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Death of Queen Victoria
At the end of Victorian Age, her son Edward was already the leader of a elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of Continental Europe. -
Foundation of the "Order of Merit"
In the date for which his coronation had been originally planned, Edward VII founded the "Order of Merit", which is a visible honorific order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. -
Coronation of Edward VII
This date represents the real beginning of the Edwardian Age, originally scheduled for 26 June of that year, the ceremony had been postponed because the King had been taken ill. Recent assessments describe the age as heralding great changes in political and social life. -
Foundation of the Women's Social and Political Union
This event was the proof of the social revolution that taken place in the Edwardian Age. The founder Emmeline Pankhurst decided to form a women-only organisation, which would campaign for social reforms, largely in conjunction with the Independent Labour Party. They would also campaign for an extension of women's suffrage, believing that this was central to sexual equality. -
Entente Cordiale
The Entente Cordiale was a series of agreements signed on between the United Kingdom and France which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors. -
Liberal Landside
The Liberals won th general election and took the first steps towards the creation of a welfare state: national insurance and old-age pensions were introduced. The Liberal government was unable to proceed with all of its radical programme without the support of the House of Lords, which was largely Conservative. Conflict between the two Houses of Parliament resulted in a reduction in the power of the peers in the Parliament Act 1911. -
People's Budget
The Liberal budget, included welfare programmes and unprecedented taxes on the wealthy, but the House of Lords refused to pass it, led to a costitutional crisis. -
Edward VII's Death
He died in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. In the last years of his life, the King were often gravely hill, but it was unreported. His successor was George V. -
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End of Edwardian Age
The Edwardian era is often extended beyond Edward's death in 1910 to include the years up to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, until the beginning of World War in 1914, or until the end of the war, in 1918. By the end of the war, the Edwardian way of life, as its inherent imbalance of wealth and power, had become increasingly anachronistic in the eyes of the people who had suffered during the war and had been exposed to elements of the new mass media denouncing the injustice of class division.