1884

Good condition set of four. Events 1884 4 January ? The Fabian Society is founded in London. 5 January ? Gilbert and Sullivan?s comic opera Princess Ida has its première at the Savoy Theatre, London. 18 January ? Dr William Price attempts to cremate his dead baby son, Iesu Grist, at Llantrisant. Later tried at Cardiff Assizes and acquitted on the grounds that cremation is not contrary to law, he is thus able to carry out the ceremony (the first in the U.K. in modern times) on 14 March. 26 January?29 March ? The first British Home Championship is held between the football teams of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 1 February ? First fascicle of what will become the Oxford English Dictionary is published. 5 February ? Derby County Football Club is founded in England. 15 February ? Emma Keyse is murdered and John ?Babbacombe? Lee is suspected. 13 March ? The Siege of Khartoum begins in the Mahdist War: General Charles Gordon is besieged in the Sudan. 22 April ? Colchester earthquake: four die in the UK?s most destructive earthquake. 8 July ? The NSPCC is founded as the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 28 September ? The Marks & Spencer department store chain starts life as Michael Marks? market stall in Leeds Kirkgate Market, Yorkshire. 13 October ? International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world?s prime meridian. 18 October ? University College of North Wales, Bangor founded. 2 November ? The "Home Office Baby" is delivered to the Home Office. 4 December ? Tom Dudley and Edwin Stephens are convicted of murder in the survival cannibalism case of R v. Dudley and Stephens. 9 December ? Dudley and Stephens receive the mandatory death penalty with a recommendation for clemency. 10 December ? Third Reform Act gives farm workers the vote, subject to the same restrictions as already applied elsewhere. 13 December ? Dudley and Stephens are told that the death penalties have been commuted to six months? imprisonment. …