The GANDER (& GANDAR)
One-Name Study

Timeline

1642-1700

1642 First Civil War in England (to 1649)
1649 King Charles I executed
1649-1660 Commonwealth Period - Oliver Cromwell
1651-1652 The second English Civil War
1660 Restoration Period
- Commonwealth registers ended, Parish Registers resumed
1663 Earliest Roman Catholic registers
1665 Great Plague of London
1666 Great Fire of London
- Act of Parliament - burials to be in woollen
1668 British East India Company obtains control of Bombay
1684 Huguenot registers begin in London
1685 Monmouth rebellion and battle of Sedgemoor
- Revocation of the Edict of Nantes - drove thousands of Protestants (Huguenots) from France
1688 Nov: James II abdicates - William of Orange lands at Torbay on 5 Nov - William III and Mary II, daughter of James II, jointly take the throne
1689 Deposed James II flees to Ireland - defeated at the Battle of the Boyne (1 Jul 1690)
1696 Act of Parliament establishes Workhouses
1698 Duties (taxes) on entries in parish registers - repealed after five years
1700 population in England and Scotland approx 7.5 million

1701-1750

1702 Anne Stuart becomes Queen
1707 Union with Scotland
1708 First Jacobite rising in Scotland
1710 Tax on Apprentice Indentures
1712 Last trial for witchcraft in England (Jane Wenham)
1714 Queen Anne Stuart dies - George I Hanover becomes king (1714-1727)
1715 Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender
1719 Third abortive Jacobite rising
1721 Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742)
1723 The Workhouse Act or Test - to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
1727 George I dies - George II Hanover becomes king
1729 Methodists begin at Oxford
1730 Irish famine
1732 Earliest Cavalry and Infantry Muster Rolls
1733 Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed - some continued in Latin for a few years
1738 Earliest Calvinistic Methodist registers
1739 Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York
1741 Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites - Earliest Moravian registers
1743 Battle of Dettingen - last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
1745 Jacobite rebellion in Scotland ('The Forty-five')
1746 Battle of Culloden - last battle fought in Britain
1748-1756 Countess of Huntington's (Calvinistic) Methodist Connexion founded

1751-1800

1751 decision to adopt Gregorian Calendar in 1752: so 1752 started on 1 January and 1751 was a short year.
1752 - 3 Sep: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England and Scotland, making this 14 Sep
1753 Earliest Inghamite registers
1754 Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used - Quakers & Jews exempt
- First printed Annual Army Lists
1755 Publication of Dictionary of the English Language by Dr Samuel Johnson
1756 The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
1760 George II dies - George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes king
- Beginning of intense Inclosure Acts in England
1762 Earliest Unitarian registers
1764 Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
- Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
1765 Stamp Act passed - imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the American colonies
1769 Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
1770 Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) formally claims Australia for Britain
1772 First Navy Lists published
1775 Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775-1783)
1776 American Declaration of Independence
- Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
1780 The Gordon Riots
- Earliest Wesleyan registers
1781 Lord Cornwallis's army surrenders to George Washington; ends the American War of Independence
1783 Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794) - led to a fall in entries
1788 First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales - the 'First Fleet'
1789 14 Jul: The French Revolution begins - storming of the Bastille
1791 Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
1793 England declares war on France (1793-1802)
- Execution of Louis XVI - Reign of Terror starts in France
1795 Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's wage to subsistence level
1798 The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished
- Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
1799 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
1800 Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
- Earliest Bible Christian registers

1801-1850

1801 First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000 - population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
1802 Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands
1803 Peace of Amiens ends on 12 May - resumption of war with France - The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
1805 - 21 Oct: Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
1806 Earliest Primitive Methodist registers
1807 Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 - but does not prohibit colonial slavery
1808 Peninsular War (1808-1814)
- Beginning of 'Luddite' troubles in England
1810 Bible Christians denomination formed by schism in Wesleyan Methodists
1811 Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
1812 Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, assassinated
- Napoleon retreats from Moscow
1813 Rose's Act (1812) established a printed format for baptism & burial registers
1814 Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
1815 - 1 Mar: Napoleon escapes Elba; arrives in France
- 18 Jun: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
1819 Peterloo Massacre at Manchester
1820 Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
1821 Napoleon Bonaparte dies on St Helena
- Populations: France 30.4M, German States 26M, Britain 20.8M, Italian States 18M, Austria 12M, the USA 9.6M
1824 Pitt's Combination Acts repealed (Trades Unions allowed)
1829 Earliest Irvingite registers
1830 George IV dies - his brother, William IV, accedes to the throne
- Agricultural 'Swing' Riots in southern England, repressed with many transportations
1833 Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
1834 Slavery abolished in British possessions
- Poor Law amendment, tightening up relief
- Tolpuddle Martyrs transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
1835 Earliest Universalist registers
1836 First Potato famine in Ireland
1837 William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
- 1 Jul: Compulsory registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in England & Wales - Registration Districts were formed
1840 Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849)
1841 6 Jun: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded
- Population: Britain 18.5M, USA 17M, Ireland 8M
1842 Civil Registration in Channel Islands started
- Illustrated London News published
1844 Outdoor Relief Prohibition Order - parish relief received only in a workhouse
1848 General revolutionary movement throughout the Continent ('Year of Revolution')
- Marx and Engels The Communist Manifesto

