1911 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1911 in the United Kingdom. This is a Coronation and Census year.
Incumbents
- Monarch - George V
- Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith (Liberal)
Events
- 3 January - In London, in what becomes known as the Siege of Sidney Street, the Metropolitan Police and the Scots Guards engage in a shootout with a criminal gang of Latvian anarchists holed up in a building in the East End.
- March–April - Eleven thousand workers at the Singer Manufacturing Co. sewing machine factory on Clydebank in Scotland go on strike in solidarity with twelve female colleagues protesting against work process reorganisation. Four hundred alleged ringleaders are dismissed.[1][2]
- 2 April - The 1911 census is taken. One out of every seven employed persons is a domestic servant. Suffragette Emily Davison hides in a cupboard in the crypt of the Palace of Westminster so that she can legitimately be recorded as resident on census night at the House of Commons.[3]
- 4 April - Work begins on construction of Castle Drogo, Devon, to the design of Edwin Lutyens.
- May–September - Hottest British summer on record.[4]
- 12 May - Festival of Empire opens at The Crystal Palace, London, to celebrate the Coronation.
- 31 May - Launching of the ocean liner RMS Titanic in Belfast.[5] Her sister RMS Olympic sails for Liverpool the same day to take up transatlantic service.
- 14 June - Liverpool General Transport Strike begins.
- 22 June
- Coronation of George V and Queen Mary at Westminster Abbey, London.
- Completion of the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, is marked by starting the clocks in its towers at the same moment as the Coronation.[5]
- July–September - Severe heat wave and associated drought.[6][7]
- 13 July - The future Edward VIII is invested as Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Carnarvon Castle devised by David Lloyd George.
- 14 July - New buildings of the University College of North Wales, Bangor, opened.
- 22 July–5 August - First Daily Mail Circuit of Britain air race.
- 9 August - Raunds, Northamptonshire, records a temperature of 98 °F (36.7 °C), the highest UK temperature until 1990.
- 10 August - British MPs vote to receive salaries for the first time.[5]
- 13 August - The centre of Liverpool is rocked by violence when a meeting of striking transport workers is broken up by police and soldiers. A number of policemen and many strikers are seriously injured in what will become known as 'Bloody Sunday.'
- 15 August - two men are shot dead on Vauxhall Road Liverpool by mounted troops during continued unrest following Bloody Sunday.[8]
- 17–20 August - National railway workers' strike.
- 18 August - The Parliament Act removes the House of Lords' power regarding budgets and restricts their power over other bills to a two-year suspensive veto.
- 19 August - Llanelli riots: During demonstrations in support of the national railway strike, two men are shot dead by soldiers of the Worcestershire Regiment in Llanelli. Magistrates' homes are attacked and four more of the crowd are killed outright when explosive material stored on railway property ignites.[9]
- 22 August - Official Secrets Act 1911 comes into effect.[10]
- 9–26 September - World's first scheduled airmail post service is flown between Hendon, North London, and Windsor, Berkshire.[11][12]
- 20 September - The liner RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic, collides with Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off Southampton.
- 4 October - First electric escalators introduced, at Earl's Court tube station.[10]
- 6 October - The British Seafarers' Union is formed in Southampton.
- 8 November - Newcastle upon Tyne: the first rugby league football Test of the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain is played between Australasia and Great Britain.
- 21 November - Suffragettes storm Parliament in London. All are arrested and choose prison terms.
- 24 November - An explosion starting in the basement of Bibby's Oil cake mill in Liverpool leaves thirty-nine dead and one hundred and one injured.[13]
- 11 December - George V and Queen Mary are crowned as Emperor of India and Empress consort of India, respectively, at the Delhi Durbar in New Delhi.
Undated
- Camden Town Group of post-Impressionist artists established in London.
- English Folk Dance Society formed by Cecil Sharp.
- Completion of Westminster Central Hall as a Wesleyan Methodist church.
Publications
- Encyclopædia Britannica eleventh edition published under American management by Cambridge University Press.
