Doctor Who Chronology: 18th-19th Centuries

The logo for the Torchwood Institute (founded 1879).

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Or travel backward through time to 1st-17th Centuries.

1701

The future-Doctor Thomas Borlase is born. He will eventually survey the Nine Travellers stone circle in 1754.

"The Stones of Blood" (DW1).

1721

December 29: Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, the future Madame de Pompadour, is born in Paris, France.

Reinette is 23 in the February 1745 portion of "The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2), which would seem to confirm this historical date of her birth. (The lateness in the year of her birth also tends to push events forward a year more than one might expect from her given ages.)

1725

Renowned womanizer and seducer Giacomo Casanova is born.

As the Doctor points out, "145 years" after "The Vampires of Venice" (DW2).

1726

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift is first published. The 2nd Doctor, Zoe and Jaime will encounter the character of Gulliver when they visit the "land of fiction".

As seen in "The Mind Robber" (DW1).

1727

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): A young Jeanne-Antoinette "Reinette" Poisson has a conversation with the 10th Doctor through the fireplace in her bedroom, in reality a time window to a spaceship in the 51st century.

Reinette gives the year.

1728

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): The 10th Doctor travels through the time window between Reinette's fireplace and the 51st century spaceship. Months have passed for the girl, although only moments have passed for for the Doctor. He finds that Reinette has been having her brain scanned by a clockwork android from the spaceship. The Doctor manages to subdue the android and drags it back through the fireplace with him.

Reinette says that weeks or months have passed since the previous scene. In a later scene, she also says that she has known the Doctor "since [she] was seven". This wouldn't be possible in 1727, so I'm assuming she is referring to their first full encounter, hence my placement here. (Actually, given the lateness in the year of her birthday, it should be in 1729, but let's assume she was rounding up.)

1730

Around this time, a Mister Chicken lives at what will become 10 Downing Street in London. The 9th Doctor describes him as "a nice man".

"World War Three" (DW1). A Mister Chicken was indeed the last private citizen to live on the site.

1736

While travelling astrally, Padmasambhava, the High Lama of Detsen Monastery in Tibet, makes contact with the disembodied Great Intelligence. The Intelligence takes partial control of Padmasambhava, forcing him to start construction of Yeti-shaped robots.

"Nearly 200 years" before "The Abominable Snowmen" (DW1) (1935).

1742

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): The 10th Doctor arrives from the 51st century and briefly revisits a now adult Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson. As he returns to the future, he realises that this woman is the future Madame de Pompadour.

Exact placement of this visit is conjecture. It must be before their next encounter in 1744, and Reinette is clearly an adult woman (she would be 21 at this time).

1744

A horse wanders through a time window from France to the S.S. Madame de Pampadour in the 51st century.

Shortly before "The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2).

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): The 10th Doctor, travelling to 18th century France once again through a time window from the 51st century, eavesdrops on a conversation between Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson and her friend Katherine regarding the serious illness and impending death of Madame de Châteauroux, the mistress of King Louis XV.

Placement here is based on Châteauroux's death in this year.

December 8: King Louis XV of France's mistress, Madame de Châteauroux, dies mysteriously after a brief illness.

Historical event mentioned in "The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2).

1745

Februrary 25: The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): Jeanne-Antoinette "Reinette" Poisson meets King Louis XV of France for the first time. After the King leaves, Reinette comes face-to-face with one of the androids that have been stalking her since she was a child. The 10th Doctor, Rose and Mickey storm in through a time window and confront the android. They learn that, on their damaged ship in the future, the android and its fellows cannibalised the ship's crew for repairs and now a piece of Reinette is required when she reaches the correct age. Rose and Mickey follow the fleeing android back to the future, while the Doctor attempts to read Reinette's mind to discover why she is so important to the androids. Instead, an infatuated Reinette pulls the Doctor away to spend time with her.

Februrary 25, 1745 is historically the date that Reinette did first meet the King.

The 10th Doctor attends the Yew Tree Ball with Reinette, during which he possibly invents the banana daiquiri.

Just after "The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2).

June: King Louis XV of France purchases the goods of the marquisate of Pompadour and gives them to Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, bestowing upon her the title of Madame de Pompadour.

Historical events discussed in "The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2).

During the Jacobite Rebellion, several Redcoats and Highlanders are taken by the War Lords to fight in their War Games. They are returned by the Time Lords.

The Redcoat Jamie encounters in "The War Games" (DW1) gives this as the year he is from.

1746

April 16: The Battle of Culloden takes place with a victory for the British, bringing an end to the Jacobite Rebellion. During the battle, Colin McLaren saves Charles Edward "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Stuart's life; the Prince gives McLaren his ring, featuring the Stuart coat of arms, as thanks. After the battle, Bonnie Prince Charlie escapes, with the help of supporters, disguised as an Irish maid named "Betty Burke". McLaren give the Stuart ring to his daughter Kirsty for safe-keeping.

This is the real date for the Battle of Culloden. Many of these points are mentioned in "The Highlanders" (DW1).

The Highlanders (DW1) 1-4: The 2nd Doctor, Ben and Polly encounter a group of Highlanders, including a young piper named Jamie McCrimmon, who have just come from the Battle of Culloden. Ben, Jamie and several other Scots are taken by English soldiers and sold as slaves aboard a pirate ship, due to the machinations of Solicitor Grey, the Royal Commissioner of Prisons. The Doctor and Polly help the captives gain their freedom and take over the ship, in the process exposing Grey's illegal schemes to the British authorities. Jamie joins the time-travellers when they leave.

The story starts shortly after the Battle of Culloden.

The War Games (DW1) 10: Jamie is returned to his native time by the Time Lords, with no memory of his time with the Doctor after their first adventure together.

Presumably immediately after "The Highlanders" (DW1).

c.1750

There are reports around this time of sightings of strange, ambulatory seaweed creatures in the North Sea.

In "Fury From the Deep" (DW1), the Doctor's research turns of reports of the creatures from "the middle of the 18th century", with Jamie exclaiming, "That's my time!"

1752

June 15: The Doctor assists Benjamin Franklin when he proves that lightning is electricity by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. The Doctor remembers being "soaked" and getting rope burns from the kite.

Actual historical date. The events are mentioned by the Doctor in "Smith and Jones" (DW1).

1753

June 7: Archibald Cameron of Locheil is the last Jacobite to be executed for treason for actions during the Jacobite Rebellion.

In "The Highlanders" (DW1) (1746), the Doctor nearly tells Kirsty McLeod that it will be for her to return to her home in seven years. He may have been referring to this event, after which he knew that, according to history, she could not have been executed for her own involvement with the Rebellion.

1754

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): Travelling through another time window from the 51st century, Rose visits Madame de Pompadour to warn her that the androids that have stalked her throughout her history will make their final attack in five years' time. When Mickey arrives to retrieve Rose, Madame de Pompadour catches a glimpse of the future.

