Part ofa series on the
History ofEngland
Timeline Prehistoric Britain Roman Britain Medieval period Economy in the Middle Ages Sub-Roman Britain Anglo-Saxon period English unification High Middle Ages Norman Conquest Norman period Late Middle Ages Black Death in England Tudor period English Renaissance English Reformation Elizabethan era Stuart period English Civil War Commonwealth Protectorate Restoration Glorious Revolution Georgian era Regency era Victorian era Edwardian era First World War Interwar period Second World War Postwar Britain Social history Political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) Social history of the United Kingdom (1979–present)
Topics English overseas possessions English society Government in medieval England History of education in England History of English History of monarchy in the United Kingdom History of the economy of England History of the politics of England Wars Riots
Polities Kingdom of England Kingdom of Great Britain United Kingdom
By county Bedfordshire Berkshire City of Bristol Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Riding of Yorkshire East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Greater London Greater Manchester Hampshire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Isle of Wight Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire City of London Merseyside Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset South Yorkshire Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Tyne and Wear Warwickshire West Midlands West Sussex West Yorkshire Wiltshire Worcestershire
By city or town Birmingham Bournemouth Brighton Bristol Chester Christchurch Colchester Coventry Dover Folkestone Leeds Liverpool London Luton Maidstone Manchester Margate Milton Keynes Middlesbrough Newcastle Nottingham Oxford Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Rochester Sheffield Shrewsbury Southampton St Albans Sunderland Torquay Wetherby Worcester Worthing York
England portal
v t e

The following is atimeline of the history ofReading, thecounty town ofBerkshire in England.

• 8th century –Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain: The settlement of "Readingum" is founded byAnglo-Saxons, probably of theReadingas tribe, at the confluence of the RiversThames andKennet.^[1]
• 870 –Vikings capture Reading.^[2]
• 871 – 4 January:First Battle of Reading: Vikings defend the settlement against men ofWessex.^[3][4]
• 979 –Reading Nunnery is established byQueen Ælfthryth.
• 1006 – Vikings burn Reading.^[4]
• 1121 – June:Reading Abbey is founded byKing Henry I.^[5]Hugh of Amiens becomes first abbot.St Laurence's Church is built alongside.
• 1125 – 29 March: A charter is granted toReading Abbey, taken also as the founding date ofReading School.
• c.1134 – TheLeper hospital is founded by Abbot Aucherius.^[1]
• 1136 – 4 or 5 January:King Henry I is buried inReading Abbey.
• c.1140–54 – The castle is maintained at Reading byKing Stephen.^[4]
• 1163 – Robert de Montford is victorious in atrial by combat againstHenry of Essex held onFry's Island beforeKing Henry II, whose court is in residence at Reading Abbey, where the loser spends the remainder of his life as a monk.^[4]
• 1164 – Abbey church is consecrated byThomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1189 – TheHospitium of St John the Baptist is established.

• 1213 – Parliament is held in Reading byKing John.^[4]
• 1219 – Spring: In a gathering at his home inCaversham, the dyingWilliam Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, places theregency of England in the hands of thePapal legatePandulf Verraccio.^[6]
• 1231 – 2 May:Caversham Bridge is first recorded with its Chapel of St Anne.^[7][8]
• 1233 – TheFranciscans arrive in Reading and are granted a site near Caversham Bridge.
• 1241 – Parliament is held in Reading byKing Henry III.^[4]
• 1254 – The town's firstcharter is granted byKing Henry III, following a petition in 1253 by the Merchantguild.^[4]
• 1261–4 – The earliest known text of the "ReadingRota", "Sumer Is Icumen In", is written atReading Abbey inmensural notation.^[9]
• 1285–1311 – The Franciscans establish a newGreyfriars.^[10]
• 1295 – As part of theModel Parliament,Reading elects two members to theParliament of England as a parliamentary borough.^[1]
• 1346 – A tournament is held in Reading byKing Edward III.^[1]
• 1359 – 19 May:John of Gaunt, the king's son marriesBlanche of Lancaster inReading Abbey.^[1]
• 1384 & 1389 – Parliament is held in Reading byKing Richard II.^[4]
• 1434 –St Laurence's Church is rebuilt.^[4]
• 1440 – Parliament is held in Reading byKing Henry VI.^[4]
• 1451–3 – Parliament is held at Reading Abbey by King Henry VI.^[4]
• 1463 – The election ofconstables is first recorded.^[4]
• 1464 – 14 September: At Reading Abbey,King Edward IV reveals his previously-secret marriage toElizabeth Woodville earlier in the year.
• 1466 – Parliament is held in Reading by King Edward IV.^[4]

