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British Kings and Queens - Historical Timeline
 King Offa ( 779 - 796 )
787 - 1st recorded Viking raids on England
793 - St Albans Abbey founded by Offa. Offa annexes East Anglia and joins it to the kingdom of Mercia
795 - Vikings raid Iona in Scotland
796 - Offa's dyke between England and Wales is completed. Offa Dies
|  King Egbert ( 802 - 839 )
802 - Egbert returns from exile in Charlemagne and regains his Kingdom of Wessex
825 - King Egbert of Wessex wins a decisive victory over King Beornred of Mercia at Ellendun
827 - Following his conquest of Mercia, Egbert controls all of England south of the Humber
830 - King Egbert of Wessex is recognized as overlord of other English kings
838 - Defeats Danes and Welsh at Hingston Down
839 - Death of Egbert. He is succeeded by his two sons Aethelwulf as King of Wessex, and Athelstan as King of Kent, Essex, Sussex and Surrey
| King Aethelwulf ( 839 - 856 )
839 - Aethelwulf succeeds his father Egbert as King of Wessex
841 - Vikings raid Kent and East Anglia, and establish a settlement at Dublin
842 - Many die in London and Rochester during Viking raids
844 - Kenneth MacAlpine, King of the Scots, conquers the Picts; founds a unified Scotland
845 - Danes are defeated by a Saxon force at the River Parrett
851 - Danish forces enter Thames estuary and march on Canterbury
855 - Aethelwulf goes on a pilgimage to Rome accompanied by his son Alfred
858 - Aethelwulf returns but finds his son has taken control of Wessex
| King Aethelbald ( 856 - 860 )
858 - Aethelbald marries his father's widow Judith
860 - Vikings land on Icleand
| King Aethelbert ( 860 - 866 )
860 - Aethelbert becomes King of Wessex following the death of his brother Aethelbald
866 - Vikings take York (Jorvik) and establish a North British Kingdom
| King Aethelred I ( 866 - 871 )
869 - Vikings invade East Anglia killing the local king Edmund
871 - Battle of Meredune. Aethelred dies of wounds
|  King Alfred the Great ( 871 - 899 )
871 - Alfred becomes King of Wessex following the death of his brother Aethelred
872 - London falls to Viking raiders
875 - After persistent attacks by Vikings the monks of Lindesfarne travel through Northumbria and Galloway with the Lindesfarne Gospels.
878 - Guthrum's Danish army invades Wessex, and Alfred takes refuge on the isle of Athelney. Alfred defeats Guthrum at the battle of Ethandune (Edington) in Wiltshire.
878 - Treaty of Wedmore divides England into two. Guthrum accepts baptism as a Christian and agrees to leave Wessex and settle in East Anglia.
885 - Alfred imposes rules on South Wales
886 - Alfred captures London in Mercia from the Danes. Danelaw - the territory occupied by the Danes in East Anglia is recognised by Alfred
890 - Guthrum dies. Alfred establishs a permanent army and navy
891 - Anglo Saxon Chronicle, source of much early British History, begun
893 - Asser, Bishop of Sherborne, completes his book Life of Alfred the Great
899 - Alfred dies and is buried at Winchester
|  King Edward The Elder ( 899 - 924 )
900 - Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames
901 - Edward the Elder takes the title "King of the Angles and Saxons"
913 - Edward the Elder recaptures Essex from the Danes
915 - Edward is accepted as overlord by Ragnald ruler of the Viking Kingdom of York
924 - Edward dies at Farndon-on-Dee near Chester leading an army against the Welsh. He is buried in Winchester.
|  King Athelstan ( 924 - 940 )
924 - Athelstan becomes King of Wessex and Mercia on the death of his father Edward the Elder.
926 - Athelstan annexes Northumbria, and forces the kings of Wales, Strathclyde, the Picts, and the Scots to submit to him
926 - Athelstan marreis his sister to Sihtric the Viking King of York to cement his ties with the North
937 - Battle of Brunanburh: Athelstan defeats alliance of Scots, Celts, Danes, and Vikings, and takes the title of King of all Britain
940 - Athelstan dies at Gloucester and is buried at Malmesbury.
|  King Edmund ( 940 - 946 )
940 - Edmund becomes King. Sandinavina forces from Northumbria overun the East Midlands.
942 - Edmund re-establishes control over Northumbria and rules a united England.
943 - Edmund extends his rule into southern Scotland,
945 - Dunstan becomes abbot of Glastonbury Abbey
946 - Edmund killed at Pucklechurch
|  King Edred ( 946 - 955 )
946 - Edred succeeds his brother Edmound
954 - Expulsion of Eric Bloodaxe, last Danish king of York
955 - Edred dies and is buried at Winchester.
| King Edwy (Eadwig) ( 955 - 959 )
955 - Edwy crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames
956 - Dunstan sent into exile by Edwy
957 - Mercians and Northumbrians rebel against Edwy
959 - Edwy dies in Gloucester
|  King Edgar ( 959 - 975 )
959 - Edgar King of Mercia and Northumbria becomes King of all England.
965 - Westiminster Abbey is founded
973 - Northern Kings submit to Edgar at Chester
975 - Edgar dies at Winchester
|  King Edward The Martyr ( 975 - 978 )
975 - Edward succeeds to the throne
978 - Edward the Martyr murdered at Corfe Castle
|  King Aethelred II The Unready ( 978 - 1016 )
978 - Aethelred, son of Edgar, becomes King of England following the murder of his half brother Edward
980 - Danes renew their raids on England attacking Chester and Southampton
985 - Sweyn I, Forkbeard, rebels against his father Harold Blue-tooth and deposes him
991 - Battle of Maldon: Byrhtnoth of Essex is defeated by Danish invaders; Aethelred II buys off the Danes with 10,000 pounds of silver (Danegeld)
992 - Aethelred makes a truce with Duke Richard I of Normandy
994 - Danes under Sweyn and Norwegians under Olaf Trygvesson sail up river Thames and besiege London; bought off by Aethelred
1002 - Aethelred orders a massacre of Danish settlers
1012 - The Danes raid Kent, burning Caterbury Cathedral and murdering Archbishop Alphege
1013 - King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark lands in England and is proclaimed king; Aethelred II the Unready flees to Normandy
1014 - The English recall Aethelred II the Unready as King on the death of Sweyn
1015 - King Canute II of Denmark & Norway again invades England
|  King Edmund II lronside ( 1016 )
1016 - Edmund Ironside, son of Aethelred II the Unready of England, becomes King. At the battle of Abingdon, in Essex, King Canute II of Denmark defeats Edmund. They meet on the Isle of Alney in the Severn and agree to divide the kingdom into two.
1016 - Edmund is assassinated a few months later and Canute takes the throne as King Canute of England.
|  King Cnut (Canute) ( 1016 - 1035 )
1017 - Canute marries Emma of Normandy, the widow of Ethelred II. Canute divides England into four earldoms - Northumbria Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia.
1027 - Canute make a pilgrimage to Rome to demonstrate his alliance with the Church, and attends the coronation of the Pope
1028 - In addition to his existing kingdoms Canute becomes King of Norway
1035 - Canute dies at the age of 40, and his huge Northern European empire disintegrates.
|  King Harold I Harefoot ( 1035 - 1040 )
1035 - Canute's son Harold Harefoot usurps the throne from his half-brother, Harthacanute, the rightful heir.
|  King Harthacnut ( 1040 - 1042 )
1040 - Harold Harefoot dies and Harthacanute accedes to the throne
|  King Edward The Confessor ( 1042 - 1066 )
1042 - Harthacanute dies and is succeded by Edward the Confessor, son of Aethelred II.
