| 1852 |
George
Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth Gurly marry. |
| 1853 |
Lucinda
Frances Shaw is born. |
| 1855 |
Elinor
Agnes Shaw is born. |
| 1856 |
George
Bernard Shaw born, 26 July. |
| 1866 |
Shaw’s parents form ménage à trois
at Torca Cottage with George Vandeleur Lee. |
| 1867
|
Lee
moves into Hatch Street residence. |
| 1871 |
Leaves
school, becomes a clerk. |
| 1872 |
Juvenile
literary collaboration with Matthew Edward McNulty. |
| 1873 |
Mother
emigrates to London. |
| 1876 |
Sister
Elinor Agnes dies on the Isle of Wight, 27 March.
Shaw emigrates to London, 31 March. |
| 1877 |
Does
ghostwriting for Lee (begun November 1876). |
| 1878 |
My
Dear Dorothea and Passion Play (latter was unfinished). |
| 1879 |
Completes Immaturity, first novel, and tries work at
the Edison Telephone Company. |
| 1880 |
Begins
addressing audiences at Zetetical Society.
Writes second novel, The Irrational Knot. Meets Sidney Webb. |
| 1881 |
Becomes
a vegetarian. Begins third
novel. Contracts smallpox. |
| 1882 |
Completes
third novel, Love Among the Artists.
Meets Alice Lockett. Hears
Henry George speak. |
| 1883 |
Completes
fourth novel, Cashel Byron’s Profession. Competes in amateur boxing championships. Reads Karl Marx. Writes fifth novel, An Unsocial Socialist. |
| 1884 |
Joins
Fabian Society. Abortive dramatic
collaboration with William Archer.
A serialized Unsocial Socialist attracts the attention
of William Morris. |
| 1885 |
Father
dies. Begins
wearing Jaeger wool. Begins affair with Jenny Patterson. “Mystic Betrothal” to May Morris. Frequent visits to cottage of Henry and Kate
Salt; Edward Carpenter also frequent visitor.
Book reviews for the Pall Mall Gazette (to December
1888). |
| 1886 |
George
Vandeleur Lee dies. Writes
art criticism for The World (through November 1890). |
| 1887 |
Intimate
friendship with Annie Besant. Speaks
and marches in socialist demonstration on Bloody Sunday, in Trafalgar
Square. |
| 1888 |
Havelock
Ellis invites a contribution to his Contemporary Science series. Involved with numerous women. Busy journalist, Fabian speaker. |
| 1889 |
Writes
music criticism as “Corno di Bassetto” in The Star (through
May 1890). Edits Fabian Essays, writes two. Protests Labouchere Ammendment. |
| 1890 |
Meets
Florence Farr. Music critic “G.B.S.” in The World (through August 1894). |
| 1891 |
The
Quintessence of Ibsenism. |
| 1892 |
Ménage
à trois with May Morris and H. H. Sparling begins in December. Completes Widowers’ Houses (begun 1884). |
| 1893 |
Ends
affair with Jenny Patterson. Writes
The Philanderer, Mrs.
Warren’s Profession (banned by censor). |
| 1894 |
Completes
Arms and the Man, writes Candida. Edward Carpenter’s Homogenic Love published (appears January
1895). |
| 1895 |
Writes
The Man of Destiny. A
Degenerate’s View of Nordau (revised as The Sanity of Art,
1908). Oscar Wilde imprisoned. |
| 1895-1898 |
Writes
theater criticism for The Saturday Review. |
| 1895-1900 |
Maintains “paper courtship” with
Ellen Terry. |
| 1896 |
Meets
Charlotte Payne-Townshend. Completes
You Never Can Tell, writes The Devil’s Disciple. |
| 1897 |
Elected
vestryman, St. Pancras ward. Havelock
Ellis publishes Sexual Inversion. |
| 1898 |
Health
breaks down. Marries Charlotte
Payne-Townshend. Defends George
Bedborough, who was arrested for selling Sexual Inversion. Writes The Perfect Wagnerite, Caesar
and Cleopatra. |
| 1899 |
Convalesces,
writes Captain Brassbound’s Conversion. |
| 1900 |
Casts
Harley Granville Barker as Eugene Marchbanks in Candida. |
| 1901 |
Writes
The Admirable Bashville. |
| 1902 |
Completes
Man and Superman (published 1903). |
| 1903 |
Works
with Harley Granville Barker in staging The Admirable Bashville
at the Imperial Theatre. |
| 1904 |
Writes
John Bull’s Other Island, How He Lied to Her Husband. |
| 1904-1907 |
Provides
most of the financial backing for the Royal Court Theatre venture
of John Eugene Vedrenne and Harley Granville Barker. |
| 1905 |
Writes
Major Barbara. |
| 1906 |
Harley
Granville Barker marries Lillah McCarthy.