1851-1900

1851 - 30 Mar: Second full British Census
1852 Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
1854 Allied armies land in Crimea
1855 Registration of births, marriages & deaths made compulsory in Scotland
1856 End of Crimean War
1857 London postal districts introduced
1857-8 Indian Mutiny
1858 Proving of Wills taken out of ecclesiastical jurisdiction
1861 American Civil War begins
- 7 Apr: Third full British Census
- Prince Albert dies
- Populations: Russia 76M, USA 32M, Italy 25M, Britain 23M
1864 Civil Registration in Ireland starts
- Civil Registration of marriages in Isle of Man starts
1865 End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
1867 Dominion of Canada founded
1868 Last British election for which Poll Books available
- Last convicts landed in (Western) Australia
1871 - 2 Apr: Fourth full British census
- Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
- Commissions in British armed forces no longer to be purchased
1872 Secret Ballot introduced in Britain (no further Poll Books produced)
- Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng. & Wales)
1874 Disraeli and the Tories come to power in Britain - pass 11 major Acts of social reform in next 2 years
- First Trades Union MP is elected
- Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
1876 Victoria proclaimed Empress of India
1879 Zulu war
1880 Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
1881 - 3 Apr: Fifth full British Census
- First Boer War - Transvaal independence recognised
- Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
1883 Married Women's Property Act of 1882 becomes law
1887 Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
1891 5 Apr: Sixth full British Census
1893 Keir Hardy founds Independent Labour Party
1897 Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
1899-1902 Second Boer War
1900 Relief of Ladysmith
- Relief of Mafeking