Five years before the androids' attack in 1759.

Dr. Thomas Borlase is killed while surveying the stone circle named the Nine Travellers, when one of the stones apparently falls on him, crushing him to death.

"The Stones of Blood" (DW1).

1759

The Scottish poet Robert Burns is born.

As mentioned by the Doctor in "The Underwater Menace" (DW1).

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): The group of clockwork androids from the 51st century, believing they require a 37-year old Madame de Pompadour's brain to repair their ship, return to this century and capture the courtesan and her guests at court at the Palace of Versailles. The 10th Doctor follows the androids, destroying all the time windows and severing all links with the future ship, thus stranding stranding them all in the past. Unable to complete their mission, the androids shut down permanently. Although the Doctor appears trapped in this time, Madame de Pompadour reveals that she had the fireplace containing the original time window moved to the Palace. The Doctor is able to repair this portal and returns to the future, promising de Pompadour that he will return for her shortly, so that she might join him on his travels.

Reinette (born very late in 1721) is 37 at this point in time.

1764

Madame de Pompadour, realising she is close to death, writes the Doctor a farewell letter.

"The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2). Not long before her death.

April 15: Madame de Pompadour passes away. Arragements are made to have her body moved from Versailles to Paris for her burial.

This is the historical date for Reinette's death mentioned in "The Girl in the Fireplace" (DW2)..

The Girl in the Fireplace (DW2): The 10th Doctor attempts to visit Madame de Pompadour but arrives too late, as she has recently passed away. King Louis XV gives the Doctor a letter from her. Without looking at the letter, the Doctor quietly returns to the 51st century.

Shortly after Reinette's death (although the King incorrectly gives her age at death as 43).

1773

The village of Devil's End becomes notorious when the black magic activities of the Third Lord of Aldbourne are revealed.

In "the 18th century", according to "The Dæmons" (DW1) (1973).

December 16: In the event later known as "the Boston Tea Party", a group of men (including the Doctor) calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" and dressed as Mohawk Indians board a number of British ships in Boston, Massachusets, harbour and, in protest of British taxation policies, destroy the ships' cargo, including forty-five tons of tea, which is thrown into the sea.

The Doctor's involvement in this historical event is revealed in "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

1775

This year marks the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, as Revolutionaries seize control of British colonial governments and set up their own congress. Sometime over the conflict's eight year duration, the Rani is present in order to extract chemicals from some of the participants' brains.

The Rani's presence during this war is established in "The Mark of the Rani" (DW1).

1782

Jack Ward enters the service of Lord Ravensworth.

"Over 30 years" before "The Mark of the Rani" (DW1) (1813).

1783

On the planet Manussa, the Mara are accidentally created by the Manussans when their negative emotions are focused through the crystal known as the Great Mind's Eye, giving those feelings physical form.

The Great Mind's Eye is approximately 800 years old by the time of "Snakedance" (DW1) (2583).

The future Mrs. Peace is born.

She is 86 when she passes away in "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2) (1869).

1788

As part of its 25-year orbit, the Nemesis statue passes close to Earth. Nemesis' bow is also stolen from Windsor Castle in this year.

"Silver Nemesis" (DW1).

1789

July 14: An enraged mob storms the Bastille in Paris, signaling the start of the French Revolution.

As mentioned in "The Reign of Terror" (DW1) (although, in 1794, Leon mistakenly calls this "six years ago").

1790

Future inventor George Stephenson, aged nine, begins working in coal mines.

In "The Mark of the Rani" (DW1), Stephenson says he first started working "down t'pit at nine". Stephenson was born in 1781.

Scottish poet Robert Burns writes the poem "Tam o' Shanter", which features the line, "Nae man can tether Time nor Tide". When the 2nd Doctor recites this quote to his companion Jamie McCrimmon, the young Scot fails to recognize it as he comes from a time before Burns' birth.

"The Underwater Menace" (DW1).

1793

In the English village of Devil's End, Sir Percival Flint attempts an excavation of the barrow, Devil's Hump. It ends in failure when his workers flee the site in terror.

"The Dæmons" (DW1).

October 31: In France, Maxmilien Robespierre has the group of revolutionaries known as the Girondists executed.

Mentioned in "The Reign of Terror" (DW1).

1794

April 5: In France, Robespierre has fellow Revolutionary Georges Danton executed.

Mentioned in "The Reign of Terror" (DW1).

May: Leon Colbert's cell of French Revolutionaries learns of the presence of British spy James Stirling in Paris, although they remain ignorant of the identity he is using.

"Two months" before "The Reign of Terror" (DW1).

July: The Reign of Terror (DW1) 1-4: The 1st Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian are caught up in the events of the French Revolution. Barbara, Ian and Susan are made prisoners in the Bastille, while the Doctor disguises himself as a French Revolutionary official in an attempt to free them. During their time in Paris, the travellers encounter Maximilien Robespierre, counter-revolutionaries and James Stirling, an undercover British spy, and witness an important meeting between Paul Barras and Napoleon Bonaparte which will have a profound affect on France's future.

The story concludes on July 27, 1794, the day that Robespierre was arrested. Robespierre himself confirms the date.

1796

The Cabinet Room, the meeting place for the British government's senior Ministers, is added to 10 Downing Street in London.

Real event mentioned by the Doctor in "World War Three" (DW2).

On the planet Dulkis, the 7th Council, under Director Manus, approves plans of exploration in the field of atomic research. After a test on a secluded island proves devastating, research into atomic energy is abandoned. A museum is set up on the island to warn future generations of the dangers of atomic power.

"172 years" before "The Dominators" (DW1) (1968).

1799

November 9: Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup d'état and installs himself as First Consul of France.

A possibility worried about by Jules Renan in "The Reign of Terror" (DW1) and later confirmed by Barbara and Ian.

1805

October 21: The Battle of Trafalgar, a sea battle in which the British Royal Navy fleet defeats the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, is fought off the coast of Cape Trafalgar, Spain.

The Doctor mentions this event as a possible destination in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

1808

The abbess of St. Agnes Abbey is possessed by an alien Gorgon. The Gorgon will continue to manipulate the abbess' form for two centuries, during which she will also control the nuns sequestered at the abbey.

"200 years" before "Eye of the Gorgon" (SJA) (2008).

1809

April 8: Joseph Sundvik is born.

From a gravestone in "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

Many soldiers are taken from their own time during the Napoleonic Wars by the War Lords to do battle in the War Games in 1969. They are returned by the Time Lords.

"The War Games" (DW1). Exact date is conjecture. This was a particularly busy year during the (somewhat vaguely dated) Napoleonic Wars.

The Cup of Athelstan comes into the possession of the International Museum in London.

In "Planet of the Dead" (DW2) (2009), the Cup has been in the Museum's collection for "200 years".

