1422 - First stone of the Collegiate Church laid (28 Jul)

1520 - Free Grammar School founded

1573 - First register of the Collegiate Church. Records the burial of Robert Fisher (1 Aug)

1596 - Manor of Manchester purchased by Sir Nicholas Mosley (28 Mar)

1642 - Manchester besieged by Royalist troops (25 Sep)

1645 - Outbreak of a great plague. Many died

1693 - Cross Street Independent chapel founded

1712 - St. Ann's Church consecrated (17 Jul)

1745 - Prince Charles Edward Stuart arrives in Manchester (29 Nov)

1752 - First issue of The Manchester Mercury newspaper published (3 Mar)

1756 - St. Mary's Church consecrated (29 Sep)

1769 - St. John's Church consecrated (7 Jun)

1781 - Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society established

1787 - Angel Meadow Cemetery consecrated (21 Sep)

1788 - St. Michael's Church, Angel Meadow, consecrated (20 May)

1788 - St. James's Church, George Street consecrated (18 Aug)

1796 - Watts drapery store opened on Deansgate (becoming Kendal Milne & Faulkner in 1836)

1806 - Portico, Mosley Street opened

1810 - Thomas Henshaw died leaving £20,000 to establish an asylum for the blind (4 Mar)

1815 - Walker's Croft cemetery consecrated (1 Jan)

1819 - Peterloo massacre (16 Aug)

1821 - First issue of The Manchester Guardian published (5 May)

1821 - Rusholme Road Dissenters' Cemetery opened (16 May)

1823 - Royal Manchester Institution for the for the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts founded (1 Oct)

1824 - Vegetarian Society founded in Manchester

1825 - First issue of The Manchester Courier newspaper published (1 Jan)

1825 - Deaf and Dumb School, Stanley Street, Salford opened (9 Feb)

1830 - Manchester to Liverpool Railway opened (15 Sep)

1832 - READ MORE James Palfreyman becomes first victim of Asiatic Cholera epidemic in Manchester (24 May)

1832 - Manchester and Salford each awarded two Members of Parliament under the Reform Act (9 Aug). Mark Phillips and Rt. Hon. C. P. Thompson elected for Manchester and Joseph Brotherton and William Garnett for Salford (13/14 Dec)

1835 - Armenian silk merchants first arrive in Manchester

1836 - READ MORE Watts drapery store (1796) becomes Kendal Milne & Faulkner

1836 - Maria Malibran dies following performance at Manchester Music Festival (23 Sep)

1837 - Ardwick Cemetery opened (13 Apr)

1837 - The School for the Deaf and Dumb and Henshaws Asylum for the Blind opened at Old Trafford with a procession (21 Jun)

1837 - Manchester General Cemetery at Harpurhey opened (1 Sep)

1838 - Manchester constituted as a borough (1 Nov)

1838 - Chorlton-on-Medlock, Hulme, Cheetham and Ardwick incorporated into Manchester

1839 - The Manchester Athenaeum, Bond Street, designed by James Barry, opened (28 Oct)

1841 - Census Day (6 Jun)

1845 - Manchester Town Council purchased the manorial rights from Sir Oswald Mosley for £200,000 (24 Jun)

1847 - Manchester becomes a diocese separate from Chester (1 Sep). James Prince Lee appointed the the first Bishop of Manchester (Oct)

1851 - Census Day (30 Mar)

1851 - Owens College opened (18 Mar) merged with Manchester Victoria University 24 Jun 1904)

1857 - Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, Old Trafford. Possibly the largest art exhibition ever held in the world with 12,000 exhibits (5 May - 17 Oct)

1858 - READ MORE Manchester Great Synagogue consecrated (11 Mar)

1861 - Census Day (7 Apr)

1866 - READ MORE Votes for Women Petition, presented to parliament by John Stuart Mill, M.P. (7 Jun 1866)

1866 - Philips Park Cemetery opened (Roman Catholic section, 24 Aug; Unconsecrated section,1 May 1867; Consecrated section 2 Aug 1867)

