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			 Date | 
			 Event(s) | 
		
	
| 1  | 1885  | - 1885—1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
 
- 1885—1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
 
- 1885—1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
 
- 1885—1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
 
- Mar 1885—Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
 
- 5 Sep 1885—5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
 
- 29 Sep 1885—29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
 
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| 2  | 1886  | - 20 Jan 1886—20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
 
- May 1886—May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
 
- 29 May 1886—29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
 
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| 3  | 1887  | - 1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
 
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| 4  | 1888  | - 1888—1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
 
- 1888—1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
 
- 1888—1888: County Councils set up in Britain
 
- 1888—1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
 
- 1888—1888: First box camera -  George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent
for his camera which uses roll film
 
- 20 Mar 1888—20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
 
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| 5  | 1889  | - 1889—1889: Celluloid film produced
 
- 1889—1889: Dock Strike -  docker's won their 'Docker's Tanner' 6 old pennies
 
- 31 Mar 1889—31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
 
- 14 May 1889—14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
 
- 3 Jun 1889—3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
 
- 28 Sep 1889—28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
 
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| 6  | 1890  | - 4 Mar 1890—4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens -  took six years to build
 
- 4 Nov 1890—4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens -  London's first deep-level tube railway
and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
 
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| 7  | 1891  | - 1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
 
- 18 Mar 1891—18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
 
- 4 May 1891—4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
 
- 24 Aug 1891—24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
 
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| 8  | 1892  | - 1892—1892: Electric oven invented
 
- 1892—1892: Shop Hours Act -  limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
 
- 6 Oct 1892—6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
 
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| 9  | 1893  | - 1893—1893: Henry Ford's first car
 
- 1893—1893: Zip fastener invented
 
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| 10  | 1894  | - 1894—1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
 
- 1 Jan 1894—1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
 
- 1 Mar 1894—1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
 
- 30 Jun 1894—30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
 
- 2 Aug 1894—2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
 
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| 11  | 1895  | - 1895—1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
 
- 12 Jan 1895—12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England
 
- 24 May 1895—24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
 
- 28 May 1895—28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
 
- 12 Jul 1895—12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
 
- 17 Oct 1895—17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences -  John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
 
- Nov 1895—Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
 
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| 12  | 1896  | - 5 Apr 1896—5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
 
- 2 Jun 1896—2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
 
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| 13  | 1897  | - 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
 
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| 14  | 1898  | - 1898—1898: First photograph using artificial light
 
- 1898—1898: Zeppelin builds airship
 
- 1898—1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
 
- 17 Mar 1898—17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
 
- 27 Jun 1898—27 Jun 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by
Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
 
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| 15  | 1899  | - 6 Mar 1899—6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
 
- 11 Oct 1899—11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War
 
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| 16  | 1900  | - 1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
 
- 1900—1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
 
- 1900—1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
 
- 9 Feb 1900—9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
 
- 27 Feb 1900—27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
 
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| 17  | 1901  | - 1901—1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
 
- 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
 
- 22 Jan 1901—22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies -  Edward VII king
 
- 2 Feb 1901—2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral -  interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore
Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
 
- Jun 1901—Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
 
- 2 Oct 1901—2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
 
- 12 Dec 1901—12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi -  Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
 
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| 18  | 1902  | - 1902—1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
 
- 1902—1902: Cremation Act -  cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments,
and with two death certificates issued
 
- 1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
 
- 24 May 1902—24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
 
- 31 May 1902—31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
 
- 9 Aug 1902—9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
 
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| 19  | 1903  | - 1903—1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
 
- 1903—1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
 
- 1903—1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
 
- 14 Dec 1903—14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
 
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| 20  | 1904  | - 1904—1904: Leeds University established
 
- 8 Apr 1904—8 Apr 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
 
- 4 May 1904—4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French
(completed 1914)
 
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| 21  | 1905  | - 1905—1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time -  placed the Prime
Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
 
- 1905—1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
 
- 1905—1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
 
- 11 Apr 1905—11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
 
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| 22  | 1906  | - 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
 
- 10 Feb 1906—10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
 
- 15 Mar 1906—15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
 
- 26 May 1906—26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
 
- 20 Sep 1906—20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
 
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| 23  | 1907  | - 1907—1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
 
- 1907—1907: Imperial College, London, is established
 
- 1907—1907: First airship flies over London
 
- 1907—1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
 
- Jul 1907—Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its
shape after being heated
 
- 1 Aug 1907—1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
 
- 9 Nov 1907—9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
 
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| 24  | 1908  | - 1908—1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
 
- 1908—1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
 
- 1908—1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
 
- 1 Jul 1908—1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
 
- 12 Aug 1908—12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
 
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| 25  | 1909  | - 1909—1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
 
- 1909—1909: Peary reaches the north pole
 
- 1909—1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite -  start of the plastic age
 
