Headstone for centenarian Emily Bint, aged 103, in St Mary's churchyard, Colston Bassett.
Born 20th Jan 1888 -
"Monarch – Victoria
Prime Minister – Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)
Events of 1888 -
26 January – the Lawn Tennis Association is founded.
13 February – the first issue of the Financial Times goes on sale. (originally launched on 9 January by Horatio Bottomley as the London Financial Guide).
23 March – a meeting called by William McGregor to discuss establishment of The Football League is held in London.
24 March – West Bromwich Albion beat Preston North End 2-1 to win the FA cup
3 April – London prostitute Emma Elizabeth Smith is brutally attacked by two or three men, dying of her injuries the following day, first of the Whitechapel murders but probably not a victim of Jack the Ripper.
8 May – royal opening of the International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow (continues to November).
12 May – the North Borneo Chartered Company's territories (including Sarawak) become the British protectorate of North Borneo.
14 May – Order of Saint John chartered.
28 May – Celtic Football Club of Glasgow play their first official match, beating Rangers 5–2.
June – Annie Besant organises the London matchgirls' strike.
7 August – Whitechapel murders: the body of London prostitute Martha Tabram is found, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper.
9 August – Oaths Act permits the oath of allegiance taken to the Sovereign by Members of Parliament to be affirmed rather than sworn to God, thus confirming the ability of atheists to sit in the House of Commons.
13 August – the Local Government Act, effective from 1889, establishes county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales, redraws some county boundaries, and gives women the vote in local elections.
31 August – Whitechapel murders: the mutilated body of London prostitute Mary Ann Nichols is found, perhaps the first victim of Jack the Ripper.
6 September – Charles Turner becomes the first bowler in cricket to take 250 wickets in an English season, a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
8 September
Whitechapel murders: The mutilated body of London prostitute Annie Chapman is found. She is considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
In England, the first six Football League matches are played. The 12 members of the new league are Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Burnley, Accrington, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Notts County, Derby County and Stoke City, all from the north of England or the midlands. The first goal in the League is scored by Kenny Davenport of Bolton Wanderers.
27 September – Whitechapel murders: the 'Dear Boss letter' signed "Jack the Ripper", the first time the name is used, is received by London's Central News Agency.
30 September – Whitechapel murders: the bodies of London prostitutes Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, the latter mutilated, are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
October – Salt Union Ltd formed to achieve an effective monopoly over British salt production.
2 October – the Whitehall Mystery: dismembered remains of a woman's body are discovered at three central London locations, one being the construction site of New Scotland Yard.
14 October – the first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds. The film is two seconds and 18 frames in length.
8 November – Joseph Assheton Fincher files a patent for the parlour game which he calls "Tiddledy-Winks".
9 November – Whitechapel murders: the mutilated body of London prostitute Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is considered to be the fifth, and last, of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders in England follows, but the police attribute them to copy-cat killers.
7 December – John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tyre.
17 December – the Lyric Theatre (London) opens."
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Passed away Jan 17th 1991 (just 3 days short of 103rd birthday) -
"Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – John Major (Conservative)
Events of January 1991 -
January – tax-exempt special savings accounts (TESSAs) introduced as a government concession to promote personal savings.
3 January – the UK expels all Iraqi diplomats from the country due to the Iraqi government's illegal annexation of Kuwait five months earlier.
5 January – 27 people die as a result of gale-force winds across Britain.
8 January – a train crash at Cannon Street station in London kills one person and injures over 500.
11 January – as the recession deepens, 335 employees at the Peugeot car factory in Coventry are made redundant, while Ford is looking for up to 1,000 voluntary redundancies at its British factories. Thousands of jobs in the financial services factor are reportedly at threat, as the total UK unemployment figure is currently standing at nearly 1,800,000, but is expected to rise to well over 2,000,000 by the end of the year.
14 January – Donald Coleman, Labour MP for Neath in South Wales, dies aged 65.
16 January – the final phase of the M40 motorway through Oxfordshire is opened, giving the West Midlands conurbation its first direct motorway link with London.
17 January – the Gulf War begins, as the Royal Air Force joins Allied aircraft in bombing raids on Iraq.
18 January – in spite of the deepening recession, the Conservatives have climbed back to the top of the opinion polls, a MORI poll placing them five points ahead of Labour on 46%.
19 January – it is announced that 1,844,000 people are now unemployed in the United Kingdom, and experts warn that the figure will exceed 2,000,000 people before the end of the year.
29 January – John Major resists calls from the Labour Party for interest rates to be cut, in a bid to combat the recession."
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A tree was planted on Hall Lane Colston Bassett on 20th Jan 1988 to commemorate Emily's 100th birthday - (
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