Timeline of Leicester

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Leicester, England.

Prehistoric & Roman Eras

• c 750 BC — legendary foundation by Leir of Britain according to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work Historia Regum Britanniae. This origin myth, dating to the 12th cent and based on Lier’s name, is not supported by archaeology.
• c 100 BCE — the Corieltauvi Tribe develop an Oppidum on the eastern bank of the River Soar (approx. date). The settlement had the northernmost Iron Age coin mint yet discovered in Europe.
• 44-46 CE – Roman Conquest of the area by Legio XIV Gemina under Aulus Plautius.
• 48 — Both the Fosse Way and the Via Devana are constructed meeting one another near the Iron Age oppidum (approx. date).
• c 48-60 — The Corieltauvi are recognised as Civitas stipendaria and the Romanised settlement of Ratae Corieltauvorum is formally recognised as their capital (approx. date).
• 122 — the Emperor Hadrian visits the growing municipium of Ratae and encourages new building projects.
• 130 – Jewry Wall constructed (approx. date).[1]
• 145 – Public baths constructed (approx. date).[2]
• 150 – The "Blackfriars Pavement" is laid (approx. date).[3]
• 155 – The "Peacock Pavement" laid (approx. date).
• 360 — major fire destroys the public baths and many other buildings never to be rebuilt.
• 400-407 — end of Roman occupation (approx date).

Medieval Era

• 680 — Cuthwine is installed as the first Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Leicester.
• 840 — According to local tradition Saint Wigstan, a young prince of Mercia, is martyred at Wistow just south of the city on the Kalends (1st) of June.
• 874 – Leicester ceases to be a separate diocese when the last Saxon Bishop flees from the invading Danes.
• 877 – The Danes are in power.
• 880 – St Nicholas' Church active (next to Jewry Wall (approx. date).
• 1070 – Norman Conquerers reach the city, Leicester Castle is built (approx. date).
• 1086 — The Domesday Survey report of Leicester:
  • The walled town occupied 130 acres and had 322 houses.
  • The town had 6 parish churches in addition to St Nicholas of which 3 survive:
    • All Saints,
    • St Margaret's,
    • & St Martin's.
  • There were 65 Burgesses or Freemen (the ancestor of the current Guild of Leicester Freemen).
  • The town was governed by a Portmanmoot of 24 Jurats elected from among the Burgesses (the ancestor of the 1589 Corporation & the modern City Council).
  • Leicester Market (known as the Saturday Shambles) was active.
• 1107 — Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester is granted the Earldom of Leicester along with possession of the castle and the old Roman town by King Henry I.
  • 1107 – St Mary de Castro is founded by the 1st Earl as a collegiate church to serve the castles residents.
  • Beaumont confirms the rights and privileges of the Portmanmoot and its Burgesses.
• 1143 – Leicester Abbey is founded by Robert le Bossu, 2nd Earl of Leicester for the canons previously resident at St Mary de Castro. All city parishes are placed under its control.
• 1173 — Leicester is besieged after Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester became a principal rebel in a revolt against Henry II. Castle Keep destroyed and much of the north west of the city damaged.
• c 1220-1260 – The mendicant orders establish communities in the city:
  • c 1230 — the Greyfriars,
  • c 1247 — the Blackfriars,
  • c 1254 — the Austinfriars.
• 1228 – Leicester fair active.
• 1231 — Expulsion of the Jews of Leicester. The 6th Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort expels the Jewish community to beyond the town walls, the first of such official pogroms preceding the national Edict of Expulsion in 1290.
• 1307 - Edward III. granted a fair for 17 days after Trinity Sunday.
• 1330 – Trinity Hospital is founded.
• 1350 – Guild of Corpus Christi constituted.[4]
• 1390 – Corpus Christi Guildhall built (approx. date).[5][6]
• 1419 - Margery Kempe (pilgrim, travel writer, and first English autobiographer) makes a pilgrimage to Leicester Abbey, is accused of heresy by the Lord Mayor of Leicester, tried in All Saints Church, and acquitted by the Abbot of Leicester.
• 1444 – Most of St Margaret's Church is rebuilt, including the West Tower (approx. date).
• 1485 – Richard III spends his last night in Leicester before the Battle of Bosworth Field. He slept at the Blue Boar Inn on what is today Highcross Street. His body is afterwards brought back to the town and buried at Greyfriars.