• 1486 –Reading School is re-founded byKing Henry VII on the site of St John's Hospital.^[1]
• 1487 – A new charter is granted to the town by King Henry VII.
• 1500s – The surviving houses in Castle Street are built.^[11]
• Dissolution of the Monasteries:
  • 1538
    • Greyfriars is suppressed.
    • 14 September: The Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham is destroyed.^[12]
  • 1539 – 19 September:Reading Abbey is suppressed and the Abbot,Hugh Cook Faringdon, isindicted andhanged, drawn and quartered fortreason together withJohn Eynon, priest ofSt Giles', and John Rugg, on 14 November.^[13]
• 1542 – Reading is granted aroyal charter of incorporation permitting theburgesses to elect the mayor.^[1] Greyfriars becomes the guildhall.
• 1548 –King Edward VI grants the lordship of Reading to his uncle,Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector who in 1550 is overthrown for misdemeanors including misappropriating Abbey property.
• 1551–5 –Church of St Mary the Virgin is rebuilt with materials from the Abbey church.^[11]
• 1560 – A new charter is granted to the town byQueen Elizabeth I.
• 1566 – A civic coat of arms is granted to the town.
• 1585 – Local mathematicianJohn Blagrave publishesThe Mathematical Jewel.

• 1619 – Wiremaking in Reading first mentioned.^[4]
• 1625 – The law courts are temporarily relocated to Reading because of plague in London.^[1]
• 1628 – TheOracleworkhouse opens.^[4]
• 1634 – The originalVachel Almshouses are built as St Mary's Almshouses inSt Mary's Butts.
• 1640
  • Silk manufacture in Reading begins.^[1]
  • Kings Road Baptist Church is founded.
• English Civil War:
  • 1642 – 4 November: TheRoyalist garrison arrives.
  • 1643 – 13–26/27 April:Siege of Reading: The Royalist garrison is forced to surrender toParliamentarian forces.^[14] The Abbey church is severely damaged.
• 1656 –Reading Blue Coat School for boys is founded by Richard Aldworth.^[1]
• 1662 – The firstnonconformist meeting inBroad Street takes place.
• 1664 – The first fire engine is active in Reading.^[4]
• c. 1671 –Quakers first meet in Reading.
• 1688
  • 9 December:Glorious Revolution: During theSecond Battle of Reading, Dutch soldiers ofWilliam of Orange, with the support of townspeople, defeat an Irish garrison ofJames II led byPatrick Sarsfield in a skirmish in and aroundBroad Street. This is the last battle fought onEnglish soil and the only substantial military action of the Revolution, and his force's success is influential in William's decision to proceed directly to London and claim the throne and in James's decision to flee the country.^[15]
  • Watlington House is built.^[16]

• 1707
  • ThePresbyterian meeting house is built onBroad Street.
  • The new woodenHigh Bridge is erected over theRiver Kennet.
• 1714 – The Puntfield (Theale)turnpike trust is authorised.^[17]
• 1718–1723 – TheRiver Kennet is made a navigation fromHigh Bridge toNewbury byJohn Hore.
• 1718 – TheBasingstoketurnpike trust is authorised.^[17]
• 1723 – 8 July: TheReading Mercury is the first newspaper in Reading to be published.^[4]
• 1724 – The first knownfreemasonry meeting in Reading takes place at the Mitre Inn.
• 1738 – Origin of the Blandy & Blandy solicitors' partnership in Reading.^[18]
• 1748 –Reading, Pennsylvania is established and named after theBerkshire town.
• 1763 – TheWallingfordturnpike trust is authorised.^[17]
• 1778 – c. May: The firstpound lock atCaversham Lock is constructed byThames Navigation Commission, replacing aflash lock.^[8]
• 1782 – Green Coat school for girls is established.^[1]
• 1784 – MajorCharles Marsack, lately an army officer in British India, buysCaversham Park fromEarl Cadogan.
• 1785
  • 25 July: 9-year-oldJane Austen, with her sister Cassandra, begins 18 months attendance at Reading Ladies' Boarding School at the Abbey gateway.^[19]
  • TheSimonds Brewery is opened byWilliam Blackall Simonds^[20] inBroad Street.
• 1786 – The Town Hall is rebuilt;^[1] Compter Gate demolished.
• 1788 – The new stoneHigh Bridge is erected to a design byRobert Furze Brettingham across theRiver Kennet.^[21]
• 1798 –St Mary's Church, Castle Street is built by a secessionist congregation (façade 1840–1842).^[11]

