number of voters from 435,000 to 650,000 (of a total population of 14 million). Banned women from voting. Until 1832 duly qualified women landowners could vote for MPs.
1832
1500 women card-setters at Peep Green Yorkshire came out on strike for equal pay.
1833
Mrs John Sandford published Woman in her Social and Domestic Character, 3rd edition.
1834
New Poor Law assumed all women dependent on men. All illegitimate children to be the sole responsibility of the mother until they reached 16.
1834
'M.B.' writes an extraordinary (for its time) piece about women in the Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music and Romance
1837
William IV died, succeeded by niece, Princess Victoria.
1837
Harriet Martineau published Society in America.
1838
Harriet Martineau published How to Observe; Morals and Manners.
1838
Sarah Ellis published The Women of England, Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits.
1838
R. Mence Esq. published The Mutual Rights of Husband and Wife, with a Draft of a Bill to replace that of Mr Sergt. Talfourd.
1839
Child Custody Act enabled a mother to be given custody of children under seven.
1839
Sarah Lewis published Women's Mission.
1840
Harriet Martineau published Women's Rights and Duties, considered with Relation to their Influence on Society and on her Condition.(Anon.)
1840
Judge upholds a man's right to lock up his wife and beat her 'in moderation'.
1840
Sydney Owenson Morgan published Woman and her Master, 2 volumes.
1840
World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London. Accredited female delegates from the USA excluded from taking part on grounds of their sex.
1841
Governesses' Benevolent Institution founded.
1841
Mother Marian Rebecca Hughes of Oxford became the first woman to take the religious vows in the Church of England since the Reformation.
1841
Lady Rolle became the first woman governor of Bridewell and Bethlem Royal Hospitals.
1841
Mrs John Mylne published Woman and Her Social Position in the Westminster Gazette.
1842
Ashley's Mines and Collieries Act. Women and children were excluded from the mines, as a result within two years 1,000 Staffordshire women had lost their jobs.
1842
Louis Aime-Martin published The Education of Mothers of Families; or, The Civilisation of the Human Race by Women.
1842
The Rev. Benjamin Parsons published The Mental and Moral Dignity of Woman.
1843
Association for the Aid of Milliners and Dressmakers founded.
1843
Marion Reid published (as Mrs Hugo Reid) A Plea for Woman, being a Vindication of the Importance and Extent of her Natural Sphere of Action.
1844
Factory Act (women and children).
1844
Ann Richelieu Lamb published Can Woman Regenerate Society?
1845
Margaret Fuller published Woman in the Nineteenth Century.
1846
Anna Jameson published 'Woman's Mission' and 'Woman's Position ' On the Relative Social Position of Mothers and Governesses.
1846
Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) published translation of Strauss's Das Leben Jesu (Life of Jesus).
1846
Eliza Lynn Linton, an anti-feminist (!) became the first salaried woman journalist in Britain, working for the Morning Chronicle.
1847
Ann Knight, an elderly Quaker, published the first leaflet that advocated votes for women .
1847 & 1850
Factory Acts (women and children restricted to 10 1/2 hour day).
1847
Chloroform first used in childbirth.
1848
First college for women founded by Rev. F.D. Maurice. Queen's College , Harley Street, London, established for governesses.
1848
Joseph Hume MP moved a resolution in parliament to give votes to women .
1849
Bedford College for Women founded.
1850
Emily Shirreff and Maria G. Grey published Thoughts on Self-Culture: Addressed to Women.
1850
S. Margaret Fuller published Woman in the Nineteenth Century.
1850
North London Collegiate School founded by Frances Buss.
1851
Mrs J.S. Mill (nee Harriet Taylor) published The Enfranchisement of Women in the Westminster Review.
1851
Women's Suffrage Petition presented to the House of Lords.
1852
Anna Jameson published Legends of the Madonna, as presented in the fine arts.
1852
Florence Nightingale wrote the book Cassandra that highlights the problems of women’s entitlement to education - she decided not to publish the book.
1852
G.H. Lewes published The Lady Novelists.
1852
Publication of Man's Duties to Woman. (Anon.)
1852
Judge rules that a man may not force his wife to live with him.
1853
Margaretta Grey published A Lady Must Not Work.
1853
Aggravated Assaults Act passed, to increase penalties for wife beating.
1853
Queen Victoria given chloroform during childbirth.
1853
J.J.S. Wharton M.A. published An Expostion of the Laws relating to the Women of England, showing their Rights, Remedies and Responsibilities in every position in life.
1854
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon published A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women, together with a few Observations thereon.
1855
Mrs Henry Davies Pochin published (under pseudonym Justitia) The Right of Women to the Exercise of the Elective Franchise.
1855
George Eliot published Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft.
1855
A woman was appointed as an overseer of the poor at Undermillbeck, Westmoreland.
1855
Stephen Fullom published The History of Woman, And her Connexion with Religion, Civilization, and Domestic Manners, from the earliest period (denounced by George Eliot).
