1918 in the United Kingdom
UK-related events during the year of 1918
Events from the year 1918 in the United Kingdom First World War after four years, which Britain and its allies won (beginning the Interwar period ), and a major advance in women's suffrage .
Incumbents
Events
2nd Lt Wilfred Owen , killed a week before the Armistice 1 April – the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service are merged to form the Royal Air Force ; the Royal Air Force ; the Women's Royal Air Force is also founded to provide mechanics .[ 3]
23 April
9 May – Maurice Debate in the House of Commons.
June – standard clothing introduced.
3 June – GPO raises postage rates: the ordinary letter rate is now 1½d., bringing an end to the Uniform Penny Post which has existed since 1840; and the rate for postcards doubles from ½d . to 1d .[ 4]
1 July – explosion of 8 tons of TNT at the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell (Nottinghamshire) kills 134; only 32 bodies can be positively identified.[ 5]
15 July – ration books introduced for butter, margarine, lard, meat and sugar.[ 1]
17 July – RMS Carpathia is torpedoed and sunk off the east coast of Ireland by Imperial German Navy U-boat SM U-55 ; 218 of the 223 on board are rescued.[ 6]
1 August – British anti-Bolshevik forces occupy Archangel, Russia . On 10 August their commander is told to help White Russians .
8 August – Education Act (drafted by H. A. L. Fisher ) raises the school leaving age in England and Wales to fourteen (with children obliged to attend school full-time) and remits all fees in elementary schools.[ 1] [ 7]
30 August – strike of 20,000 London policemen with demands of increased pay and union recognition.
11 September – Gainsborough wins the English Triple Crown by finishing first in the Derby , 2,000 Guineas and (substitute) St Leger .[ 8]
16 September – HMS Glatton , never having gone into action, is scuttled in Dover Harbour to prevent an accidental fire causing a serious explosion; 79 are killed.[ 9]
29 September – first performance of Gustav Holst 's orchestral suite The Planets Queen's Hall in London, conducted by Adrian Boult .
6 October – troopship HMS Otranto is wrecked after a collision off Islay with 351 United States troops and 80 crew lost.[ 10]
26 October – Cecil Chubb donates Stonehenge to the nation.
27 October–2 November – 2,200 deaths in London over this period due to "Spanish flu ".[ 1] Barnsley is the town with the highest mortality rate from the pandemic.
3 November – armistice with Austria-Hungary signed in Padua .[ 1]
5 November – former Cunarder HMS Campania sinks in an accident in the Firth of Forth with no loss of life.
9 November – battleship HMS Britannia is sunk by a German submarine off Trafalgar with the loss of around fifty lives, the last major naval engagement of World War I.
11 November – World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in the "Compiègne Wagon " in France with Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss as British representative.[ 3] George Edwin Ellison becomes the last British soldier to be killed in the War, near Mons in Belgium.
14 November – Labour Party leaves the wartime coalition government .[ 1]
15 November – first released British prisoners of war reach Calais .
20 November – U-boats start to rendezvous off Harwich to begin the surrender of the High Seas Fleet to the Royal Navy; in the following week the German warships are escorted to internment in Scapa Flow .[ 11]
21 November – the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 receives Royal Assent , giving women over 21 the right to stand as a Member of Parliament .[ 3]
23 November – British military government of Palestine begins.[ 12]
5 December – light cruiser HMS Cassandra sunk by mine in the Gulf of Finland while assisting Estonia against the Bolsheviks , with eleven crew lost.[ 13]
14 December – general election polling held. It is the first national election in the United Kingdom at which women are entitled to vote or stand, and the male franchise is extended. This is known as the "Coupon election" from the letter of endorsement given to candidates of the official (and victorious) Coalition by Bonar Law and Lloyd George .[ 3]
24 December – first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge , held.[ 14]
28 December – Countess Constance Markievicz , while detained in Holloway Prison , becomes the first woman MP elected to (but not to take her seat in) the House of Commons of the United Kingdom .[ 15] Sinn Féin , her party, has won 73 out of 105 Irish seats in the British Parliament but, in accordance with their manifesto , its members refuse to take their seats in the Palace of Westminster and instead form the First Dáil in Ireland in 1919.