• 1800 – The streets of Reading are first lit with oil lamps, and piped water supply is first provided by a private company.^[4]
• 1802
  • Blake's Lock on theRiver Kennet is converted from aflash lock to apound lock.
  • The Dispensary opens.^[1]
• 1804 – Summer: TheSimeon Monument is erected in the Market Place to the design ofJohn Soane.^[11]
• 1806 –Suttons Seeds is established as corn merchants.
• 1810 – End: Completion of theKennet and Avon Canal provides through water communication toBath andBristol.^[4]
• 1813 – The firststeamboat on theRiver Thames is recorded at Reading.^[8]
• 1814 – Simonds Bank is established.^[22]
• 1815 – The firstgasworks opens in Reading onBridge Street.^[17]
• 1819 – The streets are first lit by gas.^[4]
• 1822 –Joseph Huntley begins biscuitmaking on London Street.^[4]
• 1825 – The Reading Mechanics' Institution is first established.^[22]
• 1829 – Whilst teaching at the Castle Academy, Scottish inventorIsaac Holden develops a version of the lucifer frictionmatch.^[23]
• 1830 – c. Autumn:Caversham Bridge is rebuilt with the Reading spans in wood and iron and the Caversham spans in stone.^[8]
• 1831 – James Dymore Brown sets up the Royal Albert Brewery.^[17]
• 1835
  • 9 September: TheMunicipal Corporations Act makes Reading amunicipal borough with effect from 1 January 1836.
  • TheFriends meeting house is built.^[11]
• 1836
  • Reading Borough Police is formed.
  • Barrett, Exall and Andrews set up the agricultural implement manufactory known from 1864 as the Reading Iron Works.
• 1837 – December: The first foundation stone is laid for a church designed byAugustus Pugin,St James's (Roman Catholic), on the site ofReading Abbey; it opens on 5 August 1840.^[11]
• 1839 – 27 May: TheRoyal Berkshire Hospital opens^[4] on land donated byHenry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth.
• 1840 – 30 March: TheGreat Western Railway opens toReading railway station fromLondon Paddington andTwyford throughSonning Cutting and overKennet Mouth, engineered byIsambard Kingdom Brunel. It is extended on 1 June toSteventon, and throughout toBristol on 30 June 1841.^[24]
• 1841 – Cousins Thomas Huntley andGeorge Palmer form the biscuitmaking partnership ofHuntley & Palmers.
• 1843 – 1 May: The first interment atReading Old Cemetery, established by the Reading Cemetery Company in 1842.^[4]
• 1844
  • Early:Henry Fox Talbot establishes a pioneering commercial photographic establishment in Reading.^[25]
  • HM Prison Reading is built as the Berkshire County Gaol to the design ofGeorge Gilbert Scott withWilliam Bonython Moffatt.
• 1847 – 21 December: The Great Western Railway opens toNewbury andHungerford.^[26]
• 1848 – 1 November: The Great Western Railway opens toBasingstoke.^[26]
• 1849 – 4 July: TheSouth Eastern Railway opens to its own terminus in Reading.^[27]
• 1850 – The Board of Health is established^[4] and Reading Union Water Company begins construction of a water supply system.
• 1852 – The Reading Union Water Company completes construction of the undergroundBath Road Reservoir fed from a pumping station on theKennet atSouthcote Lock and filtered on site.
• 1853 – The Theatre Royal is established in the former Mechanics' Institution on London Street.^[22]
• 1854
  • The Corn Exchange and Market House are built.^[1]
  • John Heelas opens the drapery shop which becomes theHeelas department store.
• 1856
  • 23 March:Forbury Gardens, laid out with a "botanical character", are opened to the public by the corporation.
  • 9 July: TheLondon and South Western Railway begins services toReading.
• 1860 – The Art School opens.^[1]
• 1861 – TheAssize Courts and police station are built.^[1]
• 1862 – The Reading Gas Company is formed by a merger.
• 1863 –Greyfriars Church is restored as a place of worship.^[11]
• 1866
  • All Saints' Church is opened for worship.^[1]
  • Newworkhouse established.
• 1868
  • July: TheSummer assize forBerkshire is moved fromAbingdon to Reading,^[28] effectively making the latter thecounty town. This is officially confirmed in 1869.
  • TheBath Road Reservoir is acquired by the Borough Council from the Reading Union Water Company.
• 1869 – 24 July:Caversham Bridge reopens after being rebuilt in metal.^[7]
• c. 1870–1873 – Thewater turbine poweredsewage pumping station is installed atBlake's Lock as part of asewerage andsewage treatment scheme.^[17]
• 1871 – 25 December:Reading F.C. is founded as anAssociation football club.^[1]
• 1872 – Huntley, Boorne & Stevens absorbs the biscuit tin manufacturing business established in 1832 by Joseph Huntley.^[29] In 1918 it is bought byHuntley & Palmers.
• 1875
  • Caversham Lock is rebuilt.^[8]
  • The Free Library opens.^[1]
  • 17 December: Edward Jackson establishes his gentleman's outfitters, which moves toJacksons Corner in 1885.
• 1877 –Kendrick School is established for girls inWatlington House.^[1]
• 1879 – January–May: TheReading Tramways Company horse-drawn network is constructed.^[4]
• 1880 – The Reading Gas Company bridge overRiver Kennet is constructed.
• 1881 –Brock Barracks is completed.^[30]
• 1882 – October: The new Free Library opens in the Town Hall.^[1]
• 1884 – TheMaiwand Lion, sculpted byGeorge Blackall Simonds, is erected inForbury Gardens as a war memorial to men of the66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot killed at theBattle of Maiwand and elsewhere in theSecond Anglo-Afghan War.
• 1885 – TheReading Parliamentary constituency is reduced to one member.
• 1887 – 20 June: As part ofQueen Victoria'sgolden jubilee, a commemorative statue of her is erected in the town.
• 1889
  • 1 April: Reading becomes acounty borough under theLocal Government Act 1888, and its boundaries are enlarged.^[4]
  • Leslie Randall is appointed as the firstSuffraganBishop of Reading and serves until 1909.
• 1891 –Palmer Park opens.^[31]
• 1892
  • c. March: Horseshoe Bridge for Thames towing horses is erected at theKennet Mouth by the Great Western Railway Company to replace the ferry.^[8]
  • 29 September: The Reading University Extension College, predecessor of theUniversity of Reading, is established, withHalford Mackinder as the first president.^[32]
• 1895 – 20 November:Oscar Wilde is transferred toReading Gaol where he is held until 18 May 1897.
• 1896
  • 4 April:Amelia Dyer is arrested and subsequentlyhanged for the murder of a baby placed in her care. This is only one of between seven and twenty probably killed by her since moving to the Reading area the previous year.
  • 7 July:Charles Thomas Wooldridge is hanged atReading Gaol foruxoricide, inspiring fellow-prisoner C.3.3. Oscar Wilde'sThe Ballad of Reading Gaol.
  • 5 September:Reading F.C. play their first match atElm Park.
  • The new water pumping station for the town atFobney Lock begins operation.
• 1897 – TheReading Museum opens on the site of Reading School house; it houses an 1885–1886 replica of theBayeux Tapestry purchased by Arthur Hill for the town in 1895.
• 1898 – June:Reading R.F.C. are founded as Berkshire Wanderers; they play their first match in September.^[1]

