Intl_Natl_History

HARROW BAPTIST CHURCH

Bicentenary 2006

National and international events around the time when Harrow Baptist Church was founded

Births

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer and designer of steamships, railways and bridges.

The poet Elizabeth Barrett (later Browning).

British Government

The reigning king was George III.

The Ministry of All the Talents was formed in February 1806 and continued until March 1807. The Ministry’s conduct of the Napoleonic War was largely unsuccessful. However, in 1807 it achieved the abolition of the slave trade.

Trade and Industry

The first steam-powered textile mill opened in Manchester.

The East India Docks in London were completed.

The Arts

Ludwig van Beethoven completed a symphony, two concertos and three string quartets.

Noah Webster published his first American English dictionary, incorporating five thousand words which had never previously appeared in dictionaries.

Science and Technology

At the request of the Bank of England, the prolific inventor Joseph Bramah devised a printing machine for bank notes which automatically numbered them.

In London, Frederick Winsor formed the first coal gas lighting company, the National Light and Heat Company. He was one of the first men to develop street lighting with coal gas.

William Murdoch used coal gas to light a large cotton mill in Salford. Samuel Clegg, formerly Murdoch’s assistant, lit a cotton mill near Halifax with coal gas.

In America, Isaac Quintard patented the apple cider mill.

Foreign News

The President of the U.S.A. was Thomas Jefferson.

Napoleon Bonaparte initiated a French blockade of Continental ports against British shipping, with the aim of ruining British trade.

The Batavian Republic was transformed by Napoleon into the Kingdom of Holland, with his brother Louis as king.

Napoleon dissolved the Holy Roman Empire.

In South Africa, Britain captured the Cape of Good Hope.

Deaths

William Pitt the Younger, while serving as Prime Minister.

The artist George Stubbs.

The Battle of Trafalgar had taken place in October 1805. The victorious British naval fleet was commanded by Admiral Nelson, who was fatally wounded. Early in 1806 his lying-in-state, river and street processions, and funeral extended over a period of five days, followed by burial in St Paul’s Cathedral. The daughter and grandson of Nelson and Lady Hamilton lived in Pinner.

One hundred years later, in 1906, when Harrow Baptist Church celebrated its centenary

Births

The poet John Betjeman.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor and theologian, and a major figure in the Protestant church’s resistance against Nazism.

The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

The Irish playwright Samuel Beckett.

British Government

The reigning king was Edward VII.

Report of the ‘Census of the British Empire’ was published, revealing that Britain ruled one-fifth of the world.

Trade and Industry

Rolls Royce Ltd was formed, and production of the Silver Ghost car began.

The Cunard Steamship Line’s passenger liner “Lusitania” was launched in Clydebank.

The Arts

Edith Nesbit’s book ‘The Railway Children’ was published.

The world’s first cinema opened in Paris.

London was selected to host the 1908 Olympics.

Science and Technology

London Underground’s Bakerloo Line opened as the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway. A few months later it was extended to Elephant & Castle. The Piccadilly Line opened as the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway.

The British battleship “Dreadnought” was launched. Faster and more heavily armed than any other warship, it escalated the naval ‘arms race’.

In America, Wilbur and Orville Wright patented their ‘flying machine’.

German hairdresser Karl Nessler demonstrated the first ‘permanent wave’ for hair, in London.

Foreign News

The President of the U.S.A. was Theodore Roosevelt.

An earthquake centred on San Francisco, and subsequent fires, killed thousands of people and destroyed most of the city.

Russia’s Duma (parliament) met for the first time.

Deaths

French physicist and chemist Pierre Curie.

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.

French artist Paul Cezanne.

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