On 27th June…

On 28th June…

1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated whilst on an official visit to Sarajevo. Their deaths led to the outbreak of World War I.

On 29th June…

On 30th June…

On 1st July…

1916 - The first day of five months of fighting began at the Battle of the Somme in World War I. On this day 19,240 British soldiers lost their lives with another 38,230 injured. Over a million men from both sides became casualties from this battle which lasted for five months. In the week leading up to the main offensive 1,700,000 artillery shells were fired at the German lines, that’s nearly 170 every minute, of every hour, of every day in that one week. Unbeknownst to the Allies the shells had done little damage to the German troops who opened fire when the Allies started to openly advance over the top of the trenches and into no-man’s-land.

On 2nd July…

1819 - The Cotton Mills Act (1819) came into force making it illegal for children under the age of 9 to work in textile factories and those under the age of 16 were only allowed to work a 12-hour day. Enforcing this law was not easy and many factory owners continued to employ young children.

1928 - The Representation of the People Act (1928) came into force giving women over the age of 21, equal voting rights to men. This happened just 17 days after the death of Emmeline Pankhurst who had led the suffragettes in the fight for the rights of women to vote.

On 3rd July…