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Elizabeth WILSON

Female 1882 - 1926  (44 years)  Submit Photo / DocumentSubmit Photo / Document


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   Date  Event(s)
1 1787 
  • 1787—1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
2 1788 
  • 1788—1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
  • 1788—1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced)
  • 1788—1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships
  • 1788—1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis - Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt - trying to obtain full regal powers for the Prince of Wales
  • 1788—1788: Gibbon completes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
  • 26 January 1788—26 January 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13 May 1787) ? the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
3 1789 
  • 28 April 1789—28 April 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty - Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
4 1790 
  • 1790—1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
5 1791 
  • 1791—1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the long s' (the 's' that looks like an 'f')
  • 1791—1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
  • 4 December 1791—4 December 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
6 1792 
  • 1792—1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) - Fox gets Libel Act through Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel
  • 1792—1792: Boyle's Street Directory published
  • 1792—1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
  • 1 October 1792—1 October 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
  • 1 December 1792—1 December 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
7 1793 
  • 11 February 1793—11 February 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
  • 15 April 1793—15 April 1793: ?5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
8 1794 
  • 1794—1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
  • 6 October 1794—6 October 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High Treason - he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore treasonous
9 1795 
  • 1795—1795: The Famine Year
  • 1795—1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
  • 1795—1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's wage to subsistence level - towards the end of the eighteenth century, the number of poor and unemployed increased dramatically - price increases during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) far outstripped wage rises - many small farmers were bankrupted by the move towards enclosures and became landless labourers - their wages were often pitifully low
  • 1795—1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce The Gagging Acts' or 'Two Bills' (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills) - outlawed the mass meeting and the political lecture.
  • 1795—1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
10 1796 
  • 1796—1796: Pitt's Reign of Terror': More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
  • 1796—1796: Legacy Tax on sums over ?20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and grandparents
  • 14 May 1796—14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
11 1797 
  • 1797—1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
  • 1797—1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
  • 1797—1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications
  • 1797—1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to the coining press
  • 22 February 1797—22 February 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
  • 26 February 1797—26 February 1797: First ?1 (and ?2) notes issued by Bank of England
12 1798 
  • 1798—1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
  • February 1798—February 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
  • 1 August 1798—1 August 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
13 1799 
  • 1799—1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
  • 1799—1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
  • 9 January 1799—9 January 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
  • 12 July 1799—12 July 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
  • 15 July 1799—15 July 1799: ?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
14 1800 
  • 1800—1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
  • 1800—1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
  • 1800—1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded
  • 1800—1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light
  • 1800—1800: Volta makes first electrical battery
  • 2 July 1800—2 July 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
15 1801 
  • 1801—1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
  • 1801—1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
  • 1 January 1801—1 January 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
  • 10 March 1801—10 March 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
  • 24 December 1801—24 December 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
16 1802 
  • 25 March 1802—25 March 1802: Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands ? the 'Peace of Amiens' as it was known brought a temporary peace of 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars ? one of its most important cultural effects was that travel and correspondence across the English Channel became possible again
17 1803 
  • 1803—1803: Poaching made a Capital offense in England if capture resisted
  • 1803—1803: Richard Trevithick built another steam carriage and ran it in London as the first self-propelled vehicle in the capital and the first London bus
  • 1803—1803: Semaphore signaling perfected by Admiral Popham
  • 30 April 1803—30 April 1803: Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
  • 12 May 1803—12 May 1803: Peace of Amiens ends ? resumption of war with France ? The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
  • 23 July 1803—23 July 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to Croydon, horse-drawn)
18 1804 
  • 1804—1804: Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed 'Australia'
  • 21 February 1804—21 February 1804: Richard Trevithick runs his railway engine on the Penydarren Railway (9.5 miles from Pen-y-Darren to Abercynon in South Wales) this hauled a train with 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers. It was commemorated by the Royal Mint in 2004 in the form of A ?2 coin.
  • 3 March 1804—3 March 1804: John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal Horticultural Society
  • 2 December 1804—2 December 1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
  • 12 December 1804—12 December 1804: Spain declares war on Britain
19 1805 
  • 1805—1805: London docks opened
  • 21 October 1805—21 October 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
  • 2 December 1805—2 December 1805: Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
20 1806 
  • 1806—1806: Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
  • 9 January 1806—9 January 1806: Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
21 1807 
  • 25 March 1807—25 March 1807: Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 ? but does not prohibit colonial slavery
22 1808 
  • 1808—1808: Gas lighting in London streets
  • 13 July 1808—13 July 1808: 'Hot Wednesday' ? temperature of 101?F in the shade recorded in London
  • 20 December 1808—20 December 1808: Beethoven premieres his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy together in Vienna
23 1809 
  • 12 February 1809—12 February 1809: Birth of Charles Darwin
  • 18 September 1809—18 September 1809: Royal Opera House opens in London
24 1810 
  • 1810—1810: John McAdam begins road construction in England, giving his name to the process of road metalling
25 1811 
  • 5 February 1811—5 February 1811: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
26 1812 
  • 11 May 1812—11 May 1812: Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, assassinated ? shot as he entered the House of Commons by a bankrupt Liverpool broker, John Bellingham, who was subsequently hanged
  • 18 June 1812—18 June 1812: Start of American 'War of 1812' (to 1814) against England and Canada
  • October 1812—October 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
27 1813 
  • 1813—1813: Ireland: First recorded '12th of July' sectarian riots in Belfast
  • 1813—1813: Jane Austen wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'
28 1814 
  • 1 January 1814—1 January 1814: Invasion of France by Allies
  • 6 April 1814—6 April 1814: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
  • 13 August 1814—13 August 1814: Convention of London signed, a treaty between the UK and the Dutch
  • 24 August 1814—24 August 1814: The British burn the White House
  • 29 November 1814—29 November 1814: 'The Times' first printed by a 'mechanical apparatus' (at 1100 sheets per hour)
  • 24 December 1814—24 December 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the 1812 war between Britain and the US
29 1815 
