December 20th - 29th
20th December
Events
1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by
Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.
1955 –
Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of
Wales
Births
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| Edwin Abbott Abbott |
Deaths
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| Robert Knox FRSE, FRCSE around 1830 |
Born 1791,
the eighth child of Robert Knox, teacher of mathematics and national philosophy
at Heriot’s Hospital, Edinburgh and his wife Mary Scherer. As a child Knox contract smallpox, which left
his face disfigured and destroyed his left eye.
He was educated at Royal High School of Edinburgh. 1810, Knox joined the medical classes of the
University of Edinburgh.
After completing
university, Knox joined the army where he was commissioned Hospital Assistant, having
attended the wounded at the Battle of Waterloo.
Returning to
Edinburgh, Knox was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Soon afterwards, Knox was elected Royal
College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Knox was a
lecturer on anatomy at Edinburgh, where he introduced the theory of
transcendental anatomy. Knox is best
remembered for his involvement in the Burke and Hare murders, and the obtaining
of cadavers for dissection after the passage of the Anatomy Act, 1832. A disagreement with his professional
colleagues ruined his career. Knox was expelled
from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
After the
death of his wife, Susan, Knox moved to London where obtaining employment difficult. At the time of the Crimean, Knox was too old
after tying for a posting.
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| Robert Knox's Grave Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey |
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| Robert Knox's Grave Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey |
1856, Knox was a pathological anatomist at the Free Cancer Hospital, London. During 1860 being elected an Honorary Fellow of the Ethnological Society for London. Dying at Hackney, Knox is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
21st December
Events
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| Mayflower at sea |
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| HMS Challenger under sail, 1874 |
1872 – H.M.S. Challenger commanded by Captain George Nares sails from Plymouth to undertake the
Challenger expedition. An expedition of
1872-1876 of a scientific program to discovery the foundation of the oceanography.
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| Theatrical release poster |
Births
 |
| Jack Russell dressed in his hunting clothes |
1804 – Benjamin Disraeli – English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister.
Deaths
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| Contemporary portrait of John Newton |
22nd December
Events
1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theatre an
der Wien, Vienna the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano
Concerto and Choral Fantasy
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| Alfred Dreyfus c. 1894 |
Births
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| John Obadiah Westwood |
 |
| Joseph Arthur Rank |
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| Peggy Ashcroft in 1936 |
1907 – Peggy Ashcroft – English actress. Ashcroft’s career lasted over 60 years. Her first film “The Wandering Jew”, 1933 to her last film, “Madame Sousatzka”, 1988.
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| Patricia Lawlor Haynes |
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| Danny O'Dea as Eli Duckett in Last of the Summer Wine |
Deaths
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| John Newbery |
 |
| Percivall Pott, engraved from an original picture by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, National Library of Medicine, Images from the History of Medicine. |
1788 – Percivall Potts (74) – English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics,
and the first scientist to demonstrate that cancer may be caused by an
environmental carcinogen.
 |
| Portrait of George Eliot, c. 1849 |
1880 – George Eliot (61) – English novelist and poet.
Born 1819,
Mary Ann Evans, the daughter of Robert Evans and Christina Pearson. During a young age, Evans was a voracious
reader. Evans was known by her pen name George
Eliot, who wrote seven novels “Adam Bede” (1859), “The Mill on the
Floss” (1860), “Romola” (1862-63), “Felix Holt, the Radical”
(1866), “Middlemarch” (1871-72) and “Daniel Deronda” (1876).
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| George Eliot's grave Highgate Cemetery, London |
Evans was not buried at Westminster Abbey, due to denial of the Christian faith and her adulterous affair with George Henry Lewes. She was buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.
23rd December
Events
1919 –
Sex Disqualification (Removal)
Act, 1919 becomes
law in the United Kingdom.
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| North Tower World Trade Center |
Births
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| Arthur Gilligan in 1928 |
Deaths
 |
| Constance Naden |
Born 1858,
daughter of Thomas Naden, an architect and his wife Caroline Ann Woodhill. Caroline died two weeks after the birth. Naden, is best remembered for lecturing on
philosophy and science and also publishing two volumes of poetry. After her death, further books, “Induction
and deduction, and other essays” (1890), “Further Reliques of Constance Naden”
(1891) and “The Complete Poetical Works of Constance Naden” (1894) volumes
were published. William Ewart Gladstone
considered her one of the 19th century’s foremost female poets.
Naden, is
buried with her mother and maternal grandparents at Key Hill Cemetery,
Birmingham.
24th December
Events
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| Photograph from the International Space Station |
1800 –
The Plot of the rue
Saint-Nicaise fails
to kill Napoleon Bonaparte. Although Bonaparte and his wife Josephine narrowly
escaped the attempt, five people were killed and a further twenty-six were injured
 |
| The leading British delegate Lord Gambier is shaking hands with the American leader John Quincy Adams. The British Undersecretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Goulburn, is carrying a red folder. |
1814 – The Treaty of Ghent is signed by the representatives of
both the United Kingdom and the United States, thus ending the War of 1812. The Treaty took effect from February 1815.