1051 - Edward marries Edith daughter of Earl Godwine of Wessex, but quarrels with Godwine and banishes the rebellious Godwine family from England. Edward promises the throne to William, Duke of Normandy.
1052 - Godwine, Earl of Wessex, returns to England.
1053 - Godwine’s son, Harold, becomes principal adviser to the King.
1064 - Harold visits William of Normandy and swears on oath to support his claim to the throne
1066 - Edward dies and Harold Godwineson is chosen as successor, but William of Normandy declares the throne was promised to him.
|  King Harold II ( 1066 )
1066 - Harold Godwineson becomes King
1066 - Harold II fights a Viking force under Harold Hadrada and defeats them at Stamford Bridge. He hastily marches South at the news that William Duke of Normandy with 100 ships had landed on Penvensey Bay and marched into Sussex.
1066 - Harold II is killed at the Battle of Hastings with an arrow through his eye.
|  King William I The Conqueror ( 1066 - 1087 )
1066 - William and his Norman army defeat Harold II and the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. Harold is killed and, after subduing the rest of the country, William is crowned King of England.
1067 - William suppresses a Saxon revolt in the southwest of England.
1068 - William puts down a revolt in the northern counties led by Edwin and Morcar and establishes fortifications.
1069 - Swein Estrithson of Denmark lands in the Humber and is welcomed by northern English earls who join him in expelling the Norman garrison at York. William marches north and reoccupies York
1071 - William defeats a revolt led by Hereward the Wake in East Anglia, thus putting an end to Saxon resistance to his rule.
1072 - William invades Scotland and compels Malcolm III to pay homage to him.
1073 - Suppresses rebellion in Maine in France
1079 - William begins the construction of a Norman Cathedral at Winchester.
1079 - Robert, William’s eldest son, leads a rebellion in Normandy, but is defeated by his father at the Battle of Gerberoi and his life is spared.
1085 - William orders a survey of the shires of England; the information is recorded in the Domesday Book, which is completed the following year.
1087 - William dies of his injuries after falling from his horse while besieging the French city of Nantes.
|  King William II Rufus ( 1087 - 1100 )
1087 - William Il accedes to the throne on the death of his father, William I.
1088 - William crushes a baronial rebellion in Normandy led by his uncle, Odo of Bayeux, William’s brother, Robert supports the claims of Normandy, to the English throne.
1089 - Rannlf Flambard, leading adviser to William, is appointed Justiciar (the King’s judicial officer). He begins to levy heavy taxes on the church.
1090 - William leads an invasion of Normandy in an attempt to subdue his brother, Robert.
1091 - William defeats an invasion of England led by Malcolm III of Scotland.
1092 - Carlisle is captured from Scotland and Cumberland is annexed.
1093 - Malcolm III and the Scots invade England again, but they are defeated and Malcolm is killed at the Battle of Alnwick.
1095 - William suppresses revolt in Northumbria.
1098 - William suppresses a Welsh rebellion against the Norman border lords.
1100 - William is killed by an arrow while out hunting in the New Forest. Supposedly an accident, it has been suggested that he was shot deliberately on the instructions of his brother Henry
|  King Henry I ( 1100 - 1135 )
1100 - Henry I succeeds his brother, William II.
1100 - Henry issues a Charter of Liberties, pledging good governance.
1100 - Henry marries Edith known as Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland.
1101 - Robert of Normandy invades England in an attempt to wrest the English throne from his brother, Henry. After failing, he signs the Treaty of Alton, which confirms Henry as King of England and Robert as Duke of Normandy.
1106 - War breaks out between Henry and Robert. Henry defeats Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai, imprisons him in Cardiff Castle, and takes control of Normandy.
1118 - Death of Matilda.
1120 - Henrys son and heir, William, is drowned at sea. Henry’s daughter, Matilda, becomes heir.
1121 - Henry marries Adelicia of Louvain
1126 - Henry persuades the barons to accept Matilda as his lawful successor to the throne.
1128 - Matilda marries Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou.
1135 - Henry I dies in France as a result of food poisoning
|  King Stephen ( 1135 - 1154 )
1135 - Stephen usurps the throne from Matilda, Henry 1’s daughter.
1136 - The Earl of Norfolk leads the first rebellion against Stephen.
1138 - Robert, Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of Henry I, deserts Stephen and pledges allegiance to Matilda.
1138 - David I of Scotland invades England in support of his niece, Matilda, but is defeated.
1139 - Matilda leaves France and lands in England.
1141 - Matilda’s forces take Stephen prisoner, and Matilda is made queen.
1141 - Earl Robert is captured and exchanged for Stephen’s freedom.
1145 - Stephen defeats Matilda’s forces at the Battle of Faringdon.
1148 - Matilda abandons cause and leaves England.
1151 - Matilda’s son, Henry Plantagenet, succeeds his father as Count of Anjou.
1153 - Henry of Anjou lands in England, and gathers support for further war against Stephen.
1153 - Henry and Stephen agree terms for ending the civil war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster, Stephen is to remain King for life, but thereafter the throne passes to Henry.
1154 - Stephen dies.
|  King Henry II ( 1154 - 1189 )
1154 - Henry II accedes to the throne at the age of 21 upon the death of his second cousin, Stephen.
1155 - Henry appoints Thomas a Becket as Chancellor of England, a post that he holds for seven years.
1155 - Pope Adrian IV issues the papal bull Laudabiliter, which gives Henry dispensation to invade Ireland and bring the Irish Church under the control of the Church of Rome.
1162 - On the death of Archbishop Theobald, Henry appoints Thomas a Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury in the hope that he will help introduce Church reforms.
1164 - Henry introduces the Constitutions of Clarendon, which place limitations on the Church’s jurisdiction over crimes committed by the clergy. The Pope refuses to approve the Constitutions, so Thomas a Becket refuses to sign them.
1166 - The Assize of Clarendon establishes trial by jury for the first time.
1166 - Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster in Ireland, appeals to Henry to help him oppose a confederation of other Irish kings. In response to the appeal, Henry sends a force led by Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, thereby beginning the English settlement of
1168 - English scholars expelled from Paris settle in Oxford, where they found a university.
1170 - Pope Alexander III threatens England with an interdict and forces Henry to a formal reconciliation with Becket. However, the two of them quarrel again when Becket publishes papal letters voiding Henry’s Constitutions of Clarendon.
1170 - Becket is killed at the high altar in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December by four of Henry’s knights.
1171 - Henry invades Ireland and receives homage from the King of Leinster and the other kings. Henry is accepted as Lord of Ireland.
1171 - At the Co Cashel, Henry makes Irish clergy submit to the authority of Rome
1173 - Canonization of Thomas a Becket.