  • 1815—1815: Trial by Jury established in Scotland
  • 1815—1815: Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
  • 18 June 1815—18 June 1815: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
30 1816 
  • 1816—1816: Income tax abolished
  • 1816—1816: For the first time British silver coins were produced with an intrinsic value substantially below their face value ? the first official 'token' coinage
  • 1816—1816: Climate: the 'year without a summer' ? followed a volcanic explosion of the mountain 'Tambora in Indonesia the previous year the biggest volcanic explosion in 10000 years
  • 1816—1816: Large scale emigration to North America
  • 1816—1816: Trans-Atlantic packet service begins
31 1817 
  • 1817—1817: March of the Manchester Blanketeers; Habeas Corpus suspended
  • 1817—1817: Constable painted 'Flatford Mill'
32 1818 
  • 1818—1818: Manchester cotton spinners' strike
  • 20 October 1818—20 October 1818: 'Convention of 1818' signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the US-Canada border on the 49th parallel for most of its length
33 1819 
  • 1819—1819: Primitive bicycle, the Dandy Horse, becomes popular
  • 1819—1819: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 1819—1819: Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles
  • May 1819—May 1819: SS 'Savannah' first steamship to cross Atlantic reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 Days reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 Days mostly under sail)
  • 16 August 1819—16 August 1819: Peterloo Massacre at Manchester ? a large, orderly group of 60,000 meets at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester ? demand Parliamentary Reform ? mounted troops charge on the meeting, killing 11 people and and maiming many others
34 1820 
  • 1820—1820: Cato Street Conspiracy ? plot to assissinate British cabinet
  • 1820—1820: Abolition of the Spanish Inquisition
  • 29 January 1820—29 January 1820: Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
  • 1 August 1820—1 August 1820: Regent's Canal in London opens
  • 17 August 1820—17 August 1820: Trial of Queen Caroline to prove her infidelities so George IV can divorce her ? George tries to secure a Bill of Pains and Penalties against her ? Caroline is virtually acquitted because bill passed by such a small majority of Lords
35 1821 
  • 1821—1821: Faraday publishes 'Principles of electro-magnetic rotation'
  • 1821—1821: Constable paints 'The Hay Wain'
  • 5 May 1821—5 May 1821: Napoleon Bonaparte dies on St Helena
36 1822 
  • 14 June 1822—14 June 1822: Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
37 1823 
  • 1823—1823: New laws concerning marriage by license ? 'very troublesome' according to some the Act was repealed all in a hurry at the beginning of the next session
  • 1823—1823: Peel begins penal reforms ? death penalty abolished for over 100 crimes
  • 1823—1823: Rugby Football 'invented' at Rugby School
  • 1823—1823: Rubberised waterproof material produced by MacIntosh
  • 2 December 1823—2 December 1823: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts (the 'Monroe Doctrine')
38 1824 
  • 1824—1824: RSPCA established
  • 1824—1824: Portland cement patented
  • 4 March 1824—4 March 1824: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) founded (called the 'National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck' until 1854)
  • 10 May 1824—10 May 1824: National Gallery in London opens to the public
39 1825 
  • 27 September 1825—27 September 1825: Stockton to Darlington Railway opens ? world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
40 1827 
  • 1827—1827: Ohm's Law published
41 1828 
  • 25 October 1828—25 October 1828: St Katharine Docks in London opened (designed by Thomas Telford)
42 1829 
  • 1829—1829: London Metropolitan Police Force formed, nicknamed 'Bobbies' after Sir Robert Peel
  • 1829—1829: Louis Braille invents his system of finger-reading for the blind
  • 10 June 1829—10 June 1829: First Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race
  • 6 October 1829—6 October 1829: George Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill trials (it was the only one to complete the trial!)
43 1830 
  • 1830—1830: Uprisings and agitation across Europe: the Netherlands are split into Holland and Belgium
  • July 1830—July 1830: Revolution in France, fall of Charles X and the Bourbons ? Louis Philippe (the Citizen King) on the throne
  • 15 September 1830—15 September 1830: George Stephenson's Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened by the Duke of Wellington ? first mail carried by rail, and first death on the railway as William Huskisson, a leading politician, is run over!
44 1831 
  • 1831—1831: A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled
  • 1 June 1831—1 June 1831: James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole
  • 1 August 1831—1 August 1831: 'New' London Bridge opens (replaced 1973) ? old bridge (which had existed for over 600 years) then demolished
45 1832 
  • 1832—1832: Electoral Registers introduced
  • 1832—1832: Electric telegraph invented by Morse
  • 7 June 1832—7 June 1832: Reform Bill passed ? Representation of the People Act
46 1833 
  • January 1833—January 1833: Britain invades the Falkland Islands
  • 29 August 1833—29 August 1833: Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
47 1834 
  • 1834—1834: Babbage invents forerunner of the computer
  • 18 March 1834—18 March 1834: 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
  • 1 May 1834—1 May 1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions
48 1835 
  • 1835—1835: Christmas becomes a national holiday
  • 1835—1835: First railway boom period starts in Britain construction of Great Western Railway
49 1836 
  • 1836—1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
  • 30 January 1836—30 January 1836: Telford's Menai Straits Bridge opened ? considered the world's first modern suspension bridge
  • 25 February 1836—25 February 1836: Samuel Colt patented the 'revolver'
  • 6 March 1836—6 March 1836: The Alamo falls to Mexican troops - death of Davy Crockett
  • July 1836—July 1836: Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
50 1837 
  • 1837—1837: Pitman introduces his shorthand system
  • 1837—1837: P&O Founded
  • 20 June 1837—20 June 1837: William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
  • 1 July 1837—1 July 1837: Compulsory registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in England & Wales - Registration Districts were formed covering several parishes; initially they had the same boundaries as the Poor Law boundaries set up in 1834
  • 13 July 1837—13 July 1837: Queen Victoria moves into the first Buckingham Palace
  • 20 July 1837—20 July 1837: Euston Railway station opens - first in London
51 1838 
  • 28 June 1838—28 June 1838: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
52 1839 
  • 1839—1839: First Opium War between Britain and China (to 1842) - Britain captures Hong Kong
  • 1839—1839: Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan refines the primitive bicycle adding a mechanical crank drive to the rear wheel,thus creating the first true 'bicycle' in the modern Sense
  • 1839—1839: Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber
53 1840 
  • 1840—1840: Population Act relating to taking of censuses in Britain
  • 1840—1840: Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849, but these probably landed elsewhere)
  • 10 January 1840—10 January 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
54 1841 
  • 1841—1841: Thomas Cook starts package tours
  • 10 February 1841—10 February 1841: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp
  • 6 June 1841—6 June 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
55 1842 
  • 1842—1842: Income Tax reintroduced in Britain
  • 30 March 1842—30 March 1842: Ether used as an anesthetic for the first time (by Dr Crawford Long in America)
  • 29 August 1842—29 August 1842: Treaty of Nanking - End of First Opium War - Britain gains Hong Kong
56 1843 
  • 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
  • 27 May 1843—27 May 1843: The Great Hall of Euston station opened in London
  • 19 July 1843—19 July 1843: Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched
57 1844 
  • 6 June 1844—6 June 1844: YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
58 1845 
  • 1845—1845: Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
  • 17 March 1845—17 March 1845: The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
59 1846 
  • 10 September 1846—10 September 1846: The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
60 1847 
  • 1847—1847: US Mormons make Salt Lake City their centre
  • January 1847—January 1847: An anesthetic used for the first time in England (James Simpson used ether to numb the pain of labour)
61 1848 
  • 1848—1848: First commercial production of chewing gum
  • 24 January 1848—24 January 1848: Gold found at Sutter's Mill, California - starts the California gold rush
  • 11 July 1848—11 July 1848: Waterloo railway station in London opens
62 1849 
  • 1849—1849: Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation - which finally occurred in 1971!