• 1901
  • The British manufacture of thePulsometer pump moves from London to Reading.^[33]
  • TheSynagogue is built.^[11]
  • Reading's population is 72,217.^[31]
• 1902 – 9 August: TheCoronation of King Edward VII takes place, and a commemorative statue of him is erected in the town by the Sutton family.
• 1903–1955 – McIlroy's department store is in business.
• 1903 – 22 July: TheReading Corporation Tramways opens its first electric service with its own generating station.^[4]
• 1909 – The first cinema in Reading opens.^[4]
• 1911 –Caversham becomes part of thecounty borough of Reading.^[1]
• 1914
  • The Jewish lawyerRufus Isaacs, who has been the M.P. for Reading since 1904, becomes the first Baron Reading.
  • Belgian refugees arrive in Reading.
• 1916
  • January: War Hospitals Supply Depot, which is largely staffed by volunteer women, begins operation in Reading.
  • Reading Gaol is used for the detention of aliens and (from July)Irish republicans detained following theEaster Rising; the latter includeArthur Griffith (founder ofSinn Féin) and poetsTerence MacSwiney andDarrell Figgis. Many of the Irish are released on 24 December.^[34]
• 1919 –Reading Corporation Tramways operates its first motor buses, fromCaversham Heights toTilehurst.
• 1920
  • June – A historical pageant takes place in the Abbey grounds.
  • The firstcouncil houses are built.^[4]
• 1921 – 13 September: TheRoyal Berkshire Regiment War Memorial atBrock Barracks is unveiled.
• 1922 –The Oratory School, a Roman Catholic boys' institution, moves fromEdgbaston, Birmingham, toCaversham Park.
• 1923 – 3 October:Reading Bridge, designed inreinforced concrete by L. G. Mouchel, opens across theRiver Thames.^[7]
• 1926
  • 17 March: TheUniversity of Reading is chartered, making it the only institution to be newly granted full university status in the U.K. in the interwar period.^[35]
  • April: The newCaversham Bridge, designed inreinforced concrete by L. G. Mouchel, opens across theRiver Thames, with official inauguration taking place on 25 June.^[7]
  • TheChurch of The English Martyrs (Roman Catholic), designed by Wilfred C. Mangan, is completed.
• 1929 – Easter: Reading Aerodrome opens atWoodley.^[36]
• 1932
  • 27 July: The war memorial to men of Reading and Berkshire is unveiled at the entrance toForbury Gardens.^[37]
  • Reading Crematorium is established inCaversham.^[38]
  • Tilehurst Water Tower is erected.
• 1933 – 29 March: TheMiles Hawk aircraft first flies fromWoodley Aerodrome.
• 1936 – 18 July:Trolleybuses in Reading begin operation.
• 1939 – 20 November:Reading Corporation Tramways close.^[4]
• 1942
  • 2 May: TheSuffragan office ofBishop of Reading is revived, withArthur Parham being consecrated.
  • 6 May:The Oratory School moves toWoodcote House.
• 1943
  • 10 February:Luftwaffe air raid on Reading, in which 41 people are killed.^[39]
  • Spring: TheBBC Monitoring Service moves toCaversham Park fromWood Norton, Worcestershire. It leaves in May 2018.
• 1945
  • 1 May: The BBC Monitoring Service at Caversham Park is the first place in the U.K. to hear of thedeath of Adolf Hitler, which will lead to theend of World War II in Europe on 7 May.^[40]
  • TheReading Festival Chorus is formed.
• 1946 – TheProgress Theatre is formed.
• 1947
  • TheUniversity of Reading purchasesWhiteknights Park to develop a new campus.
  • Reading istwinned withDüsseldorf, Germany, which is made official in 1988.^[1]
  • Huntley & Palmers produce the cake for the Novemberwedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh.
  • The River Thames floods 1600 homes.
• 1950 – Work begins on the council's Southcote housing estate.
• 1951 – Later: TheMuseum of English Rural Life is established at the university; it opens to the public on 27 April 1955.
