1826 Enters House of Commons

1828 Becomes a lunacy commissioner, the start of his lifelong work for the

humane treatment of the insane

1830 Marries Lady Emily Cowper

1833 Steers Ten Hour Bill to limit child factory labour (Ten Hour Act passed 1847)

1840 Supports Bill prohibiting use of climbing boys for chimney cleaning

1842 Instrumental in passing of Mines Act, excluding children under 10 and women from work in mines

1842 Helps found the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes

1844 Becomes president of the Ragged Schools Union

1845 Secures the Lunacy Acts for regulation of asylums

1848 Joins Board of Health and campaigns for better sanitation and low-cost housing for urban workers

1849 Implements emergency measures to contain cholera pidemic in London

1851 Enters House of Lords

1852 The Ragged Schools’ first refuge for homeless children opens

1851, 1853, 1855 Proposes Bill against use of climbing boys by chimney sweeps

1855 Separate refuge for boys opens

1860 Refuge for older homeless girls opens in Acton, west London

1866 First training ship for homeless boys

1867 Introduces Bill prohibiting use of field labour by children under eight

1868 Lays the foundation stone of a co-operative housing venture in Lavender Hill, south London, known as Shaftesbury Park

1869 Takes up Samuel Plimsoll’s fight against overloaded “coffin ships”

1871 Moves motion to extend Factory Act to children working in brick fields

1873 Shaftesbury School for Boys opens at Bisley, Surrey

1885 Dies, after a decade continuing his work for the poor