History Hop Tags - British

1537-08-25

The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.

1583-08-05

Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for the British crown - first English colony in North America and the beginning of the British Empire

1600-12-31

British East India Company chartered

1607-04-26

1st British colony in American lands at Cape Henry, Virginia

1624-01-28

Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on Saint Kitts.

1639-08-22

Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers.

1653-07-04

British Barebones Parliament goes into session

1656-10-02

British north American colony of Connecticut passes law against Quakers

1658-06-25

Spanish garrison at Dunkirk surrenders to French & British

1664-03-12

New Jersey becomes a British colony

1664-07-23

4 British ships to drive Dutch out of NY, arrive in Boston

1665-06-12

New Amsterdam legally becomes British and renamed New York after English Duke of York

1673-11-09

British king Charles II dismisses Earl of Shaftesbury

1683-11-01

The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.

1688-10-01

Prince Willem III of Orange accepts invitation of take up the British crown

1688-12-23

English King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch flees to France and from William of Orange

1688-12-25

British king James II lands in Ambleteuse, France

1689-02-13

British Parliament adopts Bill of Rights - establishes limits on the crown and rights of parliament

1690-01-22

Iroquois tribes renew allegiance to British against French

1691-02-17

Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service

1694-09-27

Hurricane hits Carlisle Bay Barbados; 27 British ships sink & 3,000 die

1695-08-02

Daniel Quare receives a British patent for his portable barometer

1702-10-07

British/Dutch troops under Marlborough occupy Roermond

1702-10-27

British troops plunder St Augustine, Florida

1704-08-13

French & Bavarian forces were routed by a combined British, German & Dutch army at Blenheim, Germany

1707-04-25

Battle of Almansa; Franco-Spanish forces defeat British and Portuguese

1708-03-11

Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

1708-08-29

British troops occupy Menorca & Sardinia

1709-02-02

British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe"

1710-10-16

British troops occupies Port Royal, Nova Scotia

1710-12-08

Battle of Brihuega in the War of the Spanish Succession: British General James Stanhope captured by French & Spanish forces

1714-07-27

British Queen Anne dismisses premier Robert Haley

1731-03-16

Treaty of Vienna signed by Prince Eugene of Savoy, Count Sinzendorf and Count Gundacker, Thomas Stahremberg and the British envoy to Vienna, Sir Thomas Robinson.

1731-04-09

British mariner Robert Jenkins' ear cut off by Spanish Guarde Costa in the Caribbean, later catalyst for war between Britain & Spain

1733-05-17

England passes Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum & molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions

1735-09-22

Robert Walpole is 1st British PM to live at 10 Downing Street

1736-05-26

Battle of Ackia (La), British & Chickasaw Indians defeat French

1739-10-23

War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.

1741-03-04

British fleet under Rear Admiral of the Blue Sir Chaloner Ogle reaches Cartagena de Indias (Colombia)

1742-02-02

British Walpole government resigns

1742-02-09

British ex-premier Walpole becomes earl of Orford

1742-02-16

Earl of Wilmington becomes British premier (First Lord of the Treasury)

1743-06-27

War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: in Bavaria, King George II of Britain personally leads troops into battle. The last time a British monarch would command troops in the field.

1745-06-16

British fleet occupies Cap Breton on St Lawrence River

1746-04-16

Battle of Culloden, the last battle on British soil: Royalist troops under the Duke of Cumberland defeat the Jacobite army.

1747-05-14

A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.

1747-07-01

Battle at Lafeld: France beat British/Dutch army

1747-10-25

British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeats the French at the second battle of Cape Finisterre.

1749-05-11

British parliament accepts Consolidation Act: fleet reorganization

1751-08-31

British troops under Sir Robert Clive occupy Arcot, India

1752-06-09

French army surrenders to the British in Trichinopoly India

1752-09-02

Last Julian calendar day in Britain and British colonies (no Sept 3-Sept 13th)

1752-09-03

Britain and the British Empire (including the American colonies) adopt the Gregorian Calendar, losing 11 days. People riot thinking the government stole 11 days of their lives

1753-07-07

British Museum founded by an Act of Parliament (opens in 1759)

1753-07-07

British parliament grants Jews citizenship

1754-06-19

Albany Congress held by seven British colonies & Iroquois indians

1755-06-16

British capture Fort Beauséjour, expel Acadians

1755-07-09

Battle at Duquesne (Pittsburgh): French troops beat British

1755-07-09

British General E Braddock mortally wounded during French & Indian War

1755-09-08

Battle of Lake George in the Province of New York: British army beats French

1755-11-14

Henry Fox appointed British 'Secretary of State for the Southern Department'

1756-06-20

Black Hole of Calcutta - 146 British soldiers imprisoned in small dungeon in Calcutta, India where most die

1756-06-20

Siraj ud-Daulah Nawab of Bengal takes Calcutta from the British

1756-12-06

British troops under Robert Clive occupy Fulta India

1757-01-02

British troops occupy Calcutta India

1757-03-14

On board HMS Monarch (his own flagship), British Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for neglecting his duty "Pour encourager les autres".

1757-04-06

British King George II fires minister William Pitt Sr

1758-06-23

Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld - British forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.

1758-07-08

British & Colonial assault on French forces at Ticonderoga, NY

1758-07-26

British battle fleet under gen James Wolfe conquerors Louisbourg

1758-08-08

British troops occupy & plunder Cherbourg

1758-09-11

Battle of Saint Cast France repels British invasion during the Seven Year's War.

