1782 Ann Taylor born on 30 January, the first of eleven children of the Revd Isaac Taylor and his wife, Ann Taylor (née Martin)
1783 Jane Taylor born on 23 September, the second child to Isaac and Ann
1786 The Taylor family move from Islington, London to Lavenham, Suffolk
1789 Start of the French Revolution
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is published. The Taylors' brother Jefferys -- a fellow children's writer -- is born. Isaac paints a picture of Jane and Ann, which now hangs in London's National Portrait Gallery.
1793 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are executed (January and October, respectively)
1796 Taylor family moves to Colchester, Essex. Isaac becomes a minister for a nonconformist church.
1798 Ann publishes a rhyme in the Minor's Pocket Book. She and Jane form The Umbelliferous Society, a literary circle where members must produce a new poem or piece of prose every month.
1799 Napoleon Bonaparte takes power
1804 Jane publishes her first poem, "The Beggar Boy"
1804-5 Ann and Jane contribute to Original Poems for Infant Minds
1805 Battle of Trafalgar
1806 Jane and Ann publish Rhymes for the Nursery, which contains Jane's famous poem, "Twinkle, twinkle little star"
1810 Jane and Ann publish Hymns for Infant Minds
1811 George IV begins his service as Prince Regent due to his father King George III's mental illness. 1811-1820 marks the Regency Period, a time of depression following the war in which George IV carelessly spends much of his peoples' money.
1812 The sisters move with their brother, Isaac, to Devon. Even after Ann marries and leaves them, Jane stays here with Isaac until 1816.
1813 Ann marries minister Joseph Gilbert and moves to Yorkshire
1814-1815 Napoleon is forced to abdicate and is exiled to the island of Elba. He then escapes and returns to power in Paris, only to be defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he dies of stomach cancer.
1824 After discovering a lump in her breast in 1817, Jane dies of breast cancer on 13 April in their parents' home in Ongar
1837 Queen Victoria begins her 63-year reign
1866 On 20 December, Ann dies at home in Nottingham