Writes The Doctor’s Dilemma. |
| 1908 |
Completes
Getting Married. |
| 1909 |
Writes
The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet (banned by censor), Press
Cuttings (banned by censor), The Fascinating Foundling, Misalliance. |
| 1910 |
Writes
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets. |
| 1911 |
Completes
Fanny’s First Play. |
| 1912 |
Writes Androcles and the Lion; writes Pygmalion;
infatuated with his Eliza, Mrs. Patrick Campbell; writes Overruled. |
| 1913 |
Mother
dies. Writes Great Catherine. |
| 1914 |
Common
Sense About the War appears. |
| 1915 |
Writes
playlets The Inca of Perusalem, O’Flaherty, V.C. |
| 1916 |
Fails
to persuade Barker not to leave Lillah McCarthy for Helen Huntington. Begins Heartbreak House. |
| 1917 |
Completes
Heartbreak House (published 1919), writes Augustus Does
His Bit, Annajanska. |
| 1918-1920 |
Back to Methuselah (published 1921). |
| 1920 |
Sister
Lucinda Frances dies. |
| 1921 |
Completes
translation and adaptation of Jitta’s Atonement, drama by Siegfried
Trebitsch, his German translator. |
| 1922 |
Meets
T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). |
| 1923 |
Writes Saint Joan.
T.E. Lawrence calls himself T.E. Shaw. |
| 1924 |
William
Archer dies. Edits Seven
Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, published 1926. |
| 1925 |
Shaw
publicly embarrasses Barker. |
| 1926 |
Awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature (for 1925). |
| 1927 |
Completes
The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism. |
| 1928 |
Writes
Apple Cart. Protests
censorship of Radclyffe Hall’s lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness. Meets Gene Tunney. |
| 1929 |
Vacations
with Gene Tunney on Italian isle of Brioni.
Writes a preface to the Ellen Terry correspondence (published
1931). Addresses the International
Congress of the World League for Sexual Reform. |
| 1930-1938 |
Collected
edition of works appears. |
| 1931 |
Visits
Russia, meets Josef Stalin, Maxim Gorki, Konstantin Stanislavsky. Meets Mahatma Gandhi. Writes Too True to Be Good. |
| 1932 |
Writes
and publishes The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for
God, a fable. |
| 1933 |
First
visit to America. Writes Village Wooing, On the Rocks. |
| 1934 |
Writes
The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles, The Millionairess, The Six
of Calais. |
| 1936 |
Writes
Geneva (final revision 1947), Cymbeline Refinished. |
| 1938 |
Edits Oscar Wilde, by Frank Harris. |
| 1939 |
Wins
Academy Award for the screenplay of Pygmalion (for 1938). Completes In Good King Charles’s Golden
Days. |
| 1943 |
Charlotte
Shaw dies. |
| 1944 |
Publishes
Everybody’s Political What’s What? a labor of several years. |
| 1946 |
Harley
Granville Barker dies. Writes
a tribute to him. |
| 1947 |
Completes Buoyant Billions. |
| 1948 |
Writes
Farfetched Fables. |
| 1949 |
Writes
Shakes Versus Shaw. Publishes
Sixteen Self Sketches. Revises
Harley Granville-Barker, by Hesketh Pearson. |
| 1950 |
Writes
Why She Would Not to celebrate his ninety-fourth birthday. Works on Bernard Shaw’s Rhyming Picture
Guide to Ayot Saint Lawrence. George
Bernard Shaw dies in November. |
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|
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Biographical
Source:
Bernard Shaw: The Ascent of the Superman, Sally Peters, Yale
University Press, 1996.
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