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43 The Roman conquest of Britain
begins. Aulus Plautius lands with four legions and defeats the Britons, led by Caratacus
and Togodumnus, in battles on the rivers Medway and Thames. He halts at the Thames and sends for Claudius, who leads the march on Camulodunum. Meanwhile, Vespasian
subdues the south-west. The Romans found the cities of London, then known as Londinium, and Peterborough
, and begin to construct a road that later becomes Ermine Street.
527 The Kingdom of Essex
founded when the Saxons land north of the Thames and take control of the land between what is now London and St Albans. This is the last Saxon group to form a settlement here.(approximate date)
603 London is mentioned for the first time.
851 Viking
s plunder London
886 Alfred the Great
captures London and renames it Lundenburgh. The boundaries between Wessex
and the Danelaw are shifted.
959 Dunstan
becomes bishop
of Worcester, England and London
1123 St Bartholomew's Hopspital (Barts) founded in London, England
1174 First known race track of the post-classical era opens at Newmarket in London
1185 Templars
settle in London and begin the building of New Temple Church.
1247 Romford, London, England
is chartered as a market town.
1253 The Domus Conversorum, a building and institution in London for Jew
s who had converted to Christianity
, is established by King Henry III of England
.
1263 The Savoy Palace is constructed in London by Count Peter II of Savoy.
1272 The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers receives the right to regulate the leather trade in London, England
.
1282 The Archbishop of Canterbury
orders all synagogue
s of London to close, and forbits Jew
ish doctors from practicing on non-Jews.
1290 The twelve Eleanor crosses are erected between Lincolnshire and London in England
as King Edward I
mourns the death of his queen consort Eleanor of Castile.
1306 In London, a city ordinance decrees that heating with coal is forbidden when parliament is in session - the ordinance is not particularly effective
1370 Carthusian
monks build the Charterhouse in London.
1371 Charterhouse Carthusian
Monastery
founded in Aldersgate, London.
1401 The Lollards, a religious sect taught by John Wycliffe
, were persecuted for their beliefs. The Archbishop of Canterbury
pressured King Henry IV of England
to outlaw them as heretics, under the Act De Heretico Comburendo. After travelling to London, William Sawtrey was executed by burning for preaching his beliefs.
1417 The use of street lighting was first recorded in London, when Sir Henry Barton, the mayor, ordered lanterns with lights to be hung out on the winter evenings between Hallowtide and Candlemass.
1450 Battle of Seven Oaks: Jack Cade's rebels are driven from London by loyal troops, bringing about the collapse of the rebellion.
1553 Queen
Mary
arrives in London.
1554 Thomas Wyatt
surrenders to government forces in London.
1561 St. Paul's Cathedral in London is badly damaged by fire.
1571 The Royal Exchange opens in London.
1578 Martin Frobisher
sails from Harwich, England
to Frobisher Bay, Canada
, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1587 The Rose (theatre) is founded in London by Philip Henslowe
.
1599 First reported performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in London.
1600 Royal charter
incorporates the British East India Company
in London
1604 At Whitehall Palace in London, the William Shakespeare
tragedy ''Othello'' is presented for the first time.
1609 "Three Blind Mice" published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft.
1611 At Whitehall Palace in London, William Shakespeare
's romantic comedy ''The Tempest'' is performed for the first time.
1613 Fire destroys London's famed Globe Theatre.
1630 Puritan
pamphleteer Dr. Alexander Leighton publishes "", an attack on Anglican bishops, in London. He was sentenced by Archbishop
William Laud
's High Commission Court to public whipping, branding, and having his ears cut off.
1647 August: Army marches to London
1650 Henry Robinson opens his ''Office of Addresses and Encounters'' - the first historically documented dating service - in Threadneedle Street, London.
1657 Miles Sindercombe, would-be-assassin of Oliver Cromwell
, and his group are captured in London.
1660 Colonel
George Monck with his regiment
crosses from Scotland
to England
at the village of Coldstream and begins advance towards London in support of English Restoration
. Samuel Pepys
began his diary.
1660 George Monck and his regiment arrive in London.
1660 King Charles II of England
arrives in London and assumes the throne, marking the beginning of the English Restoration
.
1662 John Graunt, in one of the earliest uses of statistics, published statistical information about the births and deaths in London.
1662 Samuel Pepys
witnessed a Punch and Judy show in London; the first on record.
1665 London has its last severe outbreak of the Bubonic plague
, possibly introduced by Dutch
prisoners of war. Two-thirds of Londoners leave the city, but over 68,000 die. (See the Great Plague of London.)
1666 Great Fire of London: A large fire breaks out in London in the house of Charles II
's baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge
. The fire burns for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only 16 people are known to have died.
1675 King Charles II of England
places the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London - construction begins
1678 British magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey
is found murdered in Primrose Hill, London. Titus Oates
claims it as a proof of his allegations.
