An Inspector Calls Timeline

1893 - The Labour Party founded by Keir Hardie supporting interests of organised labour nationalization and social welfare.

1894 - Priestley born in Bradford to middle class parents. (His grandparents both worked
in the mills.)
- George Bernard Shaw's plays first performed. (Anti-war and anti-marriage, Shaw
was a socialist whose plays attacked lies and hypocrisy. He believed society could
make progress through the evolution of human nature.)

1895 - H. G. Wells' short story The Time Machine first published.
(Wells was a socialist who wrote science fiction visions of apocalyptic futures. He
supported the Suffragettes and believed society's salvation could only come about
through education and from learning from history.)

1900 - General Election. Tories re-elected with huge majority.

1901 - Queen Victoria dies. Edward VII comes to the throne.

1903 - The Women's Social and Political Union founded by
- Emmeline Pankhurst to fight for the vote for women.
- First powered aeroplane flight.

1904 - Britain has more outdoor paupers than at any time since 1888. Dramatic increase
in number of people receiving poor relief in the form of charitable aid from their
parish.
- 1 in 41 people rely upon the parish for food.
- 3000 London cabbies go on strike.

1905 - TUC calls for universal suffrage, old-age pensions and an eight-hour day.
- 156 die in Welsh pit disasters.
- 500 striking workers shot by Csar's troops in St Petersburg, Russia.
- First suffragettes sent to prison for assaulting police.

1906 - General Election landslide victory for Liberals; Tory
- Representation reduced to 156 from 401;Labour wins 29 seats, an increase of 27.
- Jobless march from the Midlands to London to protest at Downing Street.
- Of a population of 33 million, 10 million workers are living in chronic destitution.

1907 - Strikes and rioting in Belfast.

1908 - 2000 cofton workers go on strike in the north of England.
- 73 miners killed in Lancashire pit explosion.
- 10 miners die in Somerset pit explosion.
- Old-age pensions introduced for everyone over 70.
- 200,000 people join Suffragette demonstration in London.

1909 - Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduces a radical 'People's
Budget' in which he raises taxes to pay for social reform. Tory opposition and
Lords outraged and set out to block the budget.
- Panic in Parliament as Britain falls behind Germany in the arms race.
- 2,500 sick children in workhouses.
- Wife desertion rises by one third. Higher prices blamed.
- Suffragettes on hunger strike force-fed in prison,
- 26 miners killed in South Wales pit explosion.

1910 - Miners' strike for eight-hour day spreads and develops into violent riots.
- 700 mills in Lancashire lock out workers who are demanding higher wages.
- 350 men and boys killed in pit explosion in Lancashire.
- Edward VII dies, succeeded by George V.

1911 - Nation-wide violent riots over low wages and rising prices.
- 200,000 on strike. Armed troops brought in to quell rioters. Several strikers shot
dead.
- 21 die in mill explosion.
- 2,500 children die in heat wave. London the second unhealthiest city in the world.
- 300,000 mill workers locked out by owners retaliating against wage claims.
- Shop workers win 60 hour working week in proposed Bill reducing their hours
from 80-90 hours worked over 7 days.

1912 - The 'unsinkable'Titanic hits an iceberg and sinks. 1,500 die.
- 2% of Londoners dying weekly from the cold.
- 2,000 Derbyshire miners strike.
- Suffragettes smash windows in West End. 96 arrested.
- British Medical Association outraged by National Insurance plans
which would extend medical aid to the poor. The year in which
An Inspector Calls is set. Priestley is 18 years old.
1913 - First Sick and Maternity Benefits introduced through the National
Insurance Act.
- Emmeline Pankhurst blows up Lloyd George's house.
- 50 girls die in factory fire.
- Suffragette Emily Davison dies trying to stop the King's horse in
the Derby.
- 400 miners killed in Welsh pit fire.
- 500,000 British children ill-fed and diseased according to Chief
Medical Officer for Schools.
1914 - Start of The First World War triggered by assassination of Austro
Hungarian heir to throne in Sarajevo by a Serbian student.
- For the first time modern killing technology includes tanks, shells,
warships, submarines, machine guns, poison gas and bomber
aeroplanes.
- Priestley serves in the trenches of France.
- Ulster on brink of civil war.
- 20,000 builders on strike.
-140,000 miners on strike.
- Income tax doubled to pay for the war which is costing £l million
daily.
1915 - Women urged to quit home for the factory.
- TUC and public opposition at plans for compulsory conscription.
- 1,000 suffragettes go to France to do war work. 33,000 women
sign up for war service.
- Strikes continue.
- War costing E3 million daily.
1916 - Dublin uprising protesting at British rule in Ireland.
1917 - Russian Revolution.
- 200,000 women working the land in Britain.
- Women workers in nation-wide equal pay
1918 - End of First World War: 10 million dead (mainly soldiers),
- Shelling and machine guns used in trench warfare in
France bring killing on an unprecedented scale.
- Rationing introduced on petrol, coal, gas, electricity and meat.
- School leaving age raised to 14.
- The Russian Csar and his family shot by Bolsheviks.
- 2,225 Londoners die in one week in flu epidemic.
- Women vote for the first time in UK election.
- Government grants eight-hour day to British railway workers.
- Abolition of workhouses proposed.
1919 - Over 200,000 strikers in many industries.
- Tube strike in London in protest at long working hours.
- TUC votes in favour of nationalisation of mines.
- 50,000 iron foundry workers go on strike for higher wages.
- Nancy Astor, first woman MP elected.
1920 - IRA kills 14 soldiers in dawn raids. Escalating violence in
- Ulster over passing of Home Rule Bill. Troops sent to Londonderry.
- Nation-wide coal miners' strike lasts several weeks.
1921 - In January 927,000 unemployed; in June 2.2 million unemployed.
1926 - General Strike, in protest at mass unemployment and treatment of the miners,
hits British industry.
1928 - Equal Franchise Act gives vote to all women aged 21.
1933 - Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, elected Chancellor of Germany.
- During the 30s Fascists come to power in Spain, Italy and Germany. In Britain the
Fascist movement gains popularity.
- Rise in anti-Jewish violence throughout Europe.
1936 - The Great Depression. Mass unemployment.
- Jarrow Jobless March (68% unemployed in Jarrow).
1937 - Spanish Civil War attracts thousands of men and women from all over the world
who join the fight against Fascism.
1939 - Hitler starts the Second World War by invading Poland.
- Killing and atrocities take place during this war on a scale that exceeds even that
seen in the First World War.
- Civilian deaths are higher than in any previous war.
- Aerial bombing of cities occurs on a massive scale (between 24,000 and 40,000 civilians killed in Dresden during one night of bombing).
- 6 million Jewish men, women and children systematically killed in
German concentration camps.
1942 - Welfare State proposed - social security from the cradle
1945 - End of the Second World War: 55 million dead (soldiers and civilians).
- The world's first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki by the US. Each bomb kills 70,000 civilians instantly,
many more die later of radiation poisoning.

- Priestley writes An Inspector Calls.
- Churchill's wartime government resigns. A reforming Labour
government elected to power in landslide victory.
- Priestley visits the Soviet Union.
- An Inspector Calls first produced in Moscow.