1812

Greeks Bearing Gifts (TW): In Cardiff, a prostitute named Mary angers her customer, an English soldier. The soldier chases Mary through the woods, intent on killing her. Mary stumbles across an alien prisoner from the planet Arcateen 5. Having just killed her jailer, the alien possesses Mary, then kills the soldier and eats his heart. Mary will continue to kill humans, once a year for almost the next two centuries, to maintain her new form.

The year is given in a caption. Mary's species' home planet is revealed in when Sarah Jane encounters another of the species in "Invasion of the Bane" (SJA).

Children's and Household Tales, a collection of stories by the Brothers Grimm, is first published. One of the stories is "Rapunzel" about a princess with extremely long tresses. The 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe will meet the character when they visit the "land of fiction".

As seen in "The Mind Robber" (DW1).

1813

The Mark of the Rani (DW1) 1-2: The renegade Time Lord, the Rani, is present in Killingworth, England during the Industrial Revolution, withdrawing certain chemicals she requires from the brains of the local coal miners; this causes them to behave violently. The Master is also present, intending to abduct a number of geniuses gathering in the same area. The 6th Doctor and Peri arrive and sabotage both plans, trapping both renegades in the Rani's sabotaged TARDIS.

The "Fact of Fiction" article about this story in Doctor Who Magazine #343 makes a strong case for this story occurring in 1813, and I am opting to use that date. The article takes into account a number of story points, including the timing of the Luddite uprisings and the stage of George Stephenson's work on his Rocket. (The story, however, still features an historical inaccuracy or two.)

1815

June 18: In Belgium, the armies of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte engage in the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon is defeated, putting a final end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of France.

The Doctor, as Mr. Smith, teaches a history lesson about this battle in "Human Nature" (DW2).

1816

The poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is first published. When the alien Mary visit the Torchwood Three Hub in 2007, quotes several lines, comparing the Hub to Xanadu, the emperor's summer palace in the poem.

"Greeks Bearing Gifts" (TW).

1820

July 3: Florence Sundvik is born.

The date is seen on a gravestone in "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

The Nine Travellers stone circle is surveyed by the Reverend Thomas Bright.

"The Stones of Blood" (DW1).

1822

On the island of Fang Rock, a unknown creature which will come to be called "the Beast of Fang Rock", kills two lighthouse keepers and drives a third insane.

"Eighty years" before "Horror of Fang Rock" (DW1) (1902) (assuming, of course, that there is any truth to the story).

In his book Deutsche Grammatik, German author Jacob Grimm elaborates on the principle of consonantal shift in a series of statements that will come to be known as Grimm's law.

The Doctor mentions this real historical event in "State of Decay" (DW1).

1829

October: George Stephenson's Rocket wins a competition to select the locomotive type to be used for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Stephenson's design will become the standard used in locomotive construction for many years to come.

A historical event often alluded to in "The Mark of the Rani" (DW1).

1830

The Royal Geographical Society is founded in 1830 as the Geographical Society of London. The Doctor is one of the founding members.

"Ghost Light" (DW1).

1831

English physicist Michael Faraday discovers the principle of electromagnetic induction, leading him to create the first transformer.

Historical records and "Revenge of the Slitheen" (SJA).

1832

On the planet Sto, in the Cassavalian Belt, Max Capricorn founds Max Capricorn Cruislines.

In "Voyage of the Damned" (DW2) (2008), Max says he has spent "176 years [...] running the company".

1837

The short story "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen is first published. The Doctor claimed to have given Andersen the idea for the story.

"The Romans" (DW1).

1838

June 28: The Doctor attends Queen Victoria's coronation.

Actual historical event. The Doctor's presence is established in "The Curse of Peladon" (DW1).

1840

June 10: Edward Oxford attempts to kill Queen Victoria while she is riding in a carriage with Prince Albert in London, shooting at her twice. Both shots miss.

In "Tooth and Claw" (DW2), the Doctor notes that by 1879, the Queen has had six attempts on her life. This is the first.

1841

February: In the final serialized chapter of Charles Dickens' story The Old Curiosity Shop, lead character Nelly "Little Nell" Trent dies. The 9th Doctor would later claim that the scene always "cracks [him] up". Also, the 4th Doctor will read some of this story to his follow adventurers at the conclusion of their adventure on Shada.

The 9th Doctor mentions his reaction to Dickens in "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2). The 4th Doctor is seen reading the story in "Shada" (DW1).

1842

On May 29, John Francis attempt to shoot Queen Victoria. After firing his pistol once, he is immediately seized by the police. Months later, on July 3, a third attempt on the Queen's life is made by John William Bean, who tries to shoot Her Majesty, although his gun is loaded only with paper and tobacco.

The second and third attempt on the Queen, of the six mentioned by the Doctor in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

The french language collection of stories and fables Scènes de la vie priveé et publique des animaux is published. While in the "land of fiction", Zoe and Jaime will be pressed between the pages of this book and turned into fictional characters.

"The Mind Robber" (DW1).

The Snowmen (DW2): Through a snowman he has built, a young Walter Simeon makes contact with the disembodied entity known the Great Intelligence, who begins to mirror the boy's coldness and contempt for the world around him.

Date given in caption.

1843

January: The first chapter of Charles Dickens' serialized novel Martin Chuzzlewit sees print. The 9th Doctor later describes the "American bit" of the novel as "rubbish".

"The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

The Chinese Fowling Piece which will eventually be owned by Professor Litefoot is last fired at this time.

"50 years" before "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1) (1893).

December: Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol is first published. It is an instant success and the tale will become one of the most popular Christmas stories of all time.

The story features prominently in "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

1844

The Alexandre Dumas novel Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers) is first serialised. The character of d'Artagnan from the story will be summoned by the 2nd Doctor during a mental battle with the Master of the "land of fiction".

"The Mind Robber" (DW1).

1849

An unemployed and disgruntled Irishman named William Hamilton fires a pistol at Queen Victoria's carriage as it passes along Constitution Hill, London.

The fourth of the six assassination attempts on the Queen's life before the events of "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

1847

July: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is first published. A copy of the novel will be part of Professor Chronotis' library in 1980.

The book's presence is noted in "Shada" (DW1).

1850

Queen Victoria sustains an injury when Robert Pate attacks her in her carriage, striking her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and bruising her.

The fifth assassination attempt on Queen Victoria of the six mentioned by the Doctor in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

1851

The Great Exhibition, the first world's fair, is held in the Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park. The 5th Doctor attempted to begin Nyssa and Tegan here for a visit, but was unsuccessful.

"Time-Flight" (DW1).

August: The schooner America crosses the Atlantic Ocean in seventeen days.

Actual event referred to in "Enlightenment" (DW1).

The Koh-i-Noor diamond is presented to Queen Victoria as "the spoils of war".

As stated by the Queen in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

With the aid of pilfered Dalek technology, the Cybermen trapped in the Void by the Doctor in the early 21st century break through to Earth in this time period after the walls between realities were weakened by Davros' attempt to destroy all existence in 2009.

