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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1901 | - 1901—1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
- 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 22 Jan 1901—22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king
- 2 Feb 1901—2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral - interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore
Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
- Jun 1901—Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
- 2 Oct 1901—2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
- 12 Dec 1901—12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
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| 2 | 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 Aug 1902—9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
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| 3 | 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 Dec 1903—14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
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| 4 | 1904 | - 1904—1904: Leeds University established
- 8 Apr 1904—8 Apr 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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| 5 | 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 Apr 1905—11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
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| 6 | 1906 | - 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
- 10 Feb 1906—10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
- 15 Mar 1906—15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
- 26 May 1906—26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
- 20 Sep 1906—20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
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| 7 | 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
- Jul 1907—Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its
shape after being heated
- 1 Aug 1907—1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
- 9 Nov 1907—9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
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| 8 | 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 Jul 1908—1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
- 12 Aug 1908—12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
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| 9 | 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 Jan 1909—1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
- 16 Jan 1909—16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
- 15 Mar 1909—15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
- 25 Jul 1909—25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
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| 10 | 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
|
| 11 | 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 Apr 1911—2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 22 Jun 1911—22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
- 14 Dec 1911—14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
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| 12 | 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 Jan 1912—18 Jan 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 Apr 1912—14 Apr 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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| 13 | 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 Jun 1913—4 Jun 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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| 14 | 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 Jun 1914—28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
- 4 Aug 1914—4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
- 5 Aug 1914—5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph
links to the outside world
- 15 Aug 1914—15 Aug 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)
- Oct 1914—Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
- 27 Nov 1914—27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
- 16 Dec 1914—16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
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| 15 | 1915 | - 1915—1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
- 1915—1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
- 19 Jan 1915—19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
- Feb 1915—Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
- Apr 1915—Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
- 25 Apr 1915—25 Apr 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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| 16 | 1916 | - 1916—1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
- Feb 1916—Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
- 24 Apr 1916—24 Apr 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 Jun 1916—5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
- 3 Aug 1916—3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
- 15 Sep 1916—15 Sep 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 Dec 1916—7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
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| 17 | 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
- Feb 1917—Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
- 16 Apr 1917—16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
- 17 Apr 1917—17 Apr 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)
- Jul 1917—Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
- 7 Nov 1917—7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
- 6 Dec 1917—6 Dec 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 Dec 1917—9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
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| 18 | 1918 | - 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 1918—1918: War of Independence in Ireland
- 18 Jan 1918—18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
- 8 Mar 1918—8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
- Jul 1918—Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
- 1 Oct 1918—1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
- 11 Nov 1918—11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
- Dec 1918—Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein
member refused to take her seat
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| 19 | 1919 | - 1919—1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
- 1919—1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
- 15 Jun 1919—15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
- 28 Jun 1919—28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
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| 20 | 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)
- Feb 1920—Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association
at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
|
| 21 | 1921 | - 1921—1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
- 1921—1921: Insulin discovery announced
- 1921—1921: First birth control clinic
- 19 Jun 1921—19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 6 Dec 1921—6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free
State and Northern Ireland
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| 22 | 1922 | - 1922—1922: Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
- 1 Jun 1922—1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
- Oct 1922—Oct 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)
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| 23 | 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 Jan 1923—1 Jan 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 Feb 1923—16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
- 28 Apr 1923—28 Apr 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 Sep 1923—28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
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| 24 | 1924 | - 4 Jan 1924—4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
- 5 Feb 1924—5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were
first broadcast by the BBC
- 31 Mar 1924—31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British
airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)
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| 25 | 1925 | - 1925—1925: Britain returns to gold standard
- 18 Jul 1925—18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
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| 26 | 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 Apr 1926—21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
- 3 May 1926—3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
- 31 Oct 1926—31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
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| 27 | 1927 | - 1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
- 7 Jan 1927—7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
- 22 Jan 1927—22 Jan 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 Jul 1927—24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
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| 28 | 1928 | - 1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
- 26 Apr 1928—26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
- 15 Sep 1928—15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
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| 29 | 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
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| 30 | 1930 | - 1930—1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
- 1930—1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
- 30 Jan 1930—30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
- 31 Jan 1930—31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
- 6 Mar 1930—6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
- 5 Oct 1930—5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
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| 31 | 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 Apr 1931—14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued
- 26 Apr 1931—26 Apr 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 Oct 1931—21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off
gold standard
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| 32 | 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 Oct 1932—3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
- 3 Oct 1932—3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
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| 33 | 1933 | - 1933—1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
- 1933—1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
- 12 Nov 1933—12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
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1901 - 1933 (32 years)