1680 Whigs organize pope
-burning processions in London
1681 A London woman is publicly flogged for the crime of "involving herself in politics."
1693 Financier Richard Hoare founds Hoare's Bank in London.
1693 Royal Hospital School founded in Greenwich, London.
1697 St Paul's Cathedral opened in London
1698 Palace of Whitehall in London is destroyed by fire.
1701 After being convicted of murdering William Moore and for piracy, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
1724 The premiere of ''Giulio Cesare'', an Italian opera
by George Frideric Handel
, takes place in London
1725 In London, night watchman finds a severed head by the Thames; it is later recognized to be that of the husband of Catherine Hayes. She and one accomplice are later executed.
1732 First performance of Handel's ''Orlando'', in London
1735 The London premiere of ''Alcina'' by George Frideric Handel
, his first Italian opera
for the Royal Opera House
at Covent Garden.
1739 The Foundling Hospital is created in London by royal charter
.
1742 Construction starts on the Foundling Hospital in London.
1743 - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handel
's oratorio, ''Samson''.
1749 While in debtor's prison, John Cleland
writes ''Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure)''. Released from prison, the book was published in London. Immediately, the Church of England
asked the British Secretary of State to "''stop the progress of this vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners''." As a result, Cleland was arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects."
1750 Small earthquake
in London, England
1761 Earthquake
in London breaks chimneys in Limehouse and Poplar
1766 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
returns to Salzburg after touring Paris
and London with his father
1768 John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the ''North Briton'' severely criticizing King George III
. This action provokes rioting in London
1781 Henry Hurle officially founds the Ancient Order of Druids(AOD) in London, England
.
1782 London creates Foot Patrol for public security.
1785 January 1 The first issue of the ''Daily Universal Register'', later known as ''The Times
'', is published in London.
1790 Alleged London Monster arrested in London - he later receives two years for three assaults.
1792 Thomas Holcroft produces the play ''Road to Ruin'' in London.
1801 A census
in London revealed it to have 860,035 residents.
1802 Marie Tussaud opens her famous wax museum in London, having been commissioned during the Reign of Terror to make death masks of the victims.
1810 the Berners Street Hoax - Theodore Hook manages to attract dozens of people to 53 Berners Street in London.
1811 London and Westminster Chartered Gas Society founded in London.
1814 London ''The Times
'' newspaper becomes the first to be printed on a steam-powered press.
1825 The first horse-drawn omnibuses established in London.
1825 Estimation: London becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Beijing
.
1829 First Oxford
and Cambridge
boat race held on the River Thames
in London.
1844 The Fleet Prison for debtors in London is abolished.
1844 George Williams founds the Young Men's Christian Association
in London.
1847 First communist
congress in London
1848 April 10 Chartist
'Monster Rally' held in Kennington Park London, headed by Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to parliament
.
1848 Queen's College for women founded in London.
1851 The ''Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations'' in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park
, London is opened by Queen Victoria
. It runs until October 18.
1851 Herman Melville
's novel Moby-Dick is published in the U.S. by Harper & Brothers, New York
- after it was first published on October 18, by Richard Bentley
, London.
1852 First British
public toilet for women opens in Bedford Street, London
1852 Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits first patient
1854 An epidemic of cholera
in London kills 10,000. Dr John Snow traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single water pump, validating his theory that cholera
is water-borne, and forming the starting point for epidemiology.
1854 Pope Pius IX
proclaims the dogma
of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
showing the clusters of cholera
cases in the London epidemic of 1854]].
1855 Last Bartholomew Fair in London, England
.
1856 National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
1857 In London, ex-solicitor James Towsend Saward is sentenced for transportation for forging number of cheques over the years.
1858 The ''Wedding March'' by Felix Mendelssohn
becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria
's daughter Victoria, "Vicky," the Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich of Prussia in St. James's Palace, London.
1865 Salvation Army
founded in Whitechapel, London
1866 Royal Aeronautical Society is formed (London)
1867 Strait Settlement of Singapore
, fomerly ruled from Calcutta, becomes a Crown Colony under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Office in London
1868 Preacher William Booth
establishes the Christian Mission, predecessor of the Salvation Army
, in the East End of London
1871 First trial of the case of Tichborne Claimant begins in the London Court of Common Pleas.
1884 British Police officers go on armed patrol in London.
1884 The Fabian Society is founded in London.
1887 Buffalo Bill
's Wild West Show opens in London.
1888 In London, the body of Annie Chapman is found. She is generally considered the second victim of Jack the Ripper
.
1888 In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper
's third and fourth victim respectively.
1888 In London the body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is typically considered the fifth and last of Jack the Ripper
's victims. A number of similar murders actually follow, but police attribute them to copycat killers.
1894 04:51 GMT, French anarchist Martial Bourdin attempts to destroy the Royal Greenwich Observatory, London, England | 
Timeline