63 1851 
  • 1851—1851: Gold discovered in Australia
  • 1 May 1851—1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
64 1852 
  • 1852—1852: Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
  • 1852—1852: Wells Fargo established in USA
65 1853 
  • 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
66 1854 
  • 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
  • 27 March 1854—27 March 1854: Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
  • 25 October 1854—25 October 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
67 1856 
  • 1856—1856: End of Crimean War
  • 29 January 1856—29 January 1856: Victoria Cross created by Royal Warrant, backdated to 1854 to recognise acts during the Crimean War (first award ceremony 26 June 1857)
68 1857 
  • 1857—1857: Work starts on the laying of the Transatlantic cable
69 1858 
  • 1858—1858: 'The great stink' - smell of the River Thames forced Parliament to stop work
  • 1858—1858: Royal Opera House opens in Covent Garden, London
70 1859 
  • 1859—1859: Peaceful picketing legalised in Britain
  • 25 April 1859—25 April 1859: Work started on building the Suez canal (opened 17 Nov 1869)
  • 4 May 1859—4 May 1859: Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge opened at Saltash giving rail link between Devon and Cornwall
  • 24 November 1859—24 November 1859: Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'
71 1860 
  • 29 August 1860—29 August 1860: First tram service in Europe starts in Birkenhead
72 1861 
  • 25 May 1861—25 May 1861: American Civil War begins
73 1862 
  • 1862—1862: Lincoln issues first legal US paper money (Greenbacks)
  • 20 April 1862—20 April 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
74 1863 
  • 1863—1863: Football Association founded (UK)
  • 1863—1863: Opening of state institution for criminally insane at Broadmoor, England
  • 10 January 1863—10 January 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
75 1864 
  • 1864—1864: A man-powered submarine, 'Hunley' sank a Federal steam ship USS Housatonic at the entrance to Charleston harbour in 1864 - the first recorded successful attack by a submarine on a surface ship
  • 11 March 1864—11 March 1864: The Great Sheffield Flood - over 250 died when a new dam broke while it was being filled for the first time
  • 20 August 1864—20 August 1864: Red Cross established - Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention
  • 8 December 1864—8 December 1864: Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon officially opened
76 1865 
  • 1865—1865: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) becomes first woman doctor in England [she later became the first woman mayor in England, in Aldeburgh 1908]
  • 1865—1865: First concrete roads built in Britain
  • 14 April 1865—14 April 1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
  • 14 April 1865—14 April 1865: Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth
  • 5 July 1865—5 July 1865: William Booth (1829-1912) founds Salvation Army, in London
77 1867 
  • 1 July 1867—1 July 1867: The British North America Act takes effect, creating the Canadian Confederation
78 1868 
  • 1868—1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
79 1869 
  • 1869—1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
  • 23 November 1869—23 November 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
80 1870 
  • 1870—1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
  • 1870—1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
  • 1870—1870: Water closets come into wide use
  • 1870—1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
  • 1 October 1870—1 October 1870: First British postcard - halfpenny post
81 1871 
  • 27 March 1871—27 March 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
  • 29 March 1871—29 March 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
  • 29 June 1871—29 June 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
82 1872 
  • 1872—1872: Licensing hours introduced
  • 1872—1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
  • 4 December 1872—4 December 1872: American ship 'Mary Celeste' is found abandoned by the British brig 'Dei Gratia' in the Atlantic Ocean
83 1874 
  • 1874—1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
  • 5 April 1874—5 April 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world - features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
84 1875 
  • 1875—1875: London's main sewage system completed
  • 1 January 1875—1 January 1875: Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
85 1876 
  • 14 February 1876—14 February 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
86 1877 
  • 1877—1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
87 1878 
  • 1878—1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
  • 1878—1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
  • 1878—1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
88 1879 
  • 18 September 1879—18 September 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
89 1880 
  • 1880—1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
  • 1880—1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
  • 2 August 1880—2 August 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
90 1881 
  • 1881—1881: Postal Orders introduced
  • 1881—1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
  • September 1881—September 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
  • 26 October 1881—26 October 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
91 1882 
  • 1882—1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
92 1883 
  • 1883—1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
  • 24 May 1883—24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
  • 1 August 1883—1 August 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
  • 27 August 1883—27 August 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
93 1884 
  • 31 May 1884—31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
  • 13 October 1884—13 October 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
94 1885 
  • 1885—1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
  • 1885—1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
  • 1885—1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
  • 1885—1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
  • March 1885—March 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
  • 5 September 1885—5 September 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
  • 29 September 1885—29 September 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
95 1886 
  • 20 January 1886—20 January 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
  • May 1886—May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
  • 29 May 1886—29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
96 1887 
  • 1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
97 1888 
  • 1888—1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
  • 1888—1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
  • 1888—1888: County Councils set up in Britain
  • 1888—1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
  • 1888—1888: First box camera - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
  • 20 March 1888—20 March 1888: Football League formed
98 1889 
  • 1889—1889: Celluloid film produced
  • 1889—1889: Dock Strike - docker's won their 'Docker's Tanner' 6 old pennies
  • 31 March 1889—31 March 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
  • 14 May 1889—14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
  • 3 June 1889—3 June 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
  • 28 September 1889—28 September 1889: Length of a metre defined
99 1890 
  • 4 March 1890—4 March 1890: Forth railway bridge opens - took six years to build
  • 4 November 1890—4 November 1890: City & South London Railway opens - London's first deep-level tube railway and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
100 1891 
  • 1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
  • 18 March 1891—18 March 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
  • 4 May 1891—4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
  • 24 August 1891—24 August 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
101 1892 
  • 1892—1892: Electric oven invented
  • 1892—1892: Shop Hours Act - limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
  • 6 October 1892—6 October 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
102 1893 
  • 1893—1893: Henry Ford's first car
  • 1893—1893: Zip fastener invented
103 1894 
  • 1894—1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
  • 1 January 1894—1 January 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
  • 1 March 1894—1 March 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
