1825 7 June. Born at Longworth Rectory, Berkshire
4 October Mother Anne Bassett died of typhus in the Rectory. Her twin sister Harriett Mercy died there on 19 September
1826 July. Family move to Bushey, Herts. RDB and brother stay in S Wales.
1831 1 November. Father marries Charlotte Platt in Bushey
1832 December. Family move to King's Nympton, Devon
1833 Attends Hugh Squier's School, South Molton
1833 Attends King's School, Bruton, until 1837
1835 March. Family move to Culmstock, Devon.
1837 16 August. Joins Blundell's School, Tiverton
1841 Family move to Tor Mohun, Devon
1843 7 November. Matriculates at Exeter College, Oxford
1844 Awarded the Gifford Scholarship
1845 April. Family move to Ashford, Devon
1847 2 December. Awarded Classics (Second Class) BA at Oxford
1849 27 January. Joins Middle Temple, London, to study for the Bar
1852 7 June. Called to the Bar. Practises as a conveyancer until ca. 1857
1853 8 November. Secretly marries Lucy Maguire in Holy Trinity, Holborn
1854 Publishes anonymously his first verse, Poems by Melanter and Epullia
1855 Teaches classics at Wellesley House School, Twickenham (until 1858)
1856 Moves to live at Lower Teddington Road, Hampton Wick
1857 Receives substantial inheritance from uncle Revd Henry Hey Knight
1858 Father died while visiting family in Newton Nottage, Glamorgan.
1860 ca. Moves into his newly built home and fruit gardens at Gomer House, Field Lane, Teddington. Takes up the life of horticulturist and novelist
1862 Publishes his translations of the first two of Virgil's Georgics anonymously
1864 Publishes first novel Clara Vaughan anonymously (but written ca 1853)
m id-1860s Opposes the building of the railway and station, which came very close to his property. Loses 5 acres of his land to the railway.
1866 Publishes Cradock Nowell
1869 Publishes Lorna Doone
1872 Publishes Maid of Sker (from first draft of late 1840s)
His nieces Eva and Dolly Pinto Leite visit him and Lucy with increasing regularity
1875 His older brother Henry dies at Yeovil in suspicious circumstances. Brings public law suit against Maggs the chemist: settles out of court the following year
1875 Publishes Alice Lorraine
1876 Publishes Cripps, the Carrier
1877 Publishes Erema, or My Father's Sin
1878 Death of his beloved aunt Mary Frances Gordon. Publishes a short poem in her memory, "Dominus Illuminatio Mea"
1880 Publishes Mary Anerley
1882 Publishes Christowell
1884 Publishes The Remarkable History of Sir Thomas Upmore
1887 Publishes Springhaven
1888 31 January. Lucy dies of pneumonia in Teddington
1890 Publishes Kit and Kitty
1894 Publishes Perlycross
1895 Publishes Fringilla (poems with illustrations)
1895 Publishes four short stories, Slain by the Doones (US title) and Tales of the Telling House (British title)
1897 Publishes his last novel, Dariel
1900 20 January. Dies after a long illness in Teddington, and buried in the Cemetery with his wife
Last updated 13 April 2006