| 1805 | Battle of Trafalgar . Two of Rivers’ ancestors, both also William, serve on board HMS Victory; one as Midshipman, one as Warrant Officer/Gunner, aged 17 and 50 respectively |
| 1837 | Victoria becomes Queen |
| 1863 | Henry Rivers and Elizabeth Hunt marry |
| 1864 | William Halse Rivers Rivers born on March 12th, followed by Charles (1865), Ethel (1867) and Katharine (1871) |
| 1877 | Wiiliam and Charles start at Tonbridge school as day pupils |
| 1880 | An illness in his final year at Tonbridge prevents Rivers taking a scholarship exam which would enable him to study at Cambridge University |
| 1882 | Starts study of Medicine at St. Barts |
| 1886 | Is youngest person ever to be awarded a Bachelor of Medicine Degree. Record stood until the 1970s |
| 1887 | Rivers travels as ship’s surgeon to Japan and North America |
| 1888 | Gains M.D., Elected as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, has first medical publication and takes up a residency post at Chichester |
| 1889 | Returns to Barts in a residency post and as a researcher |
| 1891/2 | Begins work at National Hospital for paralysed and Epileptic,
Meets Henry Head |
| 1892/3 | Attends lectures in Jena and Heidelberg,
Decides to work ‘as much as possible’ in Psychology upon return’ Becomes clinical assistant at Bethlam Royal Hospital, London Begins lecturing at University College, London, |
| INVITED TO TEACH AT St. JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE | |
| 1897 | Granted honorary M.A.
Becomes director of the first two Psychology labs in the U.K. |
| 1898 | Cambridge Expedition to the Torres Straits (CAETS) organised by Alfred Cort Haddon,
Establishes ‘genealogical Method’, Skill at Fieldwork noted by Haddon and others |
| 1901 | Victoria dies, Edward 7th is king |
| 1901/2 | Anthropological work with the Todas of the Nilgiri Hills, India. Resulting book published in 1906 |
| 1902 | Elected Fellow of St. John’s college |
| 1903-7 | ‘Head-Rivers’ Experiment |
| 1906/7 | Experiments upon the ‘Influence of Alcohol and Other Drugs on Fatigue’ |
| Nov. 1907 – 1908 | Anthropological work in Melanesia |
| Nov 1908 | Back in England/ St. John’s |
| 1910 | Edward dies, George 5th is king |
| 1914 | GREAT WAR BEGINS |
| 1914/early ‘15 | ‘History of Melanesian Society’ published
Visits to Melanesia and New Hebrides British Association for the advancement of Science convention held in Australia Mons, The Marne, Christmas truce, Gallipoli/Dardanelles Campaign |
| July 1915 | Return to England and determines to do War work
Begins at Maghull Miliatary Hospital in Lancashire, Recieves Gold Medal of the Royal Society |
| 1916 | Commissioned as Capt. in RAMC
Transferred to Craiglockhart Hospital for Officers in Edinburgh, Scotland Battle of the Somme, July – Nov |
| 19171/8 | July – Sassoon makes ‘ declaration’ against the conduct of the War
Sass. Arrives at Craiglockhart Battle of Passchendaele Rivers admits suffering War Neurosis ‘by his patients’ |
| 1918/19 | Rivers takes up position with RFC in London
NOVEMBER 11TH 1918 GREAT WAR ENDS |
| 1919 | Returns to St. Johns as ‘Praelector of Natural Science Studies’
Becomes first president of ‘British Psycho-analytical Society’ Honorary Degrees from St. Andrew’s and Manchester Universities |
| April 1922 | Nominated as (reluctant) candidate for Labour in the University of London Constituency |
| May 1922 | Shell-shock Enquiry – Government at last recognises condition and agree to give War Pensions to sufferers from Great War |
| June 4th, 1922 | William Halse Rivers Rivers dies in Cambridge after emergency operation for a strangulated hernia |
|
|
'W H R RIVERS - A MISCELLANY 