These Cybermen begin a project to build a "CyberKing", a Dreadnought-class battleship with the capability to convert millions into Cybermen and take control of Earth. To help implement this plan, they employ an angry, bitter woman, Miss Mercy Hartigan, using her to gather and control a child workforce.

Leading up to "The Next Doctor" (DW2). The Doctor's mention of the walls of the universe weakening due to "a greater battle" must refer to the events of "The Stolen Earth" (DW2) and "Journey's End" (DW2).

December: The Next Doctor (DW2): While collecting their child workforce, the Cybermen encounter math teacher Jackson Lake and his family. They kill his wife Caroline and abduct his son Frederick. During this, an "infostamp" (a sort of Cyberman "hard drive", filled with information from Dalek databases) malfunctions, leading both the Cybermen and Lake to believe that Lake is the Doctor. Although his Doctor memories are hazy, Lake adopts the identity of the Doctor, building himself a TARDIS (a hot-air balloon) and saving a young woman named Rosita from a Cyberman and having her accompany him as his "faithful companion". Lake also beings to investigate the Cybermen's dealings.

On Christmas Eve, the 10th Doctor arrives in this period and encounters the faux "Doctor", assuming him to be a partially amnesiac future incarnation of himself. With Lake and Rosita, the Doctor discovers the Cybermen's plan, although he is too late to prevent the activation of the CyberKing, powered by the mind of Mercy Hartigan. The Doctor shows Hartigan what a monster she has begun and she looses her sanity, causing the CyberKing to break down and the Cybermen to be destroyed. The Doctor then sends the battleship into the Time Vortex to eventually disintegrate.

The Doctor also works out who Lake really is and restores the teacher's memory. Lake is reunited with his son and takes Rosita on as a nursemaid for the boy.

A young boy gives the Doctor's arrival date at December 24, 1851. The flashbacks take place only a few weeks before the rest of the story.

1852

Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, begins his years-long work of cutting the Koh-i-Noor diamond, as part of his and Sir Robert MacLeish's father's plan to destroy the alien being terrorizing the Scottish countryside around the Torchwood Estate.

A combination of real events and facts mentioned in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

Dockery, an inhabitant of Mercy, Nevada, is born.

He is 18 years old in "A Town Called Mercy" (DW2) (1870).

1854

The Crimean War begins. Over its two-year duration, soldiers are taken from their battlefields by the War Lords in order to fight in the War Games. The Time Lords return them to their proper time.

The 3rd Doctor also claims to have been wounded during the War.

The abducted soldiers from "The War Games" (DW1). The Doctor's claim in "The Sea Devils" (DW1).

J. Clark Maxwell and Michael Faraday conduct experiments (in electromagnetism and static electricity respectively) that will help Theodore Maxtible in the development of his method of time-travel by 1865.

"12 years" before "The Evil of the Daleks" (DW1) (1866).

October 25: The Charge of the Light Brigade, a disastrous cavalry charge led by Lord Cardigan during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, takes place. The Doctor witnesses it.

The Doctor says he watched this event in "The Evil of the Daleks" (DW1).

November 5: The uncle of Theodore Maxtible's maid, Mollie, is one of the soldiers killed in the Crimean War at the Battle of Inkerman.

The presence of Mollie's uncle at this historic battle is established in "The Evil of the Daleks" (DW1).

1859

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is first published. This seminal scientific work, outlining Darwin's theories of evolution by means of natural selection, will cause much controversy and heated scientific, philosophic and religious debate.

Darwin's theories feature, and are mentioned several times, in "Ghost Light" (DW1).

1860

The future-Professor Litefoot and his family are in China at this time. Litefoot's father is a Brigadier-General on the punitive expedition. After the expedition, Litefoot's father stays on as the Peking attaché. When the family eventually leave China, Litefoot's mother receives a number of parting gifts from the Chinese Emperor, including a "Chinese puzzle box", in reality Magnus Greel's time cabinet from the 51st century.

"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1).

Hide (DW2): The 11th Doctor and Clara visit this period briefly, during which the Doctor takes a photograph of the supposed ghost of Caliburn House, which is spread across the history of Earth.

Placement is conjectural. It seems to be the Victorian era and women are seen with parasol, which apparently didn't come into fashion in England until the late 1850s.

1861

The Malicious Damage Act is passed in England. The Act includes damage to lighthouses.

"The Horror of Fang Rock" (DW1). There was indeed a Malicious Damage Act of 1861.

Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, dies of complications due to typhoid fever.

Albert's passing is mentioned in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

1862

During the American Civil War, soldiers are kidnapped by the War Lords to fight in the War Games, then returned home by the Time Lords.

"The War Games" (DW1).

1863

Around this time, Henry Gordon Jago enters show business.

By the time of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1) (1893), Jago has spent "30 years in the halls".

November 19: The Chase (DW1) 1: At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers his famous "Gettysburg Address". Part of the speech is seen on a Space-Time Visualiser by the 1st Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Vicki.

This is the date for this historical event.

1865

The American Civil War comes to a close, with the northern Union states victorious.

The conclusion of the War is mentioned in "A Town Called Mercy" (DW2).

The time travel experiments of Theodore Maxtible and Edward Waterfield attract the attention of the Daleks far in the future. The Daleks convince Maxtible to help them by promising him the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone. Maxtible secretly abducts Waterfield's daughter, Victoria, for the Daleks in order to secure the distraught father's assistance. Under the pretense of repair work, Maxtible has the south wing of his home closed off to conduct further experiments with the Daleks.

Over the next year, rumours begin to circulate among the house staff is haunted, eventually leading to Mr. Kitson, the butler, to leave. Meanwhile, Maxtible continues to do the Daleks' bidding; he arranges for his daughter Ruth's fiancé, Arthur Terrall, to be put under the Daleks' control and sends Edward Waterfield to the year 1966 to lay a trap for the 2nd Doctor and Jamie, leading them back to this time period.

Mollie describes the south wing as having been closed off "a twelve-month back" from "The Evil of the Daleks" (DW1) (1866).

1866

June 2: The Evil of the Daleks (DW1) 2-6: The 2nd Doctor and Jamie are brought back to this time from 1966 by Theodore Maxtible and Edward Waterfield. Maxtible has been promised the secret of transmuting elements, while Waterfield's daughter Victoria has been taken prisoner by the Daleks. The Doctor and Jamie are forced to perform a series of tests in order to isolate the "Human Factor", which the Daleks claim will make them more efficient, superior creatures. The Doctor creates this Human Factor and integrates it into three Daleks that he dubs Alpha, Beta and Omega. These Daleks become child-like, friendly and playful. After the tests, the Daleks take the Doctor, Jamie, Maxtible, Waterfield, Victoria and Maxtible's mute Turk servant to Skaro in the future, destroying Maxtible's home as they leave.