1855
Mrs Jameson published Sisters of Charity, Catholic and Protestant, Abroad and at Home.
1856
Mrs Jameson published The Communion of Labour, a Second Lecture on the Social Employments of Women.
1856
Margaret Maria Brewster published Work, Plenty to Do and How to Do It. (Edinburgh.)
1856
Bessie Rayner Parkes published Remarks on the Education of Girls.
1856
Caroline Frances Cornwallis published The Property of Married Women.
1856
Emily Shirreff published Intellectual Education, and its influence on the Character and Happiness of Women.
1856
Petition for women to retain their property upon marriage was presented. Organised by
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon andBessie Rayner Parkes , its 26,000 signatories included Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jane Carlyle (wife of Thomas), Harriet Martineau and Elizabeth Gaskell.
1857
Association for the Promotion of the Employment of Women established.
1857
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon published Women and Work.
1857
Caroline Frances Cornwallis published Capabilities and Disabilities of Women.
1857
Elizabeth Strutt published The Feminine Soul, its Nature and Attributes.
1857
Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act passed, by which divorce and separation became available to women. Previously, each divorce needed a separate Act of Parliament.
1857
Ladies' Sanitary Association founded.
1857
Matrimonial Causes Act (legally separated wife given right to keep what she earns; man may divorce wife for adultery, whereas wife must prove adultery aggravated by cruelty or desertion).
1857
Englishwoman's Journal started by Bessie Rayner Parkes and
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon . It later became the Englishwoman's Review.
1858
The first swimming bath for ladies was opened, at Marylebone.
1858
Henry Thomas Buckle published The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge, a Discourse delivered to the Royal Institution, 19th March 1858. (Pub. Leipzig.)
1859
Harriet Martineau published Female Industry.
1859
Isaac Reeve published The Intellect of Woman not Naturally Inferior to that of Man. 3rd edition.
1859
Society for the Employment of Women founded.
1859
The North East Lancashire Amalgamated Society was formed and accepted male and female mill workers.
1860
First admission of women students to the Royal Academy (Miss Herford).
1860
Institution for the Employment of Needlewomen founded.
1860
Law copying office for women opened.
1860
Victoria Printing Press established.
1861
My Life and What Shall I Do With It? a Question for Young Gentlewomen, by an Old Maid (Miss March Phillips.)
1861
Offences Against the Person Act reduced the penalty for abortion from execution to life imprisonment.
1861
Lectures in physiology opened to ladies at University College.
1861
Offences Against the Persons Act made abortion a statutory offence. It confirmed the age of consent as 12, and made carnal knowledge of a girl under ten a felony and of a girl ten to twelve a misdemeanour.
1862
First voyage of Miss Rye to Australia; start of her system of emigration.
1862
Ladies Negro Emancipation Society founded.
1862
New Church Order of Deaconesses founded.
1862
Social Science Congress in London; many women took part.
1863
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon published Of those who are the property of others, and of the great power that holds others as property.
1863
Queen's Institute founded in Dublin, for the industrial training of women.
1864
First Contagious Diseases Act passed (women living in certain garrison towns liable to be declared prostitutes and forcibly examined for venereal disease).
1864
Female Medical and Obstetrical Society founded.
1864
Working Women's College founded at Queen's Square.
1864
Alexandra Magazine published for four monthly editions.
1865
Elizabeth Garrett received her medical diploma from the Apothecaries' Hall.
1865
John Ruskin spoke out against women's suffrage.
1865
John Malcolm Ludlow published Woman's Work in the Church. Historical Notes on Deaconesses and Sisterhoods.
1865
Bessie Rayner Parkes published Essays on Women's Work. Dedicated to Mrs Jameson.
1866
Suffrage societies started in Edinburgh, London and Manchester.
1866
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon published Reasons for the Enfranchisement of Women.
1866
Emily Davies published The Higher Education of Women.
1866
Lydia Becker published Female Suffrage. (Reprinted from the Contemporary Review.)
1866
T. Chisholm Anstey Esq. published On Some Supposed Constitutional Restraints on the Parliamentary Franchise.
1866
Second CD Act
1866
Charlotte Carmichael Stopes published her essay Strong-Mindedness.
1866
First petition for the suffrage, signed by 1,499 eminent women, presented by John Stuart Mill. Signatories included Florence Nightingale and Mary Somerville.
1866
Isaac Baker Brown performed many clitoridectomies at his 50 bed private clinic in London. Eventually he was expelled from the Obstetrical Society.
1867
Ninon Kingsford published The Admission of Women to the Parliamentary Franchise.
1867
Professor F.W. Newman published Old England - Women's Right of Suffrage.
1867
Lydia Becker founded the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage.
1867
Helen Taylor published The Claims of Englishwomen to the Suffrage Considerered. (Reprinted from the Westminster Review.)
