Brit/pol/ #3183: Dark Days and Damnation Edition
On This Day:
>1766: The official opening of the 137 mile long Grand Union Canal (Britain's longest canal) that links London to Birmingham.
>1789: The Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie finally completed his journey to the mouth of the great river he hoped would take him to the Pacific, but which turns out to flow into the Arctic Ocean. Later named after him, the Mackenzie is the second-longest river system in North America.
>1791: The Priestley Riots (also known as the Birmingham Riots of 1791) took place from 14th to 17th July. The rioters' main targets were English Dissenters, i.e. those Christians who had separated from the Church of England, most notably the controversial clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley, who is credited with the discovery of oxygen.
>1940: World War II: Britain tackled the threat of a German invasion by forming the Home Guard - a part-time volunteer army, generally comprising men too old for national service.
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>1858: The birth, in Moss Side Manchester, of Emmeline Pankhurst, the English suffragette who led the fight for women's suffrage in Britain, often by violent means.
>1967: Abortion was legalized in Britain.
>1996: A bomb exploded in a hotel at Enniskillen in Northern Ireland in which 40 people were injured. It was the first bomb in the province for two years.
>2014: The Church of England General Synod approved women bishops. The announcement was followed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, leading the General Synod in a rendition of 'We are Marching in the Light of God'. The Rt. Rev. Libby Lane became the first female Church of England bishop, when she was consecrated Bishop of Stockport in a ceremony at York Minster.