Print

xxiv Chronology 1858 Charles Dickens legally separates from wife Catherine Hogarth Dickens. Bessie Rayner Parkes, Barbara Bodichon, and Matilda Mary Hays found the English Woman’s Journal. 1859 Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, his treatise on human evolution. Charles Dickens publishes A Tale of Two Cities, first seri- alized in All the Year Round. 1859–1870 Charles Dickens publishes All the Year Round, a weekly magazine that is the successor to his Household Words. 1859–1885 Alfred, Lord Tennyson publishes his epic poetic cycle Idylls of the King in several installments. 1860 Florence Nightingale composes autobiographical essay “Cassandra.” Charles Dickens publishes Great Expectations. 1861 Elizabeth Barrett Browning dies in Florence. Dora Greenwell publishes sonnet “To Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1861” upon Barrett Browning’s death. 1862 Christina Rossetti publishes poem Goblin Market. 1864 Charles Dickens publishes Our Mutual Friend. 1866 Bessie Rayner Parkes publishes Essays on Women’s Work. 1867 The Second Reform Bill is passed, extending voting rights to male heads of households. The National Society for Women’s Suffrage is formed. 1867–1868 Charles Dickens undertakes second voyage to America. 1868 Robert Browning publishes epic poem The Ring and the Book. 1870 The 1870 Education Act establishes compulsory educa- tion in Great Britain for minor children. The first Married Women’s Property Act is passed, allow- ing married women to keep income and wages acquired during marriage. Charles Dickens dies, leaving his last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished. 1878 A second Custody of Infants Act is passed, allowing moth- ers to sue for access to children under sixteen years of age.