16th–18th centuries

• 1511 – Wigston's Chantry House is built in the Newarke (approximate date).[7]
• 1513 – Wyggeston Hospital founded.
• 1530 – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey dies at Leicester Abbey.
• 1535 - In the first round of the Dissolution of the Monasteries (part of the Reformation in England), the houses of the Greyfriars,the Austin Friars, and many other monastic communities across the wider county were surrendered to the king, Henry VIII, and gradually demolished.
• 1538 – In the second round of the dissolution of the monasteries, Leicester Abbey, the Blackfriars, and all other monastic houses in the city and county suffer the same fate.
• 1548 – The Guild of Corpus Christi is dissolved.
• 1550 – The Free Grammar School is established by this year, using money left by William Wyggeston .
• 1589 – Elizabeth I issues a Royal Charter establishing the Corporation of Leicester as a replacement for the Moot of Burgesses. It is granted the privilege of sharing the motto “Semper Eadem” with the monarch.
• 1595 – Skeffington House is built in the Newarke (approximate date).[8]
• 1616 — Leicester Boy Trials. A famous witch trial instigated by a 13 year old boy who accused 15 women, the inspiration for Ben Jonson’s play The Devil Is an Ass. 9 of the accused were hanged, 1 died in prison, and 5 were released on the order of King James I during his visit to the city that summer.
• 1642 – Charles I passes through Leicester before raising his standard at Nottingham.
• 1645 – The Siege of Leicester during the English Civil War.
• 1680 - Knitting frames for hosiery were introduced about this time.
• 1708 — Great Meeting House constructed for the towns Protestant Dissenters on East Bond Street. Today Leicester Unitarian Chapel.
• 1717 — Last English witch trial conducted by Leicester Assizes. The two accused women were both acquitted by the jury who disregarded the testimony of 25 witnesses.
• 1751 – Leicester Journal newspaper begins publication.
• 1770 – Daniel Lambert is born in Leicester
• 1771 – Leicester Royal Infirmary opens.
• 1773 – The High Cross in High Street was removed.
• 1785 – The Greencoat School is established with money left by Alderman Gabriel Newton .
• 1792 – Leicester Chronicle newspaper begins publication.
• 1794 - The corporation sanctioned several fairs.
• 1800 – Leicester Medical Book Society founded.

19th century

• 1801 – Population: 17,005.
• 1804 – The South Fields are enclosed.
• 1806 – Racecourse established.
• 1817 – Leicester Savings Bank established.
• 1821 – Leicester Gas Company is established.
• 1825 – Wharf Street Cricket Ground opens, home to the Leicestershire County Cricket Club.[9]
• 1827 — St George parish church, constructed to serve the new suburb built in South Fields, completed.
• 1828 – The new Leicester Prison opens on Welford Road.
• 1832 — Leicester and Swannington Railway begins operating.
• 1835 – Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society founded.
• 1836
  • Leicester Borough Police Force is established.
  • The Theatre Royal opens in Horsefair Street.
• 1838
  • Union Workhouse built.
  • Holy Trinity Parish Church first constructed.
• 1840 ---The Midland Counties Railway from Derby to Rugby opened, with a station at Campbell Street, Leicester.
• 1845 – Particular Baptist Chapel opens.
• 1849
  • Chamber of Commerce established.
  • Leicester Museum & Art Gallery opens [10]
• 1851
  • A pumping station is built near the River Soar under the Leicester Sewerage Act.
  • Leicester Secular Society first established, the first Freethought Secular Society in the world.
• 1853
  • Rowe's Circulating Library in business.
  • Leicester gains its first piped water supply
• 1857
  • Hitchin-Leicester railway begins operating.
  • Leicester Guardian newspaper begins publication.
• 1861 – Population: 68,056.
• 1862 – Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man", is born in Leicester
• 1863 – The Old Bow Bridge is demolished and replaced with an iron bridge.
• 1864
  • South Leicestershire Railway (Hinckley-Leicester) begins operating.
  • Leicester balloon riot
• 1866
  • Leicester's first working men's club opens
  • The Collegiate School for Girls opens.
• 1867
  • Major restoration work to St Martin's Church begun in 1860 is completed; the tower and spire having been dismantled and rebuilt.
  • Leicester Secular Society refounded.
• 1868 – Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower erected.
• 1870 - Leicester School of Art founded.
• 1871
  • Population: 95,084.
  • The Free Library opens in Wellington Street.
• 1872
  • Leicester Borough Fire Brigade is established.
  • St Mark's Parish Church, Belgrave consecrated.
• 1874
  • Leicester's first horse-drawn tram service begins operating, from the Clock Tower to Belgrave.
  • Leicester Mercury newspaper begins publication.
  • 16th April - St. Peter’s Parish Church, Highfields consecrated.
• 1875 – Trams begin operating from the town centre to Victoria Park and Humberstone.
• 1876
  • Leicester Town Hall is built.
  • Leicester Co-operative Hosiery Manufacturing Society organised.
• 1877
  • The Wyggeston Hospital School opens.
  • Skating rink opens in Rutland Street.
  • Leicester Bicycling Club active (approximate date).
  • The Opera House opens in Silver Street.
  • St Saviour’s Parish Church consecrated.
• 1878 – Leicestershire County Cricket Club's new ground at Grace Road opens [11]
• 1878 - Leicestershire Lawn Tennis Club Established [12]
• 1879 – The first municipal swimming baths open in Bath Lane.
• 1880 – Leicester Tigers Rugby Union Football Club is founded [13]
• 1881
  • Population: 122,351.
  • Leicester Secular Hall built by the Secular Society on Humberstone Gate.
• 1882
  • Victoria Park and Abbey Park open.
  • Holy Cross Priory is established on land between New Walk & Wellington Street. First Roman Catholic church to be consecrated in the city since the reformation & a refoundation for the Blackfriars after the dissolution of St Clement’s Priory in 1538.
• 1884 – Leicester Fosse football club formed.
• 1885 – Leicester and Leicestershire Photographic Society founded.
• 1886 – Spinney Hill Park opens.
• 1889
  • Leicester becomes a County borough per Local Government Act 1888.
  • Leicester Branch of the Socialist League organised.
• 1891
  • Population: 174,624.
  • Filbert Street stadium opens.
  • Abbey Pumping Station in operation.[14]
  • The Borough of Leicester is greatly enlarged by the Leicester Extension Act, with the addition of Aylestone, Belgrave, Knighton, Newfoundpool and parts of Braunstone, Evington and Humberstone.