1868 - First meeting of the Trades Union Congress held at the Mechanics Institute in David Street, Manchester (2-6 Jun)

1870 - James Fraser appointed second Bishop of Manchester (25 Mar)

1871 - Census day (2 Apr)

1872 - READ MORE The worst flood in Manchester's history caused widespread damage when the River Medlock burst its banks. Serious damage to the Roman Catholic section of Philips Park cemetery with several bodies being washed out of the ground (13 Jul) 

1877 - The present Manchester Town Hall opened (13 Sep)

1878 - Newton Heath Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Football Club formed, becoming Manchester United in 1902

1879 - Southern Cemetery opened (26 Sep)

1880 - St. Mark (West Gorton) Football Club formed, becoming Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894

1881 - Census Day (3 Apr)

1885 - Rusholme incorporated into Manchester

1886 - James Moorhouse enthroneds as third Bishop of Manchester (18 May)

1887 - READ MORE Artist Laurence Stephen Lowry born (1 Nov)

1887 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at Salford Racecourse (14 Dec - 30 Apr 1888)

1890 - Blackley, Openshaw, Moston and Newton Heath incorporated into Manchester

1891 - Census Day (5 Apr)

1891 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, second visit to Manchester (July)

1892 - READ MORE Manchester Crematorium opened (2 Oct)

1896 - Bradford incorporated into Manchester

1901 - Edward VII becomes monarch on death of his mother, Victoria (22 Jan)

1902 - Manchester United F.C. is formed in a name change from Newton Heath (28 Apr)

1903 - Heaton Park is sold to Manchester City Council by the Earl of Wilton

1903 - Midland Hotel Opened (5 Sep)

1904 - Didsbury incorporated into Manchester

1906 - General Election; Liberals returned under Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman (12 Jan - 8 Feb)

1906 - Manchester Corporation Tramways begin motor bus services (Feb)

1907 - White City amusement park opened (20 May)

1808 - Manchester United win First Division title (18 Apr)

1808 - Whitworth Art Gallery opened (29 Jul)

1909 - Gorton and Levenshulme incorporated into Manchester

1910 - Alliott Verdon Roe and his brother Humphrey establish the Avro aircraft factory at Brownsfield Mill in Great Ancoats Street (1 Jan)

1910 - Death of King Edward VII. Succeeded by his son  reigning as George V (6 Jan)

1910 - General Election; Liberals form minority government under H. H. Asquith (voting 15 Jan - 2 Feb)

1910 - Second General Election in 1910; Liberals form minority government under H. H. Asquith replaced in 1916 by David Lloyd George (voting 3 - 19 Dec)

1911 – Ford Motor Company assembles its first Model T at Trafford Park (11 Oct)

1914 - War declared against Germany (4 Aug)

1914 - Manchester Regiment deployed to France (Aug)

1915 - Manchester Regiment moved to Mesopotamia (Dec)

1917 – Ernest Rutherford, working at the Victoria University of Manchester, creates first artificial nuclear reaction

1918 - Manchester Regiment moved to Egypt (Apr)

1918 - Manchester Regiment moved to Palestine

1918 - Armistice declared on Western front (11 Nov)

1918 - General Election; Liberals returned under David Lloyd George replaced in 1922 by Andrew Bonar-Law (14 Dec)

1919 - READ MORE First two-minute silence observed in Manchester (11 Nov)

1921 - READ MORE All motor vehicles required to display a vehicle excise duty (tax) disk (from 1 Jan). Abolished Oct 2014. See also our blog: Taxing Times READ BLOG 

1921 - William Temple appointed fifth Bishop of Manchester (15 Feb)

1921 - Education Act extended school leaving age to 14 and introduced free primary education

1921 - READ MORE Marie Stopes opens Mothers' Clinic (first birth control clinic) at 61 Marlborough Road, Holloway, North London (17 Mar)

1921 - READ MORE Austen Chamberlain appointed Leader of the House of Commons, succeeding Bonar Law. (1 Apr)

1921 - READ MOREManchester Guardian celebrates its centenary (5 May)

