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More details Countess Constance Markiewicz

Constance Markievicz becomes first woman elected to U.K.’s House of Commons

Peter Schulte / July 7, 1918

Constance Georgine Markievicz was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament. On 28 December 1918, she was the first woman elected to the UK House of Commons, though, being in Holloway Prison at the time and in accordance with party policy, she did not take her seat. She was also one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position, as Ireland’s Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922.

Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague

Peter Schulte / August 25, 1894

He traveled to Hong Kong in 1894 at the request of the Japanese government during an outbreak of the bubonic plague, and identified a bacterium that he concluded was causing the disease.

James Blyth's windmill at his cottage in Marykirk in 1891

James Blyth of Scotland builds world’s first ever wind turbine used for electricity generation

Peter Schulte / July 10, 1887

Blyth’s 10 m high, cloth-sailed wind turbine was installed in the garden of his holiday cottage at Marykirk in Kincardineshire and was used to charge accumulators developed by the Frenchman Camille Alphonse Faure, to power the lighting in the cottage, thus making it the first house in the world to have its electricity supplied by wind power. Blyth offered the surplus electricity to the people of Marykirk for lighting the main street, however, they turned down the offer as they thought electricity was “the work of the devil.”

Oxford English Dictionary debuts

Peter Schulte / February 2, 1884

The Oxford English Dictionary is now the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press.

The world’s first underground railway, the London Underground, opens

Peter Schulte / January 24, 1863

The world’s first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon in London using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives.

The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery in parts of the British Empire

Peter Schulte / June 27, 1833

This Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom expanded the jurisdiction of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and made the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal within the British Empire, with the exception of “the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company.”

William Sturgeon invents the electromagnet

Peter Schulte / December 6, 1824

British scientist William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet in 1824. His first electromagnet was a horseshoe-shaped piece of iron that was wrapped with about 18 turns of bare copper wire.

Modern football, or soccer, begins to become officially codified for the first time

Peter Schulte / February 15, 1810

The codification of soccer began in the public schools of Britain at the beginning of the 19th century. Within the private school system “football” was a game in which the hands were used during periods of play and grappling allowed, but otherwise, the modern shape of soccer was being formed.

British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire

Peter Schulte / March 25, 1807

The Royal Navy established the West Africa Squadron in 1808 to patrol the coast of West Africa, and between 1808 and 1860 freed 150,000 Africans aboard slave ships.

Samuel Bentham invents plywood

Peter Schulte / December 24, 1797

In his patent applications, he described the concept of laminating several layers of veneer with glue to form a thicker piece — the first description of what we now call plywood.