1758-12-31

British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar) Senegal

1759-01-15

British Museum opens in Montague House, London

1759-04-08

British troops chase French out of Masulipatam India

1759-05-01

British fleet occupies Guadeloupe, West Indies, capturing it from France

1759-07-25

British capture Fort Niagara from French (7 Years' War)

1759-09-12

British soldiers capture the town of Quebec.

1759-09-13

British beat French forces at Plains of Abrahams (Quebec)

1759-09-18

Battle of Quebec ends, French surrender to British who capture Quebec City

1759-11-20

-22] Battle in Bay of Quiberon, British beat French

1760-01-22

Battle at Wandewash India: British troops beat French

1761-01-16

The British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.

1761-06-08

British fleet occupies Belle Île off the Brittany Coast

1762-02-12

British fleet occupies Martinique

1762-04-05

British take Grenada, West Indies, from French

1762-10-06

British troops occupy Manila, Philippines

1762-12-09

British parliament accepts Treaty of Paris

1763-02-12

John Casteret appointed British minister of foreign affairs

1763-08-05

Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.

1764-11-16

Native Americans surrender to British in Indian War of Chief Pontiac

1765-03-22

Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on colonists

1765-03-24

Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers

1765-08-14

Massachusetts colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)

1765-11-01

Stamp Act goes into effect in British colonies

1766-07-09

British premier Rockingham resigns

1767-05-14

British government disbands Americans import duty on tea

1767-06-29

British pass Townshend Revenue Act levying taxes on America

1768-04-09

John Hancock refuses to allow two British customs agents to go below deck of his ship, considered by some to be the first act of physical resistance to British authority in the colonies

1768-05-09

John Hancock pays duties on 25 pipes of wine, only one fourth of his ship's carrying capacity, and British officials accuse him of unloading the rest during the night to avoid paying the duties on the entire cargo

1768-06-10

British customs officials seize John Hancock's ship, "The Liberty", on the suspicion that Hancock had illegally unloaded cargo without paying duties a month earlier

1768-10-01

British troops under General Gauge land in Boston

1770-03-05

Boston Massacre, British troops kill 5 in crowd. Native African American Crispus Attucks 1st to die. Later held up as early black martyr. Galvanised anti-British feelings

1770-04-19

British explorer Captain James Cook 1st sights Australia

1772-06-10

Burning of British revenue cutter Gaspée by Rhode Islanders

1773-04-27

British Parliament passes Tea Act (Boston won't like this)

1773-12-16

Boston tea party incident - Sons of Liberty protesters throw tea shipments into Boston harbour in protest against British omposed Tea Act

1774-02-22

British House of Lords rules authors do not have perpetual copyright

1774-03-05

John Hancock delivers the fourth annual Massacre Day oration, a commemoration of the Boston Massacre, and denounces the presence of British troops in Boston, enhancing Hancock's stature as a leading Patriot

1774-03-07

British close port of Boston to all commerce

1774-03-25

British Parliament passes Boston Port Bill

1774-06-01

Boston Port Bill: British government orders Port of Boston closed

1774-06-02

Intolerable Acts: Amendment to original Quartering Act enacted, allowed governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters not provided.

1774-06-22

British parliament accepts Quebec Act

1774-07-04

Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts

1774-10-21

First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.

1775-01-25

Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx)

1775-04-20

British begin siege of Boston

1775-10-16

Portland, Maine burned by British

1775-11-07

Lord Dunmore promises freedom to male slaves who join British army

1775-12-31

Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold

1776-03-02

Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston

1776-03-17

British forces evacuate Boston to Nova Scotia during Revolutionary War

1776-06-28

Charleston, SC repulses British sea attack

1776-08-27

British defeat Americans in Battle of Long Island

1776-09-06

1st (failed) submarine attack (David Bushnell's "Turtle" attacks British sailboat "Eagle" in Bay of NY)

1776-09-15

British forces capture Kip's Bay Manhattan during Revolution

1776-09-21

5 days after British take NY, a ¼ of city burns down

1776-09-21

Nathan Hale, spied on British for American rebels, arrested

1776-10-11

Brig Gen Arnold's Lake Champlain fleet defeated by British

1776-10-12

British Brigade begins guarding Throgg Necks Road in Bronx

1776-10-18

Battle of Pelham: Col John Glover & Marblehead regiment meet British Forces in Bronx

1776-11-16

British troops captured Fort Washington during American Revolution

1777-01-03

General George Washington's revolutionary army defeats British forces at Battle of Princeton, NJ

1777-02-21

British ambassador Joseph Yorke demands dismissal of Governor John de Graaff for saluting US flag

1777-04-16

Battle of Bennington-New England's Green Mountain Boys rout British

1777-07-06

British Gen Burgoyne captures Fort Ticonderoga from Americans

1777-08-04

Retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley establishes 1st circus

1777-08-16

Americans defeat British in Battle of Bennington, Vt

1777-09-11

Battle of Brandywine, Pa; Americans lose to British

1777-09-20

Battle of Paoli; British forces under Major General Charles Grey attacked Brigadier General Anthony Wayne's encampment. Claims that the British gave no quarter led to the engagement becoming known (from an American perspective) as the "Paoli Massacre."