1174 - Henry’s sons Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey lead an unsuccessful rebellion against their father
|  King Richard I The Lion Heart ( 1189 - 1199 )
1189 - Richard I becomes King of England upon the death of Henry II
1189 - William Longchamp is appointed Chancellor of England and governs the country during Richard’s absence abroad
1189 - Richard sets out with Philip of France on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land
1191 - William Longchamp falls from power and Richard’s brother, John, takes over the government
1191 - Richard captures the city of Acre, Palestine, and defeats Saladin at Arsuuf, near Jaffa
1192 - Richard reaches an agreement with Saladin to guarantee Christians safe pilgrimage to Jerusalem
1192 - On his way back to England from Palestine, Richard is captured and handed over to Henry VI, Emperor of Germany. Henry demands a ransom of 100,000 marks from England for Richard’s release from prison
1194 - The ransom is raised in England
1195 - Richard is released from captivity. He returns to England for a brief period, before leaving to fight in France, never to return to his homeland.
1199 - Richard is mortally wounded in battle at Chalus, in France.
|  King John ( 1199 - 1216 )
1199 - John accedes to the throne on the death of his brother, Richard I.
1204 - England loses most of its possessions in France.
1205 - John refuses to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury
1208 - Pope Innocent III issues an Interdict against England, banning all church services except baptisms and funerals
1209 - Pope Innocent III excommunicates John for his confiscation of ecclesiastical property
1212 - Innocent III declares that John is no longer the rightful King
1213 - John submits to the Pope’s demands
1214 - Philip Augustus of France defeats the English at the Battle of Bouvines
1215 - John meets the English barons at Runnymede, agrees to their demands, and seals the Magna Carta
1215 - The Pope decrees that John need not adhere to the Magna Carta, and civil war breaks out
1216 - The barons seek French aid in their fight against John; Prince Louis of France captures the Tower of London
1216 - John loses his war chest of cash and jewels in the Wash
1216 - John dies at Newark and is buried Worcester Cathedral
|  King Henry III ( 1216 - 1272 )
1216 - Henry III is crowned King at the age of nine. England is ruled temporarily by two regents, Hubert de Burgh and William the Marshal
1222 - De Burgh successfully puts down an insurrection supporting the French king Louis Vlll’s claim to the throne
1227 - Henry takes full control of the government of England, but retains de Burgh as his main adviser
1232 - Hubert de Burgh is dismissed as adviser
1236 - Henry marries Eleanor of Provence
1238 - Simon de Montfort marries Henry’s sister, Eleanor
1258 - The English barons, led by de Montfort, rebel against Henry’s misgovernment. They present a list of grievances to Henry, who signs the Provisions of Oxford, which limit royal power
1261 - Henry repudiates the Provisions of Oxford
1264 - The Baron’s War breaks out. De Montfort defeats Henry at Lewes
1265 - Simon de Montfort summons the first English Parliament
1265 - Some of the barons break their alliance with de Montfort and, led by Prince Edward, kill him at the Battle of Evesham
1272 - Henry III dies in the Palace of Westminster
|  King Edward I Longshanks ( 1272 - 1307 )
1272 - Edward learns that he has succeeded to the throne on his way home from the Crusade
1274 - Edward is crowned in Westminster Abbey
1282 - Edward invades North Wales and defeats Prince Llywelyn
1284 - Independence of the Welsh is ended by the Statute of Rhuddlan
1292 - Edward chooses John Balliol to be the new King of Scotland
1295 - Model Parliament as summoned
1296 - Edward invades Scotland and deposes Balliol. He then takes over the throne of Scotland and removes the Stone of Scone to Westminster.
1297 - Scots rise against English rule and, led by William Wallace, defeat Edward at the Battle of Stirling Bridge
1298 - Edward invades Scotland again and defeats William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk
1301 - Edward makes his son Prince of Wales
1305 - William Wallace is executed in London
1306 - Robert Bruce is crowned King of Scotland
1307 - Edward attempts to invade Scotland again, but dies on his way north
|  King Edward II ( 1307 - 1327 )
1307 - Edward II accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Edward I.
1308 - Edward’s favourite, Piers Gaveston, is exiled for misgovernment.
1309 - Gaveston returns from exile in France.
1310 - Parliament sets up a committee of Lords Ordainers to control theKing and improve administration. The King’s cousin,Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, takes control
1312 - Piers Gaveston is kidnapped by the King’s opponents and is put to death.
1314 - Edward and the English army are defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn by Robert Bruce. Scottish independence is assured
1320 - Welsh border barons, father and son, both named Hugh Despenser, gain the King’s favour,
1322 - Barons’ rebellion, led by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, is crushed at the Battle of Bomughbridge in Yorkshire.
1326 - Edward’s wife, Isabella, abandons him and with her lover, Mortimer, seizes power and deposes Edward. The Despensers are both put to death.
1327 - Edward is formally deposed by Parliament in favour of Edward III, his son, and is murdered in Berkeley Castle on the orders of his wife, Isabella.
|  King Edward III ( 1327 - 1377 )
1327 - Edward III accedes to the throne after his father, Edward II, is formally deposed.
1330 - Edward takes power after three years of government by his mother, Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimer.
1332 - Parliament is divided into two houses —Lords and Commons — for the very first time.
1333 - Defeat of Scottish army at Halidon Hill.
1337 - Start of 100 Years’ War with France.
1346 - David II of Scotland invades England but is defeated at Neville’s Cross and captured.
1346 - 1346 French defeated at the Battle of Crécy.
1347 - Edward besieges and captures Calais.
1348 - -1350 Black Death kills one-third of the English population.
1356 - Black Prince defeats French at Poitiers.
1357 - David II is released from captivity and returns home to Scotland.
1376 - Parliament gains right to investigate public abuses and impeach offenders; the first impeachment is of Alice Perrers, Edward’s mistress, and two lords.
1376 - Death of Edward, the Black Prince.
1377 - Edward III dies of a stroke at Sheen Palace, Surrey, aged 64 years
|  King Richard II ( 1377 - 1399 )
1377 - Richard II succeeds his grandfather, Edward III; the kingdom is ruled at first by the King’s uncles, John of Gaunt and Thomas of Gloucester.
1380 - John Wycliffe begins to translate the New Testament from Greek into English.
1381 - Poll Tax leads to the Peasants’ Revolt.
1382 - William of Wykeham founds Winchester College
1387 - Led by the Duke of Gloucester, the Lords Appellant control the government
1389 - Richard takes control of the government; William of Wykeham is Lord Chancellor
1394 - Richard leads English army to reconquer west of Ireland.
1397 - Richard takes revenge against Lords Appellant and exiles Henry Bolingbroke
1398 - Chaucer finishes The Canterbury Tales
1399 - Bolingbroke becomes Duke of Lancaster on the death of John of Gaunt, but Richard seizes his possessions. Bolingbroke returns from exile to claim his inheritance and seizes the throne.
1399 - Richard, who is away fighting at Leinster in Ireland, returns, but is deposed and imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he dies in 1400
|  King Henry IV ( 1399 - 1413 )
1399 - Henry returns from exile in France to reclaim his estates seized by Richard II; he claims the throne and is crowned. Richard is deposed and later imprisoned in Pontefract Castle.
1400 - Richard dies from self-inflicted starvation
1400 - Death of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
1401 - Owain Glyndwr leads Welsh revolt against English rule
1402 - State visit to England of Manuel II, the Byzantine emperor
1403 - First rebellion by the Percy family from Northumberland defeated at the Battle of Shrewsbury.
1404 - Glyndwr makes a treaty with the French, who send an army in 1405 to support the rebellion against the English.
