King Henry VII

1485-1509
House of Tudor

⋅ 1502: St Helena is discovered by João da Nova

⋅ 1503: Ascension Island is discovered by Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque

⋅ 1506: Tristan da Cunha is discovered by Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha

King Henry VIII

1509-1547
House of Tudor

⋅ 1515: A Rhinoceros visits

⋅ 1516: Fernão Lopez arrives, the first inhabitant

⋅ 1546: Fernão Lopez dies on St Helena

King Edward VI

1547-1553
House of Tudor

Lady Jane Grey

1553
House of Tudor

Queen Mary I

1553-1558
Bloody Mary
House of Tudor

Queen Elizabeth I

1558-1603
House of Tudor

⋅ 1580: Francis Drake, circumnavigating the world, locates St Helena but does not land

⋅ 1584: William Barrett is the first Englishman to write about St Helena

⋅ 1588: The First Englishman visits

⋅ 1589: Dutchman Jan Huygen van Linschoten visits and starts the myth of our discovery being on 21st May

⋅ 1593: Captain Sir James Lancaster makes his first visit

King James I

1603-1625
House of Stuart

⋅ 1603: Sir James Lancaster visits again

⋅ 1608: Dutch officer Admiral Wittert visits and the Dutch take an interest

⋅ 1613: Dutch warship the Witte Leeuw arrives, and loses a brief but spectacular naval action with two Portuguese carracks

King Charles I

1625-1649
House of Stuart

⋅ 1625: British & Dutch fight the Portuguese for possession of St Helena (unsuccessfully)

⋅ 1633: The Dutch formally claim St Helena, planning to occupy & fortify it

⋅ 1644: Richard Boothby proposes to The East India Company that St Helena be colonised

No Monarch

1649-1653
Rule by Parliament alone

⋅ 1649: The East India Company begins using St Helena as a rallying point for its homeward-bound vessels

⋅ 1651: The Dutch abandon plans to occupy St Helena

Oliver Cromwell

1653-1658
Lord Protector

⋅ 1657: Oliver Cromwell grants The East India Company patents to occupy and develop St Helena

Richard Cromwell

1658-1659
Lord Protector

⋅ 1658: Dutchman Johan Nieuhof visits

⋅ 1658: The East India Company decides to occupy St Helena

No Monarch

1659-1660
Rule by Parliament alone

⋅ 1659: Governor Dutton builds the Fort of St. John

⋅ 1659: The English occupy & fortify St Helena

King Charles II

1660-1685
House of Stuart

⋅ 1660: The fort is renamed James Fort, the town Jamestown and the valley James Valley, in honour of the Duke of York, later King James II

⋅ 1661: King Charles II formalises The East India Company occupation with a Charter

⋅ 1667: People displaced by the Great Fire of London are brought to St Helena (possibly)

⋅ 1671: The first chaplain of The East India Company arrives

⋅ 1672: The Dutch VoC fleet invades and captures St Helena

⋅ 1673: King Charles II re-affirms England’s ownership of St Helena by Royal Charter

⋅ 1673: Dutch invaders are expelled by Richard Munden and his force

⋅ 1675: Slaves begin to be sent to St Helena

⋅ 1677: Edmond Halley visits and catalogues the stars in the Southern hemisphere and observe the Transit of Mercury

King James II

1685-1688
House of Stuart

No Monarch

1688-1689
Rule by Parliament alone

King William III & Queen Mary II

1689-1694
William of Orange
Queen Mary II died on 28th December 1694 and thereafter King William III ruled alone
House of Stuart

⋅ 1690: Several French Protestants arrive and start a wine industry

⋅ 1691: Captain Dampier visits

⋅ 1693: Governor Joshua Johnston is shot and killed during the ‘Jackson Mutiny’