29 December – the Sunday Express [ 3]
Undated
Publications
Births
1 January
2 January – Basil Hall , civil servant (died 2011)
15 January
16 January – Robin Dunn , Army officer and judge (died 2014)
19 January – Terence Miller , academic and palaeontologist (died 2015)
24 February – Michael Hanley , intelligence officer (died 2001)
26 January – Archie Scott , Scottish cricketer (died 2019)
28 January
Harry Corbett , English puppeteer, actor and screenwriter (died 1989)Trevor Skeet , lawyer and politician (born in New Zealand; died 2004)
1 February – Muriel Spark , Scottish author (died 2006 in Italy)[ 16]
2 February – Stuart Blanch , Anglican prelate and Archbishop of York (died 1994)
4 February – Clive Bossom , politician (died 2017)
8 February – Max Rayne , property developer (died 2003)
9 February – Morris Barry , television producer (died 2000)
10 February – Idwal Pugh , Welsh cival servant (died 2010)
11 February – Maurice Mounsdon , RAF pilot (died 2019)
18 February – Lilian Bader , aircraftwoman and teacher (died 2015)
19 February – Nigel Forbes, 22nd Lord Forbes , nobleman, soldier, businessman and politician (died 2013)
25 February – Frederic Mullally , journalist and novelist (died 2014)
28 February – Alfred Burke , actor (died 2011)
1 March
2 March
7 March – Joan Stafford-King-Harman , socialite and intelligence officer (died 2018)
13 March
15 March
18 March – Terry Spencer , World War II RAF fighter pilot and war photographer (died 2009)
20 March – Donald Featherstone , author and wargamer (died 2013)
31 March – Sheila Sherlock , physician (died 2001)
2 April – Geoffrey Dhenin , Welsh air marshal and physician (died 2011)
6 April – Hugh Verity , fighter pilot (died 2001)
9 April – Frank Brenchley , diplomat (died 2011)
10 April – Betty Tebbs , campaigner for women's rights and peace (died 2017)
11 April – Richard Wainwright , politician (died 2003)
13 April – A. L. Barker , writer (died 2002)
16 April
Syd Cain , film production designer (died 2011)Dick Gibson , racing driver (died 2010)Spike Milligan , comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright (born in the British Raj; died 2002)
18 April
23 April – James Kirkup , poet, translator and travel writer (died 2009)
29 April – Fraser Noble , Scottish academic (died 2003)
1 May – James Copeland , actor (died 2002)
2 May – John Barraclough , air marshal (died 2008)
3 May – Ted Bates , footballer and manager (died 2003)
5 May
9 May
10 May – John Martin , Royal Navy officer (died 2011)
13 May – Frank Anscombe , statistician (died 2001)
15 May
16 May – Wilf Mannion , footballer (died 2000)
17 May – Anthony Bishop , prelate (died 1988)
20 May
21 May – Ralph Russell , scholar (died 2008)
23 May – Denis Compton , footballer and cricketer (died 1997)
24 May – Jack Edwards , World War II soldier (died 2006)
26 May – Thomas Johnstone McWiggan , aviation engineer (died 2016)
29 May – David Rees , mathematician (died 2013)
31 May – Sadie Corré , actress and tap dancer (died 2009)
1 June – Katherine Grant, 12th Countess of Dysart , Scottish noblewoman (died 2011)
6 June
11 June – Lady Edith Foxwell , eccentric (died 1996)
12 June – Harold Walker , cricketer (died 2000)
14 June – Edna Healey , writer, lecturer and filmmaker (died 2010)
16 June – Geoffrey Beck , cricketer (died 2019)
17 June – Derek Barber, Baron Barber of Tewkesbury , life peer and politician (died 2017)
20 June – Archie Boyd , Royal Air Force officer (died 2014)
22 June – Cicely Saunders , nurse, physician and writer (died 2005)
23 June – Paul Ashbee , archaeologist (died 2009)
25 June
27 June – Douglas John Foskett , librarian (died 2004)
28 June – William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw , nobleman and politician (died 1999)
4 July
5 July – Michael Hamilton , politician (died 2000)
8 July
9 July – John Heath-Stubbs , poet and translator (died 2006)