1867
John Stuart Mill's speech in the House of Commons for votes for women .
1867
Reform Act extended the vote to most working-class male householders.
1868
General Election. Many women got on the register and voted. One woman (shop owner Lily Maxwell) voted in Manchester (for Jacob Bright).
1868
The Court of Common Pleas declared women's suffrage illegal.
1868
Publication of a list of MPs and other persons favourable to the Women's Suffrage Movement.
1868
Lydia Becker published Equality of Women, a paper read before the British Association at Norwich.
1868
Dr Pankhurst published The Right of Women to Vote Under the Reform Act of 1867.
1868
Frances Power Cobbe published Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors: Is the Classification sound?
1868
Josephine Butler published The Education and Employment of Women.
1869
Rev. Charles Kingsley published Women and Politics (reprinted from Macmillan's Magazine).
1869
Josephine Butler (ed.) published Woman's Work and Woman's Culture: a Series of Essays.
1869
First Women's college at Cambridge founded (Girton College).
1869
Mrs C.H. Spear published A Brief Essay on the Position of Women.
1869
John Stuart Mill published On the Subjection of Women.
1869
E. Lynn Linton published Ourselves: a Series of Essays on Women.
1869
Ladies' Educational Association founded in London. (It dissolved in 1878 when University College began admitting women).
1869
Municipal Reform Act gave women the vote in local elections.
1869
Telegraph service nationalised, and its twelve female staff thus became civil servants.
1869
Third CD Act .
1869
Women's Club and Institute opened in Newman St, London.
1869
Women's College opened at Hitchin (this became Girton).
1869
Endowed Schools Act created over 90 girls' schools.
1870
Women lost the right to retain British nationality when marrying a foreigner.
1870
Cambridge Local Examinations opened to girls and women.
1870
Education Act improved both schooling for girls and the teaching profession for women.
1870
School Board Act allowed women to stand for election. Elizabeth Garrett (later Anderson) and Emily Davies elected in London; Miss Becker in Manchester.
1870
Exams opened to women at Queen's University, Ireland.
1870
First Married Woman's Property Act .
1870
John D. Milne published Industrial Employment of Women, in the Middle and Lower Ranks.
1870
Josephine Butler published On the Moral Reclaimability of Prostitutes.
1870
The Women's Suffrage Journal first published. It continued monthly for 20 years.
1870
Mary Taylor published The First Duty of Women: a Series of Articles reprinted from the Victoria Magazine.
1870
Mrs Wm. Grey published Is the Exercise of Suffrage Unfeminine?
1870
Lady Amberley published her lecture The Claims of Women
1870
Ladies National Association for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts founded by Josephine Butler.
1870
Married Women's Property Act passed for England.
1870
National Indian Association founded by Miss Carpenter to improve the education of Indian women.
1870
Vigilance Association founded, chiefly engaged in women's issues.
1871
The Ladies' Life Assurance Company founded. Married women could, since the 1870 MWPA, insure their own lives with their own money.
1871
Home for Deserted Mothers and Infants founded at 3 Cumberland St, London.
1871
Working Women's Club changed to Berner Club. Moved to 9 Berners Street, London.
1871
A debate took place in the House of Commons on the Women's Disabilities Bill.
1871
John Walter Bourke published The Emancipation of Women (a lecture).
1871
A.H. published Words of Weight in the Woman Question (1,176 quotations arranged so as to form a consecutive argument).
1871
Ladies' National Health Association founded by Dr Elizabeth Blackwell.
1871
National Association for Promoting the Medical Education of Women founded. (Still extant 1894.)
1871
Law regarding married women's property changed in Ireland.
1871
National Union for Improving the Education of women founded by Mrs Grey.
1872
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon published Reasons for and against the Enfranchisement of Women.
1872
Infant Life Protection Act tries to abolish baby-farming.
1872
Girls' Public Day School Company founded.
1872
Baroness Coutts became the first woman to be granted the Freedom of the City of London.
1872
Girton College founded. Staff and students of Hitchin College moved into it.
1872
Infant Life Protection Act.
1872
New Bastardy Act passed. Fathers once again responsible (equally with the mother) for support of illegitimate children.
1872
New Hospital for Women founded at Marylebone, with female doctors.
1873
Custody of Infants Act passed. Enabled a husband, upon separation, to give up custody of children to his wife.
1873
Reported that, of 50,000 children born annually out of wedlock, 30,000 died within 6 months.
1873
First School Board Election in Scotland: 20 women elected.
1873
First school of the Girls' Public Day School Company opened at Chelsea.
1873
Mrs Nassau Senior appointed Assistant Inspector of Workhouses. First ever government appointment of a lady.
1873
Second English School Board.
1874
College for Working Women opened in Fitzroy St, London.
1874
Emma Paterson published a series of articles about sweated female labour and called a conference to discuss the problem.
1874
Emma Paterson formed the Women's Protective and Provident League.