1901-1960

1901 Commonwealth of Australia founded
- Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king
- 31 Mar: Seventh full British Census
1902 Second Boer War ends
1906 Labour Party formed
1907 New Zealand becomes a Dominion
1909 Old Age Pensions Act came into force
1910 Union of South Africa formed - Botha first Prime Minister
- Edward VII dies - George V king
1911 - 2 Apr Census: Pop. Eng.&Wales 36M, Scot. 4.6M, North.Ire. 1.25M
1912 The Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
- Captain Scott's last expedition - he and his team die on way back from the south pole
1913 Suffragette demonstrations in London
1914 -1918 First World War (The Great War)
1914 - 28 Jun: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
- 4 Aug: Britain declares war on Germany
- Oct-Nov: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
- First Zeppelin air raid on England
1915 - Apr-May: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
- 25 Apr: Gallipoli campaign starts
- 7 May: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
- Coalition Government formed in Britain under Asquith
1916 - Feb-Dec: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides
- 24 Apr: Easter Rising in Ireland
- 31 May-1 Jun: Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and German fleets
- 1 Jul: Battle of the Somme starts - first use of tanks by Britain
- Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
1917 - February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
- USA declares war on Germany
- 16 Apr: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
- Jul-Nov: Battle of Passchendaele
- October Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
1918 - Jul-Aug: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive
- 11 Nov: Armistice signed
- War of Independence in Ireland
- World-wide 'flu epidemic
1919 Treaty of Versailles
1920 First meeting of the League of Nations
1921 - 19 Jun: Census: Pop. Eng. & Wales 37.9M, Scot. 4.9M, North. Ire. 1.25M
- Irish Free State and Northern Ireland formed
1922 Fall of Lloyd-George coalition
- Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
1923 Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy
- Canberra made Federal Capital of Australia
1924 First Labour government, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
- Death of Lenin; succeeded by Stalin
1925 Adolf Hitler writes Mein Kampf
1926 - 26 Apr: General Strike begins, till 12 May (mine workers for 6 months more)
- Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
1928 Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
1929 Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
- Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
1930 First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
- R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
1931 - 26 Apr Census: Pop. Eng.&Wales 40M, Scot. 4.8M, North.Ire. 1.24M (but details destroyed by fire during WW2)
- Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
1933 Hitler becomes German Chancellor
1934 Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
- Mao Tse-tung's 'Long March' starts in China
1935 Italy invades Abyssinia
1936 - 20 Jan: George V dies; Edward VIII king
- 18 Jul: Spanish Civil War starts
- 5 Dec: Edward VIII abdicates Duke of York becomes George VI
1937 Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister in Britain
- German planes bomb Guernica in Spain
- Japanese forces invade China
1938 Germany invades and annexes Austria
- Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
1939 Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
- 1 Sep: Germany invades Poland
- 3 Sep: Britain and France declare war on Germany at 5pm
- 6 Sep: First air-raid on Britain
- 11 Sep: British Expeditionary Force sent to France
- 14 Oct: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
1940 - 11 May: National Government formed under Churchill
- 24 May: Germany invades France
- 27 May-4 Jun: Evacuation of British Army at Dunkirk
- 25 Jun: Fall of France
- 7 Sep: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain
- 15 Sep: Battle of Britain in the air ends with British victory
- Trotsky assassinated on Stalin's orders
1941 No census - total British population estimated at 48.2M
- 22 June: Germany invades Russia
- 7 Dec: Japan attacks US fleet at Pearl Harbour
- Britain introduces severe rationing
1942 - 30 May: Over 1,000 bombers raid Cologne
- 4 Jun: Battle of Midway
- 19 Aug: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
- 6 Sep: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
- 23 Oct-4 Nov: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
1943 - May: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
- 24 Jul: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator
1944 - 4 Jun: Allies enter Rome
- 6 Jun: D-Day invasion of Normandy
-12 Jun: First V1 flying bombs hit London
- 8 Sep: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
- 11 Sep: Allies enter Germany
- 16 Dec: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
1945 Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
- 25 Apr: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
- 30 Apr: Hitler commits suicide
- 8 May: Victory in Europe Day
- 6 Aug: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- 9 Aug: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
- 15 Aug: Victory in Japan Day
- 2 Sep: Japanese surrender
1946 First session of new United Nations Organisation
1947 India gains independence: sub-continent partitioned to form India and Pakistan
1948 Gandhi assassinated
- Apartheid starts in South Africa
- Berlin airlift starts
- National Health Service begins in Britain
1949 Russians lift the Berlin blockade
- 1950 Points rationing ends in Britain
- Petrol rationing ends in Britain
- Korean War starts (to 27 Jul 1953)
- Soap rationing ends in Britain
1951 Census: Pop. Eng.& Wales 43.7M, Scot. 5M. North.Ire. 1.37M
1952 George VI dies
- End of tea rationing in Britain
1953 Sweet rationing ends in Britain
- Everest conquered by Hillary and Tensing
- Coronation of Elizabeth II
- Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
- Death of Stalin: Malenkov becomes Premier of USSR
- End of the Korean War
1954 Food rationing officially ends in Britain
1956 Britain and France invade Suez
1957 Sputnik I launched by Soviet Union - first artificial satellite
1959 Postcodes introduced in Britain
1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa

Carmen

(The Occupation of)

If you've landed on this page looking for details of the opera - search again! Carmen in this context is to do with the 'Car-men' occupation. A very old trade - a Livery Company was established in the City of London in medieval times. By the nineteenth century the trade of carman was largely unregulated.

The same Charles Booth who wrote about Hoop Benders also wrote about carmen and their work in his Life and Labour of the People of London.

Even though it was written in 1903 it offers some interesting observations. Referring to statistics gathered in the 1891 census he wrote of the

"...43,801* Carmen, Carters, Van Boys etc... employed in driving or taking charge of vehicles which carry merchandise"

[* Figures for London]

and distinguished them -

"from those.... who drive or take charge of vehicles conveying passengers...... A large proportion of the carmen attend to their own horses. The vans driven and attended to by these men include an immense variety of vehicles, ranging from the iron trolley used to move heavy pieces of machinery and drawn by six or even eight horses, to the little spring cart and pony which is but one remove from a costermonger"s barrow. They include also a vast number of tradesmen's hooded carts and those mere boxes on wheels which are used when speed is the principal object, as in the distribution of letters and newspapers. With heavy traffic the pay and position of the driver primarily depends on whether he drives one horse or two. Beyond this the conditions of employment depend mainly on whether the employing firm has few or many carts. ..... the great bulk (of the trade) consists in the handling of vans and carts belonging to a multitude of businessmen in every part of London. Some ' Some firms even refuse to provide cloths for the horses, on the grounds that, if they did, the men would use them! ' trades require carts of a peculiar shape, as for example those used by brewers, specially suited to the carriage of barrels, or for the transport of the light mass of reeking 'grains', or again such as the hearse-like vehicles arranged to carry pianos. In other cases, as for instance with dealers in furniture or ironmongery, the goods to be moved are not packed, or hardly packed, and special carts and men are required to effect the delivery safely. Beyond this, even with those whose goods might be equally well carried by a parcel's delivery company, an advantage is found in the value of the van as a moving advertisment; and finally, if other considerations are nearly balanced, a tradesman likes to have his own cart and horse and his own man, for it is convenient in a hundred ways, besides being a source of pleasure at times on Sundays and holidays."