- Concise Oxford English Dictionary first edition.
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel The Secret Garden.
- G. K. Chesterton's short story collection The Innocence of Father Brown.
- Joseph Conrad's novel Under Western Eyes.
- Woman's Weekly magazine was launched.
Births
- 22 January - Mary Hayley Bell, actress and dramatist, wife of Sir John Mills (died 2005)
- 29 January - Bryan Coleman, actor (died 2005)
- 19 February - Merle Oberon, actress (died 1979)
- 15 March - Ursula Vaughan Williams, author (died 2007)
- 27 March - Erich Heller, philosopher (died 1990)
- 3 April - Michael Woodruff, pioneering transplant surgeon (died 2001)
- 15 April - Leonard Redshaw, shipbuilder (died 1989)
- 23 April - Ronald Neame, film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director (died 2010) 25. April Paul Britain syncopated pianist
- 10 June - Terence Rattigan, playwright (died 1977)
- 15 June - Wilbert Awdry, children's writer (died 1997)
- 9 July - Mervyn Peake, writer and illustrator (died 1968)
- 14 July - Terry-Thomas, actor (died 1990)
- 17 July - Ted Anderson, footballer (died 1979)
- 27 August - Kay Walsh, actress (died 2005)
- 19 September - William Golding, novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1993)
- 3 October - Michael Hordern, actor (died 1995)
- 10 October - Clare Hollingworth, journalist
- 12 November - Chad Varah, priest and humanitarian (died 2007)
- 11 December - Val Guest, film director (died 2006)
- 27 December - Anna Russell, comedian and singer (died 2006)
Deaths
- 17 January - Sir Francis Galton, explorer and biologist (born 1822)
- 8 February - Frederick Campbell, 3rd Earl Cawdor, politician, (born 1847)
- 3 March - Jacob Thomas, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1833)
- 21 May - Williamina Fleming, astronomer (born 1857)
- 29 May - W. S. Gilbert, dramatist (born 1836)
- 12 July - Harry Day, Wales international rugby player (born 1863)
- 13 August - Thomas Thomas, boxer (born 1880)
- 18 August - Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford, politician (born 1828)
- 28 August - Jack Williams, Wales international rugby player (born 1882)
- 29 August - Hildegard Werner, musical conductor and a journalist (born 1834)
- 16 September - Edward Whymper, explorer (born 1840)
- 7 October - John Hughlings Jackson, neurologist (born 1835)
- 22 November - William George Aston, consular official (born 1841)
- 10 December - Joseph Dalton Hooker, botanist (born 1817)
- 11 December - Rowland Ellis, bishop (born 1841)
- 20 December - William McGregor, founder of the English Football League (born 1846)
References
- ^ "The Singer strike 1911". Glasgow Digital Library. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
- ^ "Singer Sewing Factory strike – 1911". Scotland’s History. BBC. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
- ^ "Astonishing 1911 census find – Emily Davison in Parliament's crypt". findmypast.co.uk Blog. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
- ^ Simons, Paul (2008). Since Records Began. London: Collins. pp. 74–5. ISBN 978-0-00-728463-4.
- ^ a b c Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ "1911 Temperature records". BBC. 19 July 2006. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
- ^ Nicholson, Julie (21 July 2006). "Long, hot summer: The Great British heatwave of 1911". The Independent. London. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- ^ Sam Davies and Ron Noon, 'The rank and file in the 1911 Liverpool General Transport Strike', Labour History Review, vol. 79. no. 1, (2014), pp. 74-79.
- ^ "Fatal Riots At Llanelly". The Times. No. 39669. 21 August 1911. p. 6.
- ^ a b Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 345–346. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Baldwin, N. C. (1960). Fifty Years of British Air Mails. Francis J. Field Ltd. p. 5.
- ^ Blake, Richard. The Book of Postal Dates, 1635-1985. Caterham: Marden. p. 24.
- ^ Report of His Majesty's Inspectors of Factories, (Cd.6223), June 1912.