1874
Emma Paterson formed the Society of Women Employed in Bookbinding with 300 members.
1874
London School of Medicine for Women founded.
1874
Protection Orders granted to wives in Scotland.
1874
Women's Peace and Arbitration Auxiliary of the London Peace Society formed.
1874
Dr Henry Maudsley published Sex and Mind in Education.
1874
Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson published Sex and Mind in Education: A Reply.
1875
Ernest Eiloart published The Laws Relating to Women.
1875
Emma Paterson formed the Society of Dressmakers, Milliners and Mantlemakers.
1875
Albermarle Club opened. Admits ladies and gentlemen.
1875
Amendment to the Offences Against the Person Act raised the age of consent to 13.
1875
Employment of Women Office opened in Brighton.
1875
First female clerks employed by Post Office Savings Bank.
1875
First woman elected as Poor Law Guardian (Martha Merrington, South Kensington.)
1875
First woman lawyer's office opened in London by Miss Orme.
1875
Madras Medical School opened to women.
1875
Metropolitan and National Nursing Association formed.
1875
Newnham College for Ladies opened at Cambridge.
1875
Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland opened its exams to women.
1875
Women delegates admitted to the Trades' Congress in Glasgow.
1876
British Women's Temperance Association founded.
1876
Emma Paterson formed the Society of Upholsteresses (survived till 1894).
1876
Employment for Women office opened in Glasgow.
1876
First woman pharmacist in London, Miss Isabella Clarke.
1876
King and Queen's College of Physicians, Ireland, confers medical degrees on women.
1876
Manchester New College admits women.
1876
St Andrews University instituted a Diploma for Women, the L.L.A.
1876
Plan-tracing office for women opened by Miss Crosbie.
1876
Russell-Gurney's Act enabled universities to admit women to degrees.
1876
Scholarships for women established at Bristol University College.
1877
Manchester and Salford College for women founded.
1877
Royal Free Hospital admits women as medical students.
1877
School Board elections return many women candidates.
1877
Teachers Training and Registration Society formed.
1877
The first five women passed their medical degree examinations at King and Queen's College of Physicians, Ireland.
1877
Trinity College, London, opens musical exams to women.
1877
University of St Andrews admits women to its Literate in Arts degree.
1877
Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1857 for publishing
Charles Knowlton's Fruits of Philosophy, a work on birth control . They were convicted but acquitted on appeal, the subsequent publicity resulting in a decline in the birth rate.
Mrs Besant later published The Law of Population.
1877
Women's deputation to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in support of the Women's Disabilities Removal Bill (that would give women the vote).
1878
Miss Eleanor Ormerod became the first woman elected to membership of the Meteorological Society.
1878
Surgical registrar Miss Louisa Aldrich Blake became the first woman to be awarded the degree of diploma of M.S. Lond.
1878
Married Women's Property Law amended in Scotland.
1878
W. Gregory Walker published The Married Women's Property Acts, their relation to the Doctrine of Separate Uses.
1878
Frances Power Cobbe published Wife Torture in England, a tract about domestic violence .
1878
Matrimonial Causes Amendment Act helped battered wives by allowing a judicial separation, maintenance payments and children to remain with the mother.
1878
London University became the first to grant degrees and full membership to women.
1879
Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened in Oxford.
1879
London School Board elects nine women.
1879
Pharmaceutical Society admits women as members.
1880
Bill giving greater protection to little girls under 13
1880
Burials Bill gives women the right to conduct funeral services.
1880
Charter of Royal University of Ireland admits women as members.
1880
First suffrage demonstration, in Manchester. Followed by demos in other towns.
1880
First three women to graduate in Britain were Elizabeth Creak, Marianne Andrews and Elizabeth Hills.
1880
Mason College founded in Birmingham.
1880
Mrs James Brander appointed Inspector of Schools in Madras.
1881
Cambridge University admits women to Tripos Examinations.
1881
Civil Service appoints female clerks by open competition.
1881
Durham University votes to admit women.
1881
Isle of Man gives the vote to 700 women property owners
1881
Married Women's Property Act for Scotland.
1881
Poor Law Guardians Association for Promoting the Return of ladies founded; seven ladies elected in London.
1882
Married Women's Property Act passed. No difference between femme sole and femme couverte. A married woman having separate property was liable for the support of her parents, husband, children and grandchildren becoming chargeable to any union or parish.
1882
Municipal Franchise Act for Scotland allows women to vote in local elections .
1882
Florence Pomeroy, Viscountess Harberton, president of the Rational Dress movement, introduced her invention of the divided skirt to the Natioanl Health Society.
1883
Conference of Liberal Associations in Leeds votes for women's suffrage.
1883
First government appointment of a medical woman when Miss E. Shove appointed physician to the female staff of the Post Office.
1883
First women elected as Poor Law Managers in Scotland (by now 26 in England).
