Age of Revolutions (1774 – 1849 CE)

1776

• Jemima Wilkinson nearly dies of a fever — when she recovers, she claims the identity of the genderless Publick Universal Friend.
• October 13: The Publick Universal Friend gives their first sermon, less than a week after recovering from fever.

1783

• The Publick Universal Friend organizes the Society of Universal Friends.

1785

• Jeremy Bentham writes a paper entitled “Offences Against Oneself” arguing that consensual sexual acts between two adults in the privacy of a home should not be illegal.

1788

• January 22: George Gordon Byron is born.
• The Society of Universal Friends pools their resources and purchases some land at the northern end of Keuka Lake.

1790

• March: The Publick Universal Friend begins leading the Society of Universal Friends to their land.
• April 13: The Society of Universal Friends arrives at their land and begins building a town.

1791

• April 3: Anne Lister is born.
• August 2: John “Mad Jack” Byron — the father of George Gordon Byron — dies in France.

1798

• At ten years old, George Gordon Byron inherits the title of Lord Byron and becomes a member of the landed gentry.

1800

• The Publick Universal Friend is taken to court for blasphemy, but the courts rule that blasphemy is not against the law in the United States due to separation of church and state.
• Lord Byron begins writing poetry.

1801

• Lord Byron is enrolled at Harrow.

1803

• September: Lord Byron refuses to return to Harrow, due to his romantic feelings for his cousin Mary Chaworth and her rejection of him.

1804

• Anne Lister begins a romantic and sexual relationship with Eliza Raine.
• Lord Byron returns to school at Harrow.

1805

• Lord Byron has a romantic relationship with his schoolmate John Thomas Claridge.

1806

• Anne Lister begins keeping a coded diary.

1809

• Lord Byron leaves England for the “Grand Tour” of Europe. While on this journey, he claims to have slept with more than 200 men.

1811

• Denmark decriminalizes homosexuality when it adopts Napoleon’s legal code.
• Lord Byron returns to England and learns that his former lover John Edleston has died. He attempts to resume his relationship with Claridge, but discovers he has become boring.

1812

• Lord Byron becomes famous after the first two cantos of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” are published. He begins an affair with Lady Caroline Lamb.

1813

• Lady Caroline Lamb returns to England from Ireland and very publicly tries to win back the affections of Lord Byron.

1815

• January 2: Lord Byron marries Annabella Millbanke.

1816

• January: Annabella Millbanke publicly separates from Lord Byron.
• February 12: John Hobhouse brings word to Lord Byron that rumors of his engaging in sodomy are beginning to emerge.
• April 25: Lord Byron leaves England.
• Lord Byron stays at Lake Geneva with a crew of his friends and fellow writers. Byron has a brief affair with Claire Clairmont.

1817

• Claire Clairmont gives birth to Lord Byron‘s illegitimate daughter Allegra.
• Lord Byron has an affair with Margarita Cogni in Venice. When it ends, she drowns herself in the canal.

1819

• Lord Byron meets Countess Teresa Giucciolli and the two elope.
• July 1: The Publick Universal Friend leaves time.

1821

• Lord Byron and Countess Giucciolli move to Pisa.

1823

• Lord Byron travels to Greece to aid in the fight for Greek independence. He sells Rochdale Manor for 11,250 pounds and opens his coffers to the cause.

1824

• February 28: Karl-Maria Benkert is born.
• April 19: Lord Byron dies of a fever and sepsis.

1825

• August 28: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is born.

1830

• Anne Lister is the first woman to climb Monte Perdido in the Pyrenees.

1832

• June 6: Jeremy Bentham dies.

1838

• Anne Lister and Ann Walker became the first women and the first non-locals to climb Vignemale — the tallest mountain in the French Pyrenees.

1839

• Karl Heinrich Ulrichs has his first sexual experience with another boy.

1840

• September 22: Anne Lister dies.

1843

• December 25: Sallie and Patrick Hodgers have a child they name Jennie Irene Hodgers. (estimated year)

1847

• Karl-Maria Benkert changes his last name to Kertbeny.

1848

• Karl Heinrich Ulrichs finishes his formal education.