1405 - Second Percy rebellion takes place
1406 - Henry contracts a leprosy-like illness
1408 - Third Percy rebellion takes place.
1413 - Henry dies at Westminster, worn out by constant revolts and shortage of money.
|  King Henry V ( 1413 - 1422 )
1413 - Henry accedes to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of his father, Henry IV
1415 - Henry thwarts the Cambridge plot, an attempt by a group of nobles to replace him on the throne with his cousin, Edmund Mortisner, Earl of March.
1415 - Henry renews the war against France in order to win back territories lost by his ancestors. After a five-week siege, he captures to the French King, Harfleur, the leading port in north-west France.
1415 - Battle of Agincourt, at which 6,000 Frenchmen are killed, while less than 400 English soldiers lose their lives.
1416 - Death of Owain Glyndwr, leader of the Welsh revolt.
1420 - Under the Treaty of Troyes, Henry becomes Regent of France and heir Charles VI.
1420 - Henry marries Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.
1421 - Birth of Prince Henry, later Henry VI.
1422 - Henry V dies before he can succeed to the French throne. King Charles VI of France dies the following month, leaving Henry VI, Henry’s 10-month-old son, as King of France and England.
|  King Henry VI ( 1422 - 1461 )
1422 - Henry becomes King of England on the death of his father, Henry V, and then, two months later, King of France on the death of his grandfather, Charles VI.
1422 - John, Duke of Bedford, is appointed Regent of France; Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, becomes Regent of England.
1429 - The young peasant girl Joan of Arc begins her campaign to expel the English from France.
1431 - The English capture Joan of Arc. She is burned at the stake as a witch and heretic in Rouen on 30 May.
1437 - Henry assumes personal rule of England
1453 - End of 100 Years’ War. The English are driven out of France.
1454 - Richard, Duke of York, is made Protector during Henry’s illness
1455 - Duke of York is dismissed.York raises an army and defeats the King’s Lancastrian forces at the Battle of St. Albans.The Lancastrian leader, the Duke of Somerset, is killed.York takes over the government of England.
1459 - War is renewed and the Lancastrians are defeated at Bloreheath; the Yorkists are then defeated at Lndford. Parliament declares York a traitor.
1460 - Yorkist army led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeats Lancastrians at the Battle of Northampton. Henry VI is captured and his wife, Margaret, escapes to Scotland. Richard of York is again Protector.
1460 - Margaret raises an army in the north and defeats and kills Richard of York at Wakefield.
1461 - Henry is deposed by Richard’s son Edward, Duke of York, who is then crowned Edward IV
1462 - Lancastrian revolts are suppressed.
1464 - Warwick defeats Lancastrians at Battle of Hexham; Henry VI is captured and brought to the Tower of London.
1469 - Warwick falls out with Edward IV, and defeats him at Edgecote. They are later reconciled but Warwick is banished. He makes peace with Margaret, returns to England with an army, and Edward flees to Flanders. Henry VI is restored to the throne.
1471 - Edward returns to England and defeats and kills Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. Margaret is defeated at the Battle of Tewkesbury; her son Edward, Prince of Wales, is killed in battle.
1471 - Henry is murdered in the Tower of London.
|  King Edward IV ( 1461 - 1483 )
1461 - Edward defeats the Lancastrian army at Mortimers Cross and is proclaimed King by his cousin Warwick, “The Kingmaker”, in succession to Henry VI.
1464 - Edward marries Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a commoner, offending Warwick.
1469 - Warwick breaks with Edward and joins Henry VI’s wife, Margaret, to usurp Edward.
1470 - Edward is driven out of England to exile in Flanders when Henry VI is restored to the throne.
1471 - Edward returns to England from Flanders and defeats and kills Warwick at the Battle of Barnet.
1471 - Margaret is defeated at the Battle of Tewkesbury and the Lancasterian heir, Prince Edward, is killed. Soon after, Henry VI is murdered in the Tower of London.
1474 - Edward grants privileges to the Hanseatic League of North German trading cities to conduct trade in England.
1476 - William Caxton sets up a printing press in Westminster, London
1478 - Edward falls out with his brother George, Duke of Clarence, who is then murdered in the Tower, supposedly in a butt of malmsey wine.
1483 - Death of Edward.
|  King Edward V ( 1483 )
1483 - On the death of Edward, the crown passes to his young son, Edward V
1483 - Edward is declared illegitimate and deposed in favour of his uncle Richard.
1483 - Edward and his younger brother Richard of York were moved into the Tower London. After a few months the princes were never seen again and are believed to have been murdered.
|  King Richard III ( 1483 - 1485 )
1483 - Richard succeeds his brother Edward IV after confining his two nephews, EdwardV and Richard, Duke of York, in the Tower of London
1483 - The Duke of Buckingham is appointed Constable and Great Chamberlain of England
1483 - In October Richard crushes a rebellion led by his former supporter, the Duke of Buckingham. . Buckingham is captured, tried, and put to death.
1483 - At the cathedral of Rheims, Henry Tudor swears a solemn oath to marry Elizabeth of York in the presence of the Lancastrian Court in exile.
1484 - 1484 Richard establishes his military headquarters behind the battlements of Nottingham Castle.
1484 - Death of Richard’s only son and heir, Edward, aged 9 years.
1484 - A Papal Bull is issued against witchcraft.
1484 - Parliamentary statutes are written down in English for the first time and printed.
1485 - Death of Richard’s wife, Queen Anne.
1485 - Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, lands in West Wales in early August and gathers support as the Lancastrian claimant to the Yorkist-held throne.
1485 - Richard is defeated and killed by Henry Tudor’s army at Bosworth Field. The Wars of the Roses come to an end.
|  King Henry VII ( 1485 - 1509 )
1485 - Henry accedes to the throne after defeating Richard III of York at the Battle of Bosworth.
1486 - Henry marries Elizabeth of York, thereby uniting the houses of York and Lancaster.
1487 - Henry crushes a revolt by the Earl of Lincoln on behalf of Lambert Simnel, a claimant to the throne, at Stoke.
1491 - Henry invades France but at the Treaty of Etaples agrees to withdraw English forces in return for a large sum of money
1492 - Perkin Warbeck claims the throne and attempts to overthrow Henry, but is defeated and put to death in 1499.
1492 - Christopher Columbus crosses Atlantic and discovers America
1503 - Prince Arthur, Henry’s eldest son, dies, and Prince Henry (the future Henry VIII) becomes heir to the throne, later marrying Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon.
1503 - Death of Elizabeth of York, Henry’s wife.
1509 - Henry VII dies at Richmond Palace, at the age of 52.
|  King Henry VIII ( 1509 - 1547 )
1509 - Henry accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1509 - Henry marries Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish King and Queen, and widow of his elder brother, Arthur
1513 - The English defeat the Scots at the Battle of Flodden Field. James IV of Scotland is killed.
1515 - Thomas Wolsey becomes Chancellor.
1516 - Catherine gives birth to Princess Mary (later Mary I).
1517 - Martin Luther publishes his 95 theses against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church.
1518 - The Pope and the Kings of England, France, and Spain pledge peace in Europe
1520 - Henry holds peace talks with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
1529 - Cardinal Wolsey is accused of high treason, but dies before he can be brought to trial.
1529 - Sir Thomas More becomes Chancellor.
