December 30 - January 5: King William III introduces the 'window tax' causing a strange change to many buildings. - French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier hypothesises another planet in our solar system. - The first traffic signal explodes injuring the operator.
December 31, 1696
Bricked up windows. On this day King William III introduces a new tax in England and Wales, specifically targeted at those who reside in larger more opulent homes... i.e. the more wealthy. This tax did two things – one, it got around the matter of intrusion into ones privacy, the reason why a income tax was opposed as people saw it as unacceptable intrusion by the government into ones private matters, and two, it allowed for a simple (sort of) flat rate tax – the more windows you had in your home the more you paid.
To avoid paying a higher rate of tax, many people started to brick over their windows. Every home was taxed at a flat rate but if you had more than ten windows that tax doubled and if more than twenty windows your tax quadrupled. Many of these older homes still stand and with many of their windows bricked up.
Another interesting side effect was that some of the very wealthy started building more windows into their homes, in order to show off their wealth.
The tax was repealed in 1851.
England and Wales are not the only places to have seen the window tax as both Scotland and France imposed similar on their people. There have also been other similar taxes over the centuries such as the hearth tax (based on the number of hearths or fireplaces in a property, seeing many being bricked over), wallpaper tax (charged at the time of sale by the square yard on printed or patterned wallpaper and saw much plain wallpaper being sold to later be painted in the home once affixed) among others.
To avoid paying a higher rate of tax, many people started to brick over their windows. Every home was taxed at a flat rate but if you had more than ten windows that tax doubled and if more than twenty windows your tax quadrupled. Many of these older homes still stand and with many of their windows bricked up.
Another interesting side effect was that some of the very wealthy started building more windows into their homes, in order to show off their wealth.
The tax was repealed in 1851.
England and Wales are not the only places to have seen the window tax as both Scotland and France imposed similar on their people. There have also been other similar taxes over the centuries such as the hearth tax (based on the number of hearths or fireplaces in a property, seeing many being bricked over), wallpaper tax (charged at the time of sale by the square yard on printed or patterned wallpaper and saw much plain wallpaper being sold to later be painted in the home once affixed) among others.
January 2, 1860
French Mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. From about the 1840s astronomers began to observe very small black spots across the sun – spots that did not seem to be the normal sun spots. Mercury was also observed to have an unusual orbit around the sun. The two things seemed to indicate that there must be another planet, one closer to the sun than Mercury.
Spurred on by the director of the Paris Observatory, French Mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, explored these observations in more detail. Le Verrier put forth several theories but the one that generated the most interest was that there was another planet which he named 'Vulcan' orbiting closer to the sun than Mercury. This theory was accepted by many people, though not proven, until 1915 when the idea was squashed after the unusual orbit of Mercury was explained by Einstein.
Spurred on by the director of the Paris Observatory, French Mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, explored these observations in more detail. Le Verrier put forth several theories but the one that generated the most interest was that there was another planet which he named 'Vulcan' orbiting closer to the sun than Mercury. This theory was accepted by many people, though not proven, until 1915 when the idea was squashed after the unusual orbit of Mercury was explained by Einstein.
January 2, 1869
Plans for early if not the first signal. A traffic signal controller is injured when one of the first ever traffic signals explodes.
The first traffic signal with gas lights was installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, Dec 10, 1868, to control the flurry of traffic on Bridge Street. The signal operated with three semaphore arms at the top of a pole which, when horizontal, told traffic in that direction to stop, and when at an angle, told traffic to proceed with caution. After dark the gas lamps, green and red, were lit in order to signal the traffic at night.
These first signals were a success but unfortunately they were soon deemed unsafe when a leak in one of the gas lines caused a signal to explode, injuring the policeman who was operating it (some sources say he did die from his injuries). The signals were removed.
The first electric traffic light was developed in 1912 and proved to be quite a lot, though not 100%, safer.
The first traffic signal with gas lights was installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, Dec 10, 1868, to control the flurry of traffic on Bridge Street. The signal operated with three semaphore arms at the top of a pole which, when horizontal, told traffic in that direction to stop, and when at an angle, told traffic to proceed with caution. After dark the gas lamps, green and red, were lit in order to signal the traffic at night.
These first signals were a success but unfortunately they were soon deemed unsafe when a leak in one of the gas lines caused a signal to explode, injuring the policeman who was operating it (some sources say he did die from his injuries). The signals were removed.
The first electric traffic light was developed in 1912 and proved to be quite a lot, though not 100%, safer.
January 5, 1643
This date records the very first divorce in the American colonies. Anne Clarke of Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a divorce from her husband Denis Clarke. The divorce paper states: "Anne Clarke, beeing deserted by Denis Clarke hir husband, and hee refusing to accompany with hir, she is graunted to bee divorced."
Denis Clarke abandoned his wife and two children for another woman and had two more children. He refused to return to his wife so the court, as an act of punishment against Denis, granted the divorce.
Denis Clarke abandoned his wife and two children for another woman and had two more children. He refused to return to his wife so the court, as an act of punishment against Denis, granted the divorce.
Ashley Hall 2015
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