On 10th October…

1846 - William Lassell, an amateur astronomer from Bolton in England, discovered Triton the largest of Neptune’s moons. The planet Neptune had only been discovered 17 days beforehand.

On 11th October…

1982 - The Mary Rose, the pride of King Henry VIII’s fleet of ships, was raised from the seabed to viewers around the world on live television. The ship had sunk in the English Channel not far from Portsmouth in 1545 and had lain preserved on the seabed ever since, it is now on display in the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, England.

On 12th October…

632 - The Battle of Hatfield Chase took place in Anglo-Saxon England. The kingdom of Northumbria was led by the first Christian king, King Edwin who fought fiercely against the joint forces of the pagans of the English kingdoms of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd. Penda of Mercia and King Cadwallon of Gwynedd defeated King Edwin who was killed in the battle.

1845 - Elizabeth Fry died at the age of sixty-five years. She was a Quaker and a prison and social reformer. Her work helped to make the treatment of prisoners more humane. She is depicted on the English £5 note.

1859 - Robert Stephenson the famous Victorian engineer died. He worked alongside his father George. Robert designed the Rocket locomotive which was the fastest steam engine of its time and able to pull carriages along the railways invented by his father.

On 13th October…

54CE - Claudius, the Roman Emperor died after eating poisonous mushrooms. He is the Roman Emperor who managed to conquer Britain.

1453 - Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was born. He was the only son of King Henry VI of England and Margaret Anjou.

On 14th October…

On 15th October…

1987 - Hurricane strength winds of up to 115mph swept across the south of Britain overnight and into the 16th October causing devastation and killing 18 people. The hurricane had not been predicted and only severe weather warnings of heavy rain and wind were given for the south coast of England. Famously weatherman on BBC Television even quashed rumours of a hurricane on the way by saying, “Don’t worry, there isn’t one.” People woke up the next morning to find trees ripped up from their roots and strewn across roads, roofs completely gone and even a rowing boat blown 400 metres inland from the sea It was estimated that 15 million trees were lost overnight.

On 16th October…

1430 - King James II of Scotland was born. He was the only son of King James I and became king at the age of 6 years when his father was assassinated.

1555 - Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, were burned at the stake in Oxford for their Protestant beliefs. England at the time was under the reign of Queen Mary I who was intent on making England a Catholic country once more. The two men have become known as the Oxford Martyrs.

1946 - Ten Nazi leaders were hanged for their war crimes of World War II after being found guilty at the Nuremberg Trials. The trials were a series of court hearings in which former Nazi leaders were tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal.

1950 - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe written by C.S. Lewis was first published in London. It is the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series.