  • 30 June 1894—30 June 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
  • 2 August 1894—2 August 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
104 1895 
  • 1895—1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
  • 12 January 1895—12 January 1895: The National Trust founded in England
  • 24 May 1895—24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
  • 28 May 1895—28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
  • 12 July 1895—12 July 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
  • 17 October 1895—17 October 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences - John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
  • November 1895—November 1895: X-rays discovered
105 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
106 1897 
  • 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
107 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)
108 1899 
  • 6 March 1899—6 March 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
  • 11 October 1899—11 October 1899: Start of Second Boer War
109 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
110 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
111 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
112 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
113 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)
114 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
115 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
116 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
117 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
118 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)
119 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
120 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
121 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
122 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
123 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
124 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
125 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
126 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
127 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
128 1919 
  • 1919—1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
  • 1919—1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
  • 15 June 1919—15 June 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
  • 28 June 1919—28 June 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
129 1920 
  • 1920—1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
  • 1920—1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
  • 1920—1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
  • February 1920—February 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
130 1921 
  • 1921—1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
  • 1921—1921: Insulin discovery announced
  • 1921—1921: First birth control clinic
  • 19 June 1921—19 June 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
  • 6 December 1921—6 December 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
131 1922 
  • 1922—1922: Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
  • 1 June 1922—1 June 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
  • October 1922—October 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)
132 1923 
  • 1923—1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
  • 1923—1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
  • 1923—1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
  • 1 January 1923—1 January 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR - lasted until nationalisation in 1948
  • 16 February 1923—16 February 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
  • 28 April 1923—28 April 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) - 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ' popular song of the time became the West Ham anthem
  • 28 September 1923—28 September 1923: First publication of Radio Times
133 1924 
  • 4 January 1924—4 January 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
  • 5 February 1924—5 February 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC
  • 31 March 1924—31 March 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)
134 1925 
  • 1925—1925: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 18 July 1925—18 July 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
135 1926 
  • 1926—1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
  • 1926—1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
  • 1926—1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
  • 1926—1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
  • 21 April 1926—21 April 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
  • 3 May 1926—3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
  • 31 October 1926—31 October 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
136 1927 
  • 1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
  • 7 January 1927—7 January 1927: First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
  • 22 January 1927—22 January 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
  • 1 May 1927—1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris
  • 20 May 1927—20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33? hours
  • 31 May 1927—31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
  • 24 July 1927—24 July 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
137 1928 
  • 1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
  • 26 April 1928—26 April 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
  • 15 September 1928—15 September 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
138 1929 
  • 1929—1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
  • 1929—1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
  • 1929—1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
139 1930 
  • 1930—1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
  • 1930—1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
  • 30 January 1930—30 January 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
  • 31 January 1930—31 January 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
  • 6 March 1930—6 March 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
  • 5 October 1930—5 October 1930: R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
140 1931 
  • 1931—1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
  • 1931—1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
  • 14 April 1931—14 April 1931: Highway Code first issued
  • 26 April 1931—26 April 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2)
  • 21 October 1931—21 October 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off gold standard
141 1932 
  • 1932—1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
  • 1932—1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
  • 1932—1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
  • 1932—1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
  • 21 May 1932—21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
  • 3 October 1932—3 October 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
  • 3 October 1932—3 October 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
142 1933 
  • 1933—1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
  • 1933—1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
  • 12 November 1933—12 November 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
143 1934 
  • 1934—1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
  • 18 July 1934—18 July 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
  • 26 September 1934—26 September 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
  • 30 November 1934—30 November 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
144 1935 
  • 1935—1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
  • 1935—1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
  • 28 February 1935—28 February 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from New York-London)
  • 12 March 1935—12 March 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
  • 1 June 1935—1 June 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
  • 30 July 1935—30 July 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
145 1936 
  • 1936—1936: Jet engine first tested
  • 20 January 1936—20 January 1936: George V dies
  • 5 May 1936—5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
  • 24 July 1936—24 July 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
  • 2 November 1936—2 November 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
  • 30 November 1936—30 November 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
  • 5 December 1936—5 December 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'
146 1937 
  • 1937—1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
