1904

The timelines on this site are an attempt to highlight the major political and cultural events of the years 1895-1914. They are by no means definitive or canonical; aiming instead at a representative selection, gleaned from various texts.  Additions to the timeline are especially welcome: please leave suggestions in the comments box below.

Key Events

February – Start of the Russo-Japanese War.
April – Entente Cordiale forms diplomatic understanding between Britain and France.
October – The Dogger Bank Incident.
First London motor taxi-cab; Ladies Automobile Club founded; Motor Car Act.
The Empire, Ardwick Green, Manchester, becomes the first large music hall to be converted into a cinema.

Deaths

Anton Chekhov.
Val Prinsep.
Leslie Stephen.
G. F. Watts.

Literature.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill – G. K. Chesterton,
Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
Green Mansions – William Henry Hudson
The Golden Bowl – Henry James
The Wolf Leader – Alexandre Dumas
The Divine Fire – May Sinclair
The Garden of Allah – Robert Hichens
The Prodigal Son – Hall Caine
Hadrian the Seventh – Fr Rolfe (Baron Corvo)

Virginia Woolf’s first essay published.
Nobel prize: Jose Echegaray/Frederic Mistral

Art & Architecture

Exhibition of Art and Industry held in Bradford, including the opening of the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery (designed by Simpson and Allen).
‘Ditton Place’, house in Sussex, designed by Cecil Brewer and Arnold Dunbar Smith.
Ritz Hotel Picadilly.

Works:

Theatre

First performance of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
First performance of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.
Riders to the Sea – J.M Synge

Music

Puccini’s Madame Butterfly first performed.
Formation of the London Symphony Orchestra, the first London orchestra to be governed by its own players.