• 1892
  • Leicester Tigers move to their new home at Welford Road Stadium[15]
  • London Road Station replaced Campbell Street Station.
  • Belgrave became part of Leicester
• 1894 – Leicester Fosse joined the Football League.
• 1896
  • Leicester Corporation purchases Gilroes and begins laying out a cemetery there.
  • All of the civil parishes within the Borough of Leicester are merged into a single parish.
• 1898 – The Grand Hotel is built in Granby Street.
• 1899
  • British United Shoe Machinery is established in Belgrave Road.
  • Leicester Central railway station opened. (closed 1969)

20th century

• 1901
  • Population: 211,579.
  • St James the Greater Parish Church is consecrated, 25th July.
• 1904 – The conversion of Leicester's horse-drawn trams to electric trams is completed.
• 1905 - Leicester General Hospital opened.
• 1906 – Future Prime Minister James Ramsay MacDonald was elected as one of the two MPs for Leicester.
• 1911 — ‘Great Fire of Leicester’ - Church of St. George the Martyr & surrounding factories (todays Cultural Quarter) gutted by fire on October 5th & subsequently rebuilt.
• 1913 – De Montfort Hall opens.
• 1918-1919 - the Spanish Influenza epidemic kills approximately 1600 people in Leicester.
• 1919 – Leicester attains city status.
• 1920 – The City Boys School opens.
• 1921
  • The University College of Leicester is established.
  • Population: 234,000.
• 1923 – In the General Election, Winston Churchill is the Liberal candidate in Leicester West and loses.
• 1925
  • Arch of Remembrance on Victoria Park completed. Designed by Edward Lutyens in memory of the sons of Leicester who died in the Great War. Unveiled by two local war widows, Mrs Elizabeth Butler and Mrs Annie Glover, in front of 30,000 people on July 4th.
  • Braunstone Frith is absorbed into the city of Leicester.
• 1927 — The Diocese of Leicester is established.
  • St Martin's Church becomes Leicester Cathedral.
  • Dr. Cyril Bardsley is appointed the first Bishop of Leicester since the year 870.
• 1932 – The Little Theatre opens in Dover Street.
• 1935 – Humberstone, Knighton, New Parks and Beaumont Leys are absorbed into the city of Leicester.
• 1936
  • The city boundaries were further extended to include most of Evington
  • Odeon Cinema opened.
• 1940 – Leicester suffers its worst air raid of World War II on the night of 19 November.[16]
• 1947 - University of Leicester Botanic Garden opened.
• 1958 – Rock 'N' Roll comes to Leicester when Buddy Holly and the Crickets perform live at De Montfort Hall[17]
• 1962 – Jewry Wall Museum built.
• 1963 – The Beatles perform live at De Montfort Hall for the first time.[18]
• 1966 – The City of Leicester Polytechnic is established.
• 1969 – The Museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment opens in the Magazine Gateway.[19]
• 1970 – University of Leicester's Attenborough Building constructed.
• 1972 – Abbey Pumping Station museum opens.[20]
• 1973
  • Haymarket Shopping Centre in business.
  • Leicester Theatre Trust formed.
• 1974 – Leicester City Council established per Local Government Act 1972.
• 1979 — Leicester Chronicle ceases publication after 187 years.
• 1985 – St Margaret's Bus Station opens.
• 1992 – The Leicester Polytechnic becomes De Montfort University.
• 1997
  • Leicester City Council becomes unitary authority per 1990s UK local government reform.
  • Leicester Bike Park opens.