Maxtible gives the date for this part of the story.

The K-9 series computer is programmed with every grandmaster chess game from this point onwards.

"The Androids of Tara" (DW1).

Charles Dickens' short story "The Signal-Man" is published. The 9th Doctor calls it "terrifying" and "the best short story ever written".

"The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

November 23: One of Clara Oswald's copies spread across the Doctor's timeline in born.

Clara's birthdate is seen on her gravestone in "The Snowmen" (DW2). Her nature as a copy of the real Clara is revealed in "The Name of the Doctor" (DW2).

1868

The first volume of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is published. While in the "land of fiction", Jamie will hear part of a recording of the story.

"The Mind Robber" (DW1).

A Liberal Education and Where to Find It, a collection of essays by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, is published. One essay contains the line "The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature." The 4th Doctor will misquote this as "The cheeseboard is the world" when visiting Logopolis in 1981.

"Logopolis" (DW1).

1869

Captain Jack Harkness, attempting to travel to the early 21st century from the far future, arrives in this time instead. Upon reaching this period, Jack's vortex manipulator burns out, stranding him.

"Utopia" (DW2).

September: The Gelth, a gaseous race, increase their presence in the building occupied by Sneed and Company Undertakers enough to begin animating fresh corpses. Proprietor Gabriel Sneed does his best to keep these events quiet.

"Three months back" from "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2) (December).

A Mrs. Peace of Cardiff, Wales, passes away. Her grandson, Mr. Redpath, arranges to have her funeral dealt with by Sneed and Company Undertakers.

Some time before "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

December 24-25: The Unquiet Dead (DW2): In Cardiff, Wales, the 9th Doctor and Rose encounter author Charles Dickens. With Dickens, they discover the presence of the Gelth, refugees of the Time War who have lost their physical form and being gas beings. The Gelth have been travelling through an ancient time-space rift in Cardiff and animating dead bodies at Sneed and Company Undertakers, albeit temporarily, as the aliens are too weak to fully break through. A clairvoyant servant girl named Gwyneth, her powers made stronger during a lifetime living near the rift, agrees to become a conduit for the Gelth, so that they may better inhabit the recently dead in the undertaker's morgue.

However, after the Gelth begin to pass through Gwyneth, they reveal their true intentions. Their numbers are much larger than they had previously revealed and they plan to kill everyone on Earth, then inhabit the corpses. Gwyneth sacrifices herself to prevent the Gelth from passing through to Earth.

The date is given by the Doctor and confirmed by a poster about Dickens' public reading.

December 25: Charles Dickens travels to his home in London to "make amends with [his] family."

The day after "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

Thanks in part to Gwyneth's sacrifice, the dimensional rift used by the Gelth to reach Earth begins to heal over, almost like a scar. However, the rift, later named "the Cardiff Rift" will continue to deposit flotsam and jetsam from across time and space in the Cardiff area. The Rift will also continue to give off radiation harmless to humans, but useful for powering dimensional travel machines like the TARDIS.

The TARDIS powering property is explained in "Boom Town" (DW2). The Rift's other aspects are shown over several episodes of Torchwood, beginning with "Everything Changes" (TW).

1870

In Scotland, the Jameson boys go out onto Tullock Moor, where they apparently encounter the Zygons. The younger brother, Donald, disappears, and Richard is found two days later, driven insane by the experience. Richard never speaks again.

"Terror of the Zygons" (DW1).

April: The first chapter of Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood is published. Dickens' plans to add supernatural elements to the story ("blue elementals") based on his adventure with the 9th Doctor and Rose in Cardiff the previous Christmas.

"The Unquiet Dead" (DW2), based on the actual publication date.

June 9: Charles Dickens dies of a stroke, his story The Mystery of Edwin Drood left unfinished.

As stated in "The Unquiet Dead" (DW2).

A Town Called Mercy (DW2): The 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory visit the town of Mercy, Nevada. Here, the discover that the town doctor, Jex, is an alien from the planet Kahler. Over the years, Jex has become very popular with the locals, using his advanced technology to treat a number of diseases and introduce electric lights to Mercy.

Kahler-Jex is being stalked by a cyborg dubbed "the Gunslinger". The Doctor discovers that Jex is in fact a war criminal who, under orders from his government, experimented on a number of his people, converting them into cyborgs to fight a war. While all other cyborgs were shut down, the Gunslinger went rogue, tracking down and killing all the scientists involved in the project. The Doctor, furious at the discovery, intends to hand Kahler-Jex over to the cyborg, but Mercy's marshall, Isaac, disagrees, arguing that Jex has done good for the town and deserves a second chance. Isaac is accidentally killed by the Gunslinger, making the Doctor the new marshall with his dying breath.

Despite his misgivings, the Doctor concots a plan to help Kahler-Jex escape and return to his ship. While the plan in successful, Jex realizes that the Gunslinger will only follow him wherever he goes, endangering those around him and sacrifices himself by activating his ship's self-destruct. Left purposeless and feeling guilty for his actions, the Gunslinger, at the Doctor's suggestion, becomes Mercy's new marshall, watching over the town for years to come.

"Five years" after the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865.

1871

Heinrich Schliemann and his young wife Sophia Engastrontenos begin their excavation of the ancient city of Troy.

As mentioned by the Doctor in "The Stones of Blood" (DW1).

Lewis Carroll's classic children's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is first published. It features the nonsense poem "Jabberwocky".

The 3rd Doctor is heard singing the poem in "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (DW2).

Soldiers are taken from the Franco-Prussian War by the War Lords to fight in the War Games. They are returned by the Time Lords.

"The War Games" (DW1). The year 1871 is given but the Franco-Prussian War (which ran 1870-1871) is speculative, as the specific war is not mentioned.

November 10: H. M. Stanley, searching central Africa for the missing medical missionary and explorer Dr. David Livingstone, finally finds the man in the town of Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

A historical event mentioned in passing in "Ghost Light" (DW1).

1872

February 3: Joseph Sundvik dies.

According to a gravestone in "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

Reuben joins the lighthouse service. He will spend twenty of the next thirty years in gas-powered lighthouses.

"Thirty years" prior to "Horror of Fang Rock" (DW1) (1902).

Queen Victoria experiences a sixth apparent attempt on her life. As she alights from a carriage, young Irishman Arthur O'Connor rushes towards her with a pistol in one hand and a petition to free Irish prisoners in the other. Victoria's personal servant, John Brown, knocks the young man to the ground.

The final of the six pre-1879 assassination attempts on Queen Victoria mentioned in passing by the Doctor in "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

November 25: The Chase (DW1) 3: While fleeing the Daleks through time and space, the 1st Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki land on the Mary Celeste. Shortly after the TARDIS crew moves on, the Daleks arrive, sending the crew and passengers into a panic. All on board abandon ship, jumping into the Atlantic. Finding no trace of the Doctor and his companions on board, the Daleks resume their pursuit of the TARDIS.

