Pressed to Death

 In the 17th century, in England, people who refused to plead either 'guilty' or 'not guilty' at a trial were 'pressed'. That means a wooden board was placed on them and weights were put on top, one by one. Sometimes, the person could not stand the increasing weight and agreed to plead. However sometimes he was pressed to death. The last man to be pressed to death died at Horsham, Sussex in 1735.

Stalin's Famine in Ukraine

 I found a good video about the Holodomor, a genocide in Ukraine

Daughters of Bilitis

 The Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organisation, was founded in Los Angeles on 21 September 1955.

Jina Mahsa Amini

 On 16 September 2022 an Iranian woman, Jina Mahsa Amini died in custody after being arrested by the Morality Police for 'improper clothing'. Her death started a series of protests with the slogan Woman, Life, Freedom.

Cruel Sports Banned

 On 9 September 1835, a new law in Britain outlawed 'sports' such as bull baiting. (A bull was chained to a post and dogs were trained to attack it. Some butchers would not sell bull meat unless the bull had been bitten by dogs. They said it made the meat more tender). The new law also banned cockfighting and dogfighting. Of course, making them illegal and actually stopping them were two different things but it was a step in the right direction.

Gas Central Heating

 Central heating has been around since Ancient Times. But in 1919, a woman named Alice Parker patented a central heating system fueled by gas rather than coal. However, her design was never built because it was unsafe. The first practical gas central heating system was invented by the Chaffoteaux brothers in France in 1925.

W T Stead 1885

In 1885, a journalist called W T Stead purchased a 13-year-old girl from a woman for prostitution. (At that time, the age of consent was 13). The girl’s mother sold her for 5 pounds (several weeks' wages for many people). The buyer made it clear that the child must be ‘pure’ i.e. a virgin. But Stead took the girl to safety in France. Stead then wrote about it to show how easy it was to buy a child. Partly as a result, the age of consent was raised to 16.