21st century

• 2002 – King Power Stadium opens.
• 2011 – Institution of an elected mayor.
• In 2012:
  • Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Cambridge visit Leicester during the Queen's Golden Jubilee tour of Britain.
  • The remains of King Richard III are discovered beneath a car park on the site of the former Greyfriars chapel.
• 2015 — Richard III is reinterred in Leicester Cathedral.
• 2016 — Leicester City win the 2015–16 Premier League for their first league title, being 5000-to-1 outsiders at the start of the season, and won the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award.
• 2022 — The 2022 Leicester unrest

See also

• History of Leicester
• History of Leicestershire
• Timelines of other cities in East Midlands: Derby, Lincoln, Nottingham

References

Further reading

• John Nichols (1795). "History and Antiquities of the Town of Leicester". History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester. Vol. 1. London: Nichols & Son. p. 407+.

Published in the 19th century

1800s–1840s

• John Britton (1807), "Leicester", Beauties of England and Wales, vol. 9, London: Vernor, Hood & Sharpe, hdl:2027/mdp.39015063565736
• "Leicester". Commercial Directory for 1818-19-20. Manchester: James Pigot. 1818.
• Susanna Watts (1820). A Walk Through Leicester; Being a Guide to Strangers (2nd ed.). Leicester: T. Combe.
• Robert Watt (1824). "Leicester". Bibliotheca Britannica. Vol. 4. Edinburgh: A. Constable. hdl:2027/mdp.39076005081505. OCLC 961753.
• "Leicester". Pigot & Co.'s National Commercial Directory for 1828-9. London: James Pigot. 26 August 2023.
• John Curtis (1831). "Leicester". Topographical History of the County of Leicester. W. Hextall.
• David Brewster, ed. (1832). "Leicester". Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Vol. 12. Philadelphia: Joseph and Edward Parker. hdl:2027/mdp.39015068380875.
• "Leicester", Leigh's New Pocket Road-Book of England and Wales (7th ed.), London: Leigh and Son, 1839
• John Thomson (1845), "Leicester", New Universal Gazetteer and Geographical Dictionary, London: H.G. Bohn
• James Thompson (1849). History of Leicester. Leicester: J.S. Crossley.

1850s–1890s

• William Napier Reeve (1854), "Our Town; and How it Strikes a Stranger", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1, London: Houlston and Stoneman, Eliot Roscoe
  • "Our Town, No. 3: Roman Leicester", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1
  • "Our Town, No. 4: Saxon Leicester", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1
  • "Our Town, No. 6: Lancastrian Leicester", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1
  • "Our Town, No. 7: Yorkist Leicester", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1
  • "Our Town, No. 8: Tudor Leicester", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1
  • "Our Town, No. 9: Stuart Leicester", Leicester New Monthly Magazine, vol. 1
• "History of the Borough of Leicester". History, Gazetteer, and Directory of the Counties of Leicester and Rutland. Sheffield: William White. 1863.
• Leicester Postal Handbook. Leicester: Ward & Son. 1868–1869.
• James Thompson (1871), The history of Leicester in the eighteenth century, Leicester: Crossley and Clarke, OCLC 6120339
• "Roman Leicester", Transactions of the Leicestershire Architectural and Archaeological Society, vol. 4, Leicester: Samuel Clarke, 1878
• John Parker Anderson (1881), "Leicestershire: Leicester", Book of British Topography: a Classified Catalogue of the Topographical Works in the Library of the British Museum Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, London: W. Satchell
• Hammond's Guide to Leicester and the Abbey park. W.A. Hammond. 1882.
• "Leicester", Handbook for Travellers in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire (3rd ed.), London: J. Murray, 1892, OCLC 2097091
• "Leicester". Official Guide to the Midland Railway. London: Cassell & Company. 1894.
• Charles Gross (1897). "Leicester". Bibliography of British Municipal History. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• Spencer's Illustrated Leicester Almanack ... for 1898. Leicester: J. & T. Spencer. 1898.

Published in the 20th century

• G.K. Fortescue, ed. (1902). "Leicester". Subject Index of the Modern Works Added to the Library of the British Museum in the Years 1881–1900. London: The Trustees. hdl:2027/uc1.b5107012.
• J.G. Bartholomew (1904), "Leicester", Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, London: G. Newnes
• Mrs. T. Fielding Johnson (1906), Glimpses of ancient Leicester, in six periods (2nd ed.), Leicester: Clarke and Satchell, OL 25498292M
• "Leicester", Great Britain (7th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1910, hdl:2027/mdp.39015010546516
• "Leicester" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). 1910. p. 393.
• "Leicester". England. Blue Guides. London: Macmillan. 1920.

External links

• "Leicestershire", Historical Directories, UK: University of Leicester. Includes digitised directories of Leicester, various dates
• "(Leicester)". Discovering Britain: Walks: East Midlands. Royal Geographical Society. c. 2013.
• "(Leicester population of 2019)".