• 1953 – February: TheProgress Theatre give the first British English-language performance of Brecht'sThe Good Woman of Setzuan.
• 1955
  • Migrants from the Caribbean settle in Reading.
  • Reading College opens as Reading Technical College.
• 1958
  • 7 April: The first protest march for theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament from London toAldermaston, to demand a ban onnuclear weapons, passes through Reading.
  • Spring: TheProgress Theatre give the first performance in England of Seán O'Casey's 1923 playThe Shadow of a Gunman.
  • The firstLittle Chef diner is opened in Oxford Road bySam Alper.^[1]
• 1960 – The town's first high-rise council flats are built inColey Park.
• 1961 – The Civic Society is formed.
• 1964 –Bulmershe College opens.
• 1965 – ThePrudential assurance company opens administrative offices at The Forbury.
• 1966
  • The lastTilehurstbrickworks, S. & E. Collier, closes.
  • c. December: Themulti-storey car park Yield Hall opens.^[41]
• 1967
  • Western Tower is completed as railway offices, making it the first major office tower in Reading.^[11]
  • Brian Brindley becomes the vicar ofHoly Trinity Church, which he transforms into a centre ofAnglo-Catholicism.
• 1968 – 3 November:Trolleybuses in Reading stop operating.
• 1969–1989 – The Inner Distributor Road opens.
• 1969 – 1 April: TheReading Borough Police is merged intoThames Valley Police.
• 1971
  • 25–27 June: The firstReading Festival "of jazz and progressive music" takes place.
  • Friars Walk Shopping Centre opens,^[4] andBroad Street Mall opens as the Butts Centre.
• 1974
  • 1 April: Reorganisation underLocal Government Act 1972 takes effect, and The County Borough of Reading becomes an administrative district ofBerkshire.
  • 3 April–26 June:The Family, an early U.K. example of afly on the wall documentary series featuring the Wilkins of Reading, airs nationally onBBC1 television.
• 1976
  • 8 March: The first local radio station,Radio 210, begins broadcasting.^[4]
  • Huntley & Palmers cease biscuit manufacture in Reading.
  • Suttons Seeds move toTorbay.^[4]
  • The new civic offices are completed.^[11]
• 1977 –The Hexagon concert/performance venue is completed.^[11]
• 1984 – American screen actorStacy Keach serves 6 months inHM Prison Reading for possession ofcocaine at Heathrow Airport.^[42]
• 1985 – New Central Library is built.^[4]
• 1988
  • 27 March:Reading F.C. win theSimod Cup, but are relegated to theFootball League Third Division.
  • Rivermead Leisure Centre opens.^[4]
• 1989 – The merger ofBulmershe College of Higher Education into theUniversity of Reading is completed.
• 1990–2006 – The main annual U.K.World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival is held in Rivermead.
• 1990 – 8 August: TheKennet and Avon Canal is officially reopened throughout as a leisurewaterway.
• 1994
  • 10 February: TheChurch of England (Continuing) is founded atSt Mary's Church, Castle Street.
  • Reading istwinned withClonmel, Republic of Ireland andSan Francisco Libre, Nicaragua.^[1]
• 1995 – TheBroad Street shopping area is pedestrianised.^[1]
• 1997 – 17 June: TheReading Rocketsbasketball club is formed.^[43]
• 1998
  • 1 April:Berkshire County Council is abolished and the Borough of Reading becomes one of theunitary authorities in the area.
  • 22 August:Reading F.C. play their first match at theMadejski Stadium.
• 1999
  • February:Green Park Business Park is opened by thePrudential, initially withCisco Systems as main tenant.
  • 23 September:The Oracle shopping mall is opened on the site of theOracle workhouse.
  • The Church of St Mary the Virgin is raised to the honorific dignity ofReading Minster.^[11]