.... Competition as to rates of wages is practically absent. It is probable that the hours are long, and in some cases very long, but as a rule the work is not exhausting, nor such as to divorce the men from home life.

Hours of Work:

The main grievance in this trade concerns the length of the working day. There is no doubt that very long hours prevail. A week's work, inclusive of time occupied in the stable, will average from 96 to 100 hours. No overtime is paid in any systematic way, but 1s (ie 5p) may be allowed for an extra load. If,for instance, a man is ordered out at 3am in place of 6am he will usually get 1s (5p) or 1s 3d (6p) extra; and for starting at midnight and working on through the day an additional 2s (1Op) may be paid; but some employers do not give as much as this. On Sundays the horses have to be attended to. The vans are usually out all day, and every day during the week, except when laid up for repairs, or unless trade be very slack. The work, however, is seldom strenuous, and always involves more or less waiting. These intervals, which may be between jobs or when waiting in turn for a load, are of uncertain duration, from a few minutes to one or two hours. One informant says that about three hours is the average time occupied in "standing', and that this includes meal times, for which no regular provision is made. At times a man may 'put the nosebag on his horse' and go to sleep himself, but such occasions are said to be rare, and that on the whole the hours occupied are hours of work. The horses work the same length of time as the men. There is no change of team. This in itself would seem to be some guarantee that the number of hours of standing must be a considerable proportion of the whole. Except with the railway companies, and a few of the large contractors, the men have to clean and water their horses. Horse-keepers are employed to feed them.

Wages:

For such long hours as prevail, the pay is low. There is perhaps no man's employment which yields so small a return per hour. To drive a cart demands but little skill, nor any exceptional intelligence, and there is nothing like the physical exhaustion which puts a natural limit to hours of work in many trades. Moreover, the hours in which goods are moved by road extend almost necessarily early and late, preceding or following the work of others. For one horse vans men's wages vary from 18s (9Op) to 24s (£1.2O), and boys are often employed at lower rates. Some of the heaviest work is paid no more than 18s (90p). for two-horse vans the pay varies from 22s (£1.10) to 26s (£1.3O) with a few at 28s (£1.40). For three or four horses no particular difference is made; 3Os (£1.50) per week is the maximum rate, and few employers pay as much. .......At one time tips were almost a system, but are no longer usual, excepting perhaps with the men engaged in parcels delivery, who may still substantially augment their wages in this way. Drink is given more often than money, and what money is received most frequently goes to the public-house. It is admitted that carmen are largely addicted to strong drink, but it is not supposed that it plays any considerable part in their sickness and mortality."

"The men suffer from rheumatism and bronchitis, and such illnesses are the most prevalent and dangerous, as on the whole the men are ill provided with warm clothes, presenting in this respect a striking contrast to cab and 'busmen. Old bags are a common makeshift for an overcoat. The railway companies and large private firms almost invariably supply aprons or rugs, but in many cases the men have to find their own, and then they are usually not provided at all. Some firms even refuse to provide cloths for the horses, on the grounds that, if they did, the men would use them!"

"If not incapacitated by actual illness or removed by death, men may continue long at this work. Men of seventy years of age may be found driving vans, and they have been known to work to within a few days of death. With carmen there is no such thing as partial loss of capacity affecting wages, but at sixty a man would find difficulty in getting a job if thrown out of work."

Social Condition:

Of the 33,519* adult men (figures from the 1891 Census return) employed in these trades, about 23,850 are head of families. Comparing the earnings as indicated in the combined return with the scale of social conditions, we have 61% earning under 25s (£1.25) a week compared with 58% living in a more or less crowded condition (3 or more in each room). 29.5% earning from 25s (£1.25) to 35s (£1.75).... living one and less than two persons to a room and 9.5% earning over 35s (£1.75) with less than one person to a room."

[* Figures for London]