  • 1937—1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
  • 12 April 1937—12 April 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
  • 12 May 1937—12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
  • 28 May 1937—28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
  • 3 June 1937—3 June 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
  • 4 December 1937—4 December 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
147 1938 
  • 1938—1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
  • 1938—1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
  • 1938—1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
  • 12 March 1938—12 March 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
  • 3 July 1938—3 July 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
  • 27 September 1938—27 September 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
  • 29 September 1938—29 September 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
  • 30 October 1938—30 October 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
148 1939 
  • 1939—1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
  • 1939—1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
  • 1939—1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
  • 1 September 1939—1 September 1939: Germany invades Poland
  • 3 September 1939—3 September 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
  • 6 September 1939—6 September 1939: First air-raid on Britain
  • 11 September 1939—11 September 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
  • 14 October 1939—14 October 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
  • 7 December 1939—7 December 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
  • 17 December 1939—17 December 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
149 1940 
  • 1 April 1940—1 April 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
  • 11 May 1940—11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
  • 13 May 1940—13 May 1940: Germany invades France
  • 27 May 1940—27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
  • 25 June 1940—25 June 1940: Fall of France to Germany
  • 7 September 1940—7 September 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
  • 15 September 1940—15 September 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
  • 14 November 1940—14 November 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
150 1941 
  • 1941—1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
  • 1941—1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
  • 1941—1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
  • 1941—1941: First use of antibiotics
  • 10 May 1941—10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
  • 27 May 1941—27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
  • 22 June 1941—22 June 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
  • 1 July 1941—1 July 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
  • December 1941—December 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
  • December 1941—December 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
  • 7 December 1941—7 December 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
  • 8 December 1941—8 December 1941: USA enters WWII
  • 24 December 1941—24 December 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
151 1942 
  • 1942—1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
  • 1942—1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
  • 30 May 1942—30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
  • 4 June 1942—4 June 1942: Battle of Midway
  • 19 August 1942—19 August 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
  • 6 September 1942—6 September 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
  • 3 October 1942—3 October 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
  • 23 October 1942—23 October 1942: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
  • 2 December 1942—2 December 1942: 'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
152 1943 
  • 1943—1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
  • 16 May 1943—16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
  • 24 July 1943—24 July 1943: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
153 1944 
  • 6 April 1944—6 April 1944: PAYE income tax begins
  • 4 June 1944—4 June 1944: Allies enter Rome
  • 6 June 1944—6 June 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
  • 12 June 1944—12 June 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
  • 8 September 1944—8 September 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
  • 11 September 1944—11 September 1944: Allies enter Germany
  • 16 December 1944—16 December 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
154 1945 
  • 4 February 1945—4 February 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
  • 29 March 1945—29 March 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
  • 25 April 1945—25 April 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
  • 30 April 1945—30 April 1945: Hitler commits suicide
  • 8 May 1945—8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
  • 9 May 1945—9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
  • 26 June 1945—26 June 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
  • 16 July 1945—16 July 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on 2nd Dec 1942)
  • 26 July 1945—26 July 1945: Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
  • 29 July 1945—29 July 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
  • 6 August 1945—6 August 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
  • 9 August 1945—9 August 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
  • 15 August 1945—15 August 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
  • 2 September 1945—2 September 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
  • 24 October 1945—24 October 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
  • 4 November 1945—4 November 1945: UNESCO founded
155 1946 
  • 1946—1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
  • 1946—1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
  • 1 January 1946—1 January 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
  • 1 March 1946—1 March 1946: Bank of England nationalised
156 1947 
  • 1947—1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
  • 1947—1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
  • 1 January 1947—1 January 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
  • 23 February 1947—23 February 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
  • 1 March 1947—1 March 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
  • 1 April 1947—1 April 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
  • 26 October 1947—26 October 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
  • 20 November 1947—20 November 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
157 1948 
  • 1948—1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
  • 1948—1948: Transistor radio invented
  • 1948—1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
  • 1 January 1948—1 January 1948: British Railways nationalised
  • 5 July 1948—5 July 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
  • 29 July 1948—29 July 1948: London Olympics begin
158 1949 
  • 1949—1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
  • 1949—1949: De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
  • 15 March 1949—15 March 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
  • 4 April 1949—4 April 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
159 1950 
  • 19 May 1950—19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
  • 26 May 1950—26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
  • 11 July 1950—11 July 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
  • 9 September 1950—9 September 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
  • 28 December 1950—28 December 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
160 1951 
  • 3 May 1951—3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
  • 28 May 1951—28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
  • 20 December 1951—20 December 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
161 1952 
  • 1952—1952: Contraceptive pill invented
  • 1952—1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
  • 1952—1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
  • 1952—1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
  • 6 February 1952—6 February 1952: King George VI dies
  • 21 February 1952—21 February 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
  • 2 May 1952—2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
  • 5 July 1952—5 July 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