November 25, 1872, was the last date in the ship's log when the Mary Celeste was later discovered abandoned.

1873

Professor Litefoot's family returns home to England from China. They bring with them a "Chinese puzzle box", a gift from the Emperor to Litefoot's mother, in reality Magnus Greel's time cabinet.

"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1).

1874

The stone circle known as the Nine Travellers is again surveyed.

"The Stones of Blood" (DW1).

Thomas Campbell Brockless, future father of Tommy Reginald Brockless, is born.

"To The Last Man" (TW). Mr. Brockless is 57 when he passes away in 1931.

1876

March 10: Inventor Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call, summoning his assistant, Thomas Watson. Due to time distortions in the year 1987, created by Rose Tyler saving her father's life, this message is picked up by mobile phones in that year.

"Father's Day" (DW2).

1878

The first electric street lamps are demonstrated at the Paris Exhibition.

In "A Town Called Mercy" (DW2) (1870), the Doctor points out that the electric street lamps are "10 years to early". He was probably rounding up.

The planet Bandraginus V is destroyed, apparently a victim of Zanak, the "pirate planet".

"100 years" before "The Pirate Planet" (DW1) (1978).

1879

On their way to Balmoral Castle, Queen Victoria and her retinue discover a fallen tree on the train line, forcing them to continue their journey by road. The Queen, quite correctly, suspects that this is not an accident; the monks of the monastery of St. Catherine's have engineered the accident in order to lure Her Majesty to the nearby Torchwood Estate.

Shortly before "Tooth and Claw" (DW2).

Tooth and Claw (DW2): The 10th Doctor and Rose encounter Queen Victoria and her retinue, who are stopping over at Sir Robert MacLeish's Torchwood Estate while on route to Balmoral Castle. The monks of St. Catherine's monastery have taken over the Estate, and intend to infect Her Majesty with an alien presence that turns those it takes over into a form of werewolf. The Doctor and Rose are able to destroy the werewolf in its current host, using the Koh-i-Noor diamond to focus moonlight into a powerful laser. Horrified by what she has witnessed, the Queen banished the Doctor and Rose from her kingdom and proposes the foundation of Torchwood Institute, to research and fight any of Britian's alien or supernatural enemies.

Date given by the Doctor.

Dec 31st: The creation of Torchwood begins with the Torchwood Foundation Charter, which explicitly names the Doctor as an enemy of the Crown.

"Army of Ghosts" (DW2). The December 31st date comes from "Children of Earth" (TW).

Johnny Ringo begins a search for his former lover Kate, who has run off with Doc Holliday.

In "The Gunfighters" (DW1) (1881), Ringo says he has been following Kate for "nigh on two years".

1881

American humorist Franklin Adams is born.

Mentioned in "The Seeds of Doom" (DW1).

Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure classic, Treasure Island, begins publishing in the children's magazine, Young Folks. Jaime will see a projected reproduction of the story while visiting the "land of fiction".

"The Mind Robber" (DW1).

Doc Holliday shoots and kills Reuben Clanton.

Some time before "The Gunfighters" (DW1).

October: The Gunfighters (DW1) 1-4: The 1st Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in Tombstone, Arizona, where the Doctor is mistaken for Doc Holliday by the Clanton brothers, who try to kill him. Despite numerous attempts to the contrary, the time-travellers find their fates entwined with those of the participants of the "Gunfight at the OK Corral". After witnessing the Gunfight, the travellers take their leave.

Historically, the Gunfight at the OK Corral took place on October 26, 1881. (Although the story is wildly historically inaccurate.)

Inspector MacKenzie of Scotland Yard is sent to Gabriel Chase in Perivale to investigate the disappearance of Sir George and Lady Margaret Pritchard, the owners. He is captured by Josiah Smith and placed in suspended animation.

"Ghost Light" (DW1).

1883

Around this time, the planet Manussa is in its Middle Sumaran Empire.

In "Snakedance" (DW1) (2583), a statue from that period is said to be 700 years old.

August 26-28: At least two Doctors, one of them the 9th, are present at the eruptions of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa. A line drawing of the 9th Doctor washes up on the coast of the nearby island of Sumatra the day of the largest eruptions. The volcano's blast ejects a Xylok from beneath the earth. This crystalline entity will eventually become a part of Sarah Jane Smith's computer, Mr. Smith.

Historical date. The 3rd Doctor claims to have been present in "Inferno" (DW1) and the 9th Doctor's presence is revealed in "Rose" (DW2). The Xylok/Mr. Smith is established in "The Lost Boy" (SJA).

Ghost Light (DW1) 1-3: The 7th Doctor and Ace investigate the mysterious goings-on at the Gabriel Chase mansion in Perivale. The house is inhabited by "Josiah Smith", a rapidly evolving alien who wishes to have Queen Victoria assassinated, as he believes this will allow him to take over the British Empire. In reality, Smith is part of the survey collection of Light, a powerful being who attempted to catalogue all life on prehistoric Earth before going into hibernation in his stone spaceship, now the foundation for Gabriel Chase. Light is revived and, finding his catalogue useless as a result of evolution on Earth, plans to wipe out all organic life to make it stop changing. The time-travellers foil Smith's plan and Light destroys himself when confronted with the fact that he, too, is evolving.

Two years after Inspector MacKenzie's disappearance (1881) and one hundred years before Ace burns down Gabriel Chase (1983). The use of "going to Java" as a euphemism for death certainly refers to the terrible state Java was in after the eruption of Krakatoa, placing the story after that event.

1884

The book Up the Amazon With Rifle and Camera is published. It includes a section on the variety of fungi eaten by the natives of the Amazon Basin.

"The Green Death" (DW1).

1885

Timelash (DW1) 1: After falling through the Timelash from her homeworld Karfel in the far future, Vena arrives in this time and encounters a young H.G. Wells, who initially believes her to be a spirit from "the other side". The 6th Doctor arrives to return Vena to her own time and planet; Wells stows away on the TARDIS when they leave.

The date is given by the Doctor.

H.G. Wells is returned to his own time by the 6th Doctor and Peri. Inspired by his adventure with the Doctor, Wells takes up writing science fiction.

Shortly after "Timelash" (DW1).

The Unicorn and the Wasp (DW2): While living in Dehli, India, Clemency Eddison sees a dazzling light fall from the night sky. The next day she meets a young gentleman named Christopher, with whom she quickly falls in love. He reveals to her that he is Vespiform, a wasp-like shape-shifting alien, come to Earth to learn about human beings. Despite this revelation, she still loves him and their relationship continues. Christopher gives Clemency the Firestone jewel, in reality, a telepathic recorder used by his species.

These flashbacks take place some time before "Christopher's" death.

