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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1896 | - 5 April 1896—5 April 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
- 2 June 1896—2 June 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
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| 2 | 1897 | - 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
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| 3 | 1898 | - 1898—1898: First photograph using artificial light
- 1898—1898: Zeppelin builds airship
- 1898—1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
- 17 March 1898—17 March 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
- 27 June 1898—27 June 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by
Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
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| 4 | 1899 | - 6 March 1899—6 March 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
- 11 October 1899—11 October 1899: Start of Second Boer War
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| 5 | 1900 | - 1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
- 1900—1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
- 1900—1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
- 9 February 1900—9 February 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
- 27 February 1900—27 February 1900: Labour Party formed
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| 6 | 1901 | - 1901—1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
- 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 22 January 1901—22 January 1901: Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king
- 2 February 1901—2 February 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral - interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore
Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
- June 1901—June 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
- 2 October 1901—2 October 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
- 12 December 1901—12 December 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
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| 7 | 1902 | - 1902—1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
- 1902—1902: Cremation Act - cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments,
and with two death certificates issued
- 1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
- 24 May 1902—24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
- 31 May 1902—31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
- 9 August 1902—9 August 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
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| 8 | 1903 | - 1903—1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
- 1903—1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
- 1903—1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
- 14 December 1903—14 December 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
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| 9 | 1904 | - 1904—1904: Leeds University established
- 8 April 1904—8 April 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
- 4 May 1904—4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French
(completed 1914)
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| 10 | 1905 | - 1905—1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time - placed the Prime
Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
- 1905—1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
- 1905—1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
- 11 April 1905—11 April 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
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| 11 | 1906 | - 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
- 10 February 1906—10 February 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
- 15 March 1906—15 March 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
- 26 May 1906—26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
- 20 September 1906—20 September 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
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| 12 | 1907 | - 1907—1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
- 1907—1907: Imperial College, London, is established
- 1907—1907: First airship flies over London
- 1907—1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
- July 1907—July 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its
shape after being heated
- 1 August 1907—1 August 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
- 9 November 1907—9 November 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
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| 13 | 1908 | - 1908—1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
- 1908—1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
- 1908—1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
- 1 July 1908—1 July 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
- 12 August 1908—12 August 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
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| 14 | 1909 | - 1909—1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
- 1909—1909: Peary reaches the north pole
- 1909—1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite - start of the plastic age
- 1 January 1909—1 January 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
- 16 January 1909—16 January 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
- 15 March 1909—15 March 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
- 25 July 1909—25 July 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
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| 15 | 1910 | - 1910—1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
- 1910—1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
- 1910—1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
- 1910—1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
- 1910—1910: Halley's comet reappears
- 1910—1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
- 6 May 1910—6 May 1910: Edward VII dies - George V becomes King
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| 16 | 1911 | - 1911—1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
- 1911—1911: British MPs receive a salary
- 1911—1911: First British Official Secrets Act
- 1911—1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
- 1911—1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
- 2 April 1911—2 April 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 22 June 1911—22 June 1911: Coronation of George V
- 14 December 1911—14 December 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
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| 17 | 1912 | - 1912—1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
- 1912—1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
- 1912—1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' - hoax, exposed in 1953
- 18 January 1912—18 January 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition - he and his team reach the south pole on Jan
18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November
- 14 April 1912—14 April 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
- 13 May 1912—13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
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| 18 | 1913 | - 1913—1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords - threat of civil war in Ireland -
formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
- 1913—1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London - Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
- 1913—1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political
purposes
- 1913—1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
- 1913—1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
- 4 June 1913—4 June 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the
Epsom Derby and dies
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| 19 | 1914 | - 1914—1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster
to be decided after the War
- 1914—1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
- 28 June 1914—28 June 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
- 4 August 1914—4 August 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
- 5 August 1914—5 August 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph
links to the outside world
- 15 August 1914—15 August 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official
transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1)
- October 1914—October 1914: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
- 27 November 1914—27 November 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
- 16 December 1914—16 December 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
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| 20 | 1915 | - 1915—1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
- 1915—1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
- 19 January 1915—19 January 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
- February 1915—February 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
- April 1915—April 1915: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
- 25 April 1915—25 April 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
- 7 May 1915—7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
- 16 May 1915—16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll
(aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
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| 21 | 1916 | - 1916—1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
- February 1916—February 1916: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
- 24 April 1916—24 April 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs
independence
- 21 May 1916—21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
- 31 May 1916—31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and
German fleets
- 5 June 1916—5 June 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
- 3 August 1916—3 August 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
- 15 September 1916—15 September 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
- 7 December 1916—7 December 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
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| 22 | 1917 | - 1917—1917: Battle of Cambrai - first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
- 1917—1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
- February 1917—February 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
- 16 April 1917—16 April 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
- 17 April 1917—17 April 1917: USA declares war on Germany
- 26 May 1917—26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal
proclamation on 17 July)
- July 1917—July 1917: Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
- 7 November 1917—7 November 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
- 6 December 1917—6 December 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear
explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision,
obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion
- 9 December 1917—9 December 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
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| 23 | 1918 | - 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 1918—1918: War of Independence in Ireland
- 18 January 1918—18 January 1918: Bentley Motors founded
- 8 March 1918—8 March 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
- July 1918—July 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
- 1 October 1918—1 October 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
- 11 November 1918—11 November 1918: Armistice signed
- December 1918—December 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein
member refused to take her seat
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1896 - 1918 (22 years) 
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