1659        Anna Maria von Schurman: The Learned Maid; or, Whether a Maid May Be a Scholar.

1673        Mrs. Bathsua Makin: "An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen in Religion, Manners, Arts and Tongues."

1694        Mary Astell: "A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest."

1716        Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: "Answer to a Love Letter."

1778        Fanny Burney: Evelina.

1792       Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (electronic text at Wiretap)

1795        Maria Edgeworth: Letters for Literary Ladies; Castle Rackrent (1800).

1801        Census reveals that women outnumber men by 400,000 (surplus of unmarried women).

1803        Methodist conference bans women from preaching.

1813       Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice.

1818        Mary Shelley: Frankenstein.

1823       John Stuart Mill jailed for distributing pamphlets on birth control.

1825        Anna Wheeler/William Thompson: Appeal of One Half of the Human Race.

1837        William IV dies, succeeded by niece, Princess Victoria Sarah Moore.
Grimke: Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women.

1838        Sarah Ellis: The Women of England, Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits.
Harriet Martineau: How to Observe; Morals and Manners (one of the first introductions to sociological methodology).

1839        Child Custody Act (now possible for a mother to be given custody of her children under seven).

1840       Queen marries her first cousin, Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Judge upholds a man's right to lock up his wife and beat her in moderation.
Sydney Owenson Morgan: Woman and her Master, 2 volumes.

1841        Governesses' Benevolent Institution founded.

1842        Ashely's Mines Act (women and children excluded from the mines).
Louis Aime-Martin: The Education of Mothers of Families; or, The Civilisation of the Human Race by Women.

1843        Association for the Aid of Milliners and Dressmakers founded.
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).
Elizabeth Barrett: "Cry of the Children"; Poems.

1845        Margaret Fuller (major inspiration of American feminist movement): Woman in the Nineteenth Century.

1846        Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot): translation of Strauss' Das Leben Jesu (Life of Jesus).
Anna Jameson: "'Woman's Mission' and 'Woman's Position"' "On the Relative Social Position of Mothers and Governesses."

1847       Chloroform first used in childbirth.

1847        (also 1850) Factory Acts (women and children restricted to 10 1/2 hour day).
Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre.
Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights.
Ann Brontë: Agnes Grey.

1848        Queen's College, London, established for women who intend to teach.
Women's Rights Association founded in United States.
Mrs. Gaskell: Mary Barton.

1849          Bedford College for Women founded.
Charlotte Brontë: Shirley.

1850        Emily Shirreff and Maria G. Grey: Thoughts on Self-Culture: Addressed to Women.
First National Women's Rights Convention, Worchester, Massachusetts.

1851        Harriet Taylor: "The Enfranchisement of Women."
Women's Suffrage Petition presented to the House of Lords.

1852        Judge rules that a man may not force his wife to live with him.
Anna Jameson: Legends of the Madonna, as presented in the fine arts.
G.H. Lewes: "The Lady Novelists."

1853        Queen Victoria given chloroform during childbirth.
Charlotte Brontë: Villette.

1854        Barbara (Leigh Smith) Bodichon: A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women.

1855        George Eliot: "Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft."
Stephen Fullom: The History of Woman, And her Connexion with Religion, Civilization, and Domestic Manners, from the earliest period (denounced by George Eliot).
Mrs. Gaskell: North and South.
Harriet Martineau: Autobiography.

1856        Caroline Frances Cornwallis: "The Property of Married Women."
Bessie Parkes: Remarks on the Education of Girls.
Emily Shirreff: Intellectual Education, and its influence on the Character and Happiness of Women.

1857          Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh.
Barbara (Leigh Smith) Bodichon: Women and Work.
Caroline Frances Cornwallis: "Capabilities and Disabilities of Women."
Association for the Promotion of the Employment of Women established.
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).
(through 1863): The Englishwoman's Journal.

1858        George Eliot: Scenes of Clerical Life.

1859        George Eliot: Adam Bede.
Harriet Martineau: "Female Industry."
Society for Promoting the Employment of Women.

1860        George Eliot: The Mill on the Floss.

1861        Prince Albert dies; Queen retires into mourning.
George Eliot: Silas Marner. [Charles Dickens: Great Expectations.]

1862        Christina Rosetti: Goblin Market and Other Poems.

1863        Barbara (Leigh Smith) Bodichon: "Of those who are the property of others, and of the great power that holds others as property."

1864        Contagious Diseases Acts also 1866 and 1869 — women living in certain garrison towns liable to be declared prostitutes and forcibly examined for venereal disease).
(through 1860s): The Alexandra Magazine.

1866        Barbara (Leigh Smith) Bodichon: "Reasons for the Enfranchisement of Women."
Emily Davies: The Higher Education of Women.
(through 1910): The Englishwoman's Review, A Journal of Woman's Work.

1868       Josephine Butler: The Education and Employment of Women.

1869        First women's college at Cambridge founded (Girton College).
Extension of municipal franchise (right to vote) to women ratepayers.
John Stuart Mill: On the Subjection of Women. (electronic text at Wiretap)
American Woman Suffrage Association founded.

1870        First Married Woman's Property Act.
Ladies National Association for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts founded by Josephine Butler.
Josephine Butler: On the Moral Reclaimability of Prostitutes.
Education Act (right of women to serve on School Boards).
John D. Milne: Industrial Employment of Women, in the Middle and Lower Ranks.

1918        Voting Act (Enfranchised all men over 21, and all women over 30).

1928         Equal Franchise Act (Equal voting rights for both men and women).


Last modified 20 March 2010