United Kingdom: Odds and Ends

Miscellaneous notes on the United Kingdom.

• Contraception: The Church of England opposes artificial contraception until 1930.
• Glasgow District Subway: The Glasgow District Subway, Britain’s second underground railway, was opened in 1896. It is cable-operated until 1935, when it is electrified.
• London Underground: The first underground city railway in the world was the Metropolitan Railway, opened in London in 1863.
• London Underground: All underground/subway systems in the world were built using the ‘cut and cover’ method (i.e. a trench was dug and then covered over) until 1890, when the first section of the City and South London Railway was opened. It was the world’s first deep level tube railway, excavated by tunnelling. It was also the first scheduled passenger railway in Britain to be electrified and the first underground railway in the world to be electrified.
• National Vigilance Association: The National Vigilance Association (NVA) was established in 1885. It monitors the 'moral welfare' of girls, mainly in London. From the late 1920s, there is large-scale migration, particularly from Wales and North East England, of girls to work as servants in London. The NVA establishes offices at railway and coach stations to assist newly-arrived girls in finding accommodation and jobs. It also visits individual girls, employers or employment agencies on request from concerned parties at home (parents, clergymen, police etc) to check the situation of the girls and the suitability of their employment.
• Oxford University: A degree in Literae Humaniores at Oxford, also called Greats, emphasises ancient history.
• Snowdon Mountain Railway: The Snowdon Mountain Railway, the only rack railway, in Britain was opened in 1896.
• Telephone Boxes: Red telephone boxes first appear in London in 1926.