  • 16 August 1952—16 August 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
  • 6 September 1952—6 September 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
  • 3 October 1952—3 October 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
  • 1 November 1952—1 November 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA - the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised.
  • 25 November 1952—25 November 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
  • 4 December 1952—4 December 1952: Great smog hits London
162 1953 
  • 31 January 1953—31 January 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century - severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives - - effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
  • 5 February 1953—5 February 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
  • 5 March 1953—5 March 1953: Death of Stalin
  • 26 March 1953—26 March 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
  • 24 April 1953—24 April 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
  • 25 April 1953—25 April 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
  • 2 June 1953—2 June 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
  • 26 September 1953—26 September 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
163 1954 
  • 1954—1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
  • 1954—1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
  • 1954—1954: First transistor radios sold
  • 6 May 1954—6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
  • 3 July 1954—3 July 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
  • 5 July 1954—5 July 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
  • 30 September 1954—30 September 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
164 1955 
  • 1955—1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
  • 27 July 1955—27 July 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
  • 22 September 1955—22 September 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
165 1956 
  • 1956—1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
  • 1 March 1956—1 March 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
  • 17 April 1956—17 April 1956: Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
  • 3 June 1956—3 June 1956: 3rd class travel abolished on British Railways (renamed 'Third Class' as 'Second Class', which had been abolished in 1875 leaving just First and Third Class)
  • 31 October 1956—31 October 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
166 1957 
  • 1957—1957: Britain introduces parking meters
  • 1957—1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
  • 11 January 1957—11 January 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
  • 14 May 1957—14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
  • 15 May 1957—15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
  • 25 May 1957—25 May 1957: Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg - became operational Jan 1958
  • 4 December 1957—4 December 1957: Lewisham rail disaster - 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct collapses on top of them
  • 25 December 1957—25 December 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
167 1958 
  • 1958—1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
  • 1958—1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
  • 1958—1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
  • 13 May 1958—13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
  • 26 July 1958—26 July 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
  • 5 December 1958—5 December 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
  • 5 December 1958—5 December 1958: Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
168 1959 
  • 3 February 1959—3 February 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
  • 17 February 1959—17 February 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
  • 24 May 1959—24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
  • August 1959—August 1959: BMC Mini car launched
  • 3 October 1959—3 October 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
  • 1 November 1959—1 November 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
169 1960 
  • 17 March 1960—17 March 1960: New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
  • 18 March 1960—18 March 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
  • 21 July 1960—21 July 1960: Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II (took 40 days), winning the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race which he co-founded
  • 12 August 1960—12 August 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
  • 12 September 1960—12 September 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
  • 1 October 1960—1 October 1960: HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
  • 2 November 1960—2 November 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
170 1961 
  • 1 January 1961—1 January 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
  • 13 March 1961—13 March 1961: Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
  • 14 March 1961—14 March 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
  • 1 May 1961—1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
171 1962 
  • 1962—1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
  • 1962—1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
  • 1962—1962: Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
  • 25 May 1962—25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
  • 15 June 1962—15 June 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
  • July 1962—July 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
  • 10 July 1962—10 July 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
  • 24 October 1962—24 October 1962: Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war
172 1963 
  • 1963—1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
  • January 1963—January 1963: Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First Division matches in the month) - the first 'pools panel' created
  • 27 March 1963—27 March 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
  • 1 August 1963—1 August 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17
  • 8 August 1963—8 August 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
  • 17 September 1963—17 September 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
  • 18 November 1963—18 November 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens
  • 23 November 1963—23 November 1963: First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV
173 1964 
  • 1 January 1964—1 January 1964: First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
  • 9 April 1964—9 April 1964: First Greater London Council (GLC) election
  • 21 April 1964—21 April 1964: BBC2 TV launched
  • 22 August 1964—22 August 1964: 'Match of the Day' starts on BBC2
  • 4 September 1964—4 September 1964: Forth road bridge opens
174 1965 
  • 1965—1965: Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
  • 7 February 1965—7 February 1965: First US raids against North Vietnam
  • 7 April 1965—7 April 1965: Winston Churchill dies
  • 1 August 1965—1 August 1965: TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
  • 8 October 1965—8 October 1965: Post Office Tower operational in London
  • 28 October 1965—28 October 1965: Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then abolished 18 Dec 1969
  • 22 December 1965—22 December 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
175 1966 
  • 14 February 1966—14 February 1966: Australia converts from ? to $
  • 3 May 1966—3 May 1966: 'The Times' begins to print news on its front page in place of classified Advertisements
  • 30 July 1966—30 July 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
  • 8 September 1966—8 September 1966: First Severn road bridge opens
  • 21 October 1966—21 October 1966: Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
  • 1 December 1966—1 December 1966: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
176 1967 
  • 4 January 1967—4 January 1967: Donald Campbell dies attempting to break his world water speed record on Conniston Water - his body and Bluebird recovered in 2002
  • 18 March 1967—18 March 1967: 'Torrey Canyon' oil tanker runs aground off Lands End first major oil spill
  • 28 May 1967—28 May 1967: Francis Chichester arrives in Plymouth after solo circumnavigation in Gipsy Moth IV (he was knighted 7th July at Greenwich by the queen using the sword with which Elizabeth I had knighted Sir Francis Drake four centuries earlier
  • 27 June 1967—27 June 1967: First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain - at Enfield branch of Barclays
  • 1 July 1967—1 July 1967: First colour TV in Britain