1777-09-25

British general William Howe conquers Philadelphia

1777-09-27

British General William Howe occupies Philadelphia during American Revolution

1777-09-30

Continental Congress, flees to York, Pa, as British forces advance

1777-10-04

Battle of Germantown: Gen George Washington's troops attack and are defeated by the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania

1777-10-07

Americans beat British in 2nd Battle of Saratoga & Battle of Bemis Heights

1777-10-17

British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga NY

1777-12-02

British Gen Howe plots attack on Washington's army for Dec 4

1777-12-17

France recognizes independence of British colonies in America

1778-06-18

British Redcoats evacuate Philadelphia

1778-06-27

Liberty Bell came home to Philaelphia after the British departure

1778-07-03

British forces massacre 360 men, women & children in Wyoming, Pa

1778-08-31

British kill 17 Stockbridge indians in Bronx during Revolution

1779-02-24

George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes (Ind) from British

1780-03-26

1st British Sunday newspaper appears (Brit Gazette & Sunday Monitor)

1780-05-12

British troops occupy Charleston, South Carolina (Revolutionary War)

1780-08-16

British decisively defeat Americans in Battle of Camden, SC

1780-09-21

Benedict Arnold gives British Major Andre plans to West Point

1780-09-23

British Major John Andre reveals Benedict Arnold's plot to betray West Point

1780-09-25

Benedict Arnold joins the British

1780-10-07

British defeated by American militia near Kings Mountain, SC

1781-01-05

British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia

1781-02-03

Dutch West Indies island of St Eustatia taken by British

1781-03-15

Battle of Guilford Court House, SC (British suffer heavy losses)

1781-06-03

Jack Jouett rides to warn Thomas Jefferson of British attack

1781-08-01

British army under general Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, Virginia

1781-08-30

French fleet of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse defeat British under Admiral Graves at battle of Chesapeake Capes in American Revolutionary War

1781-09-05

Battle of Virginia Capes, French defeat British, trap Cornwallis

1781-09-06

The Battle of Groton Heights takes place, resulting a British victory.

1781-10-19

British General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2 pm; US Revolutionary War ends

1781-11-13

British troops occupy Negapatam, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

1782-02-04

British garrison surrenders to French & Spanish fleet

1782-02-05

Spanish take Minorca (western Mediterranean) from British

1782-04-12

Battle at Les Saintes West-Indies: British fleet beats French

1782-07-06

British-French sea battle at Negapatam (off India)

1782-12-14

Charleston, SC evacuated by British

1783-04-09

Tippu Sahib drives out British from Bednore, India

1783-12-07

William Pitt Jr (24) becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister

1783-12-18

British King George III dissmisses government of Portland

1783-12-19

British government of William Pitt the Younger forms

1784-08-13

British parliament accepts India Act

1785-05-09

British inventor Joseph Bramah patents beer-pump handle

1786-08-11

Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia

1787-05-10

British Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal

1788-01-26

Captain Arthur Phillip and British colonists hoist the English flag at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, now celebrated as Australia Day

1788-05-09

British parliament accepts abolition of slave trade

1788-06-11

1st British ship built on Pacific coast begun at Nootka Sound, BC

1788-08-22

Sierra Leone settled by British as a haven for former slaves

1789-06-09

Spanish capture British schooner Northwest America near Vancouver Island

1792-05-08

British Capt George Vancouver sights and names Mt Rainier, Wash

1792-08-29

British man o'war HMS Royal George capsizes at Spithead; more than 800 killed

1792-10-29

Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.

1793-09-20

British troops under Major-general Williamson lands on (French) Haiti

1794-04-21

NYC formally declares coast of Ellis Island publically owned, so they can build forts to protect NYC from British

1795-02-07

Dutch Prince William V accepts British occupation of Dutch Indies

1795-09-16

British capture Capetown South Africa

1796-08-17

British beat Batavian navy in Saldanha Bay South Africa

1796-08-19

Spain & France sign anti-British alliance

1797-02-14

The Battle of Cape St Vincent: British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba y Ramos near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. Captain Horatio Nelson distinguishes himself.

1797-02-18

Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.

1797-02-21

Trinidad, West Indies, surrenders to British

1798-05-24

Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.

1798-05-26

British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara

1798-08-02

British under Admiral Horatio Nelson beat French at Battle of Nile

1798-09-03

Weeklong battle of St. George's Caye began between Spanish and British off the coast of Belize.

1798-09-10

British Honduras beats Spain in battle of St George

1799-01-09

British Prime Minister William Pitt introduces income tax to raise funds for the war against Napoleon.

1799-05-04

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is assaulted and the Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.

1799-08-13

British fleet under Lord Seymour overthrows Suriname

1799-08-27

British invasion army lands in North-Holland

1799-08-30

Batavian fleet surrenders to British

1799-10-06

Battle of Castricum: French & Bataafs army beats British/Russian army

1799-10-09

Sinking of British frigate HMS Lutine, with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000 off Dutch coast.

1799-10-10

Convention of Alkmaar: British/Russian invasion army departs

1800-03-17

British warship Queen Charlotte catches fire; 700 die

1800-07-10

The British Indian Government establishes the Fort William College to promote Urdu, Hindi and other vernaculars of sub continent.

1800-09-05

Malta surrenders to British after they blockade French troops

1800-09-13

Curacao in British hands (until Jan 1803)

1801-03-08

British drive French forces from Abukir, Egypt

1801-04-02

Napoleonic Wars: naval Battle of Copenhagen - The British led by Horatio Nelson destroy the Danish fleet.

1801-07-06

Battle at Algeciras: French fleet beats British

1801-07-12

Battle at Algeciras: British fleet beats French & Spanish

1803-07-05

The convention of Artlenburg leads to the French occupation of Hanover (which had been ruled by the British king).

1803-09-23

Battle of Assaye: British-Indian forces beat Maratha Army

1804-01-31

British vice-admiral William Blighs fleet reaches Curacao

1804-04-28

31 British ships sail up Suriname river demanding transition colony from the Dutch

1805-10-21

Battle of Trafalgar, British Admiral Nelson defeats French & Spanish fleet but shot and killed

1806-01-08

Cape colony becomes British colony

1806-01-10

Dutch in Capetown surrender to British

1806-06-24

British under Commodore Popham and Colonel Beresford reach Buenos Aires

1806-06-27

Buenos Aires captured by British

1806-07-10

The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.

