1547

Manor of Bloomsbury granted to Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, Chancellor of England by Henry VIII.

Pictured: Portrait of Henry VIII

1657

4th Earl of Southampton began building Southampton – later Bedford House - on what is now Bloomsbury Square.

Pictured: Print of Bedford House, Bloomsbury Square

1665

Bloomsbury Square (originally Southampton Square) was the first garden square of its type in London. It was developed by the 4th Earl of Southampton as a piazza to his mansion.

Pictured: Portrait of Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton by Samuel Cooper (1661)

1667

Upon the death of the 4th Earl of Southampton his daughter, Lady Rachel Vaughan, inherits the Bloomsbury Estate.

Pictured: Portrait of Rachel Wriothesley, later Rachel Vaughan

1669

Lady Rachel marries William, Lord Russell, son and heir to 5th Earl of Bedford bringing the Bloomsbury Estate as part of her dowry.

Pictured: Map of Bloomsbury Square showing Bedford House and Gardens

1673

Lady Rachel’s sister marries Ralph, Earl of Montagu, and builds Montagu House next door to Bedford House, burnt down and rebuilt in 1685. Purchased by the nation in 1753 and became The British Museum.

Pictured: Map showing the ‘sold’ plot next to Bedford House

1683

William, Lord Russell beheaded for treason and Lady Rachel administers the Bloomsbury Estate until her death in 1723. It is then absorbed and administered from The Bedford Estate Office in London.

Pictured: Plaque which reads 'Near this spot was beheaded William Lord Russell a lover of constitutional liberty 21 July 1683'

1753

Founding of The British Museum, based on the collections of Sir Hans Sloane who lived for many years in Bloomsbury Place (an Estate property).

Pictured: Signature of Hans Sloane

1776

Building of Bedford Square begins by William Scott and Robert Grews. Marks the transformation of the pastures of northern Bloomsbury into a restricted upper-middle-class suburb.

Pictured: Survey of Bedford Square from 1795

1800

Bedford House, Bloomsbury, demolished to make way for housing and the formation of Russell Square mainly under the auspices of builder, James Burton. Russell Square Garden designed by Humphry Repton.

Pictured: Plan of Russell Square, 1866

1851

Charles Dickens leases Tavistock House, Tavistock Square. During this period he wrote Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit and A Tale of Two Cities.

Pictured: Charles Dickens

1878

The University of London became the first university in the UK to admit women to its degrees.

In 1880, four women passed the BA examination and in 1881 two women obtained a BSc.

By 1895, over 10 per cent of the graduates were women and by 1900 the proportion had increased to 30 per cent.

Pictured: Louise Hume Creighton (1850 - 1936),Author and social activist

Leading Women - University of London

1888

Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of Women’s Suffrage Movement, and family moved to Russell Square to one of the houses which is now the site of The Kimpton Fitzory (formerly Hotel Russell).

Pictured: 1-8 Russell Square

1895

Estate sells 64 buildings to The British Museum for its expansion.

Pictured: Copy draft conveyance between the 11th Duke of Bedford to the Trustees of The British Museum

1920

The 11th Duke of Bedford donated No. 51 Tavistock Square to a group which planned to conduct rehabilitation programmes for shell shocked soldiers from WWI. The group took the name of The Tavistock Institute.

Pictured: Institute Of Medical Psychology Damaged,1941

1924

Virginia Woolf and her husband buy a house at 52 Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury. Woolf had been associated with the district since 1902, when she took a house in the area with her three siblings after their father’s death.

Pictured: Virginia Woolf

The Bloomsbury Group

1927

The Estate sells large area to the north of The British Museum for the development of the University of London.

Pictured: Connaught Hall, located in Tavistock Square

1936

Opening of Senate House, the tallest secular building in London at 209 feet.

Pictured: Senate House Tower construction (University of London archive, reference UoL/CT3/4/2)

1940

In 1940/41, the Blitz caused much damage to buildings across London and The Estate.

Pictured: Damage to 51 & 52 Tavistock Square during World War II

1951

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition held throughout the UK in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the Government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war.

Pictured: The Festival Pleasure Grounds

1964

BT Tower opened. It was the tallest building in London in the 1960s, standing at 581 feet.

1997

Opening of The British Library, the largest public building constructed in the UK in the 20th century. The basements extend to a depth of 24.5 metres.

Pictured: The British Library today

1997

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J.K. Rowling.

Pictured: Harry Potter Promotional Poster

Bloomsbury Publishing

2003 to present day

The present Duke, Andrew Ian Henry Russell, (the 15th Duke of Bedford) succeeds to the title.

Pictured: The 15th Duke of Bedford