Below is a basic timeline of events of great importance to British history occurring during the period covered by this site. Sport is never unaffected by social change, it is important to bear the broader perspective in mind.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1554 | Edward VI dies, Mary assumes the throne after brief interlude involving claims made on behalf of Lady Jane Grey. |
| 1558 | Queen Mary I dies and Elizabeth I becomes Queen. The Reformation resumes |
| 1588 | Spanish Armada defeated. |
| 1589 | William Shakespeare writes his first play, now known as Henry VI, part I |
| 1593 | Act against papists passed into law. |
| 1599 | Globe theatre opens in London. |
| 1601 | First performance of Hamlet. |
| 1603 | Elizabeth I dies and King James VI of Scotland ascends to the English throne, becoming James I of England and uniting the crowns – but not the two kingdoms. |
| 1605 | Gunpowder plot discovered. |
| 1625 | James I dies and Charles I becomes King. |
| 1639 | The first Bishops Wars – opening of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. |
| 1640 | Long Parliament convened |
| 1641-1648 | Irish rebellion over many disputes including religion, political power, land ownership and the role the English. |
| 1642-1649 | First and second English Civil wars over balance of power between Parliament and Charles I. |
| 1642 | Theatres closed by action of Puritans. |
| 1649 | Execution of Charles I brings Second English Civil War to an end and starts the Interregnum. |
| 1649-1653 | The Irish Cromwellian War about subduing Ireland making the country a British Colony. |
| 1650 – 1652 | The Third English Civil War / Anglo-Scottish War. |
| 1651 | Battle of Worcester, end of Civil War, Charles Stuart, son of Charles I, escapes to France. |
| 1653 | Dissolution of the Rump Parliament. |
| 1653 | Oliver Cromwell made Lord Protector. |
| 1658 | Death of Cromwell. |
| 1660 | The Restoration of the Monarchy: Charles Stuart becomes King Charles II of England and Scotland after Parliament invited him to return to England. |
| 1665 | The Great Plague struck. |
| 1666 | Great Fire of London. |
| 1678 | The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan is published, a Christian allegory of the soul’s journey from worldliness to eternal salvation. |
| 1685 | Charles II dies, his brother becomes King James II of England and Scotland. |
| 1688 | ‘Glorious Revolution’ – James II deposed due to attempts to revive the Roman Catholic religion in Britain; replaced jointly by the elder daughter of his first marriage who becomes Queen Mary II, and her Dutch husband, James’s nephew, who becomes King William III of Orange. |
| 1694 | Mary II dies, William III reigns alone. |
| 1701 | The Act of Settlement settles the royal succession on the Protestant Hanoverian family. |
| 1702 | While riding in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, William III’s horse stumbled on a molehill, throwing him and breaking his collarbone and he subsequently dies. Anne, younger daughter of the first marriage of James II, sister of Mary II, becomes Queen Anne of England and Scotland. |
| 1704 | Battle of Blenheim: A combined Dutch and English army defeats France in Bavaria. |
| 1707 | Act of Union of Scotland with England as Scottish parliament is abolished. |
| 1712 | Alexander Pope publishes his most famous work, The Rape of the Lock. |
| 1714 | Queen Anne dies. Despite 17 pregnancies, she died without surviving issue and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. Her second cousin, George of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain. |
| 1715 | The Jacobite Rebellion of the Old Pretender (James Stuart, son of the second marriage of James II) takes place. |
| 1719 | Publication of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, generally considered the first novel in English. |
| 1721 | Robert Walpole becomes the first prime minister of Great Britain. |
| 1722 | Blenheim Castle finished, a gift to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. |
| 1727 | George I dies, his son becomes King George II of Great Britain. |
| 1735 | William Hogarth publishes A Rake’s Progress, a series which shows the decline and fall the spendthrift heir of a rich merchant, who wastes all his money on luxurious living, prostitution and gambling, |
| 1735 | George II’s son, Frederick Prince of Wales dies, aged 44. It is sometimes suggested the cause was the delayed effect of being hit with a ball while fielding in a cricket match. |
| 1743 | London Premier of Handel’s Messiah at the Covent Garden Theatre. |
| 1744 | First known Laws of Cricket agreed at the Start and Garter Inn, London, the first code of rules of any team game. |
| 1745 | The Jacobite Rebellion of the Young Pretender (Charles Stuart, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, grandson of James II) begins. |
| 1745 | William Hogarth completes his satirical series of paintings, Marriage A-la-Mode. |
| 1746 | The Battle of Culloden, the last battle to have taken place on British soil, is fought. Jacobites defeated marking the effective end of their rebellion. |
| 1749 | Horace Walpole starts the building of Strawberry Hill House, near Twickenham. |
| 1750 | Thomas Gainsborough paints ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ an oil on canvas portrait, now in the National Gallery. |
| 1751 | The Gregorian Calendar is introduced, correcting the 11-day difference and making 1 January New Year’s Day. |
| 1750 | Jockey Club formed at Star and Garter Inn, London. |
| 1755 | Johnson’s Dictionary published. |
| 1756–63 | The Seven Years War. Victory brings Canada and eastern India under British control. |
| 1760 | George II dies; his son Frederick having died already (see 1735), his grandson becomes King George III of Great Britain. He reigns until 1820, subject to a period of regency 1811 to 1820. |
| 1769 | James Watt patents the steam engine. |
| 1771 | Captain Cook completes first voyage around the world |
| 1771 | Warren Hastings made first Governor of Bengal |
| 1773 | She Stoops to Conquer, a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London |
| 1775 | J.M.W. Turner born. |
| 1775 | Jane Austen born. |
| 1775–83 | American War of Independence against Britain. |
| 1776 | Adam Smith publishes Wealth of Nations. |
| 1779 | First Derby at Epson Downs. |
| 1779 | The first Iron Bridge completed, at Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, an important landmark in the Industrial Revolution. |
| 1780 | The Gordon Riots took place in protest against the Papists Act 1778. In 1841, made the subject of Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens. |
| 1783 | William Pitt the Younger becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1785 | The first edition of the Times is published. |
| 1787 | MCC formed. |
| 1788 | The beginning of the movement to abolish slavery, with the first public meeting of abolitionists in Bristol. |
| 1788 | Lord Byron born. |
| 1789 | French Revolution. |
| 1789 | William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence and Experience. |
| 1791 | Publication of The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine. |
| 1793–1815 | Napoleonic wars against France. They finally end in British victory at Waterloo. |
| 1798 | William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge publish Lyrical Ballards, the launch of the Romantic Poetry movement. |