• 2003
  • Reading istwinned withSpeightstown,Barbados.
  • The firstgay pride march in Reading takes place.
• 2004 – Reading College and School of Arts and Design is affiliated toThames Valley University.
• 2005
  • 7 May: TheMurder of Mary-Ann Leneghan takes place.
  • November: TheGreen Park wind turbine is completed.
• 2006 –Reading F.C. open their first season in thePremier League.
• 2010 – March: Scottish Courage's Berkshire Brewery at Worton Grange, successor to theSimonds Brewery in 1979/80, ceases production.
• 2013
  • September:UTC Reading, auniversity technical college, opens.
  • November:HM Prison Reading closes.
  • December: Jackson's outfitters closes; the premises are refurbished for residential use in the following decade.
• 2014 – 17 July: The substantially rebuiltReading railway station is officially reopened, upgraded in anticipation of electrification work and the opening of the Elizabeth line.^[44]
• 2015 – 30 September:Christchurch Bridge opens as a pedestrian and cycle crossing over the River Thames.
• 2017
  • 30 January: Four former bank employees are convicted for their part in theHBOS Reading branch fraud.^[45]
  • The digital station RG2 Radio is established to serve primarily the localAfro-Caribbean community.^[46]
• 2018
  • 2 January: The electrification of Reading station is completed, with the firstelectric trains running betweenLondon Paddington andDidcot Parkway.
  • 15 December: Reading station is connected to theElizabeth Line network under the nameTfL Rail.
• 2019 –19 November:Olivia Graham is the first female consecratedSuffraganBishop of Reading.
• 2020
  • 23 March: Reading enters the national lockdown cycle caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
  • 20 June:2020 Reading stabbings: Three people are killed in amass stabbing inForbury Gardens.
• 2021
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom continues.
  • Autumn: Reading Rep Theatre opens in a permanent venue converted from a Salvation Army hall.^[47]
• 2022
  • 6 November:Elizabeth line begins 4 trains per hour running from Reading toAbbey Wood.
  • 4 December: Research at University of Reading shows that trust in food authorities, such as government and food regulators, has fallen due to COVID-19.
  • 6 December: According to the 2022/23 People & Planet University League, the University of Reading has been ranked as the fourth greenest university in the UK.
• 2023 – 27 May:Reading Green Park railway station opens to serve the Green Park business area and theMadejski Stadium, as well as the proposed Green Park Village residential development. Refurbishment ofReading West railway station is also completed during the year.