1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns from the Chancellorship.
1533 - Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is annulled by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
1533 - Henry marries Anne Boleyn.
1533 - Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I) is born.
1533 - The Pope excommunicates Henry
1534 - The Act of Supremacy is passed, establishing Henry as head of the Church of England.
1535 - Sir Thomas More is executed after refusing to recognize Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
1535 - Thomas Cromwell is made Vicar-General.
1536 - Anne Boleyn is executed and Henry marries Jane Seymour
1536 - The Act of Union between Wales and England.
1536 - Thomas Cromwell begins the dissolution of the monasteries.
1536 - Great northern rising, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.
1537 - Jane Seymour dies giving birth to Edward (later Edward VI).
1540 - Henry marries Anne of Cleves in January but the marriage is annulled in July
1540 - Execution of Thomas Cromwell on a charge of treason.
1540 - Henry marries Catherine Howard.
1542 - Catherine Howard is executed for treason.
1543 - Henry marries the twice-widowed Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife.
1547 - Death of Henry, survived by Catherine Parr
|  King Edward VI ( 1547 - 1553 )
1547 - Edward VI accedes to the throne at the age of nine after the death of his father, Henry VIII.
1547 - Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, uncle of Edward VI, is invested as Duke of Somerset and Protector of England.
1547 - The English army defeats the Scots at Pinkie Cleugh as part of an attempt to force a marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Edward VI.
1548 - The French send over 6,000 troops to prevent the English from gaining control of the Scottish Borders.
1549 - The First Act of Uniformity is passed, making the Roman Catholic mass illegal.The clergy are ordered to remove icons and statues of the saints, and whitewash over wall paintings.
1549 - The First Book of Common Prayer is introduced, which changes the Church service from Latin to English.
1550 - The Duke of Somerset is deposed as Protector of England, and is replaced by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who creates himself Duke of Northumberland.
1552 - The Duke of Somerset is executed
1553 - The Duke of Northumberland persuades Edward to nominate Lady Jane Grey as his heir, in an attempt to secure the Protestant succession.
1553 - Edward VI dies at Greenwich Palace.
|  Queen Mary I ( 1553 - 1558 )
1553 - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen by the Protector, the Duke of Northumberland. After nine days, Mary arrives in London, Lady Jane Grey is arrested, and Mary is crowned Queen.
1554 - After Mary declares her intention to marry Philip of Spain, Sir Thomas Wyatt leads a revolt to depose her.
1554 - Wyatt’s rebellion is crushed. Sir Thomas Wyatt, Lady Jane Grey, and her husband are executed.
1554 - Mary marries Philip of Spain.
1554 - Four months after Mary's accession, Parliament meets to re-establish Catholicism in England
1554 - The persecution of Protestants begins, the heresy laws are revived, and England is reconciled to Papal authority.
1555 - Three Protestant bishops are burned at the stake for heresy.
1556 - Cardinal Reginald Pole is appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury.
1556 - Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is burned at the stake for heresy.
1556 - Philip becomes King of Spain; he leaves England, never to return
1557 - England declares war on France as an ally of Spain.
1558 - Port of Calais, the last English possession in France, is captured by the French.
1558 - Mary dies at St.James’s Palace, London.
|  Elizabeth I ( 1558 - 1603 )
1558 - Elizabeth accedes to the throne on the death of her half-sister, Mary.
1559 - Elizabeth is crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey in January.
1559 - Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity restore the Protestant Church in England and make Elizabeth Head of the Church of England.
1559 - The Revised Prayer Book of Elizabeth I is issued. It is less extreme than its predecessors
1560 - Elizabeth founds Westminster School
1562 - Hawkins and Drake make first slave-trading voyage to America.
1562 - Elizabeth gives aid to the Protestant Huguenots in the French Wars of Religion
1563 - John Foxe’s The Book of Martyrs, the story of religious persecution, is published in England.
1563 - -1564 17,000 die of the Plague in London
1564 - Peace made between England and France at Troyes.
1566 - Elizabeth forbids Parliament to discuss her marriage prospects.
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots, flees to England from Scotland and is imprisoned by Elizabeth.
1569 - Elizabeth I approved Sunday sports
1570 - The Pope excommunicates Queen Elizabeth from the Catholic Church.
1577 - -1580 Francis Drake sails around the world in the Golden Hind.
1579 - Francis, Duke of Alencon, secretly comes to England, to try and marry Elizabeth.
1581 - Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth on the deck on The Golden Hind
1584 - Sir Walter Raleigh founds the first American colony and names it Virginia after Elizabeth the Virgin Queen
1586 - Mary Queen of Scots, is sent to trial.
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed at Fotheringhay Castle on charges of treason.
1587 - Drake attacks the Spanish fleet in Cadiz.
1587 - Raleigh's second expedition to New World lands in North Carolina
1588 - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and a favourite of Elizabeth, dies.
1588 - A Spanish Armada of 130 ships sailing against England is defeated by fireships and bad weather. Many were wrecked trying to return by sailing round the north of the British Isles.
1588 - Earl of Essex leads an expedition to Ireland.
1590 - Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
1595 - Sir Walter Raleigh makes his first expedition to the South American continent.
1600 - East India Company founded
1601 - Earl of Essex is executed for leading a revolt against Elizabeth.
1601 - A Poor Law is passed introducing a poor relief rate on property owners.
1601 - First performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
1603 - Elizabeth I dies at Richmond Palace, Surrey.
|  King James I ( 1603 - 1625 )
1603 - James VI of Scotland becomes King James I of England, Scotland, and Ireland after the death of Elizabeth I.
1603 - The Millenary Petition is presented to James I. It expresses Puritan desires for reforms to the Church of England.
1603 - Plot against James I to set Arabella Stuart on the English throne. Sir Walter Raleigh is implicated and imprisoned.
1604 - The Somerset House Peace Conference results in peace between England and Spain.
1604 - The Hampton Court Conference fails to settle the doctrinal differences between the Anglican Church and its Puritan critics.
1605 - The Gunpowder Plot attempts to blow up King and Parliament.
1606 - The Gunpowder plotters are executed.
1607 - The Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel end their rebellion against English rule of Ireland and flee to Europe; Ulster is colonized by Protestant settlers from Scotland and England.
1607 - The English Parliament rejects Union with Scotland.
1607 - Common citizenship of English and Scottish persons is granted to those born after the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne.
1609 - Shakespeare completes the Sonnets.
1611 - Authorized Version of the Bible is published.
1611 - Dissolution of the first Parliament of James I.
1611 - Imprisonment of Arabella Stuart.
1612 - Henry, Prince of Wales, dies of typhoid. His younger brother, Charles, becomes heir to the throne.
1612 - Heretics are burned at the stake for the last time in England.
1613 - Robert Ker is created Earl of Somerset
1613 - The Globe Theatre in London burns during a performance of Henry VIII
1614 - Second Parliament of James I meets.
1615 - George Villiers becomes James’s favourite.
1616 - Playwright William Shakespeare dies.
1616 - Raleigh is released from prison to lead an expedition to Guiana in search of El Dorado
1617 - George Villiers becomes the Earl of Buckingharn.
1618 - Raleigh is executed for alleged treason at Westminster.
1620 - The Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America in the Mayflower.
1625 - Death of James I, aged 58.
|  King Charles I ( 1625 - 1649 )
1625 - Charles I succeeds his father, James I.