1818 –
The first performance of “Silent Night” takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus, Oberndorft,
Austria
Births
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| Portrait of George Crabbe by Henry William Pickersgill, |
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| Matthew Arnold, by Elliott & Fry, circa 1883 |
Deaths
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| Portrait of Sir Charles Eastlake PRA, National Gallery, London |
Born 1793,
was the fourth son of Admiralty lawyer. Eastlake was educated at Plymouth and
Chesterhouse. By 1809 was a student of
Benjamin Haydon and studied at the Royal Academy. Eastlake first notable painting was of Napoleon
on Board the Bellerophon in Plymouth Sound, 1815.
Eastlake was
notable figure in the British art establishment having been appointed the first
President of the Photographic Society during 1853 and the first Director of the
National Gallery, 1855. This was marred
by the signal failure of the National Gallery to fulfil the terms of bequest of
J.M.W. Turner.
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| Charles Eastlake grave Kensal Green Cemetery, London |
Eastlake died at Pisa, Italy and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
25th December
Events
1066 – William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at
Westminster Abbey, London.
Births
1766 –
Christmas Evans – Welsh Nonconformist preacher
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| Drawing of Dorothy Wordsworth in middle age |
Deaths
 |
| James Harvey |
 |
| Young Tom Morris wearing the Challenge Belt |
Born 1851,
St. Andrews, Scotland – the “Home of Golf”.
His father, also Thomas Morris, Old Tom Morris, was the greenkeeper and
professional of the St. Andrews Links. Young
Tom Morris’s first Open Championship win was aged 17. He was the youngest major champion and a
record that still hold today.
Young Tom
Morris was considered one of the pioneers of the professional game of golf, and
a prodigy in the history of golf.
26th December
Events
1860 –
The first ever inter-club English association football match takes place between Hallam and Sheffield
Births
 |
| Mary Somerville |
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| Charles Babbage |
1791 – Charles Babbage – English mathematician and engineer invented the Difference engine. Considered to be the “Father of the Computer”
 |
| Hodge at the 1920 Olympics |
1890 – Percy Hodge – British athlete, winner of the 3000m steeplechase during the 1920 Summer Olympics
Deaths
 |
| John Fothergill by Gilbert Stuart |
Born 1712, son
of John Fothergill, Quaker preacher and farmer and his wife, Margaret Hough. Fothergill, apprenticed to an apothecary,
later taking his degree at Edinburgh. With
further studies at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London during 1736.
After settling
in London, after visiting the continental Europe, Fothergill gained extensive practice.
1745,
Fothergill gave a brief lecture to the Royal Society of London, citing the works
of William Tossach, Scottish physician and surgeon, to which it was the first
known lecture on practice of mouth-to-mouth ventilation.
Fothergill brought
Upton House, Stratford, London during 1762.
Its grounds he built an extensive botanical garden where he grew rare
plants obtained from various parts of the world. Today the garden is now West Ham Park.
27th December
Events
1703 –
The Methuen Treaty is signed between Portugal and England,
which gives the preference to Portuguese imported wine into England.
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| Darwin, c. 1854, when he was preparing On the Origin of Species for publication |
Births
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| Greenstreet in Across the Pacific (1942) |
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| Irene Handl in the 1966 BBC TV comedy Mum's Boys |
Deaths
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| Joanna Southcott |
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| William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong |
1900 – William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong (90) – English engineer and businessman who founded Armstrong Whitworth.
Born 1810,
son of William Armstrong, a corn merchant and Anne Potter. Armstrong educated at the Royal Grammar School,
Newcastle upon Tyne followed by education at Bishop Auckland Grammar
School.
Armstrong
embarked on a career in law, working for a solicitor for eleven years,
Armstrong showed a great interest in engineering and developed the between 1840
and 1842 to “Armstrong Hydroelectric Machine”.
1854, during
the Crimean War, Armstrong designed a lighter, more mobile filed gun, with a
greater range and accuracy. He also
built the breech-loading gun. For these
developments, Armstrong was knighted.
Armstrong,
along with the collaboration of Richard Norman Shaw, architect built Cragside,
Northumberland. The first house to lit
by hydroelectricity.
1864, two
companies, W. G. Armstrong & Company and Elswick Ordnance Company merged to
form Sir W. G. Armstrong & Company, with employment from the War Office. The attention of naval guns. With further companies merging together, to specialising
in warship production.
28th December
Events
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| A contemporary illustration |
Births
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| Photograph by Harris & Ewing, 1919 |
Deaths
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| An engraving of Rob Roy, ca. 1820 |
29th December
Events
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| Front cover of the first edition, published by B. W. Huebsch in 1916 |
Births
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| Charles Macintosh |
Deaths
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| Christina Georgina Rossetti |
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| Christina Georgina Rossetti grave Highgate Cemetery, London |
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