1883
Memorial to Gladstone for women's suffrage signed by 100 liberal MPs.
1883
Mr Stansfeld's resolution against the CD Acts passed in the House of Commons.
1883
University of Wales resolved to admit women.
1883
Suspension of the CD Acts.
1883
J.H. published The wonders of the female world, or a general history of women.
1883
Hugh Mason proposed a motion for women's suffrage and was defeated (114 for; 130 against).
1883
The Women’s Co-operative Guild is established. Supports women's suffrage, advocates Maternity Insurance Benefit, organises education classes for women.
1884
The Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Weavers was established for male and female workers.
1884
Widow Sophie Bryant became the first woman to receive a Doctora of Science degree, receiving hers in Mathematical and Natural Sciences at London University..
1884
Custody of Infants' Bill passed its second reading by 134
1884
First woman to gain a M.A. degree: Mary Clara Dawes, A Girton student.
1884
Mrs Bryant first woman to be awarded BSc degree, at London University.
1884
Reform Act extended the vote to most adult men.
1884
Royal Irish University confers B.A. degrees on nine women students.
1885
Criminal Law Amendment Act raised the age of consent to 16, deemed sexual assault on girls under 13 as felonies and aged 13 to 16 as misdemeanours.
1885
Hospital for Women opened in Edinburgh, all doctors women.
1885
Miss Mason appointed Poor Law Inspector of Boarding Out.
1885
Primrose League, Ladies Executive Committee founded.
1885
Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, admits women to diplomas.
1885
Three women appointed to the Metropolitan Asylums Board.
1885
Vigilance Association founded.
1885
W.T. Stead published the Maiden Tribute to Modern Babylon, exposing the prevalence of child prostitution.
1886
CD Acts repealed.
1886
Conference of Women's Liberal Associations.
1886
Conjoint Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Scotland opened Triple Qualification to women (medicine, surgery and midwifery).
1886
Guardianship of Infants Act. A mother could from now be legal guardian of her own children after her husband's death.
1886
Holloway College for Women opened.
1886
University Women's Club founded.
1886
Married Women's Maintenance Act. A woman entitled to maintenance after her husband's desertion.
1886
First woman dental surgeon to practice in England was an American, Dr Olgavon Oertzen.
1886
Three deaconesses ordained by the Bishop of London.
1886
Women's Disabilities Bill passed second reading.
1887
Leith Hospital in Scotland opened to women students.
1887
Miss Agnata Ramsay awarded a First in Classics at Cambridge, causing huge publicity nation-wide. (She married the master of Trinity, Montague Butler.)
1887
Mrs Power Lalor appointed Inspector of Lace in Ireland.
1887
Municipal Franchise for women in Belfast passed.
1887
National Dental Hospital opened to women students.
1887
University Club for Women founded.
1887
Women's Liberal Federation formed.
1888
Frances Power Cobbe published The Duties of Women (a course of lectures). 8th American edition.
1888
Emily Pfeiffer published Women and Work.
1888
Publication of The Law in Relation to Women by A Lawyer (i.e. Anon.).
1888
65 female Poor Law Guardians elected.
1888
Local Government Electors Act gave women the vote for county councils.
1888
Women's Liberal Unionist Association formed.
1888
Strike of 700 women matchmakers, led by Annie Besant.
1888
The Trades Unions' Congress resolves equal pay for equal work.
1888
Mrs Edward Butler became the first female motorcyclist.
1888
Correspondence on the theme Is Marriage a Failure? drew 27,000 letters to the Daily Telegraph.
1889
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children founded.
1889
Women's Franchise League founded.
1889
Suffrage rally in London on 21st June attended by 300,000 people.
1889
Women's Enfranchisement Bill failed.
1889
Chrystal Macmillan became the first woman to address the House of Lords when she pleaded in person Scottish women graduiates' claim to the parliamentary vote. (Sixteen years later she was called to the Bar.).
1889
'A lady' was appointed rate collector at Pirbright.
1890
The first woman stockbroker: Miss Bell, of Bucklesbury, City of London.
1890
Over 685,000 women are eligible to vote in local elections in England and Wales.
1890
Phillipa Fawcett, a Newnham student, was placed above Senior Wrangler in the Cambridge mathematics tripos, yet the university withheld degrees from women.
1890
Clementina Black wrote the pamphlet On Marriage, which explained why some women were unwilling to get married.
1891
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence wrote My Part in a Changing World, which is about her experiences as a social worker in a working class area of London.
1891
Regina v. Jackson, aka the Clitheroe Case. A man may no longer imprison his wife to enforce his conjugal rights.
1891
First edition of The Women's Penny Paper, the first weekly feminist newspaper. Edited by Lady Henry Somerset and published by Anne E. Holdsworth. Survives 3 years. They also later publish The Woman's Signal and The Woman's Herald.
1892
Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Aberdeen admit women to membership and degrees.