1806-10-08

British forces lay siege to French port of Boulogne using Congreve rockets, invented by Sir William Congreve

1807-02-03

A British military force, under Brig-Gen. Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the city of Montevideo, then part of the Spanish Empire now capital of Uruguay.

1807-02-19

British squadron under Admiral Duckworth attempts to force passage of Dardanelles

1807-03-25

British Parliament abolishes slave trade

1807-03-25

George Canning becomes British Foreign Secretary

1807-06-22

British board USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to War of 1812

1807-06-28

British troops lands at Ensenada, Argentina

1808-01-01

Sierra Leone becomes a British colony

1808-08-21

Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.

1809-01-12

British take Cayenne (French Guiana) from French (until 1814)

1809-01-16

Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of Corunna

1809-07-27

Battle of Talavera: British/Spanish army vs French army

1809-07-30

British armed force of 39,000 lands in Walcheren

1810-12-22

British frigate Minotaur sinks killing 480

1811-09-18

British expeditionary army conquerors Dutch Indies

1812-01-19

Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.

1812-05-11

British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London. Ironically, descendants of both were later elected to Parliament at the same time.

1812-06-22

Upon learning of plans by the Americans to execute a surprise attack, Laura Secord walks 32 km to warn the British troops, which results in a British surprise victory at the Battle of Beaver Dams

1812-08-16

General Hull surrenders Detroit & Michigan territory to British forces

1812-08-16

British forces under the command of Major General Sir Isaac Brock capture Fort Detroit with the help of Indigenous warriors led by Tecumseh

1812-08-19

US warship Constitution defeats British warship Guerriere

1812-10-25

US frigate United States captures British vessel Macedonian

1813-06-24

Battle of Beaver Dam - British & Indian forces defeat US forces

1813-07-05

War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin.

1813-07-31

British invade Plattsburgh NY

1813-08-14

British warship Pelican attacks & captures US war brigantine Argus

1813-09-10

Comm Oliver H Perry defeats British in Battle of Lake Erie

1813-10-05

Battle of Thames in Canada; Americans defeat British

1813-10-23

The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the United Kingdom).

1813-12-18

British take Fort Niagara in War of 1812

1813-12-29

British burn Buffalo, NY during War of 1812

1814-05-05

British attack Ft Ontario, Oswego, NY

1814-07-05

Americans defeat British & Canadians at Chippewa, Ontario

1814-07-18

British capture Prairie du Chien (Wisc)

1814-07-25

Battle of Niagara Falls (Lundy's Lane); Americans defeat British

1814-08-13

Cape of Good Hope formally ceded to British by the Dutch

1814-08-24

British forces captured Washington, DC, & burned down many landmarks (War of 1812)

1814-08-25

British forces destroy Library of Congress, containing 3,000 books (War of 1812)

1814-09-11

Begun on the 6th Sept, Americans defeat British at Battle of Plattsburgh during War of 1812

1814-09-11

Battle of Lake Champlain, NY; American Navy defeats British

1815-03-02

Signing of Kandyan treaty by British invaders and Sri Lankan King.

1815-06-18

Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon and France defeated by British forces under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher

1815-08-09

Napoleon Bonaparte sets sail for exile on St Helena on board British ship the Northumberland

1816-05-10

British steamship "Defiance" arrives at Rotterdam harbor

1817-01-22

British freighter Diana sinks off Malaysia

1818-01-02

The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded.

1818-06-03

Maratha Wars between British & Maratha Confederacy in India ends

1819-02-19

British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III.

1820-01-30

British explorer Edward Bransfield aboard Williams sights Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica claims for Britain

1824-01-21

Ashantis defeat British at Accra, West Africa

1824-01-22

Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.

1824-03-05

First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.

1825-06-22

British Parliament abolishes feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America.

1827-01-17

Duke of Wellington appointed British supreme commander

1829-09-29

British Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel establishes London's Metropolitan Police - hence the nicknames "bobbies" and "peelers".

1832-03-23

British Parliament passes reform bill

1833-01-01

British government demands Falkland islands

1833-01-02

Re-establishment of British rule on the Falklands.

1834-08-01

Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire - Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect

1834-10-28

The Battle of Pinjarra occurs in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists.

1835-04-18

William Lamb (Lord Melbourne) forms British government

1836-08-17

British parliament accept registration of birth/marriage/death

1837-05-25

The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.

1837-06-13

1st Mormon missionaries to British Isles leave Kirtland, Ohio

1837-06-20

Queen Victoria at 18 ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV. She ruled for 63 years ending in 1901

1838-08-01

Apprenticeship system abolished in most of the British Empire. Former slaves no longer indentured to former owners.

1839-01-19

Aden conquered by British East India Company

1839-08-23

British capture Hong Kong from China

1839-10-10

British troops under Gen Charles Napier occupy Beirut

1839-11-03

1st opium war - 2 British frigates engage several Chinese junks

1840-01-22

British colonists reach New Zealand.

1840-02-06

The Treaty of Waitangi is signed between 40 Māori Chiefs (later signed by 500) and representatives of the British crown in Waitangi, New Zealand. The treaty was designed to share sovereignty between the two groups.

1840-05-21

New Zealand became a British colony

1840-05-21

Captain William Hobson proclaims British sovereignty over New Zealand; the North Island by treaty and the South Island by 'discovery'

1840-05-22

The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.

1840-07-23

Union Act passed by British Parliament, uniting Upper & Lower Canada

1840-08-01

Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.

