1917 in the United Kingdom
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 1917 in the United Kingdom: |
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Events from the year 1917 in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Monarch - George V of the United Kingdom
- Prime Minister - David Lloyd George, coalition
[edit] Events
- 19 January - Silvertown explosion: a blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.[1]
- 26 January - The sea defences at the village of Hallsands, Devon are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable.
- 2 February - bread rationing introduced.[2]
- 11 March - World War I: British forces led by Sir Stanley Maude captured Baghdad, the southern capital of the Ottoman Empire.
- 26 March - World War I: First Battle of Gaza - British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
- 28 March - The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps founded.[2]
- 17 July - King George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor.
- 2 August - Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning became the first pilot to land his aircraft on a ship[3] when he landed his Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He was killed five days later during another landing on the ship.
- 17 August - One of English literature's most important and most famous meetings takes place when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
- 5 October - Sir Arthur Lee donates the country house Chequers to the nation.[2]
- 2 November - The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
- 7 November - World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends — British forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
- 16 November - British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.
- 20 November - World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins[2] — British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
- 11 December - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire.
[edit] Undated
- J.R.R. Tolkien begins writing the original Book of Lost Tales (the first version of The Silmarillion); thus Middle-earth is first written in about this year.
- Charles Glover Barkla wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements."[4]
- Creation of the Cottingley Fairies photographs apparently depicting fairies; a hoax not admitted by the creators until 1981.
- Britain establishes the Imperial War Cabinet, a body composed of the chief British ministers and the prime ministers of the Dominions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) to set policy.
[edit] Publications
- P. G. Wodehouse's short story collection The Man with Two Left Feet.
- William Butler Yeats' poetry collection The Wild Swans at Coole.
[edit] Births
- 19 January - Graham Higman, mathematician
- 25 February - Anthony Burgess, author (died 1993)
- 2 March - John Gardner, composer
- 12 March - Googie Withers, actress
- 20 March - Vera Lynn, actress and singer
- 22 March - Paul Rogers, actor
- 24 March - John Kendrew, molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (died 1997)
- 10 June - Ruari McLean, typographer (died 2006)
- 1 July - Humphry Osmond, psychiatrist (died 2004)
- 10 July - Reg Smythe, cartoonist (died 1998)
- 30 August - Denis Healey, author and politician
- 3 September - Anthony Robert Klitz, artist (died 2000)
- 2 October - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 8 October - Rodney Robert Porter, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1985)
- 22 October - Joan Fontaine, British-born actress
- 22 November - Andrew Huxley, scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 16 December - Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author and inventor (died 2008)
- Mary Berry, canoness, choral conductor and musicologist
[edit] Deaths
- 2 January - Edward Burnett Tylor, anthropologist (born 1832)
- 9 April - Edward Thomas, poet (killed in action) (born 1878)
- 15 August - Thomas Crisp, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1876)
- 30 August - Alan Leo, astrologer (born 1860)
- 8 November - Colin Blythe, cricketer (born 1879)
- 8 December - Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, astronomer (born 1850)
[edit] References
- ^ Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert (1995). The London Encyclopaedia. Macmillan. pp. 288. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.
- ^ a b c d Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ HMS Furious 1917
- ^ Charles Glover Barkla The Nobel Prize in Physics 1917
