(This page has been adapted from the timeline that appears in Roberts, S (1997) ‘James Parkinson, 1755-1824 : from apothecary to general practitioner’ Royal Society of Medicine Press, London)
Some world events are included (in italics) in the timeline to provide context to the setting of the events in James’s life.
1755
11th April – James Parkinson is born
Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language
1757
The opening of the London Hospital in Whitechapel
1760
25th October, King George II dies; George III becomes King of Great Britain
1763
The end of the Seven year war between England, France and Spain
1765
7th February – John Parkinson (James’s father) receives the diploma of the Company of Surgeons
1771
James starts his apprenticeship to his father
1773
The Medical Society of London is foundered (by Dr John Coakley Lettsom)
16th December – The Boston Tea Party
1774
The Humane Society is foundered (18th April, by Dr William Hawes and Thomas Cogan)
1775
John Parkinson is appointed Anatomical Warden of the Company of Surgeons
19th April – The American Revolution begins
1776
James becomes a dresser to the surgeon Richard Grindall at the London Hospital
4th July – Declaration of Independence
1777
James receives the Silver medal of the Humane Society
1781
12th May – James marries Mary Dale
William Herschel discovers Uranus, the first planet found by means of a telescope; he originally names it the Georgian star.
1783
Establishment of the medical school at the London Hospital
1784
10th January – John Parkinson (James’s father) dies
1st April – James becomes a member of the Company of Surgeons
24 year old William Pitt the Younger is appointed Prime minister by George III
1785
James attends the evening lectures of John Hunter
Birth of John William Keys Parkinson
1787
4th February – James presents his paper ‘Some accounts of the effects of lightning’ to the Medical Society.
23rd April – James is elected to the fellowship of the Medical Society of London
1788
First convicts from Britain are shipped to Australia
1789
5th May – French Revolution begins
30th April – George Washington becomes the first president of the USA
1790
Medical and surgical cases become segregated at the London Hospital
1791
Thomas Paine publishes ‘Rights of Man, Part I’
1792
James joins the London Corresponding Society
1793
21st January – the execution of Louis XVI
James publishes his first political article, ‘Pearls Cast Before Swine…’
16th October – John Hunter dies
1794
In September, John Smith, George Higgins, Paul Thomas Le Maitre and Thomas Upton are arrested in the alleged ‘Popgun plot’
In October – James is interrogated by the privy council
1796
In May – James gives evidence at the trial of Robert Crossfield.
James publishes his last political article, ‘Vindication of the London Corresponding Society’
1799
James becomes a Trustee of the Vestry for the Libery of Hoxton.
James publishes ‘Medical Abominations…’
1800
James publishes ‘The Hospital Pupil’, ‘The Chemical Pocket-book’, and ‘The Villages’ Friend and Physician’
The Company of Surgeons becomes the Royal College of Surgeons of London
1801
First census of the United Kingdom shows the population is approximately 9 million.
James’s son, John WK Parkinson becomes a dressing pupil of William Blizard at the London Hospital
1802
John WK Parkinson becomes James’s apprentice
First Factory act is passed in the British Parliament, limiting a child’s working day to just 12 hours
1804
First steam locomotive railway (known as “Pen-y-Darren”) was built by Richard Trevithick
1803
James convinces the Parish Trustees of the need for greater control over the care of child apprentices
1804
James publishes ‘Organic Remains of a Former World, Vol I’
1805
James publishes ‘Observations on the Nature and Cure of Gout’
1807
James publishes ‘Organic Remains of a Former World, Vol II’
James presents opposition to Whitbread’s educational reforms
James publishes ‘Dangerous Sports’, his last writings on family health
13th November – the Geological Society is foundered
1807
Legislation abolishing the slave trade is passed in both Britain and America
1808
6th May – John WK Parkinson becomes a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and joins James’s practise (‘Parkinson and Son’)
1810
In October – James gives evidence in the lawsuit brought by Mary Daintree
1811
6th April – Mary Parkinson (James’s mother) dies.
James publishes ‘Observations on the Act for Regulating Madhouses’
James publishes ‘Organic Remains of a Former World, Vol II’
James meets Gideon Mantell
12-year old Mary Anning discovers a 21 foot long ichthyosaur fossil at Lyme Regis (on the Dorset coast), and Jane Austen publishes ‘Sense and Sensibility’
1812
The Association of Apothecaries and Surgeon-Apothecaries is founded
7th February – Charles Dickens is born in Portsmouth
1813
In July – James and Son are appointed Medical officers to the Poor of the Parish of St Leonard’s
1815
James persuades the Trustees of the Parish to build an isolation ward for fever patients at the workhouse infirmary
18th June – Battle of Waterloo
1817
James becomes president of the Association of Apothecaries and Surgeon-Apothecaries for 2 years
James publishes ‘Essay on the Shaking Palsy’
1818
Mary Shelley publishes ‘Frankstein, of the Modern Prometheus’
1820
King George III dies after 59 years on the throne, the prince regent becomes King George IV
1822
James publishes ‘Outlines of Oryctology’
1823
11th April – on his 68th birthday, James receives the Gold medal of the Royal College of Surgeons
James moves from 1 Hoxton Square to 3 Pleasant Row, Kingsland Road
William Webb Ellis, picks up a football and invents the game of Rugby
1824
James publishes his last scientific paper
21st December – James dies after suffering a stroke
1833
John WK Parkinson publishes James’s notes on the lectures of John Hunter
1887
Jean Martin Charcot gives ‘Parkinson’s disease’ it’s name
Searching4James 