King William III

1694-1702
(alone)
William of Orange
House of Stuart

⋅ 1698: Rats and goats reported to be out of control and destroying the island

Queen Anne

1702-1714
House of Stuart

⋅ 1708: Council approves Governor John Roberts’ scheme to rebuild James Fort, creating what is now The Castle

⋅ 1710: The Great Wood is reported destroyed

King George I

1714-1727
House of Hanover

⋅ 1715: Governor Pyke proposes that the island be abandoned and everybody moved to Mauritius

King George II

1727-1760
House of Hanover

⋅ 1733: Coffee plants are introduced to the island

⋅ 1742: The island’s first hospital is built

King George III

1760-1820
House of Hanover

⋅ 1761: Nevil Maskelyne visits to observe the Transit of Venus

⋅ 1771: Captain James Cook visits

⋅ 1774: St. James’ Church is completed, the oldest Anglican Church in the southern hemisphere

⋅ 1775: Captain James Cook visits for the 2nd time

⋅ 1776: Horatio Nelson visits (before he was famous)

⋅ 1783: The ‘Arrack Rebellion’ is caused by attempts to control drunkenness

⋅ 1790: Saul Solomon arrives on St Helena

⋅ 1791: Plantation House is built

⋅ 1792: Captain Bligh visits

⋅ 1792: It becomes illegal to import slaves

⋅ 1805: Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington visits, and nearly drowns

⋅ 1810: Chinese labourers arrive

⋅ 1810: Tristan da Cunha is settled by Jonathan Lambert, from the USA

⋅ 1815: St Helena is chosen to detain Napoleon

⋅ 1815: Britain claims Ascension Island

⋅ 1816: The UK claims and occupies Tristan da Cunha

⋅ 1816: Many descriptions and histories of St Helena begin to appear

⋅ 1817: William Thackeray visits as a child and sees Napoleon

⋅ 1818: All children born to slaves are declared to be free

King George IV

1820-1830
House of Hanover

⋅ 1821: Napoleon dies at Longwood House

⋅ 1827: The emancipation of slaves begins

⋅ 1829: Mynah Birds are introduced to control cattle ticks

⋅ 1829: The ‘Inclined Plane’ railway from Jamestown to the Ladder Hill Fort begins operating

King William IV

1830-1837
House of Hanover

⋅ 1831: The Jamestown Upper Theatre is destroyed by fire

⋅ 1834: St Helena becomes a Crown Colony ending 175 years of rule by The East India Company

⋅ 1836: The first British Governor arrives, Governor George Middlemore

⋅ 1836: Charles Darwin visits in the HMS Beagle

Queen Victoria

1837-1901
House of Hanover

⋅ 1837: Attempts to set up a local whaling company fail

⋅ 1838: Dr James Barry leaves St Helena

⋅ 1840: The British Navy begins intercepting South Atlantic slave ships, liberating the slaves onto St Helena

⋅ 1840: Napoleon’s body is returned to France

⋅ 1842: William Alexander Thorpe is born on St Helena

⋅ 1842: The St Helena Regiment is formed

⋅ 1846: ‘The Rollers of 1846’ destroy 13 ships

⋅ 1851: St Helena Coffee wins a prize at the Great Exhibition

⋅ 1851: St. Paul’s Cathedral is completed

⋅ 1854: Baptists arrive on St Helena

⋅ 1858: Longwood House and Napoleon’s Tomb are transferred to French ownership

⋅ 1860: HRH Prince Alfred visits

⋅ 1860: ‘White Ants’ from a slave ship are destroying Jamestown

⋅ 1863: The St Helena Regiment is disbanded

⋅ 1869: The Suez Canal opens, further reducing St Helena’s role in global shipping

⋅ 1870: The Liberated Slave Depot is closed. 25,000 have passed through St Helena, 500 choosing to stay