1892
Ethel Mary Charles became the first woman professionally qualified architect and first female member of RIBA.
1892
Joseph Bridges Matthews published A Manual of the Law Relating to Married Women.
1892
The British Medical Association accepted female members.
1892
Emily Massingberd founded the Pioneer Club for women of advanced views. By 1894 its membership had grown to 500
1892
Women's Suffrage Bill failed.
1893
Baroness Coutts published Womans' Mission, a Series of Congress Papers on the Philanthropic Work of Women.
1893
M. Ostrogorski published The Rights of Women: a Comparative Study in History and Legislation. (Translated from French.)
1893
First woman factory inspector appointed.
1893
School leaving age raised from ten to 14
1893
Ladies' Golf Union founded.
1893
Maria Ogilvie gained a D.Sc at London University, becoming the first woman doctor of science.
1894
Edward Carpenter published Woman and her Place in a Free Society: Sex, Love, and its Place in a Free Society, Marriage in a Free Society (three short essays).
1894
Blanche Alethea Crackanthorpe published The Revolt of the Daughters (an article).
1894
Sarah Grand published The New Aspect of the Woman Question (an article).
1894
Local Government Act abolished the 5 property qualification for Poor Law guardians, making hundreds more women eligible to stand for election.
1894
Emmeline Pankhurst elected as a Poor Law Guardian in Manchester and Charlotte Despard elected in London.
1895
Three women served on the Royal Commission on Secondary Education.
1895
The Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act (about separation orders).
1895
Edith Lanchester forced into a lunatic asylum for intending to live with her boyfriend.
1895
First woman in Britain to qualify as a dental surgeon: Dr Lilian Murray (later, Lindsay). Qualified LDS at Edinburgh.
1895
Alice Gordon reported that of 1,486 women who had a university education only 208 had married and 680 were teachers.
1896
Georgiana Hill published Women in English Life, from Medieval to Modern Times.
1896
Lina Eckenstein published Woman under Monasticism. Chapters on Saint Lore and Convent Life between A.D.500 and A.D.1500.
1896
Women's suffrage petition of 257,000 signatures presented to parliament.
1896
Union of Practical Suffragists formed within the Women's Liberal Federation.
1897
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was founded. Motto: Faith, perseverance, patience.
1897
Over 729,000 women now eligible to vote in local elections in England and Wales.
1897
Ferdinand Faithfull Begg MP introduced a Woman Suffrage Bill supported by a petition of 257,796 signatures. It reached a second reading then was defeated by 230 to 159 votes.
1897
First woman car driver and car owner: actress Minnie Palmer.
1898
Correspondence on the theme Should Wives Work? drew 2,000 letters to the Daily Telegraph.
1898
Rational Dress League and its journal, Rational Dress Gazette founded. Lady Harberton a leading light.
1898
Hautboy Hotel in Ockham refused to serve Lady Harberton owing to her wearing her cycling outfit - knickerbockers.
1898
Nora Philips et al published A Dictionary of Employments Open to Women.
1899
International Congress of Women held in London.
1899
Regina vs Clarence: a husband cannot be found guilty of rape even if he is suffering from VD.
1900
Petition of 29,000 female Lancashire factory workers demanded the vote.
1901
Census reveals there were 212 female doctors in the UK.
1901
Census reveals there were a million more women than men in England and Wales.
1901
Birth rate dropped to 28.6 per 1,000, from 36 per 1,000 in 1876
1902
Hertha Ayrton was refused election to the Royal Society because she was a married woman.
1903
Emmeline Pankhurst formed Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) with daughters Christabel and Sylvia. Motto: Deeds not Words.
1904
First female minister of religion appointed in England: German-born Gertude von Petzold M.A. was appointed to Narborough Rd Church at Leicester.
1905
Publication of Frances Power Cobbe's The Duties of Women (a series of lectures she gave in 1881).
1905
First militant acts in support of women's suffrage.
1906
January Liberals win general election by an overwhelming majority. WSPU demands votes for women, promising to harass Liberals until this is achieved. March Daily Mail coins term 'suffragette' for militant suffragists. June Teresa Billington and Annie Kenney become
1906
Baroness Coutts became the first woman to be buried at Westminster Abbey.
1906
Gertrude Ederle, an American, became the first woman to swim the English Channel.
1906
A deputation of 300 women (led by Emily Davies) representing 50,000 textile workers, 22,000 women member of the Co-op Societies and 1,530 university graduates met the prime minister to demand votes for women. He urged patience.
1907
February 3,000 people march in heavy rain from Hyde Park to Strand in a protest dubbed 'The Mud March'. March Women's Suffrage Bill, introduced by W.H. Dickinson, is talked out at a second reading. Another 'raid' on the
1907
Women's Freedom League founded by Charlotte Despard and Teresa Billington-Grieg.
1907
The First Women’s Parliament attempted to force their way into Parliament to present a petition to the Prime Minister, who refused to see them.