1840-10-14

Maronite leader Bashir II surrenders to the British forces and goes into exile in Malta.

1840-11-16

New Zealand officially becomes British colony

1841-01-20

China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the 1st Opium War

1841-07-17

British humorous and satirycal magazine "Punch" first published; it finally closed in 2002

1842-01-06

4,500 British & Indian troops leave Kabul, massacred before India

1842-01-13

Dr. William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for (reputedly) being the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad.

1843-02-02

US & British settlers in Oregon Country choose government committee

1843-06-26

Hong Kong proclaimed a British Crown Colony

1843-08-08

Natal (in South Africa) is made a British colony

1843-10-14

British arrest Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell for conspiracy

1845-03-11

The Flagstaff War: In New Zealand, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti lead 700 Māoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

1846-01-28

Battle of Allwal, British beat Sikhs in Punjab (India)

1846-02-10

British defeat Sikhs in battle of Sobraon, India

1846-02-20

British occupy Sikh citadel of Lahore

1846-06-08

Battle at Gwanga: British troops beat Bantu

1846-06-15

Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49°N

1847-11-12

Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic.

1848-07-29

Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt - in Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.

1849-10-16

British seize Tigre Island in Gulf of Fonseca from Honduras

1850-01-18

British blockade Piraeus, Greece to enforce mercantile claims

1850-06-29

British ex-Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel falls off his horse; de died three days later

1850-11-19

Alfred Tennyson becomes British Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth

1851-06-30

Battle of Viervoet (Basotho-British war)

1851-08-12

1st America's Cup - US schooner America beats British yacht Aurora after race around the Isle of Wight

1852-01-17

British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South Africa)

1852-02-02

1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London)

1852-02-11

1st British public female toilet opens (Bedford Street London)

1852-02-26

British troopship Birkenhead sinks off South Africa-458 die, 193 survive

1854-09-20

Battle of the Alma: first major battle of Crimean War. British and French alliance defeat the Russians

1854-10-23

The Times gives precise British positions in Crimea

1854-10-25

Prince Menshikov of Crimea occupies British base at Balaclava

1854-11-05

Crimean War: British & French defeat Russian force of 50,000 at Inkerman

1855-02-05

British government of Palmerston forms

1855-06-17

Heavy French/British bombing of Sebastopol, Crimea: 2,000+ killed

1856-07-15

Natal forms as a British colony separate from Cape Colony

1856-11-03

A British fleet bombards Canton.

1856-12-09

The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.

1857-06-29

Battle at Chinhat (Indies rebel under Barkat Ahmed beat British)

1858-07-23

Jewish Disabilities Removal Act passed by British Parliament

1858-07-26

Baron Lionel de Rothschild bcomes first Jewish person elected to British Parliament

1859-06-15

Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers.

1859-09-16

Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi's boundary with Tanzania & Mozambique discovered by British explorer David Livingstone

1860-08-30

1st British tram opens (Birkenhead)

1860-09-20

First British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII)

1860-10-12

British & French troops capture Beijing

1860-10-17

1st British Golf Open: Willie Park Snr shoots a 164 at Prestwick Club, Scotland

1860-12-29

The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.

1861-02-06

British Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy issues first storm warnings for ships

1861-06-01

British territorial waters & ports off-limits during Civil War

1861-08-06

The British annex Lagos, Nigeria.

1861-09-16

British Post Office Savings Banks opens

1861-09-26

2nd British Golf Open: Tom Morris Sr shoots a 163 at Prestwick Club

1861-11-08

US removes Confederate officials from British steamer Trent

1863-07-12

In New Zealand, British forces invade Waikato, home of the Maori King Movement, beginning a new phase of the wars between Maori and Colonial British

1863-07-17

Māori forces are defeated by British troops at Koheroa, Waikato, in the New Zealand Wars between Maori tribes and British colonials

1863-10-31

The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato.

1864-04-29

Battle of Gate Pa (Pukehinahina): 1,700 British troops suffer their worst defeat of the New Zealand Wars at the hands of 230 entrenched Maori warriors in Tauranga, leaving 31 British troops dead and 80 wounded. Maori losses were 25 killed and an unknown number wounded.

1864-06-01

Confederate cruiser Georgia sold to a British merchant in Liverpool.

1864-09-03

US, British, French & Dutch naval officer sails Straits of Simonoseki

1864-09-05

British, French & Dutch fleets attacked Japan in Shimonoseki Straits

1865-03-02

British newspaper "Morning Chronicle" begins publishing

1865-11-11

Treaty of Sinchula is signed in which Bhutan ceded the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company.

1866-02-16

Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War.

1867-03-08

The British North America Act is passed in the House of Commons, and would serve as a constitution for Canada for the next 100 years

1867-03-29

British North America Act (Canadian constitution) passes

1867-04-01

Singapore, Penang & Malakka become British crown colonies

1867-05-20

British parliament rejects John Stuart Mills' proposals on women's suffrage

1867-12-02

In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

1868-02-29

1st British government of Disraeli forms

1868-04-10

British defeat King of Abyssinia at Magdala

1868-04-13

Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala and Ethiopian Emperor commits suicide

1868-12-02

1st British government of Disraeli resigns

1868-12-09

1st British government of Gladstone forms

1869-10-05

A strong hurricane devastates the Bay of Fundy region of Maritime Canada. The storm had been predicted over a year before by a British naval officer.

1870-08-04

British Red Cross Society forms

1870-10-19

British steamship SS Cambria wrecked off the north-west of Ireland with the loss of 178 lives

1871-01-26

British Rugby Union forms

1871-05-08

British-US treaty ends Alabama dispute

1871-07-20

British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.