10 July – James Aldridge , Australian-born writer and journalist (died 2015)
11 July – Venetia Burney , teacher who named the planet Pluto (died 2009)
12 July – Mary Glen-Haig , Olympic fencer (died 2014)
13 July – Larry Taylor , actor (died 2003)
14 July – Geoffrey Hebden , cricketer (died 2000)
15 July
** Arthur Dimmock , author and historian (died 2007)
16 July
17 July
20 July – Eric Longworth , actor (died 2008)
21 July
25 July – Alexander McKee , journalist, military historian and diver, discoverer of the Mary Rose
27 July – Roy Romain , Olympic swimmer (died 2010)
28 July – Rowland Baring, 3rd Earl of Cromer , banker and diplomat (died 1991)
30 July – Philip Crosland , journalist (died 2012)
1 August – Richard Pearson , actor (died 2011)
2 August – Diana King , actress (died 1986)
4 August – Brian Crozier , author and journalist (died 2012)
8 August
10 August
11 August – Thomas A. Bird , soldier and architect (died 2017)
13 August – Frederick Sanger , biochemist, double Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
15 August – Derrick Bailey , cricketer (died 2009)
17 August – Michael John Wise , academic and geographer (died 2015)
19 August
20 August – Hanna Segal , Polish-born psychoanalyst (died 2011)
23 August – Nancy Thomas , television producer (died 2015)
26 August – Geoffrey John Kirkby , Royal Navy officer (died 1998)
27 August – Norman Mitchell , actor (died 2001)
29 August
30 August – Harold Atcherley , businessman and arts administrator (died 2017)
31 August – Bernarr Notley , cricketer (died 2019)
1 September – Phyllis Wallbank , educationalist (died 2020)
2 September – Frances Campbell-Preston , courtier (died 2022)
8 September – Derek Barton , organic chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998)
9 September – John Arundel Barnes , social anthropologist (died 2010)
11 September – Brian Campbell Vickery , information scientist (died 2009)
16 September
17 September
20 September – Alec Woodall , politician (died 2011)
22 September – Ken Southworth , animator (died 2007)
24 September – Richard Hoggart , academic and author (died 2014)
26 September
27 September
28 September – Ida Schuster , Scottish actress (died 2020)
30 September
7 October – Jack Rowley , footballer (died 1998)
10 October – Jack Bridger Chalker , artist and teacher (died 2014)
13 October – Phyllis Deane , economic historian (died 2012)
16 October
22 October – Jimmy Hanley , actor (died 1970)
24 October
25 October
5 November – Alan Tilvern , actor and voice artist (died 2003)
10 November – Madron Seligman , politician (died 2002)
11 November – Margaret Tait , Scottish actress (died 1999)
12 November – Bunny Lewis , record producer and manager (died 2001)
18 November – Tasker Watkins , major-general, jurist and businessman (died 2007)
22 November – Philippa Scott , conservationist (died 2010)
26 November – Harry Hinsley , historian and cryptanalyst (died 1998)
27 November – Peter Tuddenham , voice actor (died 2007)
1 December – Pete Tunstall , RAF squadron leader (died 2013)
2 December – Frederic Bennett , lawyer, journalist and politician (died 2002)
3 December – David Severn , writer (died 2010)
8 December – Berkeley Smith , broadcaster (died 2003)
10 December – Fergus Anckorn , magician (died 2018)
18 December – Joyce Reynolds , classicist (died 2022)
19 December
21 December
25 December
26 December – Lady Elizabeth Clyde , socialite (died 2013)
30 December – David Muirhead , diplomat (died 1999)
31 December – Fred Secombe , priest and writer (died 2016)
Deaths
15 January – Mark Sheridan , music-hall performer (suicide) (born 1864)
22 January – Sir John Wolfe Barry , architect and civil engineer, builder of Tower Bridge (born 1836)
5 February – Leonard Monteagle Barlow , fighter pilot (accident) (born 1898)
14 February – Sir Cecil Spring Rice , diplomat (born 1859)
