Outbreak of Seven Years’ War

Value of the ‘toy trade’ in Birmingham was put at £600,000 (5/6ths exported) with 20,000 people working in the industry

Benjamin Franklin and Matthew Boulton conducted experiments on electricity and sound

Founding of the Birmingham Bank – the ancestor of Lloyds Bank, today

Soho Manufactory on Handsworth heath is completed and becomes Birmingham’s main tourist attraction

Captain James Cook embarks on his first round-the-world voyage

The Birmingham Assay Office opens for the first time

The Birmingham Library is established

Joseph Priestley arrives in Birmingham

Richard Lovell Edgeworth returned to Ireland

Outbreak of the French Revolution

The Priestley Riots in Birmingham

The decline and eventual demise of the original Lunar Society

John Cadbury opened his shop on Bull Street

Snow Hill railway station is opened as Livery Street Station

Soho Manufactory is demolished

Joseph Chamberlain becomes Mayor of Birmingham

Riots on Navigation Street leads to 12 arrests and the murder of a police constab

Birmingham Council House is completed and opened

The University of Birmingham, Birmingham’s first university, is established

Queen Victoria died

Outbreak of World War I

Outbreak of World War II

Birmingham is bombed by German aircraft

The Bull Ring Shopping Centre opens

A redesigned Birmingham Central Library is opened

Creation of the West Midlands County, resulting in Birmingham becoming a metropolitan borough, no longer in Warwickshire

Birmingham Central Mosque is officially opened, becoming the largest mosque in Western Europe

Millennium Point is opened by Queen Elizabeth II

The new Bullring shopping centre opens

A tornado causes approx. 30 injuries, and around £40 million damage

The refurbishment of Baskerville House completed

The new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham opens

A redesigned Birmingham Central Library is opened

A refurbished New Street Station with Grand Central Shopping Centre opens