Notable Anniversaries in 2017

1000th anniversary of England divided into four
In 1017, the Danish king of England, Cnut married Emma of Normandy, the widow of his former enemy, Ethelred ‘the Unready’. Cnut also divided England into four earldoms – Northumbria Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia – each previously kingdoms in their own right.

375th anniversary of the start of the English Civil War

The so-called English Civil War (in fact, it was a British affair) was one of the most significant events in our history. On 22nd August 1642, King Charles I raised his standard over the battlements of Nottingham Castle. Thus, he marked the beginning of the armed conflict between monarch and parliament that would end with his own execution in 1649 – and the making of a more modern Britain.

200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen

Author Jane Austen died, probably as a consequence of Addison’s disease, on 18th July 1817 in Winchester. Jane Austen was born in the rectory at Steventon, Hampshire, on 16th December 1775 and is best known for just six major novels, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815), followed by Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818. Austen may not be your thing – but as the lady said, “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other”.

150th anniversaries

Antiseptics – between March and July 1867, Joseph Lister published his theories on antiseptics in the medical journal, the Lancet. Lister was professor of surgery at the University of Glasgow and, inspired by the work of Louis Pasteur, had decided to experiment with dressings soaked in carbolic acid to cover open wounds. The rate of infection – a killer in hospitals at the time – reduced. Lister went on to advocate hand-washing, sterilising instruments and spraying carbolic in the theatre while operating.

2nd Reform Act – the Second Reform Act passed by Parliament in 1867 roughly doubled the electorate in the United Kingdom from one to two million men – an estimated 33% of all adult males. The act was introduced by the Conservative Benjamin Disraeli, who persuaded his colleagues that the people would be grateful and vote for them; the following year’s General Election was won by the Liberals.

100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele

Known as Third Ypres, or, simply, Passchendaele. It is seared into the national memory. Britain and its allies had held the old Flemish cloth town of Ypres since 1914; it was a salient on the front line, with the Germans holding the surrounding higher ground on three sides. The British planned an offensive with the specific aims of breaking through to the Belgian coast to prevent the use of ports by German submarines and relieving pressure on the French, whose troops had mutinied in April. A precursor to the main assault was the need to clear German troops from high ground on the Messines Ridge south of Ypres. This commenced in the early hours of 8th June with the explosion of 19 out of 21 massive mines that had been covertly laid under the German lines. The blast could be heard in the south of England and the results were predictably horrendous – it is estimated that 10,000 Germans perished in the carnage. By 17th June the objectives on the Messines Ridge had largely been achieved.
Two mines did not explode – one is still there, buried under the Belgian countryside.
The main offensive began on 31st July and lasted until 6th November, when Canadian troops finally took the tiny village of Passchendaele. What the planners had not foreseen was the worst rain in years. This turned the low-lying, sodden ground, already pockmarked and full of the detritus of almost three years of warfare, into a slimy hell where men could drown, become disorientated and simply disappear.

The British and their allies advanced about 4½ miles and never reached the coast. Casualty figures vary from one source to another – but it is estimated that Great Britain and her allies lost 62,000 men with 164,000 wounded and the Germans 83,000 dead with 250,000 wounded.

All or most of the ground was retaken by the Germans in their offensive of March 1918; and then taken back before the armistice in November.

100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

In 1917, two revolutions swept through Russia, ending centuries of imperial rule and setting in motion political and social changes that would lead to the formation of the Soviet Union. In March, growing civil unrest, coupled with chronic food shortages, erupted into open revolt, forcing the abdication of Nicholas II (1868-1918), the last Russian czar. Just months later, the newly installed provisional government was itself overthrown by the more radical Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924).