  • 14 August 1967—14 August 1967: Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK
  • 20 September 1967—20 September 1967: 'QE2' launched on Clydebank
  • 27 September 1967—27 September 1967: 'Queen Mary' arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage
  • 30 September 1967—30 September 1967: BBC Radios 1 2 3 & 4 open first record played on Radio 1 was the controversial 'Flowers in the Rain' by 'The Move'
  • 5 October 1967—5 October 1967: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
177 1968 
  • 18 February 1968—18 February 1968: British Standard Time introduced - Summer Time became permanent but arguments prevailed and Britain reverted to GMT in October 1971
  • 18 April 1968—18 April 1968: London Bridge sold (and eventually moved to Arizona) - modern London Bridge, built around it as it was demolished, was opened in Mar 1973
  • 20 April 1968—20 April 1968: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration
  • 23 April 1968—23 April 1968: Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins in Britain
  • 29 May 1968—29 May 1968: Manchester United first English club to win the European Cup
  • 11 August 1968—11 August 1968: Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle- Liverpool)
  • 16 September 1968—16 September 1968: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain
  • 5 October 1968—5 October 1968: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
178 1969 
  • 2 March 1969—2 March 1969: Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse
  • 7 March 1969—7 March 1969: Victoria Line tube opens in London
  • 17 April 1969—17 April 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
  • 2 May 1969—2 May 1969: Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
  • 31 July 1969—31 July 1969: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain
  • 14 August 1969—14 August 1969: Civil disturbances in Ulster - Britain sends troops to support civil authorities
  • 7 September 1969—7 September 1969: First episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' recorded
  • 14 October 1969—14 October 1969: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
179 1970 
  • 1970—1970: Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service
  • 17 June 1970—17 June 1970: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain
  • 19 June 1970—19 June 1970: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister
  • 30 July 1970—30 July 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
  • 19 September 1970—19 September 1970: First Glastonbury Festival held
  • 20 November 1970—20 November 1970: Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
180 1971 
  • 1971—1971: Banking and Financial Dealings Act - replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871
  • 1971—1971: Sunday becomes the seventh day in the week as UK adopts decision of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) to call Monday the first day
  • 1971—1971: 'Greenpeace' founded
  • 1971—1971: Rolls-Royce declared bankrupt
  • 3 January 1971—3 January 1971: Open University starts
  • 15 February 1971—15 February 1971: Decimalisation of coinage in UK and Republic of Ireland
  • 9 August 1971—9 August 1971: Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland
  • 28 October 1971—28 October 1971: Parliament votes to join Common Market (joined 1973)
  • 28 October 1971—28 October 1971: UK launches its first (and only) satellite, Prospero
181 1972 
  • 1972—1972: Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland
  • 1972—1972: Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports
  • 1972—1972: Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK
  • 1972—1972: Domestic video cassette recorders introduced
  • 30 January 1972—30 January 1972: 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, Northern Ireland
  • 28 May 1972—28 May 1972: Duke of Windsor (ex-King Edward VIII) dies in Paris
182 1973 
  • 1 January 1973—1 January 1973: Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark)
  • 17 March 1973—17 March 1973: Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen
  • 1 April 1973—1 April 1973: VAT introduced in Britain
  • 26 September 1973—26 September 1973: Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time
  • 14 October 1973—14 October 1973: Marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey
  • 31 December 1973—31 December 1973: Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' (till 9 Mar 1974) to conserve power
183 1974 
  • 1974—1974: New counties formed in Britain after re-organisation of some county boundaries
  • 1 June 1974—1 June 1974: Flixborough disaster: explosion at chemical plant kills 28 people
  • 7 November 1974—7 November 1974: Lord Lucan disappears
  • 21 November 1974—21 November 1974: Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA
184 1975 
  • 1975—1975: Unemployment in Britain rises above 1M for first time since before WW2
  • 11 February 1975—11 February 1975: Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition)
  • 28 February 1975—28 February 1975: Moorgate tube crash in London - over 43 deaths, greatest loss of life on the Underground in peacetime. The cause of the incident was never conclusively determined
  • 4 March 1975—4 March 1975: Charlie Chaplin knighted
  • 5 June 1975—5 June 1975: UK votes in a referendum to stay in the European Community
  • 29 October 1975—29 October 1975: 'Yorkshire Ripper' commits his first murder
  • 3 November 1975—3 November 1975: First North Sea oil comes ashore
  • 29 November 1975—29 November 1975: The name 'Micro-soft' coined by Bill Gates (Microsoft' became a Trademark the following year)
  • 27 December 1975—27 December 1975: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
185 1976 
  • 1976—1976: National Theatre opens in London
  • 1976—1976: 'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland
  • 1976—1976: Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
  • 1976—1976: James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
  • 21 January 1976—21 January 1976: Concorde enters supersonic passenger service
  • 1 April 1976—1 April 1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
  • 6 August 1976—6 August 1976: Drought Act 1976 comes into force ? the long, hot summer
186 1977 
  • 2 March 1977—2 March 1977: 'Red Rum' wins a third Grand National
  • 25 May 1977—25 May 1977: George Lucas' film Star Wars' released
  • 5 June 1977—5 June 1977: Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale
  • 7 June 1977—7 June 1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London
  • 22 November 1977—22 November 1977: Regular supersonic Concorde service between London and NY inaugurated
187 1978 
  • 8 April 1978—8 April 1978: Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts
  • 1 May 1978—1 May 1978: First May Day holiday in Britain
  • 25 July 1978—25 July 1978: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham
  • 30 November 1978—30 November 1978: Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
188 1979 
  • 1 March 1979—1 March 1979: 32.5% of Scots vote in favor of devolution (40% needed) - Welsh vote overwhelmingly against
  • 30 March 1979—30 March 1979: Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster
  • 31 March 1979—31 March 1979: Withdrawal of the Royal Navy from Malta
  • 4 May 1979—4 May 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister
  • 1 July 1979—1 July 1979: Sony introduces the Walkman
  • 27 August 1979—27 August 1979: Lord Mountbatten and 3 others killed in bomb blast off coast of Sligo, Ireland
  • 18 September 1979—18 September 1979: ILEA votes to abolish corporal punishment in its schools
189 1980 
  • 5 May 1980—5 May 1980: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages
  • 8 December 1980—8 December 1980: John Lennon assassinated in New York
190 1981 
  • 25 January 1981—25 January 1981: Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four' in Britain
  • 29 March 1981—29 March 1981: First London marathon run
  • 11 April 1981—11 April 1981: Brixton riots in South London - 30 other British cities also experience riots
  • 25 April 1981—25 April 1981: Worst April blizzards this century in Britain
  • 27 April 1981—27 April 1981: First use of computer mouse (by Xerox PARC system)
  • 29 July 1981—29 July 1981: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (divorced 28 Aug 1996)
  • 12 August 1981—12 August 1981: IBM launches the first PC
  • 12 August 1981—12 August 1981: IBM launches its PC ? starts the general use of personal computers
191 1982 
  • 26 January 1982—26 January 1982: Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population)
  • 5 February 1982—5 February 1982: Laker Airways collapses
  • 19 February 1982—19 February 1982: DeLorean Car factory in Belfast goes into receivership