1871-09-07

Bay of Biscay: British warship HMS Captain capsizes, 500 killed

1873-01-22

British SS Northfleet sinks at Dungeness, England, 300 die

1873-04-01

British White Star steamship Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, 547 die

1873-06-04

1st contract workers of British-Indies Co arrives in Suriname

1874-02-21

Benjamin Disraeli succeeds William Gladstone as British premier

1874-07-30

1st baseball teams to play outside US, Boston-Phila in British Isles

1874-09-12

1874 The District of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada is founded.

1874-10-10

Fiji becomes a British possession

1875-11-28

British explorer Verney Cameron reaches East Africa

1876-10-31

Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 ravages British India (Modern-day Bangladesh), resulting in over 200,000 human deaths.

1877-03-31

British high director/governor sir Bartle Frere arrives in Capetown

1877-04-12

British annex Transvaal, in South Africa

1877-07-11

Kate Edger becomes New Zealand's first woman graduate and the first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts

1878-03-24

British frigate Eurydice sunk; 300 lost

1878-09-03

British passenger paddle steamer Princess Alice sunk in a collision on the River Thames with the collier Bywell Castle; 645 die

1878-09-25

British physician Dr. Charles Drysdale warns against the use of tobacco in a letter to The Times newspaper in one of the earliest pubic health announcements on the dangers of smoking

1879-01-02

British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die

1879-01-11

Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins

1879-01-12

British Zulu War begins: Lt-General Chelmsford invades Zululand

1879-01-20

British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana

1879-01-22

Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa

1879-01-22

Battle at Rorkes Drift: British garrison of 150 holds off 3,000-4,000 Zulus

1879-04-08

Khedive Ismael of Egypt fires French/British ministers

1879-06-01

Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed serving with British forces in the Anglo-Zulu War. He is buried in Farnborough, Hampshire.

1879-07-31

The first cable connection between South Africa and Europe is laid by the British electrical engineer Charles Tilston Bright as part of his project to link the British Empire with growing telecommunications technologies

1879-10-12

British troops occupy Kabul, Afghanistan

1879-12-28

North British Railway's train falls as Tay bridge collapses (Scot)

1880-08-02

British Parliament officially adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

1881-01-28

Battle at Laing's Neck Natal: Boers beat superior powered British

1881-02-07

Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: Boers beat superior British forces

1881-02-26

-27] Natal: British troops under Major General Colley occupy Majuba Hill

1881-04-05

Transvaal regains independence under British suzerainty

1881-07-01

General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organisation, comes into effect.

1882-07-11

British fleet bombs Alexandria

1882-08-16

British under General Wolseley land in Alexandria

1882-09-13

Battle at Count el-Kebir: British troops invade Egypt

1882-09-14

British General Wolseley reaches Cairo

1882-09-15

British general Wolseley occupies Cairo

1882-11-15

British HMS Flirt destroys village of Asaba, Niger

1882-11-16

British gunboat HMS Flirt fires at & destroys Abari village in Niger

1883-08-01

A papyrus offered to British Museum for £10,000 (forgery)

1884-02-26

British & Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II

1884-09-26

Suriname army shoots on British-Indian contract workers, 7 killed

1884-11-06

British protectorate proclaimed over southeast New Guinea

1885-03-30

The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.

1885-06-24

British government of Salisbury forms

1885-09-30

Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate

1886-01-27

1st British government of Salisbury resigns

1886-02-12

2nd British government of Salisbury forms

1886-04-08

William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.

1886-06-08

First Home Rule Bill for Ireland defeated by 343 votes to 313 in the British House of Common

1886-07-24

China takes British protectorate of Burma

1886-07-28

British Salisbury government forms

1886-08-13

John A. Macdonald uses a silver hammer to pound a gold spike, officially completing the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway in British Columbia

1887-10-01

Balochistan conquered by the British Empire.

1887-11-15

British SS Wah Yeung catches fire on Canton River off Hong Kong

1887-12-28

Sir John Layton Jarvis, 1st British race horse trainer knighted

1888-09-06

Queen Victoria grants William Mackinnons' Imperial British East Africa Company political & commercial rights

1888-10-29

Lord Salisbury grants Cecil Rhodes charter for British South Africa Company

1890-08-05

British & French accord to divide African colonization

1891-03-17

British Steamer "Utopia" sinks off Gibraltar killing 574

1891-05-15

British Central African Protectorate (now Malawi) forms

1892-01-24

Battle of Mengo, Uganda: French missionaries attack British missionaries

1892-07-04

James Keir Hardie chosen 1st socialist in British Lower house

1892-08-15

4th & last British government of William Gladstone forms

1893-01-13

British Independent Labour Party forms (Keir Hardie as its leader)

1893-06-22

British fleet under Vice Admiral George Tryon leaves Beirut

1894-02-16

British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast

1894-03-03

4th & last British government of Gladstone resigns

1894-04-12

British & Belgian secret accord on dividing Central-Africa

1894-06-18

Premier Roseberry declares Uganda a British protectorate

1894-06-25

Boer leader Paul Kruger meets the British High Commissioner, Sir Henry Loch, on Pretoria station in South Africa and accompanies him to his hotel to discuss the grievances of the Uitlanders (Foreigners)

1894-08-14

Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge demonstrates wireless telegraphy (radio) using Morse code at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford University

1895-03-30

British inventor Birt Acres films Oxford and Cambridge boat race

1895-05-27

British inventor Birt Acres patents film camera/projector

1895-06-21

British Roseberry government falls

1896-01-18

British troops occupy Kumasi, West Africa

1896-09-22

Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.

