1909 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1909 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch - Edward VII
- Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith (Liberal)
Events
- 1 January - National old age pension scheme comes into force.[1]
- 9 January - Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole forced to turn back 112 miles from the pole.[2]
- 23 January - The Tottenham Outrage, an armed robbery and the murder of a ten-year-old boy and a police constable in Tottenham, North London, carried out by two Latvian anarchists.
- 16 February - West Stanley Pit Disaster, a coal mining disaster in Stanley, County Durham, in which more than 160 miners die in an explosion.[3][4]
- 26 February - First film shown in colour using Kinemacolor at the Palace Theatre, London.[2]
- March - Construction of Rosyth Dockyard for the Royal Navy on the east coast of Scotland begins.
- 10 March - Anglo-Siamese Treaty signed in Bangkok.
- 15 March - Selfridges department store opens in London.[2]
- 16 March - Port of London Authority established.[2]
- 11 April - Coming into effect of Children Act 1908, establishing separate juvenile courts for 10–16-year-olds; abolishing the use of custody for under-14s and of hanging for under-16s; introducing the registration of foster parents; and restricting access by under-16s to cigarettes and alcohol.
- 24 April - The FA Cup final is won by Manchester United for the first time, as they beat Bristol City 1-0 at Crystal Palace.[5]
- 29 April - People's Budget introduced in the British Parliament by David Lloyd George.[6]
- 2 May - John Moore-Brabazon becomes the first resident British citizen to make a recognised powered heavier-than-air flight in the UK, flying from The Aero Club's ground at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in his Voisin biplane Bird of Passage.[7]
- 13 May - Lonmin is incorporated in the UK as the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company Limited.[8]
- 26 May - The King's horse, Minoru, wins the Epsom Derby.[9]
- 15 June - Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.
- 26 June
- Edward VII and Queen Alexandra open the Victoria and Albert Museum, designed by Aston Webb.[1]
- The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.
- 25 July - Louis Blériot flies a Blériot XI monoplane across the English Channel from Calais to Dover, winning a prize of £1000 from the Daily Mail.[10]
- 23 August - The Secret Service Bureau counter-espionage unit (later known as MI5) is secretly established.[1]
- 3 September - The first Boy Scout rally held at The Crystal Palace in London.[2]
- 17 September - Militant suffragette Mabel Capper is among the first to suffer force-feeding while on hunger strike, at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham.[11]
- October - The Trade Boards Act, a form of minimum wage legislation, is passed.
- 2 October - The first rugby football match played in Twickenham.
- 15–23 October - 'Aviation week' of demonstration flying held at Doncaster.[12]
- 5 November - The first Woolworth's store in Britain opens in Liverpool.[2]
- 30 November - House of Lords rejects the Budget, forcing a general election.[1]
- 3 December - The Ellan Vannin sinks in Liverpool Bay.
- 4 December - The University of Bristol is founded and receives its Royal Charter.
- 7 December - South Africa granted dominion status.[1]
Undated
- Labour Exchanges Act sets up labour exchanges as a source of information on employment.
- Thomas Beecham establishes the Beecham Symphony Orchestra.[13]
- The mass-circulation Daily Mail (London) hysterically informs its readers in a series of reports that Germany is deliberately preparing to destroy the British Empire.[citation needed]
- First British bird ringing programme initiated by Arthur Landsborough Thomson at Aberdeen.[14]
Publications
- Florence Barclay's novel The Rosary.[15]
- Angela Brazil's schoolgirl story The Nicest Girl in the School.
- Daniel Jones' introductory The Pronunciation of English.
- H. G. Wells' novels Ann Veronica and Tono-Bungay.
Births
- 24 January - Martin Lings, Islamic scholar (died 2005)
- 1 March - David Niven, actor (died 1983)
- 26 March - Martin Hodgson, rugby league footballer (died 1991)
- 30 April - F. E. McWilliam, sculptor (died 1992)
- 11 May - Herbert Murrill, organist and composer (died 1952)
- 15 May - James Mason, actor (died 1984)
- 18 May - Fred Perry, tennis player (died 1995)
- 19 May - Nicholas Winton, humanitarian (died 2015)
- 26 May - Matt Busby, football manager (Manchester United) (died 1994)
- 7 June - Jessica Tandy, actress (died 1994)
- 28 June - Eric Ambler, novelist and playwright (died 1998)
- 28 July - Malcolm Lowry, novelist (died 1957)
- 30 July - C. Northcote Parkinson, historian and author (died 1993)
- 25 August - Michael Rennie, actor (died 1971)
- 14 September - Peter Scott, ornithologist and painter (died 1989)
- 6 October - Robert Potter, architect (died 2010)
- 28 October - Francis Bacon, painter (died 1992)
- 19 November - Griffith Jones, actor (died 2007)
- 23 November - Nigel Tranter, historian and writer (died 2000)
- 23 December - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 2000)
Deaths
- 14 January - Arthur William a Beckett, journalist (born 1844)
- 10 April - Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet (born 1837)
- 31 May - Thomas Price, Welsh-born Prime Minister of South Australia (born 1852)
- 22 June - Edward John Gregory, painter (born 1850)
- 1 August - Hugh Rowlands, first Welshman to win a VC (born 1828)
- 10 November - George Essex Evans, Welsh-Australian poet (born 1863)
- 11 December - Ludwig Mond, industrialist (born 1839)
- 13 December - Sir Alfred Lewis Jones, shipping magnate (born 1845)
References
- ^ a b c d e Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 342–343. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ a b c d e f Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ "Ceremony to remember dead miners". BBC News. 4 March 2005. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
- ^ "Memorial marks pit deaths tragedy". BBC News. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
- ^ "F A Cup Final 1909". F A Cup Final Programmes. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Raymond, E. T. (1922). Mr. Lloyd George: a biography. New York: George H. Doran Co. p. 118.
- ^ Fryer, Jonathan (September 2008). "Where British aviation began". The Journal of Kent History. 67: 18–19.
- ^ Page, Melvin E., ed. (2003). Colonialism: an International Social, Cultural and Political Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 350–351. ISBN 1-57607-335-1.
- ^ "Minoru Wins Derby; Sir Martin Falls". The New York Times. 27 May 1909. p. 1.
- ^ Blériot, Louis (25 July 1909). "Bleriot Tells of his Flight" (PDF). The New York Times (published 26 July 1909). ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- ^ WSPU Hunger Strike Medal with Fed by Force bar 17.9.09.
- ^ Blake, Richard. The Book of Postal Dates, 1635-1985. Caterham: Marden. p. 20.
- ^ Jefferson, Alan (2004). "Beecham, Sir Thomas, second baronet (1879–1961)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3 February 2011. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ^ Williamson, Kenneth (1977). "Sir Arthur Landsborough Thomson" (PDF). Bird Study. 24 (3): 202–3. doi:10.1080/00063657709476557.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)
- ^ Leavis, Q.D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (rev. ed.). London: Chatto & Windus.
