On This Day in History - 5th December

5th December

St Paul's Cathedral
(Source: St Paul's)

1697 The first Sunday service was held in the new St Paul's Cathedral, London. After the Great Fire of London, this was the fourth incarnation of a cathedral upon this holy site in London. It was designed and constructed by Sir Christopher Wren, the construction started in 1675 and was finally completed in 1710, but enough was constructed to start holding services by this day in 1697

Modern Day Christie's
(Source: Reuters)

1766 James Christie, the founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London. Sales were held here at his sales rooms in Pall Mall, London until 1779, when they moved to new premises in Gainsborough. Christie's was, and still is, a sales room of internationally reputation and as such is a premier location with which to sell your valuable antiques.

Christina Rossetti
(Source: Rossetti Institute)

1830 The birth of Christina Georgina Rossetti, the English poet who wrote a variety of romantic and children's poems. She had a happy family upbringing until later on in her formative years when her father suffered physical and mental health issues, leading to the family running into hard times. She took a job with the Exercise Office, and in her spare time started writing poetry. 

Her first collection was published in 1842, and from there her notoriety and fame grew until her death in 1894 of breast cancer.

4D Stamp circa 1839
(Source: Cavendish Auctions)

1839 The postage rate in Britain was changed to a standard charge of 4d (4 old pence) a half ounce instead of being charged by distance. this made a huge difference to the way the system worked as before, being priced upon distance it made people restrict their communications to local areas, whereas now, given a flat fee based on weight rather than distance, they were able to send mail to all corners of England


1863 The rules of Association Football were published.

Henry Tate
(Source: Tate.org)

1899 The death of Lancashire businessman and philanthropist Henry Tate (sugar refining and the Tate Gallery) Henry Tate was the son of a clergyman, and by teh age of 13 had got a job working in a basic grocery store as an apprentice. After his 7 year apprenticeship was up, he was able to open his own grocery store, and by the age of 35, he had a chain of 6 stores. 

In 1859 he was offered a partnership with John Wright and Co, a sugar refinery which enabled hi to sell off his grocery business some 2 years later. By 1869, only 10 years after joining Wright and Co, he had taken control of the company and renamed it Henry Tate and Sons. In 1872, he purchased the patent for making sugar cubes which drove his business to even higher profits, and built a new refinery in Liverpool.

In 1877 he opened a new refinery in London, at a plce called Silvertown. Priot to construction, Silvertown wasnt much more than a marshland area, so he developed the area and installed housing, and a building known as Tate Institute which consisted of a bar and dance hall for his staff. He was very concerned about workers welfare and improving their standard of life.

He rapidly accumulated a lot of money, as sugar was also known as "White Gold". In 1889 he donated 65 of his personal paintings to the Government, on condition they were displayed in a suitable gallery - of which he donated nearly £80,000 to its construction. The National Gallery of Art as it was known opened on 21st July 1897 on the site of the old Millbank Prison, and it now known as Tate Britain.

Charing Cross, Roof under reconstruction
(Source: Tate Gallery)

1905 The roof of Charing Cross Railway Station in London collapsed, killing six people. When the roof collapsed at 5pm in the evening, evacuation of the platforms had already started, but a lot of passengers remained. Two of the dead were workmen on the roof trying to shore it up at the time, one was an employee of W H Smith's the newsagent and stationers and the other 3 fatalities were workmen constructing part of the Royal Avenue Theatre adjacent to the station. The station was closed for 3 months whilst the roof was removed and rebuilt with a safe design, but this helped the Euston, Charing Cross and Hampstead railway Company (now part of the London Underground) as they were able to carry out some excavations as part of the new underground line that they wouldn't have been able to build otherwise.

1913 Britain forbade the selling of arms to Ireland, due to the troubles in Ireland with the Irish Republican Army trying to assert independence from the United Kingdom

Rose Heilbron QC
(Source: TheJC.com)

1956 Miss Rose Heilbron QC was appointed Recorder of Burnley to become Britain’s first woman judge. She was an outstanding barrister of her era, being the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray's Inn, the first woman recorder, one of the first two woman to be appointed to the King's Counsel, the first woman to lead a murder case and the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey, she as also teh second woman to be appointed a High Court Judge.

1958 The Queen dialled Edinburgh and spoke to the Lord Provost from Bristol, to inaugurate the first direct dialled trunk call, known as STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling)



1958 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan opened the Preston bypass in Lancashire. First conceived as a relief road to the heavy traffic through Preston, it laid the "foundations" (excuse the pun) for the motorway system, with it being incorporated in to the present day M6 motorway

1973 During a petrol shortage, the government imposed a 50mph speed limit to save fuel.


1989 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher defeated Sir Anthony Meyer in the first challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party.

1991 Robert Maxwell's business empire collapsed with huge debts of more than £1bn and revelations about misappropriation of money in pension funds.

Noel Edmunds and Mr Blobby
(Source: BBC)

1993 The record by Mr Blobby, a pink-and-yellow spotted BBC television star, reached number one in the charts.

2005 The Civil Partnership Act came into effect in the United Kingdom. It gave same-sex couples rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage. In addition a formal process for dissolving partnerships was put in place, akin to divorce.

2012 The Audit Commission announced that English councils had increased their reserves by £4.5bn over the previous five years to £12.9bn despite cuts to funding. The money set aside was the equivalent of almost a third of their spending on services.