1897-01-26

Battle at Bida Gold Coast: British troops beat Nupe's army

1897-01-27

British troops occupy Bida Gold Coast (Ghana)

1897-09-25

1st British bus service opens

1899-03-21

British & French accord over West Africa

1899-04-24

Transvaal British Uitlanders ask Queen Victoria for aid

1899-09-08

British government sends an additional 10,000 troops to Natal South Africa

1899-09-17

1st British troops leave Bombay for South Africa

1899-10-09

1st British troops reaches Durban, South Africa

1899-10-09

South Africa President Kruger routes British authorities ultimatum

1899-10-20

Battle at Talana Hill, Natal: British army vs Boers

1899-10-21

Battle at Elandslaagte Natal: (Boers vs British army)

1899-10-22

British troops flee Dundee, Natal South Africa

1899-10-24

Battle at Rietfontein, South Africa: Boers vs British army

1899-10-30

British Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill reaches Capetown

1899-11-12

British troops reach Durban Natal

1899-11-22

-23] Battle at Willow Grange, Natal (British vs Boer army)

1899-11-28

Battle of Mud River (Boer general Cronjé beats British gen Methuen)

1899-12-10

-15] British "Black Week" due to defeats in South Africa

1899-12-10

Battle at Storm Berge South Africa - Boers vs British army

1899-12-15

Battle at Colenso, South Africa (Boers-British army)

1899-12-18

Field Marshal Lord Roberts appointed British supreme commander in South Africa

1899-12-23

British Field Marshall Lord Roberts departs Southampton to South Africa for the 2nd Boer War

1900-01-01

British protectorates of Northern & Southern Nigeria established

1900-01-01

British protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria are established.

1900-01-05

Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.

1900-01-24

Battle of Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)

1900-01-29

Boers under Joubert beat British at Spionkop Natal, 2,000 killed

1900-02-05

British troops under Gen Buller occupy Vaal Krantz, Natal

1900-02-06

The Battle of Vaal Krantz, South Africa (Boers vs British army)

1900-02-07

British troops vacate Vaal Krantz, Natal

1900-02-15

British troops relieve Kimberly, South Africa, a city under siege by the Boers since October 1899, during the Boer War.

1900-02-18

Battle at Paardeberg, 1,270 British killed/injured

1900-02-18

British troops occupy Monte Christo, Natal

1900-02-19

British troops occupy Hlangwane, Natal

1900-02-22

Battle at Wynne's Hill, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)

1900-02-23

Battle at Hart's Hill, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)

1900-03-10

Battle at Driefontein, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)

1900-03-10

Regents for the King of Uganda and leading chiefs sign a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to the organization of the government, taxation, courts, military, and other functions of their country, which is under British protection.

1900-03-11

British Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury rejects peace overtures from the Boer leader Paul Kruger (on 5 March) as demanding too-favourable terms

1900-03-13

British troops occupy Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State

1900-03-17

In South Africa, British troops relieve Mafeking, besieged by the Boers since 13 October, 1899.

1900-04-04

Assassination attempt on Prince of Wales, later British King Edward VII when shot by Jean-Baptiste Sipido in protest over Boer war

1900-04-04

British garrison of Reddersberg surrenders to Boer general De Wet

1900-05-17

British troops relieve Mafeking (Cape Colony)

1900-05-26

British troops under Ian Hamilton attack the Vaal in South Africa

1900-05-28

Paul Kruger, President of the Boer Republic of South Africa, flees its capital, Pretoria, and goes to Watervalboven to evade the advancing British.

1900-05-31

British troops under Lord Roberts occupy Johannesburg

1900-06-01

British army occupiers Pretoria South-Africa

1900-06-05

Pretoria, capital of the Boer Republic of South Africa, falls to the British led by General Buller

1900-06-07

Boer general Christian de Law occupies British rail depot at Roodewal

1900-06-11

-12] Battle at Diamond Hill: British troops chase General Botha

1900-06-22

In China, practically the whole foreign community in Peking, including many Chinese Christians, retreat to British compounds

1900-06-23

British Governor Frederick Hodgson and some of his British supporters flee Fort Coomassie, Gold Coast, Africa, where they have been under siege since 6 April

1900-07-03

The British evacuate Rustenburg and occupy Commando Nek and Silkaatsnek in the Anglo-Boer war

1900-07-09

The Commonwealth of Australia is established by the British House of Commons

1900-07-30

British Parliament passes several progressive social acts: a Mines Act, a Workmen's Compensation Act and a Railway Act

1900-08-04

An allied expeditionary force, made up of Japanese, Russian, British, French and American troops, sets off from Tientsin for Peking, China, to put down Boxer rebellion

1900-08-10

1st Davis Tennis Cup: USA beats British Isles at Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts (3-0)

1900-08-30

Last 2,000 British prisoners in Nooitgedagt, South Africa, freed

1900-08-31

British troops over run Johannesburg

1900-09-02

A large demonstration by Nationalists in Dublin's Phoenix Park demand that Ireland be free of British rule

1900-09-06

British General Buller occupies Lydenburg, South Africa

1900-10-04

In a final confrontation, some 4000 rebellious Ashantis are defeated by the British, Ashanti, Gold Coast, Africa

1900-11-29

General Horatio Kitchener assumes command of the British forces in South Africa from General Lord Roberts

1900-12-29

General Viljoen surprise attack British garrison to Helvetia

1901-01-24

Emily Hobhouse views the British administrated concentration camp at Bloemfontein for women and children

1901-02-18

Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the British House of Commons.

