Timeline

1693

March March: James Bradley born (p194)

1697?

Macclesfield born (p194)

1706

Ben Franklin born

1728

May
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)

no-date: Mason Bradley's protege (p45)

1756

Mason becomes Bradley's assistant/adjunct (p45)

"Defenestration of the Clothiers" (p198)

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

tensions between Mason and Bradley (p188)

May
05 May: Lord Ferrers hung (p109)

September
26 Sept? Dixon writes Mason from Durham (p13)

October<br. late Oct: Quakers expel Dixon; Dixon to London (p43)

December<br. 08 Dec: Seahorse voyage cancelled (p33)

1761

Maskelyne to St Helena (p118)

Bradley suffers emotional problems
January
09 Jan: Seahorse starts for Sumatra (p29)

April
27 April: M&D reach Cape Town

June
06 June: Transit of Venus (p97)

27 June? Waddington leaves St Helena (p127) October Oct: M&D to St Helena (pp99, 102)

06 Oct: Maskelyne's 29th birthday (p118)<br.
Oct? Dixon back to Cape Town (p125)

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

1762

1762? invention of sandwich

1762: 13 July: Bradley dies (p184)

1763

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

1764: 08 Jan: observatory (p330)

1764: Maskelyne to Barbados (p213)

1764-1765: (pp333, 339, 341)

1766

1766: M&D top Allegheny Ridge (p7)

1767

1767? M&D diverge? (p315)

1767: Nov: line halted by Indians

1768

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

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)