Hi All
I just passed the LIfe in the UK test. I found it moderately hard, to be honest. The questions in the book are simple compared to the official app. I think the real test is between the softball book questions and the more challenging app questions. I struggled with the history section in part because I found it confusing because it was not in chronological order. Or not enough for my mind. So I typed up this study sheet which I have copied and pasted below. Hope someone finds it useful who is studying for the test. A VERY condensed version of the history just focusing on the things they seem to ask questions about. I added some rhymes to help me remember. Hope they help.
Good luck to everyone. Now just counting down to my application in January!!!!
Cheers,
NWKH
A Brief History of UK.....
4,000 years ago bronze age. Lived in roundhouses and buried in round barrows.
Iron Age peeps made hill forts. Maiden Castle in Dorset. Spoke Celtic which is related to spoken today in W, S, I. This is regarded as the beginning of English history with the minting of the first coins with iron age kings.
55BC Julius Ceasar unsuccessful invasion. Claudius success the invasion in 43AD but Scotland was not conquered. Hadrian built wall to keep out Picts and ancient Scots. Romans remain for 400 years.
410 AD. Romans leave. England was invaded again by Jutes, Angles and Saxons. Their language basis for English.
William 1066
1066 William Duke of Normandy defeats Harold a Saxon King of E. At Battle of Hastings. Harold is killed. William becomes William the Conqueror. The Bayeux Tapestry shows the battle. This is the last successful invasion. Norman French is now the language of the ruling class. William makes the Doomsday Book.
Middle Ages is 1000 years. From the end of the Roman Empire 476-1485. Time after 1066 constant war.
1200 England rules an area of Ireland around Dublin Known as “the Pale”.
1215 Magna Carta. Even the King is subject to the Law. In future, the King would need to consult his noblemen in decisions. From this, the Parliament arose. Nobility, large landowners, and bishops in the house of Lords. Knights who owned less land, wealthy people from towns in the House of Commons.
Edward 1
1284 introduces the Statute of Rhuddlan. This annexes Wales to England. By the middle of the 15 century, the Welsh rebellions had been defeated.
1314 Scots led by Robert the Bruce defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn and Scotland remains free. “1314 at Bannockburn the Bruce makes the English turn.”
1348 Black Death hits. One-third died. Less need for crops Labor shortages and peeps wanted higher wages. More people moved to towns.
1400 After Norman Conquest Norman French spoke by noblemen, peasants Anglo-Saxon. Eventually, the two merged into English and by 1400 all documents were written in English and were spoken in the royal court and Parliament.
King Henry V
1415 “The Hundred Years War” most important battle was Agincourt 1415. King Henry V’s outnumbered army defeat the French.
King Henry VII
1455 “War of the Roses”. “In 1455 War of the Roses to survive.” Lancaster (Red rose ends in R) vs York (White) Ended Battle of Bosworth Field (Roses are grown in Fields) in 1485. 30-year war. King Richard III of House York is killed. Henry Tudor of House Lancaster becomes King Henry VII of House Tudor. He marries Richard's niece Elizabeth to unite the families.
King Henry VIII
1534 Breaks away from the Church of Rome to divorce Cathrine of Aragon. He also tends to remarry. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard are executed. During his reign, Wales unites with England by the “Act for the Government of Wales”
Edward VI and Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary)
Henry’s son becomes king but dies at age 15. Then his half-sister Mary who is a devout Catholic and kills protestants ie bloody Mary. She dies after a short reign also. Elizabeth daughter of Henry VIII and Anne B becomes Queen.
Elizabeth I
1559 crowned. She is Protestant and makes the Church of England official. One of the most popular monarchs in history especially after…….
1588 when the English defeat the Spanish Armada which had been sent to restore Catholicism. Sir Francis Drake was commander in the defeat. His ship the Golden Hind one of the first to sail around the world. In her time settlers began to colonise the east coast of America.
Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart)
1560 Mary Stuart helps to remember Mary S like Scotland. Scotland was also influenced by Protestant ideas the Parliament abolished the authority of the Pope and makes Catholic services illegal. The Church of Scotland is established but not a “State” Church like in England. When her husband is murdered she flees to England and gives the thrown to her son James VI a Protestant.
James VI and I
1603 Elizabeth had no heir. When she dies in 1603 James of Scotland became James I of England, W and I but Scotland remained a separate country.
Charles I
1625 Both James and Charles believed in “Devine right of Kings” He tried to rule the throne of E W I S with this principle. He did for 11 years but trouble in S meant he had to recall Parliament.
1642 The country split into King supporters “Cavaliers” and Parliament supporters “Roundheads”.
1649 The king's army is defeated at the Battles of Marston Moor and Nasby. “In civil war King Charles is defeated a Nasby and Marston Moor” Charles was held prisoner and executed in 1649.
Oliver Cromwell
Is given the title of “Lord Protector” and rules until his death in 1658.
Charles II
Scots had not agreed to the execution of Charles I and declared Charles II his son King. He led an army into England but Cromwell defeated them at Battles of Dunbar and Worcester. Charles II escaped by hiding in a tree. Parliament now controlled Scotland. This is what gave Cromwell the “Lord Protector” title.
1660 “The Restoration” Parliament invites Charles II to come back from exile and is crowned. C of E again official Church and Catholics and Puritans kept out of power.
1665 major outbreak of the plague in London. The following year a great fire destroys much of the city and St Pauls. A new St Pauls is built by Sir Christopher Wren
1679 Habeas Corpus Act becomes law. Still important today. “You must present the person in court” And every person has the right to a court hearing.
The Royal Society was formed to promote “natural knowledge” Its the eldest surviving scientific society in the world.
James II
1685 Charles had no legitimate children. His bro when Charles dies James becomes King James II in E, W, I. James VII in S. He is Catholic.
William and Mary
1688 James II eldest daughter Mary is married to her cousin William of Orange the Protestant ruler of the Netherlands. Protestants in E ask William in invade E and proclaim himself King. He does and there is no resistance. James flees to France William takes the throne. William III in E, W, I and William II in S. He rules jointly with Mary. This is called “The Glorious Revolution” because there was no fighting and because it guaranteed the power of Parliament ending the threat of a monarch ruling on their own as they wished.
James II wants the throne back and invades Ireland with help of the French army. William defeated James at the Battle of Boyne in 1690. Still a holiday in N I today. All clans in I were required to accept William as king. The MacDonalds of Glencoe were late to take the oath so all were killed.
1689 The Bill of Rights. At William and Mary's coronation, a Declaration of Rights is read that confirms the ding would no longer be able to raise taxes or administer justice without agreement from parliament. The balance of power between monarch and parliament had now changed. Bill of Rights confirmed the rights of Parliament toad the limits of King's power.
Whigs and Tories two main parties.
1707 W and M successor is Queen Anne. She has no children which create uncertainty. The Act of Union in Scotland called the Treaty of Union agreed. Creates Kingdom of Great Britain.
George I
1714 When Anne dies Parliament chose a German George I to be king because he was Anne's nearest Protestant relative. An attempt by Scottish “Jacobites” to put James II, son, on the throne was quickly defeated. George does not speak good English so he needs to decide on ministers. The most important minister becomes known as the Prime Minister. The first one is Sir Robert Walpole from 1721 to 1742
In 1805 Admiral Nelson was in charge of the British fleet that wins the battle of Trafalgar defeating a combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson is killed. Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London. His ship HMS Victory.
1815 The French war ends with the defeat of Emperor Napoleon by Duke Wellington “The Iron Duke” at Waterloo. Wellington becomes Prime Minister.
1700 Late Quaker Petition Parliament to ban slavery
1807 Illegal to trade slaves in British ships or from British ports
1833 the Emancipation Act abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. After 2 million Indians and Chinese are employed to replace the freed slaves.
1832 and 1867 The Reform Act greatly increase the number of people who can vote and abolished the old pocket and rotting boroughs. More seats are given to towns and cities.
1899 to 1902 the Boer War in South Africa