  • 18 March 1982—18 March 1982: Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia
  • 2 April 1982—2 April 1982: Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands
  • 5 April 1982—5 April 1982: Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands
  • 2 May 1982—2 May 1982: British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine cruiser General Belgrano
  • 28 May 1982—28 May 1982: First land battle in Falklands (Goose Green)
  • 14 June 1982—14 June 1982: Ceasefire in Falklands
  • 21 June 1982—21 June 1982: Prince William is born
  • 20 July 1982—20 July 1982: IRA bombings in London (Hyde Park and Regents Park)
  • 19 September 1982—19 September 1982: Smiley emoticon :-) said to have been used for the first time
  • 11 October 1982—11 October 1982: Mary Rose' raised in the Solent (sank in 1545)
  • 31 October 1982—31 October 1982: Thames Barrier raised for first time (some say first public demonstration Nov 7)
  • 2 November 1982—2 November 1982: Channel 4 TV station launched - first programme 'Countdown'
  • 4 November 1982—4 November 1982: Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads
  • 12 December 1982—12 December 1982: Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov 1983)
192 1983 
  • 1983—1983: First female Lord Mayor of London elected (Dame Mary Donaldson)
  • 17 January 1983—17 January 1983: Start of breakfast TV in Britain
  • 31 January 1983—31 January 1983: Seat belt law comes into force
  • 21 April 1983—21 April 1983: ?1 coin into circulation in Britain
  • 7 October 1983—7 October 1983: Plans to abolish GLC announced
  • 26 November 1983—26 November 1983: Brinks Mat robbery: 6,800 gold bars worth nearly ?26 million are stolen from a vault at Heathrow Airport
193 1984 
  • 6 March 1984—6 March 1984: Miners strike begins
  • 17 April 1984—17 April 1984: Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher killed by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy in London
  • 22 June 1984—22 June 1984: Inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic
  • 9 July 1984—9 July 1984: York Minster struck by lightning - the resulting fire damaged much of the building but the Rose Window' not affected
  • 12 October 1984—12 October 1984: IRA bomb explodes at Tory conference hotel in Brighton - 4 killed
  • 24 October 1984—24 October 1984: Miners' strike ? High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
  • 3 December 1984—3 December 1984: British Telecom privatised - shares make massive gains on first day's trading
194 1985 
  • 3 March 1985—3 March 1985: Miners agree to call off strike
  • 11 March 1985—11 March 1985: Al Fayed buys Harrods
  • 13 July 1985—13 July 1985: Live Aid' pop concert raises over ?50M for famine relief
  • 1 September 1985—1 September 1985: Wreck of Titanic' found (sank 1912)
195 1986 
  • 31 March 1986—31 March 1986: GLC and 6 metropolitan councils abolished
  • 26 April 1986—26 April 1986: Chernobyl nuclear accident - radiation reached Britain on 2 Ma
  • 26 May 1986—26 May 1986: The European Community adopts the European flag
  • 23 July 1986—23 July 1986: Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
  • 27 October 1986—27 October 1986: 'Big Bang' (deregulation) of the London Stock Market
  • 29 October 1986—29 October 1986: M25 motorway ring around London completed
196 1987 
  • 1987—1987: World population crossed the 5 billion mark
  • 2 February 1987—2 February 1987: Terry Waite kidnapped in Beirut (released 17 Nov 1991)
  • 6 March 1987—6 March 1987: Car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise' capsizes off Zeebrugge - 188 die
  • 1 July 1987—1 July 1987: Excavation begins on the Channel Tunnel
  • 19 August 1987—19 August 1987: Hungerford Massacre - Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a rifle
  • 16 October 1987—16 October 1987: The 'Hurricane' sweeps southern England
  • 19 October 1987—19 October 1987: 'Black Monday' in the City of London - Stock Market crash
  • 8 November 1987—8 November 1987: Enniskillen bombing at a Remembrance Day ceremony
  • 18 November 1987—18 November 1987: King's Cross fire in London - 31 people die
197 1988 
  • 5 February 1988—5 February 1988: First 'Red Nose Day' in UK, raising money for charity
  • 6 July 1988—6 July 1988: Piper Alpha disaster - North Sea oil platform destroyed by explosion and fire killing 167 men
  • 15 November 1988—15 November 1988: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act - reformulated the statutory basis of copyright law (including performing rights) in the UK
  • 12 December 1988—12 December 1988: Clapham Junction rail crash kills 35 and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains
  • 21 December 1988—21 December 1988: Lockerbie disaster - Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Scotland
198 1989 
  • 1989—1989: Poll Tax implemented in Scotland
  • 14 February 1989—14 February 1989: The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
  • 2 March 1989—2 March 1989: EU decision to ban production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century
  • 9 November 1989—9 November 1989: Berlin Wall torn down
  • 21 November 1989—21 November 1989: Proceedings of House of Commons first televised live
199 1990 
  • 11 February 1990—11 February 1990: Nelson Mandela released in South Africa
  • 31 March 1990—31 March 1990: Riots in London against Poll Tax which had been implemented in England & Wales
  • 25 April 1990—25 April 1990: Hubble space telescope launched
  • 22 November 1990—22 November 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns as Conservative party leader (and Prime Minister)
  • 1 December 1990—1 December 1990: Channel Tunnel excavation teams meet in the middle
200 1991 
  • 1991—1991: Poll Tax replaced (by Council Tax)
  • 1991—1991: The 'Internet' comes into existence
  • 18 May 1991—18 May 1991: Helen Sharman is first British Astronaut in Space
  • August 1991—August 1991: Collapse of the Soviet Union
  • 6 September 1991—6 September 1991: Leningrad renamed St Petersburg
  • 5 November 1991—5 November 1991: Robert Maxwell drowns at sea
201 1992 
  • 7 February 1992—7 February 1992: European Union formed by The Maastricht Treaty
  • 22 April 1992—22 April 1992: Betty Boothroyd elected as first female Speaker of the House of Commons
  • 15 August 1992—15 August 1992: Football Premier League kicks off in England
  • 16 September 1992—16 September 1992: 'Black Wednesday' as Pound leaves the ERM
  • 20 November 1992—20 November 1992: Fire breaks out in Windsor Castle causing over ?50 million worth of damage
  • 24 November 1992—24 November 1992: The Queen describes this year as an 'Annus Horribilis'
202 1993 
  • 1993—1993: Betty Boothroyd first woman Speaker of the House of Commons (to 2000)
  • 1993—1993: Elizabeth II becomes first British Monarch to pay Income Tax
  • July 1993—July 1993: Ratification of Maastricht Treaty, established the European Union (EU)
203 1994 
  • 1994—1994: 15 million people now connected to the Internet
  • 12 March 1994—12 March 1994: Church of England ordains its first female priests
  • 6 May 1994—6 May 1994: Channel Tunnel open to traffic
  • 19 November 1994—19 November 1994: National Lottery starts
204 1995 
  • 26 February 1995—26 February 1995: Nick Leeson brings down Barings Bank
  • 15 July 1995—15 July 1995: First item sold on Amazon.com
  • 16 November 1995—16 November 1995: The Queen Mother has a hip replacement operation at 95 years old
  • 22 November 1995—22 November 1995: Toy Story' released - first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery
205 1996 
  • 9 February 1996—9 February 1996: IRA bomb explodes in London Docklands - ends 17 month ceasefire
  • 13 March 1996—13 March 1996: Dunblane massacre
  • 15 June 1996—15 June 1996: IRA bomb explodes in Manchester
  • 5 July 1996—5 July 1996: Scientists in Scotland clone a sheep (Dolly)
  • 28 August 1996—28 August 1996: Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales are divorced
206 1997 
  • 30 March 1997—30 March 1997: Channel 5 TV begins in UK (launched by the Spice Girls)
  • 1 May 1997—1 May 1997: 'New' Labour landslide victory in Britain (Tony Blair replaces John Major as Prime Minister)
  • 6 May 1997—6 May 1997: Announcement that Bank of England to be made independent of Government control
  • 11 May 1997—11 May 1997: First time a computer beats a master at chess (IBM's Deep Blue v Garry Kasparov)
  • 1 July 1997—1 July 1997: Hong Kong returned to China
  • 19 July 1997—19 July 1997: IRA declares a ceasefire
  • 31 August 1997—31 August 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales killed in car crash in Paris
  • 25 September 1997—25 September 1997: Land speed record breaks sound barrier for first time
  

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