1908 in the United Kingdom

1908 in the United Kingdom

Other years

1906 | 1907 | 1908 (1908) | 1909 | 1910

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport

1908 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland

Events from the year 1908 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Edward VII
• Prime Minister – Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Liberal) (until 3 April), H. H. Asquith (Liberal) (starting 5 April)
• Parliament – 28th

Events

• 1 January
  • Nimrod Expedition: Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the Nimrod for Antarctica.
  • Harry Bensley leaves for his would-be trip around the world pushing a pram and wearing an iron mask, beginning from Trafalgar Square in London.
• 22 January – Arthur Henderson becomes the second leader of the Labour Party following the resignation of Keir Hardie.
• 24 January – start of publication of Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys in London. The book will over time sell over 100 million copies and effectively begin the worldwide Boy Scout movement.
• March – The Children's Encyclopedia begins publication in London.
• 1 April – the Territorial Force of the British Army is established by merger of the civilian-organised Volunteer Force with the Yeomanry; and remaining units of the militia are transferred into the regular Special Reserve.
• 7 April – Campbell-Bannerman resigns as Prime Minister, on the grounds of health; replaced by Asquith.
• 8 April – David Lloyd George becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Winston Churchill enters the Cabinet for the first time, as President of the Board of Trade.
• 18 April – Manchester United secure the Football League First Division title The first major trophy of their history.
• 1 May - 31 October – Scottish National Exhibition is held in Edinburgh
• 11 May – foundation stone of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool is laid.
• 24 May (Empire Day) – formation of the 1st Arundel (Earl of Arundel's Own) Scout Group (traditionally accepted date although Scouting was probably active in Arundel prior to this).
• 26 May–October – Franco-British Exhibition held at what becomes known as White City, London.
• 21 June – first large suffragette rally, in London.
• July – Allied Artists' Association holds its first exhibition, at the Royal Albert Hall.
• 13–25 July – 1908 Summer Olympics held at the White City Stadium as part of the Franco-British Exhibition and of a festival of sport beginning on 14 May. The marathon (beginning at Windsor) is run on 24 July and the Winter Olympics are held here on 19–31 October. The Great Britain and Ireland team win 56 gold, 51 silver and 39 bronze medals.
• 31 July – Irish Universities Act receives Royal Assent in Parliament. This provides for establishment of the federal National University of Ireland based in Dublin and the Queen's University of Belfast.
• 10 September – the first Minas Geraes-class Dreadnought battleship for Brazil, Minas Geraes is launched at Armstrong Whitworth's yard on the River Tyne.
• October
  • Edith Morley is made Professor of English at University College, Reading, the first woman appointed to a chair at an English university-level institution.
  • First Ideal Home Exhibition held, at Olympia (London) sponsored by the Daily Mail newspaper.
• 16 October – American-born Samuel F. Cody makes the first powered fixed-wing aircraft flight in Britain, taking off at the School of Ballooning, Farnborough, Hampshire, in British Army Aeroplane No 1.
• November
  • Horace, Eustace and Oswald Short found Short Brothers, the first aircraft manufacturing company in England, in Battersea, London.
  • The North and South Wales Bank is absorbed into the London City and Midland Bank, bringing an end to banknote issue in Wales.
• 14 November – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is the first woman in England to be elected as a mayor (of Aldeburgh).
• 3 December – the first performance of Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1 is given by the Hallé in Manchester's Free Trade Hall.
• 10 December – the National Farmers' Union is founded.
• 21 December – royal assent given to the following Acts of Parliament:
  • Children Act – comes into force 1909, q.v.
  • Prevention of Crime Act – regularises national provision of Borstals.

Undated

• Walter Sickert paints the series of problem pictures The Camden Town Murder.
• John Hassall paints the first version of the Jolly Fisherman poster (slogan: Skegness is SO bracing).
• Punishment of Incest Act makes incest a civil crime for the first time.
• Bisto gravy powder is first marketed.
• Vimto is invented by John Noel Nichols in Manchester. Originally sold under the name Vimtonic, Nichols shortens it to Vimto in 1912.

Publications

• Robert Baden-Powell's book Scouting for Boys.
• The Children's Encyclopedia, first edition.
• G. K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday and his book Orthodoxy.
• W. H. Davies' autobiography The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp.
• E. M. Forster's novel A Room with a View.
• Kenneth Grahame's children's novel The Wind in the Willows.
• E. Nesbit's children's novel The House of Arden.
• H. De Vere Stacpoole's novel The Blue Lagoon.
• First issue of The Magnet, featuring a story of Greyfriars School by Frank Richards.

Births

• 7 January – Frederick Gibberd, architect (died 1984)
• 8 January – William Hartnell, actor (died 1975)
• 5 February – Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twin actresses (died 1969)
• 11 February – Vivian Fuchs, geologist and explorer (died 1999)
• 22 February – John Mills, actor (died 2005)
• 29 February – A. L. Lloyd, folk song collector (died 1982)
• 5 March – Rex Harrison, actor (died 1990)
• 12 March – Ida Crowe Pollock, writer (died 2013)
• 19 March – George Rodger, photojournalist (died 1995)
• 20 March – Michael Redgrave, actor (died 1985)
• 25 March
  • David Lean, film director (died 1991)
  • Bridget D'Oyly Carte, head of D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (died 1985)
• 27 March – Semprini, musician (died 1990)
• 11 April – Dan Maskell, tennis coach and commentator (died 1992)
• 14 May – Amy Jagger, gymnast (died 1993)
• 28 May – Ian Fleming, writer (died 1964)
• 30 May – Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, peer and Earl Marshal (died 1975)
• 1 June – Percy Edwards, animal impersonator (died 1996)
• 30 June – Winston Graham, writer (died 2003)
• 9 July – Ian Mikardo, politician (died 1993)
• 25 July – Bill Bowes, cricketer (died 1987)
• 4 August – Osbert Lancaster, cartoonist (died 1986)
• 21 August – M. M. Kaye, writer (died 2004)
• 23 August – Hannah Frank, artist and sculptor (died 2008)
• 31 August – Kenneth Gandar-Dower, sportsman, aviator, explorer and author (died 1944)
• 6 September
  • Louis Essen, physicist (died 1997)
  • Anthony Wagner, herald at the College of Arms (died 1995)
• 12 September – Reginald C. Fuller, Roman Catholic priest and writer (died 2011)
• 19 October – Sydney MacEwan, singer (died 1990)
• 2 November – Fred Bakewell, cricketer (died 1983)
• 20 November – Alistair Cooke, journalist (died 2004)
• 26 November – Charles Forte, businessman (died 2007)
• 18 December – Celia Johnson, actress (died 1982)
• 25 December – Quentin Crisp, writer and raconteur (died 1999)

Deaths

• 25 January – Ouida, writer (born 1839)
• 22 March – John William Crombie, Scottish woollen manufacturer and politician (born 1858)
• 20 April – Henry Chadwick, baseball writer and historian (born 1824)
• 22 April – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister (born 1836)
• 31 May – Sir John Evans, archaeologist (born 1823)
• 2 June – William Napier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (born 1828)
• 22 July – William Randal Cremer, politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1828)
• 16 October – Joseph Leycester Lyne (Father Ignatius of Jesus), Anglican Benedictine abbot (born 1837)
• 1 December – Howell Jones, Welsh rugby union player (born 1882)

See also

• List of British films before 1920