1907
Henry Nevinson and Henry Brailsford founded the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage.
1908
First woman mayor: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson elected at Aldeburgh.
1908
February Second reading of Stanger Bill, identical to Dickinson's Bill of 1907 - 271 votes for, 92 against. June WSPU organises seven processions from different parts of London to converge on Hyde Park for a rally. An estimated
1908
Women's National Anti Suffrage League founded.
1908
Petition against women having the vote drew 337,018 signatures.
1909
the Duchess of Montrose founded the Scottish Women's National Anti-Suffrage League.
1909
Church League for Women’s Suffrage founded.
1909
Women's National Anti Suffrage League had 10,000 members in 235 branches.
1909
Suffrage organisations use increasingly violent and drastic measures to further the cause.
1909
Marion Wallace Dunlop, a Scottish WSPU member, became the first suffragette to go on hunger strike. She refused to eat unless placed in the first division. After 91 hours she was released.
1909
September First case of hunger strikes andforce-feeding (Winson Green prison, Birmingham).
1910
Men’s Federation for Women’s Enfranchisement founded.
1910
Ellen Pitfield died of injuries received on Black Friday.
1910
First female pilot and parachute jumper: Edith Maud Cook flew Bleriot monoplanes. She was killed later that year making a descent in a balloon.
1910
Spring-summer All-party 'Conciliation Committee' drafts limited Women's suffrage bill, giving the vote only to householders. WSPU and Women's Freedom League suspend militancy. November The Conciliation Bill is abandoned.
1910
November 'Black Friday' - suffragettes march to Parliament Square and are brutally treated by police.
1910
Mrs Mary Clarke (Mrs Pankhurst's sister) and Cecila Wolseley Haig died from injuries received on Black Friday.
1911
Miss Clemence Housman became the first woman to be imprisoned for refusing to pay taxes. She withheld her income tax and inhabited house duty as a protest against women's being denied the vote.
1911
Hilda Beatrice Hewlett (b1864) became the first woman to gain a pilot's licence. She qualified on a Henry Farman biplane at Brooklands Race Track for Certificate No 122 on 29th August.
1911
NUWSS boasts 411 branches.
1911
May Second Conciliation Bill debated, with large majority -167 in favour. Asquith pledges that time for a suffrage bill would be found during the life of the parliament. November Asquith announces that the government will introduce an adult
1911
Mrs Pankhurst tried for conspiracy.
1911
Olive Schreiner published Woman and Labour.
1912
Harold Owen published Women Adrfit: The Menace of Suffragism.
1912
March Emily Green is arrested for smashing six windows in Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street. July Suffragettes throw hatchet into Asquith's open carriage in Dublin. November Scottish Suffragettes pour corrosive and flammable fluid into letterboxes in Kirkcaldy, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and
1913
E. Belfont Bax published The Fraud of Feminism.
1913
Cora Sutton Castle published A Statistical Study of Eminent Women.
1913
Emily Davison threw herself in front of King George V's horse. She died some days later in Epsom Cottage Hospital.
1913
The Cat and Mouse Act was passed. The Act permitted the release of hunger striking suffragettes from prison when they were on the point of death and their re-arrest when they were partially recovered.
1913
The first female magistrate: Miss Emily Duncan JP sworn in at West Ham, London.
1913
Sir Almroth Wright published The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage.
1913
January Franchise and Registration Bill is debated in Commons, with four Women's suffrage amendments. April Arabella Scott, Agnes and Elizabeth Thomson, and Edith Hudson are arrested for attempting to set fire to Kelso racecourse stand. April 'Cat and
1914
United Suffragists formed.
1914
February Rhoda Robinson is arrested for burning down Allt-an-Fhionn mansion in Perthshire May King's portrait slashed at Royal Academy. Maude Edwards is arrested. June Suffragettes attempt to force their way into Buckingham Palace to petition the king. July
1914
August War is declared. WSPU suspends militancy and suffrage work; all imprisoned suffragettes are released.
1914
First World War begins and WSPU and NUWSS cease campaigning.
1914
Emmeline Pankhurst published My Own Story.
1914
First woman professional pilot: Mrs Buller, of the Cauldron Co, Hendon.
1917
Bill giving votes to certain women over 30 passes the Commons.
1918
The Representation of the People Act gave the vote to women over 30 who occupied premises of a yearly value of not less than £5.
1918
Bill to enable women to stand for parliament is rushed through both Houses.
1918
Eleven women stood for parliament. The only one elected was Constance Markievicz, who would not take her seat because she was a Sinn Feinner.
1918
Christabel Pankhurst stood at Smethwick as the Women's Party candidate. She was narrowly beaten.
1918
First woman elected MP is Constance Markievicz, but as a Sinn Feiner she refused to swear the oath and was not allowed to take her seat.
1919
American-born Nancy, Lady Astor is the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons. She won a by-election in Plymouth, where her husband had been MP until raised to the Lords.
