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Timeline of Brighton facts for kids

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The following is a timeline of the history of Brighton, England.

18th century

Year Date Event Reference
1730s Richard Russell begins to prescribe the medicinal use of seawater at Brighthelmstone for his patients
1771 Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, and brother of George III, visits Brighton
1786 George, Prince of Wales, and the future George IV rents a farmhouse in Brighton
1787 George, Prince of Wales, and the future George IV begins construction of the Royal Pavilion

19th century

Constable - Chain Pier, Brighton, 1826–7, N05957
Brighton's Chain Pier, Sussex's earliest pier, was built in 1823. Painting Chain Pier, Brighton by John Constable, 1827
Year Date Event Reference
1823 Brighton's first pier, the Chain Pier, is built.
1828 11 June Sussex County Hospital (now Royal Sussex County Hospital) opens in Brighton
1837 27 March Death of Maria Fitzherbert, longtime companion of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom at her home in Steine House, Brighton.
1839 1 March Sussex County Cricket Club formed, the first county cricket club.
1840 11 May The first railway line in Sussex, from Brighton to Shoreham opens.

20th century

Year Date Event Reference
1926 11 May Angry confrontations known as Battle of Lewes Road take place in Brighton during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike.
1940 German air raids on Sussex begin, those in Brighton being known as the Brighton Blitz.
1945 8 May VE Day marks the end of the war in Europe.
1961 August Charter granted to the University of Sussex, the first university in Brighton and Sussex.
1965 14 June Bishop David Cashman is made the first bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton.
1966 Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was designated; it was revoked in 2010 upon the establishment of the South Downs National Park.
1967 The first Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe are held
1968 Sussex Police is formed.
1972 October Sussex Gay Liberation Front holds a demonstration in favour of gay rights, a precursor to the annual Brighton Pride event
1974 April Brighton hosts the 19th Eurovision Song Contest, where Sweden's ABBA wins with their song Waterloo at Brighton Dome.
1974 As part of the Local Government Act 1972 the Lord Lieutenancy of Sussex replaced with one each for East and West Sussex which are made ceremonial counties.
1982 At a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Brighton, delegates vote for a moratorium on commercial whaling.
1984 12 October Brighton bombing assassination attempt on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

21st century

Year Date Event Reference
2000 Brighton and Hove is granted city status
2011 1 April South Downs National Park becomes fully operational.
2014 UNESCO designates land between the Rivers Adur and Ouse to be the Brighton and Lewes Downs Biosphere Reserve, Sussex's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
2018 The Rampion Wind Farm becomes operational, a wind farm that lies off the Sussex coast between Worthing and Seaford.
2018 3 October Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make their first official visit to Brighton as Duke and Duchess of Sussex
2020 6 February The first case in Brighton of COVID-19 was reported when a man who returned from Singapore and France to Brighton on 28 January
2021 March DEFRA announces a bylaw first proposed by the Sussex IFCA to prevent trawling on 304 square kilometres (117 sq mi) of sea bed off the coast of Sussex. The law should help the rewilding and regeneration of the Sussex kelp forest.
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