Family history is not just about names and dates but how, when and where our ancestors lived and also what was going on in the world around them at the time. So here is a timeline I use when writing my narratives, to put my own family story (from Lancashire, England) in a wider context of national and international events and also social developments that had an impact on ordinary people's lives.
1736 - John Danson, my great, great, great, great grandfather was baptised.
1745 - Jacobite Rebellion led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart.
1768 - Captain James Cook charted the east coast of Australia.
1767 - Henry Danson, my great, great, great grandfather was born.
1775 - Start of the American War of Independence against British rule.
1789 - Storming of the Bastille in Paris and the start of the French Revolution.
1805 - Battle of Trafalgar and victory by Lord Nelson.
1806 - Henry Danson, my great great grandfather was born.
1815 - Battle of Waterloo and the defeat of Napoleon.
1830 - First passenger steam railway opened in the UK.
1833 - Factory Act forbade the employment of children under 9 years old.
1837 - Queen Victoria came to the throne.
1838 - Charles Dickens wrote "Oliver Twist".
1840 - Penny Post introduced in the UK.
1851 - Great Exhibition took place at Crystal Palace,London.
1853 - James Danson, my great grandfather was born.
1855 - Florence Nightingale went to nurse the injured in the Crimean War.
1859 - Maria Rawcliffe, my great grandmother, was born.
1873 - The typewriter was invented.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell transmit ed the first message by telephone.
1877 - James Danson and Mariia Rawcliffe, my great grandparents married.
1885 - William Danson, my grandfather, was born.
1886 - Statue of Liberty unveiled.
1886 - Alice Mason, nee Rawcliffe set sail for New York with 6 children.
1888 - Kodak invented the box camera.
1893 - Independent Labour Party formed by Keir Hardie.
1896 - Speed limit for horseless carriages raised to 14 miles per hour.
1901 - Queen Victoria died.
1907 - William Danson and Alice English, my grandparents, married.
1908 - Kathleen Danson, my mother, was born.
1912 - Titanic Disaster, when the transatlantic liner hit an iceberg on April 15th
1912 - John P. Weston, my father, was born on April 15th.
1914 - Outbreak of World War One
1916 - George Danson, my great uncle, was killed at the Battle of the Somme.
1928 - Women over 21 in the UK gained the vote on equal terms as men.
1929 - Wall Street Crash and start of the Great Depression
1938 - John Weston and Kathleen Danson, my parents, married.
1939 - Outbreak of World War Two
1948 - Introduction of National Health Service in Britain.