23 February – Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey , politician and colonial administrator (born 1836)
24 February – Sir Eric Barrington , civil servant (born 1847)
23 March – T. P. Cameron Wilson , poet and novelist (born 1888)
25 March – Walter Tull , footballer and first Black infantry officer to serve in the British Army (killed in action) (born 1888)
1 April – Isaac Rosenberg , painter and poet (killed in action) (born 1890)
9 July – James McCudden , fighter pilot (air crash) (born 1895)
26 July
29 July – Charles Gordon Bell , pilot (born 1889)
31 July – George McElroy , fighter pilot (killed in action) (born 1893)
12 September – Sir George Reid , Scottish-born Member of Parliament (UK), previously Prime Minister of Australia (born 1845)
1 October – Evelyn Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth , artistocrat and army officer (born 1847)
5 October – Robbie Ross , writer (born 1869)
7 October – Sir Hubert Parry , composer (born 1848)[ 17]
24 October – Daniel Burley Woolfall , football administrator, 2nd President of FIFA (born 1852)
4 November – Wilfred Owen , poet (killed in action) (born 1893)
5 or 20 November – Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers , occultist (born 1854)
9 November – Sir Peter Lumsden , Scottish Indian Army general (born 1829)
15 November – Sir Robert Anderson , police official (born 1841)
24 November – Annie Hall Cudlip , novelist, journalist and editor (born 1838)
29 November – Thomas Allinson , physician and dietetic reformer (born 1858)
27 December – Birt Acres , American-born pioneer of cinematography (born 1854)
See also
References
^ a b c d e f g Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History . London: Century Ltd. pp. 355–356. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2 ^ " . UK Defence Today . Ministry of Defence . 30 January 2002. Archived from the original on 2 February 2002. Retrieved 10 February 2010 .^ a b c d e f Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0 ^ Blake, Richard. The Book of Postal Dates, 1635–1985 . Caterham: Marden. p. 24. ^ Brown, Jonathan (3 July 2014). "A History of the First World War in 100 Moments: When corpses fell from the Nottinghamshire sky" The Independent Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2014 . ^ "Carpathia Sunk; 5 of Crew Killed" (PDF) . The New York Times ^ Berry, George (1970). Discovering Schools . Tring: Shire Publications. ISBN 0-85263-091-3 ^ "A New Record". Sheffield Evening Telegraph . 11 September 1918. p. 3. ^ Buxton, Ian (2008). Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 (2nd ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-045-0 ^ Scott, R. Neil (2012). Many Were Held by the Sea: The Tragic Sinking of HMS Otranto . Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-1342-5 ^ Massie, Robert K. (2004). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea ISBN 0-345-40878-0 ^ Biger, Gideon (2004). The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840–1947 ISBN 978-0-7146-5654-0 ^ Wainwright, Martin (23 August 2010). "British warships sunk 90 years ago found off Estonian coast" . The Guardian . Retrieved 24 August 2010 .^ Nine lessons and carols: History of the service King's College Chapel , archived from the original on 15 March 2008, retrieved 9 March 2008 ^ Ward, Margaret (1983). Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish nationalism . London: Pluto Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-86104-700-1 ^ Turner, Jenny (17 April 2006). "Dame Muriel Spark" . The Guardian . Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023 . ^ Dibble, Jeremy, "Parry, Sir (Charles) Hubert Hastings, baronet (1848–1918)" , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 18 April 2013 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
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