Christopher is killed in a monsoon and Clemency discovers she is pregnant with Christopher's child. She returns home to England with her maid, Miss Chandrakala, and locks herself away for the duration of the pregnancy, claiming to be suffering from malaria.

"The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2).

1886

Clemency Eddison gives birth to the half-Vespiform son of Christopher. Afraid of being ill thought of by society, Clemency gives up the baby; Miss Chandrakala secretly takes the child to an orphanage. He will grow up to become the Reverend Golightly.

Six months after Clemency's return from India in 1885, and "40 years" before the main narrative of "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2) (1926).

1887

Fictional detective Sherlock Holmes makes his first appearance when A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle is published in Beeton's Christmas Annual. Conan Doyle partly bases the character and his adventures on those of Madame Vastra.

Actual date of Holmes' first appearance. The connection to Vastra is referred to in "The Snowmen" (DW2).

1888

A series of murders takes place in London, with at least five prostitutes killed over a matter of months. The killer is given the alias "Jack the Ripper", taken from a letter sent to the London Central News Agency by someone claiming to be the murderer. The Ripper is never apprehended.

Jack the Ripper is first mentioned in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1), when "Jolly Jack" is mentioned as a possible source for the disappearances of the young women.

A Good Man Goes to War (DW2): After apparently killing and eating serial killer Jack the Ripper, Vastra, a female Silurian adventuress secretly living in Victorian London with her human lover Jenny, is recruited by her "old friend" the Doctor for his attempted rescue of baby Melody Pond thousands of years in the future.

The date is given in a caption.

1889

August 6: The Savoy Hotel, the first luxury hotel in Britain, open in London.

In the 1890 scene from "The Power of Three" (DW2), the Doctor mentions the Savoy's "recent" opening.

Emily Morris' mother dies in a fire.

"9 weeks" before "Lost in Time" (SJA).

Lost in Time (SJA) 1-2: Sarah Jane Smith arrives in a abandoned home from 2010, on a mission to find a piece of "chronosteel", a metal that can affect the course of history. She meets a young lady named Emily Morris, who is investigation the haunting of the house. Sarah Jane realises that the "ghosts" are really echoes of future events in the house, when a pair of young children will die in a fire and discovers that the chronosteel is in the shape of a key, preventing they children from leaving a burning room. Unfortunately, the key exists in the future and cannot be retrieved. However, Emily's anxiety and fear over her own mother's death by fire somehow allows her to reach across time and grab the key, saving the future children.

As Sarah Jane leaves to return the chronosteel to 2010, Emily accidentally keeps the key with her in 1889, along with a newspaper clipping from Sarah Jane's own time.

Emily gives the year.

1890

May: A blind Krafayis, an invisible, bird-like reptilian alien, is abandoned on Earth, in France, by his fellows. Alone, confused and angry, the Krafayis lashes out at its surrounding, eventually killing an inhabitant of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise.

Prior to "Vincent and the Doctor" (DW2), with the killing taking place a week before the story.

June 1-3: Vincent and the Doctor (DW2): The 11th Doctor and Amy visit Vincent van Gogh in a town in France to discover the meaning of an apparent monster in his painting The Church at Auvers. They discover that van Gogh is the only person able to the blind Krafayis. Although together they are able to defeat and kill the creature, they are saddened when they learn the circumstances of the Krafayis' abandonment.

The Doctor and Amy briefly take van Gogh to the 21st century. On their return, van Gogh is ecstatic at having learned that he will be considered one of the greatest artists of all time.

The date for the creation of the featured painting is given in the 21st century portion of the episode.

June 26: The Power of Three (DW2): As an anniversary present, the 11th Doctor books Amy and Rory into a suite for a romantic visit to the Savoy luxury hotel in London. Unfortunately, their time there is ruined by the presence of a Zygon spaceship under the hotel.

The Doctor gives the date.

July: Vincent and the Doctor (DW2): Vincent van Gogh paints Wheatfield with Crows, one of his final works.

Although this scene is the first of the episode, van Gogh did paint this piece in July 1890, placing it after the main body of the story.

July: Vincent van Gogh begins to pick up transmissions being broadcast across time and space from Stonehenge regarding the Pandorica and the TARDIS exploding. He paints The Pandorica Opens, which depicts the TARDIS explosion and includes the time-space co-ordinates for Stonehenge in AD 102.

Some time before "The Pandorica Opens" (DW2).

July: The Pandorica Opens (DW2): Vincent van Gogh lies screaming in bed, driven mad after painting The Pandorica Opens.

A caption for this scene reads "France 1890", presumably taking place after "Vincent and the Doctor" (DW2).

Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Death" is first (and posthumously) published in the collection Poems: Series 1. In 2007, Max Tresilian, programmed by Suzie Costello, will use the poem as a spoken computer command to place the Torchwood Hub into lockdown, while held prisoner there.

As seen in "They Keep Killing Suzie" (TW).

1891

The last known human sacrifice to be performed in the Morton Harwood area occurs at this time.

"A Girl's Best Friend" (K9).

The Latimer family governess drowns in the estate pond. Due to the pond freezing over, her body is not found until a month later.

"A year" before "The Snowmen" (DW2) (1892).

1892

Jack Harkness gets into a fight on Ellis Island, during which he is shot through the heart. Shortly after, he wakes up. Jack begins to realise that, due to Rose's resurrection of him during their battle with the Daleks, he cannot be killed.

"Utopia" (DW2).

The 11th Doctor, disillusioned with his lifestyle, takes up residence in Victoria London, pledging to no longer get involved with the affairs of humans. His only confidants during this time are the Silurian Vastra, her wife Jenny and their Sontaran associate Strax.

Some time, possibly months, before "The Snowmen" (DW2).

December: The Snowmen (DW2): Walter simeon and the Great Intelligence, who is seeking a physical form, attempt to take over the world, using "telepathic snow" to create killer snowmen. The 11th Doctor works against them with the help of Madame Vastra, Jenny, Strax, and a young governess named Clara Oswin Oswald. Clara, unknown to the Doctor, is a splinter of the original, 21st-century Clara Oswald, a woman he has yet to meet.

The Doctor eventually confronts Simeon, showing him that the Intelligence is merely reflecting Simeon himself rather than acting as an independent being. When Simeon continues with his scheme, the Doctor tricks him into being bitten by a memory worm, erasing the man's memories to deprive the Intelligence of its motivation. However, by now the Intelligence has gained enough independence to survive and take over Simeon's body. The Intelligence is forced into dormancy when it is overwhelmed by the grief felt by the Latimer family at the death of their governess Clara.

The Doctor realizes that he has previously met a different version of Clara, on Skaro in the future. He leaves this time, determined to discover if there are more Claras to be found.

A caption dates this part of the story at "fifty years" after the prologue (1842). Clara's headstone confirms this, with her death given as "December 24, 1892". The Doctor met the previous copy of Clara in "Asylum of the Daleks" (DW2) and her nature as a fragment of the original Clara is releaved in "The Name of the Doctor" (DW2).