1626 - Parliament attempts to impeach the Duke of Buckingham and is dissolved by Charles.
1627 - England goes to war with France, but at La Rochelle the Duke of Buckingham fails to relieve the besieged Huguenots.
1628 - The Petition of Right a declaration of the “rights and liberties of the subject" is presented to the King, who agrees to it under protest.
1629 - Charles dissolves Parliament and rules by himself until 1640.
1637 - Charles tries to force new prayer book on Scots, who resist by signing the National Covenant.
1639 - Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
1640 - Charles summons the Short Parliament, which lasts for three weeks.
1640 - Long Parliament summoned, which lasts until 1660.
1641 - Abolition of the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission.
1642 - Charles fails in his attempt to arrest five MPs.
1642 - Outbreak of Civil War. The Royalists defeat the Parliamentary army at the Battle of Edgehill.
1643 - Roya]ists defeat Parliamentary army at Chalgrove Field. Further battles result in stalemate.
1644 - Royalists defeated at Marston Moor.
1645 - Parliament creates New Model Army, which defeats the Royalist army at Naseby on 16 June.
1646 - Charles surrenders to the Scots, who hand him over to Parliament.
1646 - Negotiations take place between King and Parliament. King conspires with Scots to invade England on his behalf.
1648 - The Scots are defeated at Preston.
1649 - Charles I is executed
|  King Charles II ( 1660 - 1685 )
1660 - Charles II returns to England from Holland and is restored to the throne.
1662 - Act of Uniformity compels Puritans to accept the doctrines of the Church of England or leave the church.
1665 - Outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1665 - The Great Plague strikes London and over 60,000 die.
1666 - The Great Fire of London rages for four days and three nights.
1667 - The Earl of Clarendon is replaced by a five-man Cabal.
1667 - Paradise Lost by John Milton published
1670 - Secret Treaty of Dover, by which Charles agrees to declare himself a Catholic and restore Catholicism in England in return for secret subsidies from Louis XIV of France.
1671 - Thomas Blood caught stealing the Crown Jewels
1672 - Outbreak of the Third Dutch War.
1673 - Test Act keeps Roman Catholics out of political office.
1678 - The Popish Plot is fabricated by Titus Oates. He alleges a Catholic plot to murder the King and restore Catholicism. The Government over-reacts, and many Catholic subjects are persecuted.
1679 - Exclusion Bill attempts to exclude James, Charles’s Catholic brother, from the succession.
1679 - Habeus Corbus act passed
1682 - Pennsylvania founded in America by William Penn
1685 - Charles is received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed.
|  King James II ( 1685 - 1688 )
1685 - James succeeds his brother, Charles II.
1685 - Rebellion of the Earl of Argyll in Scotland designed to place the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, on the throne is crushed and Argyll is executed.
1685 - The Duke of Monmouth rebels against James, but is defeated at the Battle of Sedgmoor.
1685 - Edict of Nantes allowing freedom of religion to Huguenot Protestants is revoked in France, resulting in thousands of Huguenot craftworkers and traders settling in England.
1686 - James takes first measures to restore Catholicism in England, and sets up a standing army of 13,000 troops at Hounslow to overawe nearby London.
1688 - Declaration of Indulgence suspends all laws against Catholics and Non-Conformists
1688 - James’s wife, Mary of Modena, gives birth to a son and Catholic heir.
1688 - Seven leading statesmen invite William of Orange, son-in-law of James, to England to restore English liberties.
1688 - William of Orange lands at Torbay and advances on London.
1688 - James abdicates and flees to exile in France.
|  King William III and Queen Mary II ( 1689 - 1702 )
1689 - Parliament draws up the Declaration of Right detailing the unconstitutional acts of James II. William and Mary become joint sovereigns.
1689 - Bill of Rights is passed in Parliament.
1689 - Catholic forces loyal to James II land in Ireland from France and lay siege to Londonderry.
1690 - William defeats James at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
1691 - The Treaty of Limerick allows Catholics in Ireland to exercise their religion freely, but severe penal laws soon follow.
1691 - French war begins.
1692 - Glencoe Massacre.
1694 - Bank of England founded by William Paterson
1694 - Death of Mary. William now rules alone.
1697 - Peace of Ryswick ends the war with France.
1701 - The Act of Settlement establishes Hanoverian and Protestant succession to the throne.
1701 - James II dies in exile in France. French king recognizes James II’s son as “James III”.
1701 - William forms grand alliance between England, Holland, and Austria to prevent the union of the French and Spanish crowns.
1701 - War of the Spanish Succession breaks out in Europe over vacant throne.
1702 - William dies after a riding accident.
|  Queen Anne ( 1702 - 1714 )
1702 - Anne succeeds her brother-in-law, William III.
1702 - England declares war on France in the War of the Spanish Succession
1704 - English, Bavarian, and Austrian troops under Marlborough defeat the French at the Battle of Blenheim and save Austria from invasion.
1704 - British capture Gibraltar from Spain.
1706 - Marlborough defeats the French at the Battle of Ramillies, and expels the French from the Netherlands.
1707 - The Act of Union unites the kingdoms of England and Scotland and transfers the seat of Scottish government to London.
1708 - Marlborough defeats the French at the Battle of Oudenarde. The French incur heavy losses.
1708 - Anne vetoes a parliamentary bill to reorganize the Scottish militia, the last time a bill is vetoed by the sovereign.
1709 - Marlborough defeats the French at the Battle of Malplaquet.
1710 - The Whig government falls and a Tory ministry is formed.
1713 - The Treaty of Utrecht is signed by Britain and France, bringing to an end the War of the Spanish Succession.
1714 - Queen Anne dies at Kensington Palace.
|  King George I ( 1714 - 1727 )
1714 - George I, the first Hanoverian King, succeeds his distant cousin, Anne.
1714 - A new Parliament is elected with a strong Whig majority led by Robert Walpole.
1715 - The Jacobite rising begins in Scotland intending to place the ‘Old Pretender” James Edward Stuart, heir to James II on the throne. The rebellion is defeated.
1716 - The Septennial Act allows for General Elections to be held
1717 - Townshend is dismissed from the government by George, causing Walpole to resign
1719 - Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe
1720 - South Sea BubbIe bursts, leaving many investors ruined.
1721 - Sir Robert Walpole returns to government as First Lord of the Treasury where he remains in office until 1742. He is effectively the first Prime Minister.
1722 - Death of the Duke of Marlborough.
1726 - First circulating library in Britain opens in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1726 - Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver’s Travels.
1727 - Death of the scientist, Isaac Newton.
1727 - George I dies in Hanover, aged 67.
|  King George II ( 1727 - 1760 )
1727 - George II succeeds his father, George I.
1732 - A royal charter is granted for the founding of Georgia in America.
1737 - Death of George’s wife, Queen Caroline.
1738 - John and Charles Wesley start the Methodist movement in Britain.
1739 - Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York
1739 - Britain goes to war with Spain over Captain Jenkins’s ear, claimed to have been cut off in a skirmish at sea.
1740 - -1748 The War of Austrian Succession breaks out in Europe.
1742 - Walpole resigns as Prime Minister.
1743 - George leads troops into battle at Dettingen in Bavaria.
1745 - Jacobite Rising in Scotland: Scottish victory at Prestonpans.
