October 7th - 13th
On 7th October…
1806 - Carbon paper was patented by Ralph Wedgwood in London. Carbon paper is a sheet of paper saturated with ink and then dried out, when it’s placed between two sheets of paper whatever is written on the top sheet is then copied straight onto the bottom sheet of paper.
Red Cross nurse sentenced to death
1915 - During World War I, Edith Cavell, an English nurse, was found guilty and sentenced to death by a German Court Martial. Edith had been working as a nurse at a Red Cross hospital in Belgium which was occupied by German forces at the time. She treated all wounded soldiers both German and Allied who were admitted to the hospital. At the same time she was also running an underground network that was helping Allied soldiers escape to safety. Edith was executed by firing squad five days later.
1920 - For the first time in its history Oxford University allowed women to collect degrees for their studies. Oxford has been a centre for education since 1096 but women had been excluded until 1878, when separate academic halls were established for them. Even though women had been able to study at Oxford for over 30 years it wasn’t until 1920 that they could receive certificates to prove they had studied at Oxford University to a degree standard.
On 8th October…
Captain Cook arrives in New Zealand
1769 - Captain Cook landed in Poverty Bay in New Zealand. The landing and relationship with the native Maoris did not go as smoothly as Cook had hoped and misunderstandings on both sides led to the deaths of several Maoris.
1908 - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame was published for the first time. The story features Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger and their lives by the river. The book is so popular that it has never been out of print in its lifetime.
1965 - The Post Office Tower (now known as Telecom Tower) opened in London. At the time it was the tallest building in Britain at 191 metres high and helped to relay telecommunications across the UK. On the 34th floor there was a revolving restaurant where you could sit and eat whilst viewing the entire cityscape of London.
On 9th October…
Shot for going to school
2012 - At the age of 15 years, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she tried to go to school in Pakistan. Luckily Malala survived the near fatal bullet wound. She had been targeted by the Taliban for speaking publicly about the rights of girls to learn in schools. Malala became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 when she was 17 years old for her charity work fighting to give every girl around the world the right to an education and the freedom to a future of her own choosing.
On 10th October…
1846 - William Lassell, an amateur astronomer from Bolton in England, discovered Triton the largest of Neptune’s moons. The planet Neptune had only been discovered 17 days beforehand.
Women’s Social and Political Union formed
1903 - Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women’s Social and Political Union to fight for women’s rights in Britain.
On 11th October…
King Henry VIII declared Defender of the Faith
1521 - Pope Leo X gave the title of Defender of the Faith to King Henry VIII as an award for his book supporting the Catholic faith. Although this title was taken away by the Pope when Henry divorced Catherine of Aragon and broke away from the Roman Church, the British Parliament restored the title to the monarchy in 1544. Defender of the Faith is ‘Fidei Defensor’ in Latin, and the letters FD have been regularly used on British coins since the time of King George I.
King George II crowned at Westminster Abbey
1727 - King George II was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. His wife was crowned Queen Caroline by his side. The composer Handel was commissioned to create musical anthems for the coronation; one of them, ‘Zadok the Priest’ has been performed at every coronation of an English monarch ever since.
1982 - The Mary Rose, the pride of King Henry VIII’s fleet of ships, was raised from the seabed to viewers around the world on live television. The ship had sunk in the English Channel not far from Portsmouth in 1545 and had lain preserved on the seabed ever since, it is now on display in the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, England.
On 12th October…
632 - The Battle of Hatfield Chase took place in Anglo-Saxon England. The kingdom of Northumbria was led by the first Christian king, King Edwin who fought fiercely against the joint forces of the pagans of the English kingdoms of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd. Penda of Mercia and King Cadwallon of Gwynedd defeated King Edwin who was killed in the battle.
Baby boy born to King Henry VII and Jane Seymour
1537 - Edward VI was born to King Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. His mother died days after his birth. Edward became king at the age of nine years when his father King Henry VIII died, he was the first Protestant king of England. Unfortunately, Edward did not live long and died when he was fifteen years old.
1845 - Elizabeth Fry died at the age of sixty-five years. She was a Quaker and a prison and social reformer. Her work helped to make the treatment of prisoners more humane.
1859 - Robert Stephenson the famous Victorian engineer died. He worked alongside his father George. Robert designed the Rocket locomotive which was the fastest steam engine of its time and able to pull carriages along the railways invented by his father.
On 13th October…
Death by mushroom
54CE - Claudius, the Roman Emperor died after eating poisonous mushrooms. He is the Roman Emperor who managed to conquer Britain.
King Henry IV crowned at Westminster Abbey
1399 - Henry Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry IV of England at Westminster Abbey after deposing his cousin King Richard II.
1453 - Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was born. He was the only son of King Henry VI of England and Margaret Anjou.
First female Prime Minister of the UK is born
1925 - Margaret Thatcher was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire England. She was the first female British Prime Minister.