TIMELINE: Gloucestershire

1716

Mineral springs are discovered in Cheltenham. Manx-born merchant Henry Skillicorne kickstarts the town’s development into a health spa resort.

1722

The first issue of one of the country’s earliest local newspapers, The Gloucester Journal, is published on 9 April.

1749

Physician and pioneer of the world’s first vaccine (against smallpox) Edward Jenner is born in Berkeley.

1827

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal opens, becoming the broadest and deepest canal in the world.

1863

Lewis Carroll visits Alice Liddell’s grandparents at their home in suburban Cheltenham. An ornate mirror in the drawingroom will inspire his novel Through the LookingGlass (1871).

1873

Gloucester Rugby Club is formed following a meeting at the Spread Eagle Hotel. In 1891 the club acquires the land at what will become Kingsholm Stadium.

1924

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is run as a jumps race for the first time. It had been an annual flat race since 1819.

1941

The Gloster E.28/39, developed by Gloster Aircraft Company chief designer George Carter, becomes the first ever British-made jet engine to fly.

1959

Laurie Lee, pictured here with a toy hare at the Festival of Britain, publishes the bestselling Cider with Rosie, his account of growing up in a village in Gloucestershire.

1996

The County of Avon, a nonmetropolitan and ceremonial county formed in 1974 from Bristol, Bath and parts of Gloucestershire and Somerset, is abolished.