1746 - Scots defeated at the Battle of Culloden
1751 - Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. His son, George, becomes heir to the throne.
1757 - Britain declares war against France. Start the Seven Years’ War.
1757 - Robert Clive wins the Battle of Plassey and secures the Indian province of Bengal for Britain.
1757 - William Pitt becomes Prime Minister
1759 - Wolfe captures Quebec and expels the French from Canada.
1760 - George II dies.
|  King George III ( 1760 - 1820 )
1760 - George III becomes king on the death of his grandfather, George II.
1762 - The Earl of Bute is appointed Prime Minister. Bute proves so unpopular that he needs to have a bodyguard.
1763 - Peace of Paris ends the Seven Years’ War.
1765 - Stamp Act raises taxes in American colonies.
1769 - Captain James Cook’s first voyage to explore the Pacific.
1770 - Lord North becomes Prime Minister.
1771 - Encyclopedia Britannica is first published.
1773 - The world’s first cast-iron bridge is constructed over the River Severn at Coalbrookdale.
1773 - Boston Tea Party. American colonists protest against British taxes.
1775 - American War of Independence begins when colonists fight British troops at Lexington.
1775 - James Watt develops the steam engine.
1776 - On 4 July, the American Congress passes the Declaration of Independence.
1781 - Americans supported by the French fleet defeat British at Battle of Yorktown.
1782 - Ireland obtains a short-lived parliament.
1783 - On 3 Sept, The Treaty of Paris ends the American War of Independence. Britain recognizes US independence.
1783 - -1801 William Pitt the Younger serves as Prime Minister.
1788 - George suffers his first attack of porphyria.
1789 - Outbreak of the French Revolution. Storming of the Bastille.
1791 - Publication of James Boswell’s Life of Johnson and Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man.
1793 - -1802 War between Britain and France.
1798 - Nelson destroys French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
1800 - Act of Union with Ireland unites Parliaments of England and Ireland.
1803 - Beginning of Napoleonic Wars
1805 - Nelson defeats French and Spanish fleets off Trafalgar, but is killed during the battle.
1808 - -1814 Peninsular War to drive the French out of Spain.
1810 - Final illness of George III leads to his son becoming Regent in 1811.
1812 - Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated in the House of Commons by a disgruntled bankrupt
1813 - Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is published.
1815 - The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo marks the end the Napoleonic Wars.
1815 - Corn Laws passed by Parliament to protect British agriculture from cheap imports
1818 - The King’s wife, Queen Charlotte, dies.
1818 - Publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
1819 - Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, of political reform campaigners.
1820 - Death of King George Ill, aged 81 years
|  King George IV ( 1820 - 1830 )
1820 - George IV accedes to the throne, having spent the last nine years as Prince Regent for his blind and deranged father.
1820 - A radical plot to murder the Cabinet, known as the Cato Street Conspiracy, fails.
1820 - Trial of Queen Caroline, in which George IV attempts to divorce her for adultery
1821 - Queen Caroline is excluded from coronation.
1823 - The Royal Academy of Music is established in London.
1823 - The British Museum is extended and extensively rebuilt to house expanding collection.
1823 - Rugby schoolboy William Web Ellis, while playing football, picked up the ball and ran with it, inventing Rugby Football.
1824 - The National Gallery is established.
1825 - Nash reconstructs Buckingham Palace.
1825 - The Stockton and Darlington Railway is opened, the world’s first railway service.
1825 - Trade Unions are legalized
1828 - Duke of Wellington becomes British Prime Minister.
1829 - The Metropolitan Police Force is set up by Robert Peel.
1829 - The Catholic Relief Act is passed, permitting Catholics to become Members of Parliament.
1830 - George IV dies at Windsor, aged 67.
|  King William IV ( 1830 - 1837 )
1830 - William IV succeeds his brother, George IV.
1831 - The new London Bridge is opened over the River Thames.
1832 - The First Reform Act is passed, extending votes and redistributing Parliamentary seats on a more equitable basis.1833
1832 - Cholera spreads from Sunderland and runs rampant killing over 20,000 people.
1833 - Abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire following a campaign by Quakers and William Wilberforce.
1833 - Factory Act passed prohibiting children aged less than nine from work in factories, and reducing the working hours of women and older children.
1834 - Poor Law Act is passed, creating workhouses for the poor.
1834 - The Tolpuddle Martyrs are transported to Australia for attempting to form a trade union.
1834 - Fire destroys the Houses of Parliament.
1835 - TheMunicipal Reform Act is passed, requiring members of town councils to be elected by ratepayers and councils to publish their financial accounts.
1836 - Births, marriages and deaths must be registered by law
1836 - Dickens publishes Oliver Twist, drawing attention to Britain’s poor
1837 - William IV dies at Windsor Castle.
|  Queen Victoria ( 1837 - 1901 )
1837 - Victoria succeeds her uncle, William IV
1838 - Publication of People’s Charter. Start of Chartism.
1840 - Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
1840 - The Penny Post is introduced.
1841 - Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister
1842 - End of First Opium War. Britain gains Hong Kong
1845 - - 1849 Irish Potato Famine kills more than a million people.
1846 - Repeal of the Corn Laws
1848 - Major Chartist demonstration in London.
1851 - Great Exhibition takes place in Hyde Park. Its success is largely due to Prince Albert.
1852 - Death of the Duke of Wellington
1853 - Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory.
1853 - Victoria uses chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopold.
1854 - -1856 Crimean War fought by Britain and France against Russia.
1856 - The Victoria Cross is instituted for military bravery.
1857 - -1858 Indian Mutiny against British rule.
1859 - Publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species.
1861 - Prince Albert dies of typhoid
1863 - Edward, Prince of Wales, marries Alexandra of Denmark
1863 - The Salvation Army is founded.
1867 - The Second Reform Bill doubles the franchise vote to two million.
1867 - Canada becomes the first independent dominion in the Empire.
1868 - Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time.
1869 - The Irish Church is disestablished.
1870 - Primary education becomes compulsory.
1871 - Trade Unions are legalized
1872 - Secret voting is introduced for elections.
1874 - Disraeli becomes Prime Minister for the second time.
1875 - Suez Canal shares purchased for Britain.
1876 - Victoria becomes Empress of India.
1884 - Third Reform Act further extends franchise.
1886 - First Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass House of of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister.
1887 - Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee
1887 - Independent Labour Party is founded.
1893 - Second Irish Horne Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords.
1897 - Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee her Diamond Jubilee.
1899 - -1902 Boer War in South Africa.
1901 - Queen Victoria dies, aged 81.
|  King Edward VII ( 1901 - 1910 )
1901 - Edward VII becomes King on the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
1901 - Australia is granted dominion status.
1902 - Arthur Balfour becomes Prime Minister.
1902 - Edward VII institutes the Order of Merit.
1902 - Empire Day is celebrated for the first tline.
1902 - Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories published.
1903 - Wilbur and Orville Wright of the US make the first aircraft flight.
1903 - The Women’s Social and Political Union, demanding votes for women, is founded by Mrs. Ermneline Pankhurst.
1904 - Britain and France sign the Entente Cordiale, settling outstanding territorial disputes.
1904 - Sigmund Freud publishes Psychopathology of Everyday Life.
1904 - Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie is published.
1905 - Motor buses are first used in London.