1919
First sportswoman to wear shorts: Elaine Burton, at the English Northern Counties' Athletics Championships.
1919
Sex Disqualification Removal Act.
1919
A woman was appointed vicar's warden at St Mary's Vincent Square, Westminster.
1920
The first six women jurors were sworn in at Bristol Quarter Sessions.
1920
Oxford University admits women to membership and degrees, but the statute limited the numbers of women to 1 for every 6 men.
1921
First two women barristers called to the Irish Bar: Fay Kyle and Miss A.K.S. Deverell.
1922
First woman called to the English Bar: Dr Ivy Williams.
1922
First female member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and the first female vet, was Aileen Cust (b1868).
1922
Viscountess Rhondda was refused a seat in the House of Lords for being a woman.
1922
Criminal Law Amendment Act protected both sexes from seduction up to the age of 16
1922
Irene Barclay became the first female chartered surveyor. She ran her own business for 51 years.
1923
Eight female MPs elected.
1923
First female Labour MP, Susan Lawrence.
1923
The grounds for divorce became equal.
1923
Ethel Mary Colman became the first woman Lord Mayor in England when appointed in Norwich. Her sister Helen was Lady Mayoress.
1924
Four female MPs elected.
1924
First woman government minister: Margaret Bondfield became Minister of Labour.
1925
Guardianship of Infants Act. Mothers given equality in custody of children. Mr Justice Lawrence called this 'an insult to God'.
1925
First woman stockbroker: Miss C.V. Baird, Oonagh Keogh, aged 22, Dublin Stock Exchange.
1925
First woman to win an open horse race: Eileen Joel won the Newmarket Town Plate wearing a cloche hat.
1926
Mrs Foster Welsh became the first female King's Officer (Sheriff) when elected at Southampton.
1928
Representation of the People Act is amended and allows everyone over the age of 21 to vote.
1928
Ray Strachey published The Cause.
1929
Age of marriage raised from 12 to 16 for girls and from 14 to 16 for boys.
1929
Virginia Woolf published A Room of One's Own.
1930
Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo to Australia.
1931
Sylvia Pankhurst published The Suffragette Movement.
1931
Birth rate dropped to 15.8 per 1,000.00 Was 28.6 per 1,000 in 1901 and from 36 per 1,000 in 1876
1931
Amy Johnson flew from London to Australia.
1932
Dr Nancy Nichols and her husband (of Folkestone) crossed Africa by motor-car, a journey of 10,000 miles. She was the first woman to drive the 1,157 over the Wadai Desert and Dar-Fur mountains.
1933
London County Council removed its marriage bar.
1933
Women first wore trousers suits in public.
1934
Winifred Holtby published Woman and a Changing Civilisation.
1934
Mrs Elizabeth Richardson of Shepherd's Bush became the first woman to win the Gold Medal of the International Exhibition of Inventions for her 'wireless station finder'.
1936
Midwives' Act.
1939
First female professor at Cambridge University (Dr Dorothy Garrod, Professor of Archaeology).
1939
Miss S.C. Jennings became the first woman to qualify as a gas engineer.
1944
Education Act enshrined that women teachers were not to be dismissed upon marriage.
1945
First female professor at Oxford University (Dr Ida Mann, Professor of Ophthalmology).
1946
Marriage bar removed from female civil servants; they also became eligible for the foreign service for the first time.
1946
Agnes Arber became the first female botanist to be elected to the Royal Society.
1947
Cambridge University admits women to membership and degrees, but the statute limited the numbers of women to 1 for every 10 men.
1947
All medical schools became co-educational.
1948
First woman KC was Margaret Kidd of the Scottish Bar
1949
First women KCs were appointed: Rose Heildron and Helena Normanton.
1950
First woman elected as president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Dame Hilda Lloyd).
1951
Appointment of the first female coroner (Miss Lilian M. Hollowell, in Norfolk).
1958
Mary Wilson became the first woman sentenced to death for murdering two husbands. She gave them both phosphorus.
1960
Wendy Lewis (19) became the first woman to walk the 891 miles from John O'Groats to Land's End. She did it in 17 days and 7 hours.
1963
Peeresses admitted to the House of Lords.
1970
Equal Pay Act - men and women get the same wage for same job.
1972
First Ladies Race under Jockey Club rules. One mile at Kempton Park. Won by Meriel Tufnell of Bishop's Waltham, Hants on her mother's horse, at 50 to 1
1973
Ten women admitted to the London Stock Exchange.
1974
Contraception now free on the NHS.
1975
Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to lead a political party (Conservative).
1975
Sex Discrimination Act became law.
1975
Employment Protection Act made it illegal to dismiss someone on the grounds of pregnancy and established maternity leave.
1976
Domestic Violence Protection Act. Gave police more powers to arrest and increased courts' protection of battered wives.
1979
Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister in Britain.
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