1837-1901: The reign of Queen Victoria lends its name to the Victorian era, a term that first comes into use in the 1850s.

1901-1910: The reign of King Edward VII, referred to as the Edwardian age, marks a contrast with the national atmosphere of his austere mother.

1914-1918: The horror and disillusionment experienced by the World War I era has a profound effect on English literature and the modernist movement.

1924-1937: James Ramsay MacDonald is the first candidate of the Labour Party, with which Forster sympathized, to be elected prime minister. MacDonald, however, holds office for only nine months. MacDonald again holds the office from 1929-1935. However, during the 1920s and 1930s, English politics are dominated by Prime Minister Baldwin, who holds office from 1924 to 1929 and from 1935 to 1937, as a result of which the 1920s and 1930s come to be known as the Baldwin...