⋅ 1871: The ‘Inclined Plane’ railway is re-engineered to become Jacob’s Ladder

⋅ 1874: The first flax industry fails

⋅ 1874: High Knoll Fort is expanded to its present form

⋅ 1882: Jonathan the tortoise arrives, aged about 50

⋅ 1888: Streetlights are introduced in Jamestown

⋅ 1890: A large rockfall kills nine people and destroys 14 houses

⋅ 1890: Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo arrives

⋅ 1891: The ‘Rockfall Memorial Fountain’ is dedicated

⋅ 1897: Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo departs

⋅ 1898: Joshua Slocum visits while sailing around the world

⋅ 1899: The undersea cable connects St Helena to the world

⋅ 1900: The first of 6,000 Boer PoWs arrive on St Helena

King Edward VII

1901-1910
Houses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

⋅ 1902: The Boer PoWs depart from St Helena

⋅ 1905: The last execution takes place on St Helena (for the Prosperous Bay Murder)

⋅ 1907: The Flax Industry re-starts

⋅ 1908: The lace-making school is opened

King George V

1910-1936
Houses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Retitled House of Windsor in 1917

⋅ 1910: Mr Mosely’s fish-processing industry starts - and closes

⋅ 1910: The Duke of Connaught visits

⋅ 1911: The SS Papanui arrives on fire, burns out and sinks in James Bay

⋅ 1914: The island’s first cinema, Thorpes Bioscope, opens in Jamestown

⋅ 1914: World War 1 begins and the island comes under Martial Law

⋅ 1917: The island borders on starvation due to disruption of shipping by World War 1

⋅ 1918: St Helena escapes the world-wide Flu epidemic

⋅ 1920: Norwegian ship Spangereid arrives on fire and burns out in James Bay.

⋅ 1921: The first Saints leave to work on Ascension Island

⋅ 1925: HRH Edward, Prince of Wales visits

⋅ 1929: The island’s first car is imported to St Helena

⋅ 1934: The first flight over St Helena is made by a seaplane from HMS Dorsetshire

King Edward VIII

1936
House of Windsor

King George VI

1936-1952
House of Windsor

⋅ 1936: Lord and Lady Baden-Powell visit

⋅ 1939: World War 2 brings many troops to the island

⋅ 1941: Education becomes compulsory and the Government of St Helena takes over all schools

⋅ 1941: The RFA Darkdale is torpedoed and sinks in James Bay

⋅ 1942: SS City of Cairo is torpedoed near St Helena and most survivors arrive here

⋅ 1947: HRH King George VI visits with the Royal Family, the first visit by a reigning monarch of Great Britain

⋅ 1949: The 100 Men leave for the UK

⋅ 1951: The Flax Industry reaches its peak

Queen Elizabeth II

1952-
House of Windsor

⋅ 1956: The (current) General Hospital opens

⋅ 1957: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh visits

⋅ 1958: The first known radio broadcast is made

⋅ 1965: The Flax Industry collapses

⋅ 1966: Democracy is introduced with a part-elected Legislative Council

⋅ 1967: The island’s first radio station, Radio St Helena, starts broadcasting

⋅ 1971: St Helena adopts Decimal Currency

⋅ 1976: St Helena banknotes begin circulating

⋅ 1977: The first RMS St Helena begins service

⋅ 1980: The Ebony is re-discovered

⋅ 1982: The first RMS St Helena assists the forces in the Falkland Islands

⋅ 1983: The British Nationality Act 1981 denies Saints their right to live and work in the UK{1}

⋅ 1984: St Helena gets a new flag, motto and Coat of Arms

⋅ 1984: HRH Prince Andrew visits

⋅ 1986: The first islanders leave to work on the Falkland IslandsW

⋅ 1988: Prince Andrew School opens to pupils.

⋅ 1989: the second RMS St Helena is launched in Aberdeen by Prince Andrew

⋅ 1990: The second RMS St Helena begins service

⋅ 1995: Television is introduced

⋅ 1996: The Internet first becomes available

⋅ 1999: Saints begin celebrating the start of the new Millennium{2}