Darcy Press is a publisher of books, both Fiction and Non-fiction, featuring the history of the twentieth century. Please look at the rest of the website by clicking the Home tab above. Below is Mr Darcy's own timeline of his selection of events that interest him and is not intended to be completely comprehensive. He offers it here for information and for others to enjoy.   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s   1900 UK Creation of Labour Party 27 Feb 28 Feb S. Africa - Boer War - Ladysmith relieved World exhibition opens in Paris 14 Apr 31 May Boxer Rebellion in China German liner Deutschland III sets new speed record across Atlantic of 23.62 knots 5 Jun 27 Jun Central Railway opens in London from Shepherd's Bush to Bank First Zeppelin airship flies at Friedrichshafen, Germany 1 Jul 22 Jul Second modern Olympic Games closed in Paris. 14 nations competed. The US won 16 gold medals. Railway Strike in Taff Vale, Wales 21 Aug 30 Sep Boer war in S. Africa over. Lord Salisbury's Conservatives win UK General Election 17 Oct 6 Nov McKinley is re-elected US president 1901 Australia becomes 'Commonwealth' with own Cabinet. 1 Jan 22 Jan Death of Queen Victoria – Edward VII succeeds. Riots in St Petersburg and other Russian Cities 17 Mar 16 Jun Wireless telegraphy tested at sea on liner 'Lucania'. Peking Treaty ends Boxer Rebellions 7 Sep 14 Sep US president McKinley shot – Roosevelt succeeds Brazilian Santos Dumont flies dirigible airship for 30 minutes and wins Deutsch de la Meurthe award. 19 Oct 11 Dec Marconi sends wireless message across Atlantic First Nobel prizes awarded 10 Dec 21 Dec Women vote for first time in Norwegian local elections. 1902 Sino-Russian treaty over Manchuria 4 Apr 8 May Volcano Mount Pele erupts and wipes out town of St Pierre on Martinique Boers Surrender – end of Boer war. 31 May 12 Jul Balfour takes over as UK Prime Minister Campanile bell tower in Venice collapses 14 Jul 9 Aug Edward VII is crowned 1903 US signs treaty to allow construction of Panama canal 22 Jan 16 Jun Ford Motor Company founded Pope Leo XIII dies 20 Jul 2 Aug Papal election installs Pope Pius X The Women's Social and Political Union (Suffragettes) formed 10 Oct 10 Dec Marie Curie first woman to win Nobel prize Wright brothers fly heavier-than-air machine at Kitty Hawk 17 Dec 1904 City of Alesund in Norway destroyed by fire 22 Jan 10 Feb Japanese attack Russian fleet in Port Arthur Great Britain and France sign 'Entente Cordiale' pact 8 Apr 4 May Rolls Royce cars set up. Third modern Olympic Games opens in St Louis USA. 1 Jul 21 Jul Trans-Siberian Railway opens. Electronic valve invented by John Fleming. 31 Oct 8 Nov US President Roosevelt re-elected. First Electric train runs on the Metropolitan 'Underground' Railway 13 Dec 1905 Port Arthur falls to the Japanese 2 Jan 22 Jan Czar's troops kill 500 strikers on 'Bloody Sunday' in St Petersburg Simplon Rail tunnel through Alps opens 2 Apr 25 May First aeroplane flight in Europe takes place in Paris. Russian Navy wiped out at Tsushima by Japanese 28 May 7 Jun Norwegian Parliament declares independence from Sweden Russian sailors mutiny and seize the Battleship Potemkin. 27 Jun 29 Jun Automobile Association founded. Albert Einstein publishes his 'Theory of Relativity.' 1 Jul 11 Jul 124 die in Glamorgan pit disaster in Wales. Czar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm II sign treaty. 24 Jul 5 Sep Russians and Japanese sign peace treaty. First Suffragettes go to prison. 14 Oct 5 Dec Henry Campbell-Bannerman new Liberal Prime Minister of UK 1906 Liberals under Henry Campbell-Bannerman win landslide election in UK 7 Feb 10 Feb King launches HMS Dreadnought in Britain; the most powerful battleship ever seen. Parliament in London approves principle of Old Age Pensions paid by taxation. 14 Mar 7 Apr Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts destroying the town of Ottaiano. Most of San Francisco in the US destroyed by earthquake. 19 Apr 10 May Russia's first elected parliament, the Duma, opened. First Wireless Telegraphy conference in Berlin adopts SOS as international distress signal. 3 Oct 17 Oct German professor Arthur Korn telegraphs pictures. George Clemenceau succeeds Ferdinand Sarrien as French Premier. 25 Oct 30 Oct American Lee De Forest Invents the Auditon, forerunner of the Triode Valve. 1907 Munchuria handed back to China by Japanese 15 Apr 25 Apr Channel Tunnel Bill killed in British House of Commons. Auguste and Louis Lumiere announce colour photography process. 10 Jun 16 Jun Russian Duma dissolved by the Czar. Robert Baden-Powell forms Boys Scouts after successful camp in UK. 29 Jul 10 Sep UK's first Military Airship the 'Nulli Secundus' flies at Farnborough. New Zealand gains autonomy as a Dominion within the British Empire. 10 Sep 11 Oct Lusitania wins Blue Riband for fastest crossing of the Atlantic in 4 days 19 hours and 52 minutes. Paul Cornu takes off in experimental Helicopter in France. 13 Nov 13 Nov German Kaiser makes state visit to UK. Belgian Congo transferred from King Leopold to the state. 28 Nov 10 Dec Rudyard Kipling wins Nobel prize for literature. 1908 Frenchman Henri Farman wins the £5000 prize for the first heavier-than-air aircraft to cover a circuit of at least one kilometre. 13 Jan 7 Mar Germans launch 'Nassau' dreadnought type battleship. Herbert Henry Asquith takes over as British prime Minister. 12 Apr 7 May UK budget introduces Old Age Pension of 5/- per week. Franco-British Exhibition opens at White city in West London. 14 May 11 Jun Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames in London opened. First Ford Model 'T' produced in Detroit USA. 12 Aug 5 Oct Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina. William Howard Taft elected as 27th President of the US. 3 Nov 1909 Messina in southern Italy destroyed in massive earthquake. 15 Jan 23 Jan New direct Telegraph Link between London and India opened. A court in London rules that a wife is not entitled to a divorce even if her husband has deserted her. 9 Feb 24 Feb In Brighton UK colour films are shown for the first time. American Robert E. Peary claims to have finally reached the North Pole. 6 Apr 9 Apr Widnes in UK introduces the first closed top double-decker buses. King Edward VII opens the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. 26 Jun 24 July Aristide Briand taken over as French Premier. Frenchman Louis Bleriot flies the Channel from Sangatte near Calais to Dover. 25 Jul 7 Dec Union of South Africa proclaimed.   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s