• c. 1492 –Thomas White, cloth merchant, Lord Mayor of London and benefactor (d. 1567)
• 1573
  • 7 October:William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (executed 1645)
  • John Kendrick, cloth merchant and benefactor (d. 1624)
• 1718 – 12 December:John Cennick, evangelical preacher (d. 1755)
• 1759 – 24 September:Charles Simeon, evangelical preacher (d. 1836)
• 1795 – 26 May:Thomas Talfourd, lawyer, politician and author (d. 1854)
• 1843 – 6 October:George Blackall Simonds, sculptor (d. 1929)
• 1858 – 19 June:George Alexander, actor-manager (d. 1918)
• 1869 – 23 December:Hugh Allen, conductor (d. 1946)
• 1884 – 18 August:Basil Cameron, conductor (d. 1975)
• 1886 – 14 January:Hugh Lofting, children's author, creator ofDoctor Dolittle (d. 1947)
• 1892 – 18 December:Fred Potts, trooper, recipient of theVictoria Cross (d. 1943)
• 1903 – 29 March:Arthur Negus, antiques expert (d. 1985)
• 1906 – 18 December:Evelyn Dunbar, war artist (d. 1960)
• 1912 – 3 July:Elizabeth Taylor, novelist (d. 1975)
• 1918 – 4 July:Alex Bedser, cricketer (d. 2010)
• 1929 – 31 December:Peter May, cricketer (d. 1994)
• 1930 – 24 November:Ken Barrington, cricketer (d. 1981)
• 1932 – 24 October:Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster (d. 2017)
• 1943 – 14 May:Richard Peto, epidemiologist
• 1953 – 15 May:Mike Oldfield, musician
• 1961 – 25 June:Ricky Gervais, comedian
• 1963 –Bob and Roberta Smith (Patrick Brill), slogan painter
• 1965 – 1 August:Sam Mendes, film and theatre director
• 1966 – 31 August:Alice Oswald, poet
• 1973 – 18 December:Lucy Worsley, historian
• 1975 – 5 October:Kate Winslet, film actress
• 1977
  • 23 April:Babita Sharma, radio journalist
  • 28 September:John Finnemore, comedy scriptwriter-performer
• 1982 – 9 January:Kate Middleton, royal consort
• 1983 – 6 September:Pippa Middleton, socialite
• 1992 – 17 March:Eliza Bennett, actress
• 1993 – 29 June:Fran Kirby, footballer

• Oxford,Portsmouth, andSouthampton

• "Reading (England)" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 939–940.

51°27′14″N0°58′23″W / 51.454°N 0.973°W /51.454; -0.973

• English history timelines
• History of Reading, Berkshire
• Reading, Berkshire
• Timelines of cities in the United Kingdom

• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB
• CS1 errors: periodical ignored
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2020
• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference
• Coordinates on Wikidata