Timeline

1693: March: James Bradley born (p194)

1697? Macclesfield born (p194)

1728: 01 May: Charles Mason baptised

1729: Bradley discovers aberration of starlight

1732: 06 Oct: Nevil Maskelyne born

1733: 27 July: Jeremiah Dixon born (p221) to Mary Hunter (pp229, 238)

no-date: Mason learns baking (p204)

1742: Halley dies, Bradley named Royal Astronomer

1744: Bradley marries Susannah Peach (p187)

1745: Bradley's daughter born

1745: 12yo Dixon meets Lud in tunnel (p232)

1752-1764: Macclesfield president of Royal Society (p192)

1752: 02 Sept: Eleven days dropped from calendar (p190)

1756: Mason becomes Bradley's assistant

1756: "Defenestration of the Clothiers" (p198)

1756: 20 June: Black Hole of Calcutta (p192)

1757: Susannah Bradley dies (p187)

no-year: 01 May: Mason meets Rebekah (p167)

no-year: 21 June: Mason and Rebekah visit Stonehenge (p210)

no-date: Quakers expel Dixon

1758: Halley's Comet reappears (p192)

1759: March: Halley's perihelion (p188)

1759: 15 March: Johnson on sailors (p35)

1759: Rebekah dies (p188)

1759: 20 Nov: Battle of Quiberon Bay (p192)

1760: 05 May: Lord Ferrers hung (p109)

1760: tensions between Mason and Bradley (p188)

1760: 08 Dec: Seahorse voyage cancelled (p33)

1761: 09 Jan: Seahorse starts for Sumatra (p29)

1761: Maskelyne to St Helena (p118)

1761: 06 June: Transit of Venus (p97)

1761: 27 June? Waddington leaves St Helena (p127)

1761: Bradley suffers emotional problems

1761: Oct: M&D to St Helena (pp99, 102)

1761: Oct? Dixon back to Cape Town (p125)

no-date: Dixon to St Helena (p180) M&D to England

1762: 13 July: Bradley dies (p184)

1763: summer: Mason and Maskelyne in London (p213)

1763: M&D sign contract (p246)

1763: 15 Nov: M&D reach Philadelphia (p258)

1764: Maskelyne to Barbados

1768: 11 Sept: M&D leave America

1769: 03 June: Transit of Venus viewed by Mason at Cavan (Ireland), by Dixon at Hammerfest (p246)

1779: 22 Jan: Dixon dies

1786: 25 Oct: Mason dies; Wicks attends funeral (p6)

1786: Christmas: "M&D" opens (p6)