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1891 - 19001891 March 18: First telephone link between London & Paris April 5: Sixth full British Census Primary education made free and compulsory 1892 Electric oven invented Shop Hours Act – limit 74 hours per week for under-18s May 20: Last broad-gauge train leaves Paddington for Plymouth 1893 Keir Hardy founds Independent Labour Party Henry Ford's first car Zip fastener invented The first country to give women the right
to vote was New Zealand, which adopted the policy in 1893. Australia followed in 1902, and
13 other countries had enfranchised women by 1919, including the United States. Britain
did not achieve universal suffrage for women until 1928; in 1918 only women aged 30 or
over who were householders, householder's wives, or university graduates were
enfranchised. New Zealand was also a world leader in several other kinds of social reform,
including social security, which it embraced in 1898. 1894 January 1: Manchester Ship Canal opens Local Government Act passed (start of civil parish councils, etc) Picture postcard introduced in Britain June 30: Tower Bridge opens 1895 January 12: The National Trust founded in England March 22: First public showing of film on screen in Paris by Lumières Röntgen discovers x-rays Gugliemo Marconi invents wireless telegraphy – message over a mile Safety razor invented by King C Gillette July 12: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in
Britain October 17: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences – John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey Motion pictures became a
reality at the end of the 19th century, thanks initially to the pioneering work of two
men, Etienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge. Inspired by Mareys studies of
animal motion, Muybridge invented the Zoopraxiscope, a device for viewing the movement of
people and animals. By 1891 Thomas Alva Edison and W. K. L. Dickson had patented the
Kinetoscope, a large apparatus that permitted one person at a time to view images through
a peephole mechanism. More successful, however, was the Lumière brothers
Cinématographe, a projector that took and printed the film beforehand, which they
demonstrated in 1895. 1896 Opening of the Underground Railway (the "shooglie") in Glasgow
– remains the only underground in Scotland 1897 June 22: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
In England, postmen deliver mail to every home. 1898 First photograph using artificial light Zeppelin builds airship The Curies discover Radium 1899-1902 Second Boer War 1899 October: Start of Second Boer War The South African Wars
(1899-1902) were a series of bitter conflicts between the Dutch South African settlers
(Afrikaners) under the leadership of Paul Kruger, and Britain. The Afrikaners feared the
loss of the Transvaal, thanks to British imperialist ambition and the discovery of gold in
the region, and formed an alliance with the Orange Free State (now Free State). British
settlers (Uitlanders) in the Transvaal were heavily taxed and refused the vote, which
ultimately led to an Uitlander revolt against the Afrikaners. This was the work of
Cecil Rhodes, premier of the Cape of Good Hope, whose plan was to bring all of South
Africa into the British Empire. In 1899 Kruger demanded the immediate removal of all
British troops in the Transvaal, and when this request was ignored the Afrikaners declared
war, invading the British territories of Natal (see KwaZulu-Natal) and Cape Colony
(see Cape Province). At first, the victories went to the Afrikaners, but with the
landing of British reinforcements in 1900 under Kitchener and Roberts, the Afrikaners were
gradually overwhelmed. British tactics included the "scorched earth policy", and
the introduction of concentration camps. With both sides weary and sick of fighting, in
May 1902 the Afrikaners finally signed the Treaty of Vereeniging. This brought hostilities
to an end, at the cost to the Afrikaners of Transvaal and the Orange Free State becoming
British colonies. Valdemar Poulsen invents tape recorder Aspirin invented 1900 Commonwealth of Australia founded February 28: Relief of Ladysmith May 17: Relief of Mafeking June/July: Boxer rising in Peking |
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