- 1 Jan 1909—1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
 
- 16 Jan 1909—16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
 
- 15 Mar 1909—15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
 
- 25 Jul 1909—25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
 
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| 26  | 1910  | - 1910—1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
 
- 1910—1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
 
- 1910—1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
 
- 1910—1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
 
- 1910—1910: Halley's comet reappears
 
- 1910—1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
 
- 6 May 1910—6 May 1910: Edward VII dies -  George V becomes King
 
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| 27  | 1911  | - 1911—1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
 
- 1911—1911: British MPs receive a salary
 
- 1911—1911: First British Official Secrets Act
 
- 1911—1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
 
- 1911—1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
 
- 2 Apr 1911—2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
 
- 22 Jun 1911—22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
 
- 14 Dec 1911—14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
 
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| 28  | 1912  | - 1912—1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
 
- 1912—1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
 
- 1912—1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' -  hoax, exposed in 1953
 
- 18 Jan 1912—18 Jan 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition -  he and his team reach the south pole on Jan
18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November
 
- 14 Apr 1912—14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage -  loss of 1,513 lives
 
- 13 May 1912—13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
 
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| 29  | 1913  | - 1913—1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords -  threat of civil war in Ireland - 
formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
 
- 1913—1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London -  Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
 
- 1913—1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political
purposes
 
- 1913—1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
 
- 1913—1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
 
- 4 Jun 1913—4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the
Epsom Derby and dies
 
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| 30  | 1914  | - 1914—1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster
to be decided after the War
 
- 1914—1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
 
- 28 Jun 1914—28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
 
- 4 Aug 1914—4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
 
- 5 Aug 1914—5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph
links to the outside world
 
- 15 Aug 1914—15 Aug 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official
transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1)
 
- Oct 1914—Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres -  beginning of trench warfare on western front
 
- 27 Nov 1914—27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
 
- 16 Dec 1914—16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
 
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| 31  | 1915  | - 1915—1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
 
- 1915—1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
 
- 19 Jan 1915—19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia -  four killed
 
- Feb 1915—Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
 
- Apr 1915—Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres -  poison gas used for first time
 
- 25 Apr 1915—25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
 
- 7 May 1915—7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland -  1,198 died
 
- 16 May 1915—16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll
(aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
 
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| 32  | 1916  | - 1916—1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
 
- Feb 1916—Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun -  appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
 
- 24 Apr 1916—24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland -  after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs
independence
 
- 21 May 1916—21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
 
- 31 May 1916—31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland -  only major naval battle between the British and
German fleets
 
- 5 Jun 1916—5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
 
- 3 Aug 1916—3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
 
- 15 Sep 1916—15 Sep 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
 
- 7 Dec 1916—7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
 
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| 33  | 1917  | - 1917—1917: Battle of Cambrai -  first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
 
- 1917—1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
 
- Feb 1917—Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
 
- 16 Apr 1917—16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
 
- 17 Apr 1917—17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
 
- 26 May 1917—26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal
proclamation on 17 July)
 
- Jul 1917—Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele -  little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
 
- 7 Nov 1917—7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia -  Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
 
- 6 Dec 1917—6 Dec 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear
explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision,
obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion
 
- 9 Dec 1917—9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
 
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| 34  | 1918  | - 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
 
- 1918—1918: War of Independence in Ireland
 
- 18 Jan 1918—18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
 
- 8 Mar 1918—8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
 
- Jul 1918—Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
 
- 1 Oct 1918—1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
 
- 11 Nov 1918—11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
 
- Dec 1918—Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein
member refused to take her seat
 
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| 35  | 1919  | - 1919—1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
 
- 1919—1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
 
- 15 Jun 1919—15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
 
- 28 Jun 1919—28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
 
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| 36  | 1920  | - 1920—1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
 
- 1920—1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
 
- 1920—1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
 
- Feb 1920—Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK -  opened by the Automobile Association
at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
 
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| 37  | 1921  | - 1921—1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies -  only four remained
 
- 1921—1921: Insulin discovery announced
 
- 1921—1921: First birth control clinic
 
- 19 Jun 1921—19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
 
- 6 Dec 1921—6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free
State and Northern Ireland
 
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| 38  | 1922  | - 1922—1922: Law of Property Act -  the manorial system effectively ended
 
- 1 Jun 1922—1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
 
- Oct 1922—Oct 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in
London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)
 
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| 39  | 1923  | - 1923—1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
 
- 1923—1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
 
- 1923—1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
 
- 1 Jan 1923—1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main
companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR -  lasted until nationalisation in 1948
 
- 16 Feb 1923—16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
 
- 28 Apr 1923—28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) -  'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ' popular song of the time  became the West Ham anthem
 
- 28 Sep 1923—28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
 
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| 40  | 1924  | - 4 Jan 1924—4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
 
- 5 Feb 1924—5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were
first broadcast by the BBC
 
- 31 Mar 1924—31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British
airline companies -  became BOAC in 1940)
 
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