Timeline

1693

March March: James Bradley born (p194)

1697?

Macclesfield born (p194)

1706

Ben Franklin born

1728

May<br. 01 May: Charles Mason baptised

1729

Bradley discovers aberration of starlight

1732

George Washington born

October
06 Oct: Nevil Maskelyne born

1733

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

no-date: Mason learns baking (p204)

1742

Halley dies, Bradley named Royal Astronomer

1743

Thomas Jefferson born

1744

Bradley marries Susannah Peach (pp143, 187)

1745

Bradley's daughter born

Wolfe expels Mason form paradise (p313)

12yo Dixon meets Lud in tunnel (p232)

1750

Ben Franklin proposes kite-flying experiment

1752-1764

Macclesfield president of Royal Society (p192)

1752

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

1755

(p330)<br.
no-date: Mason Bradley's protege (p45)

1756

Mason becomes Bradley's assistant/adjunct (p45)

"Defenestration of the Clothiers" (p198)

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)

1758

Halley's Comet reappears (p192)

1759

February 13 Feb: Rebekah Mason dies (p52)

March
Halley's perihelion (p188)
15 March: Johnson on sailors (p35)

November 20 Nov: Battle of Quiberon Bay (p192)

1760

05 May: Lord Ferrers hung (p109)

1760: tensions between Mason and Bradley (p188)

1760: 26 Sept? Dixon writes Mason from Durham (p13)

1760: late Oct: Quakers expel Dixon; Dixon to London (p43)

1760: 08 Dec: Seahorse voyage cancelled (p33)

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

1761: Maskelyne to St Helena (p118)

1761: 27 April: M&D reach Cape Town

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: 06 Oct: Maskelyne's 29th birthday (p118)

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

1761: Dec? Dixon to St Helena (p180) M&D to England

1762? invention of sandwich

1762: 13 July: Bradley dies (p184)

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

1763: Aug: M&D sign contract (p246)

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

1763: 01 Dec: second meeting (p291)

1764: 08 Jan: observatory (p330)

1764: Maskelyne to Barbados (p213)

1764-1765: (pp333, 339, 341)

1766: M&D top Allegheny Ridge (p7)

1767? M&D diverge? (p315)

1767: Nov: line halted by Indians

1768: 21 Jun: M&D complete measurement of degree of meridian

1768: 11 Sept? M&D leave America

1768: 24 Nov: M&D address Royal Society

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

1769: 30 July: Dixon back in England

1771: JW LeSpark marries Elizabeth Cherrycoke (p410)

1779: 22 Jan: Dixon dies

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

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