1893

Joseph Buller and Emma Gusset are wed. They move in with Emma's mother.

Six months before "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1).

Future Torchwood agent Harriet Derbyshire is born.

"To The Last Man" (TW). Harriet is "26" when she is killed in 1919.

A friend of a woman named Abigail successfully applies to enter the Sweetville community, but is never heard from again.

"Three months" before "The Crimson Horror" (DW2).

The Crimson Horror (DW2): The 11th Doctor and Clara visit Yorkshire and, undercover, enter the community of Sweetville to investigate a series of murders dubbed "the Crimson Horror", which leaves victims a distinctive red colour. When in Sweetville, the Doctor and Clara are captured by the project's founder Mrs Winifred Gillyflower and "Mr. Sweet", a prehistoric leech whose poison is the source of the Crimson Horror.

The time-travellers are rescued by Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax and together they foil Gillyflower's scheme to launch a rocket and spread Mr. Sweet's poison to destroy the human race, except for the inhabitants of Sweetville. Gillyflower dies after a fall and Mr. Sweet is crushed by Gillyflower's daughter Ada.

The year is given in a caption and confirmed in later dialogue.

The remaining poison from Mr. Sweet is locked away in Madam Vastra's vault.

Some time after "The Crimson Horror" (DW2).

In the 1890 scene from "The Power of Three" (DW2), the Doctor mentions the Savoy's "recent" opening.

Mrs. Samuelson, Henry Gordon Jago's wardrobe woman, spends 17 pounds and thruppence on the wardrobe, an amount Jago finds excessive. Around the same time, Emma Buller attends a show at the London Palace Theatre, where she is hypnotized on stage by Li H'Sen Chang during a levitation act.

A week before "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1).

Emma Buller, under Li H'Sen Chang's influence, returns to the London Palace Theatre and disappears.

The night before "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (DW1).

The Talons of Weng-Chiang (DW1) 1-6: In Victorian London, the 4th Doctor and Leela, with the help of theatre owner Henry Gordon Jago and medical doctor/pathologist Professor Litefoot, investigate a series of disappearances of young girls. They discover that the girls' life essences are being absorbed by Magnus Greel, a political criminal from the 51st century, who is posing as the Chinese god Weng-Chiang, and leading the Tong of the Black Scorpion. The group track down Greel's lair, where he is destroyed before he can escape back to his own time.

I had originally placed this adventure in 1889, the year after the Jack the Ripper murders, as Jack came up in conversation in one scene. However, a number of readers have pointed out to me that "Talons" could not take place anytime before 1892, the year that "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)", which is performed at the music hall, was composed. So, I have moved the adventure to 1893, the following year, when the song was actually released, and was likely at the height of its popularity.

The Name of the Doctor (DW2): Madam Vastra, Jenny and Strax become aware of a plot against the 11th Doctor by a manifestation of the Great Intelligence. The trio engage in a dream-state "conference call" with Clara in the 21st century and River Song in the 51st century. While asleep, Vastra, Jenny and Strax are all abducted by the Intelligence's Whisper Men and taken to the planet Trenzalore in the future.

Date given in a caption.

1894

February 7: Tommy Reginald Brockless is born in Blackley, Manchester to Constance and Thomas Brockless.

"To The Last Man" (TW).

1895

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is published. The novel is partly inspired by Wells' own travels with the Doctor to the planet Karfel. A copy of the novel will be part of Professor Chronotis' library in 1980 and in the Doctor's library on board the TARDIS.

"Timelash" (DW1). Inspirations include the name Vena, the name for the Morlocks (taken from the Morlox) and, of course, the time-travelling TARDIS itself. Chronotis is seen reading the book in "Shada" (DW1), as is the Doctor in Doctor Who (TVM).

1896

H.G. Wells' novel The Island of Doctor Moreau is published. Wells is party inspired by his visit to the planet Karfel.

"Timelash" (DW1). The Borad's half-human, half-beast appearance was likely in Wells' mind when he wrote this story of beasts turned (almost) into men.

1897

Benjamin Wainwright, future husband of Kathy Nightingale, is born.

Seen on his tombstone in "Blink" (DW2).

The play Cyrano de Bergerac, a heavily fictionalised account of the real Cyrano's life, by Edmond Rostand, is first published and performed. The Master of "the land of fiction" will summon the fictional Cyrano in a mental battle with the 2nd Doctor.

As seen in "The Mind Robber" (DW1).

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells is published. As with some earlier works, Wells used his visit to the planet Karfel as inspiration.

"Timelash" (DW1), specifically when the Doctor seems to vanish using the Kontron crystals.

1898

January 12: Florence Sundvik dies.

From her gravestone in "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

March 4: Mary Eliza Millington is born.

As seen on the gravestone in "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

March 17: Mary Eliza Millington, aged only two weeks, dies.

From her gravestone in "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

In Wellsfield, a number of people go missing when the Night Travellers circus passes through town.

"From Out of the Rain" (TW).

The H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds is published. Wells also took inspiration for this tale from his visit to Karfel.

"Timelash" (DW1), specifically the narrowly averted war between Karfel and the Bandrils.

1899

The staff of Torchwood Three in Cardiff, Wales, begin monitoring Jack Harkness. Over the next six months, Jack will "die" 14 times.

In "Fragments" (TW), the ladies from Torchwood simply mention Jack's deaths over the last six months; presumably this is also the time at which they began monitoring him.

Fragments (TW): The immortal Jack Harkness, down on his luck and waiting around the Cardiff Rift for a visit from the Doctor, is taken captive by Torchwood, interested in both his inability to die and his ties to the Doctor. He declines an offer to work for Torchwood. However, after receiving a prophecy that "the century will turn twice before you find [the Doctor]", Jack realizes he has few options and agrees to work for Torchwood until he can be reunited with the Time Lord.

Obviously, this must take place after Jack realizes he is immortal in 1892, and the century "turning twice" places this before the 20th century. In the 1999 segment of this story, Jack is referred to as having been with Torchwood for 100 years.

October: The Second Boer War begins. Between now and its conclusion in 1902, many soldiers are abducted by the War Lords to do battle in their War Games. Not long after, the soldiers are returned to their proper time by the Time Lords.

One combatant in the conflict is a man named Rocastle, who will become headmaster of Farringham School.

The most famous British action during the war is the Seige of Mafeking, lasting 217 days. One participant in the Seige is Colonel Hugh Curbishley.

In "The War Games" (DW1), the conflict is only described as "the Boer War", but the Second Boer War is what is usually referred when that phrase is used. Headmaster Rocastle role in the war is mentioned in "Human Nature" (DW2). Mafeking is first mention in the series in "The Invasion of Time" (DW1), and the Colonel's involvement is revealed in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2).

Return to Table of Contents.

Or travel forward through time to the early 20th century.