1907 - Edward VII visits Czar Nicholas II of Russia
1907 - Taxi-cabs are legally recognized in Britain for the first time.
1907 - Baden-Powell takes the first ever group of boy scouts on holiday to Brownsea island, Dorset.
1907 - Parliament rejects Channel Tunnel scheme.
1907 - New Zealand is granted dominion status.
1908 - Production of Ford motor cars begins.
1908 - Publication The Wind in the WilIows by Kenneth Grahame
1908 - The fourth Olympic Games are held in London.
1908 - Herbert Her Asquith becomes Prime Minister.
1908 - The Triple Entente is signed between Russia, France, and Britain.
1908 - The Children’s Act establishes separate juvenile courts to try children.
1908 - Old Age Pension Scheme established in Britain.
1909 - The People’s Budget is introduced by Lloyd George
1909 - The Women’s Suffiage movement becomes more militant.
1909 - Introduction of Labour Exchanges
1909 - French airman, Louis Blériot, makes the first cross-Channel flight from Calais to Dover.
1909 - First rugby match to be played Twickenham takes place.
1909 - First Boy Scout Rally is held at Crystal Palace, London.
1910 - Constitutional Crisis is caused by the House of Commons’ attempt to curb the power of the House of Lords.
1910 - Edward dies at Buckingham Palace.
|  King George V ( 1910 - 1936 )
1910 - George V becomes King and Emperor of India on the death of his father, Edward VII.
1911 - Parliament Act ensures the sovereignty of the House of Commons.
1911 - National Insurance Act provides sickness and unemployment benefits.
1912 - The luxury passenger ship S.S. Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage, drowning more than 1,500 people.
1914 - Anglican Church in Wales is disestablished.
1914 - Outbreak of World War I.
1914 - Battles of Mons, the Marne, and Ypres.
1915 - Second Battle of Ypres. Allied Gallipoli expedition fails to remove Turkey from the war.
1916 - 1916 Battle of the Somme. Naval battle off Jutland between British and German fleets.
1916 - Easter Rising in Dublin in support of Irish independence.
1916 - David Lloyd George replaces Asquith as Prime Minister.
1917 - Battle of Passchendale.
1917 - Russian Revolution leads to the abdication of the Tsar.
1918 - The end of World War I.
1918 - Reform Act gives votes to women over 30.
1918 - General Election produces landslide victory for Sinn Fein MPs in Ireland, who refuse to take their seats in Westminster and form their own DalI parliament in Dublin.
1919 - Lady Astor becomes the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons
1919 - -1921 Ireland partitioned into the Free State and the province of Northern Ireland.
1920 - Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
1920 - A flu epidemic rages around the world killing more than 20 million people.
1920 - First Labour government formed by Ramsay MacDonald.
1926 - General Strike fails to reverse wage cuts and imposition of longer hours.
1928 - All women over the age of 21 get the vote.
1928 - George V falls seriously ill with blood poisoning of the lung.
1931 - The Statute of Westminster recognizes independence of. the dominions.
1931 - Great Depression leads to the formation of a national government of all three political parties under the leadership of Ramsay MacDonald.
1932 - George V makes the first annual Christmas broadcast on radio.
1935 - George V celebrates his Silver Jubilee.
1936 - George V dies at Sandringham.
|  King Edward VIII ( 1936 )
1936 - Edward VIII succeeds his father, George V, as King on 20 January.
1936 - Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
1936 - Germany, under Adolf Hitler, reoccupies the demilitarized left bank of the Rhine.
1936 - Britain begins to rearm as political tension increases in Europe and the prospect of military conflict in the region becomes more evident.
1936 - Fire destroys Crystal Palace, once the home of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park but now located in Sydenham, south London.
1936 - J.M. Keynes publishes his book General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, an internationally influential study of modern economics.
1936 - Maiden voyage of luxury ocean liner the Queen Mary takes place.
1936 - The BBC inaugurates the world’s first television service at Alexandra Palace in London.
1936 - On 10 December Edward signs the Instrument of Abdication. Witnessed by all his brothers, it is a simple declaration of his intent to renounce the throne for himself and all his descendants. He is subsequently created Duke of Windsor.
|  King George VI ( 1936 - 1952 )
1936 - George VI accedes to the throne upon the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII
1936 - Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signs agreement with Hitler at Munich in attempt to stop outbreak of war in Europe
1939 - Outbreak of World War II.
1940 - Retreating British troops evacuated from beaches of Dunkirk as Germans advance.
1940 - Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister.
1940 - Battle of Britain fought in the skies over England between RAF and German Luftwaffe.
1941 - US enters War after Japanese air raid on US fleet at Pearl Harbor.
1942 - Decisive British victory at El Alamein.
1944 - D-Day landings in Normandy as the Allies begin to push the German forces back across Europe.
1945 - The defeat of Germany marks the end of the War in Europe.
1945 - Japan surrenders, after US drops atomic bombs on its cities.
1947 - India and Pakistan granted independence.
1948 - National Health Service establishes free medical treatment.
1950 - -1953 Korean War
1951 - Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister again.
1952 - George VI dies.
|  Queen Elizabeth II ( 1952 - )
1952 - Elizabeth accedes to the throne on the death of her father, George VI.
1953 - Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climb Mount Everest just before Coronation Day
1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by Anthony Eden.
1956 - Anglo-French forces invade Egypt after the nationalization of the Suez Canal.
1957 - Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
1957 - The Gold Coast becomes independent as Ghana, the first British colony in Black Africa to receive its independence.
1959 - Oil is discovered in the North Sea.
1960 - Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister makes “winds of change” speech in South Africa.
1960 - Union of South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth.
1963 - Alec Douglas-Hume replaces Harold Macmillan as the Prime Minister.
1963 - The Beatles release their first LP.
1964 - Labour government of Harold Wilson takes office
1969 - Charles is invested as Prince of Wales.
1969 - Troubles break out in the North of Ireland
1970 - Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister.
1971 - Decimal currency is introduced.
1973 - Britain joins the European Community.
1974 - Harold Wilson returns as Prime Minister.
1978 - Margaret Thatcher succeeds James Callaghan, becoming Britain’s first woman Prime Minister.
1979 - In Manchester the worlds first test-tube baby is born
1981 - Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
1982 - Unemployment tops three million.
1982 - Britain goes to war with Argentina over control of the Falkland Islands
1986 - Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60th birthday.
1989 - Poll tax is introduced amid widespread protest.
1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister after 11 years and is succeeded by John Major.
1991 - The Allied forces liberate Kuwait during the Gulf War.
1996 - Both the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Duke and Duchess of York divorce.
1997 - Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister and ends 18 years of Conservative government.
1997 - Hong Kong reverts to China after 155 years of British rule.
1997 - Princess of Wales dies in Paris car crash
1999 - Edward, Earl of Wessex, marries Sophie Rhys-Jones.
2000 - Queen Mother celebrates her 100th birthday.
2002 - Queen Elizabeth II marks 50 years of rule. Queen Mother and Princess Margaret die.
2003 - British and US forces invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein
2005 - Prince Charles marries his second wife Camilla Parker-Bowles and she is given the title of Duchess of Cornwall
2006 - Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 80th birthday.
2007 - Tony Blair resigns as Prime Minister
2007 - Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip celebrate 60 years of marriage
2007 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever reigning British monarch
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