Revision guide
A long and illustrious history
A compact timeline of publicly known events that appear throughout Life in the UK study: invasion, union, reform, war and the modern state.
Early Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain began in AD 43 under the Emperor Claudius. Hadrian’s Wall, started around AD 122, marked the northern edge of Roman Britain. After Roman rule faded, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms formed. Viking raids are traditionally dated from the attack on Lindisfarne in 793. In 1066 William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings and commissioned the Domesday survey.
Crown, church and parliament
Magna Carta (1215) established that the king was subject to the law. Henry VIII’s break with Rome created the Church of England. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 failed to destroy Parliament. The civil wars of the 1640s ended with the execution of Charles I in 1649 and, later, the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. The Bill of Rights 1689 limited the Crown and still sits behind today’s constitutional settlement.
Union and empire
The 1707 Acts of Union joined the kingdoms of England (including Wales) and Scotland as Great Britain. The union with Ireland took effect in 1801. Britain’s eighteenth- and nineteenth-century power was built on trade, industry and empire, including the transatlantic slave trade — abolished in 1807, with slavery in the Empire abolished in 1833. The Great Reform Act 1832 began a long widening of the vote.
The twentieth century and after
The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918; the Second from 1939 to 1945. Women over 30 who met a property test gained the parliamentary vote in 1918; equal voting age followed in 1928. The NHS was founded in 1948. Devolution in the late 1990s created a Scottish Parliament, a Welsh legislature and a Northern Ireland Assembly. Elizabeth II reigned from 1952 to 2022; Charles III is the current monarch.
Independent notes for passbritain.co.uk. Not affiliated with the Home Office. Study the official Guide for New Residents before you sit the test on GOV.UK.