1921 - READ MOREClara Walkden, of Oldham Borough Police, became the first known female officer with powers of arrest (9 May)

1921 - Defence Force established to deal with expected general strike (9 Apr) Demobilised 9 Jul. See also our blog: Give Peace a Chance READ BLOG

1921 - READ MORE Coal miners begin strike (15 Apr). Not supported by rail and transport workers (Black Friday). See also our blog: Baby It's Cold Outside READ BLOG

1921 - Census Day, postponed from 24 April owing to industrial unrest (19 Jun)

1921 - READ MORE Hyde War Memorial unveiled (25 Jun)

1921 - Prince of Wales visits Manchester (7 Jul)

1921 - READ MORE Dentists Act passes permitting only registered dentists to practice. Effective from 30 Nov 1922. (28 Jul)

1921 - READ MORE Clayton War Memorial unveiled (21 Aug)

1921 - READ MORE R38 Airship crashes due to structural failure. 45 killed, 5 survivors. (23 Aug)

1921 - READ MORE Albert Einstein visits Manchester (30 Sep)

1921 - READ MORE L. S. Lowry exhibited work alongside two other artists in an architect’s offices in Manchester (Oct)

1921 - READ MORE Stalybridge War Memorial inaugurated (6 Nov)

1921 - READ MORE Anglo-Irish Treaty signed (6 Dec)

1922 - READ MORE Empire Settlement Act enacted (29 May). See also Exodus web site READ MORE  

1922 - READ MORE First broadcast from Manchester (Metro-Vicks, Trafford park) by BBC station 2ZY (16 Nov)

1929 - Frederic Sumpter Guy Warman appointed sixth Bishop of Manchester

1931 - Wythenshawe incorporated into Manchester

1934 - Manchester Central Library opened by King George V (17 Jul) VIEW VIDEO

1936 - Death of King George V, succeeded by his son David, reigning as Edward VIII (20 Jan)

1936 - READ MORE Edward VIII abdicates as monarch, suceeded by his brother Albert, reigning as George VI (10 Dec)

1939 - READ MORE Picasso's Guernica exhibited in Manchester (1 Feb)

1939 - War declared on Germany (1 Sep)

1940 - READ MORE The Manchester Blitz. 684 people killed and extensive damage to the city (22-24 Dec)

1945 - End of war in Europe (2 Sep)

1947 - William Derrick Lindsay Greer appointed seventh Bishop of Manchester

1952 - HM Queen Elizabeth II becomes monarch (6 Feb)

1961 - Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, visited Manchester (14 Jul)

1964 - Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society established

1970 - Manchester Metropolitan University created from Manchester Polytechnic

1970 - Patrick Campbell Warman appointed eighth Bishop of Manchester

1974 - Creation of Greater Manchester borough (1 Apr)

1976 - READ MORE Artist Laurence Stephen Lowry died (23 Feb)

1978 - Stanley Booth-Clibborn appointed ninth Bishop of Manchester (5 Sep)

1986 - Greater Manchester borough abolished (31 Mar)

1992 - Manchester Metrolink opens between Bury and Manchester Victoria (6 Apr)

1996 - Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Corporation Street causing extensive damage, but fortunately no fatalities (15 Jun)

1997 - Christopher John Mayfield appointed tenth Bishop of Manchester

2002 -Nigel McCulloch appointed eleventh Bishop of Manchester

2002 - Urbis Museum opened (27 Jun). Closed and re-opened as the National Football Museum 6 Jul 2012

2002 - Manchester hosted Commonwealth Games (25 Jul - 4 Aug)

2004 - Manchester Victoria University and University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) merge to create University of Manchester (1 Oct)

2013 - David Stuart Walker enthroned as twelfth Bishop of Manchester (30 Nov)

2017 - Suicide bomber explodes bomb at Manchester Arena. 23 killed. (23 May)

2021 - READ MORE HRH Prince Philip died aged 99 years (9 Apr)

2022 - HM Queen Elizabeth II died aged 96 years (8 Sep)