1901-02-26

British general Kitchener confers with Boer general Louis Botha about peace conditions, which break down over the question of amnesty for some Boers

1901-02-27

A General Committee of National Liberal Federation meets and adopts a resolution deploring the continuation of the war in South Africa and condemning the British Government's insistence on unconditional surrender by the Boers

1901-04-15

1st British motorized burial

1901-05-08

A British appointed commission estimates today that some 1,250,000 Indians have died after a severe drought, lasting since 1899

1901-07-22

British House of Lords, in its role as court, rules trade unions can be sued for actions of its members - in Taff Vale Case

1901-08-17

The Royal Titles Act adds the words 'and the British Dominions beyond the Seas' to the monarch's style

1901-10-16

Baron Hayashi of Japan begins negotiations in London to make an alliance with the British and strengthen Japan's position against Russians

1901-10-25

In Great Britain, Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Affairs Secretary, makes an anti-German speech in Edinburgh; when word reaches Germany it leads to widespread agitation against the British and eventual breakdown of negotiations for an Anglo-German alliance

1901-12-25

At Tweefontein, a British force is camped on a hill slope; at 2am it is attacked by Boers coming down from the other side

1902-01-10

Although it has professed neutrality in the Boer War, German Chancellor von Bulow joins others in attacking British actions in South Africa

1902-02-24

Battle at Yzer Spruit: Boer general De la Rey beats British

1902-03-07

Boers beat British troop in Tweebosch Transvaal

1902-05-06

British SS Camorta sinks off Rangoon; 739 die

1902-07-11

British premier Lord Salisbury resigns

1902-08-08

2nd Davis Cup: USA beats British Isles in New York (3-2)

1902-12-13

British and German ships begin to bombard the Venezuelan forts after President Castro refuses to comply with an ultimatum demanding that he claims for damages caused during his takeover of the government in 1899; Castro asks US President Roosevelt to arbitrate

1902-12-18

British parliament passes the Education Act, which will come to be regarded as the most important legislation of Balfour's government

1902-12-31

Boers & British army sign peace treaty

1903-01-01

In Delhi, a great durbar, or formal reception, marks the coronation of King Edward VII as Emperor of India; the British release some 16,000 prisoners in honor of the occasion

1903-03-15

After years of fighting between the British and the rebellious Africans, the British claim supremacy over 500,000 square miles, thus controlling all northern Nigeria

1903-06-29

British government protests against abuses in Belgian Congo

1903-08-08

3rd Davis Cup: British Isles beats USA in Boston (4-1)

1903-12-11

British forces under MacDonald & Young march into Tibet

1904-04-08

British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of the Book of the Law.

1904-07-05

4th Davis Cup: British Isles beats Belgium in Wimbledon (5-0)

1904-08-03

British journalist Francis Younghusband visits forbidden city Lhasa

1904-09-04

Dali Lama signs treaty allowing British commerce in Tibet

1904-09-07

British forces in Tibet force the Dalai Lhama to sign a treaty that grants Britain trading posts in Tibet and guarantee that Tibet will not concede territory to foreign powers

1904-09-26

Earl Grey is named British governor-general of Canada

1904-10-22

Russian fleet shoots at British fishing ship

1904-11-02

British newspaper "Daily Mirror" begins publishing

1905-04-01

British East African Protectorate becomes colony of Kenya

1905-07-12

The British and Japanese renew their alliance (of January 1902)for 10 years and agree to provide mutual support if attacked by other power

1905-07-24

5th Davis Cup: British Isles beats USA in Wimbledon (5-0)

1905-11-22

British, Italian, Russian, French & Austro-Hungarian fleet attacks Lesbos

1905-12-04

British government of Balfour resigns

1905-12-11

British government of Campbell-Bannerman forms

1906-01-10

The British and French begin consultations on military and naval issues

1906-01-12

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's cabinet (which included amongst its members H.H. Asquith, David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill) embarks on sweeping social reforms after a Liberal landslide in the British general election.

1906-01-22

SS Valencia runs aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing more than 130.

1906-02-01

Dorothy Grey, wife of British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey fatally injured

1906-02-10

British battleship HMS Dreadnought launched after only 100 days, renders all other capital ships obsolete with revolutionary design

1906-02-15

British Labour Party founded

1906-03-24

"Census of the British Empire" shows Britain rules 1/5 of the world

1906-05-03

British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey

1906-05-22

A British garrison leaves Esquimalt, on the Pacific coast, after a military occupation that began in 1858: these were the last British soldiers stationed in Canada

1906-06-18

6th Davis Cup: British Isles beats USA in Wimbledon (5-0)

1906-09-01

British New Guinea placed under Australian administration

1906-10-28

Belgian-British "Union Minière du Haut Katanga" mining company created in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo

1906-12-05

British government of Balfour resigns

1906-12-06

The British grant Transvaal self-government

1906-12-21

British Parliament pass two important pieces of social legislation: The Trades Disputes Bill, legalizing peaceful picketing, and The Workingmen's Compensation Act, broadening employers' liability for accidents

1906-12-30

The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan.

1906-12-31

French/British/Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia

1907-01-26

The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle still in official use.

1907-02-13

English suffragettes storm British Parliament & 60 women are arrested

1907-02-26

Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP)

1907-07-01

The Orange River Colony, known as the Orange Free State, is granted self-government by the British

1907-07-23

7th Davis Cup: Australasia beats British Isles in Wimbledon (3-2)

1907-08-22

Cyril Astley Clarke, British geneticist

1907-09-26

New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire.

1908-04-05

British premier Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigns

1908-04-08

Lord Asquith succeeds Henry Campbell-Bannerman as British premier

1908-06-09

Kind Edward VII of Great Britain visits Tsar Nicholas II at Reval, Russia, where the two discuss the growing power of Germany and British plans for reform in Macedonia

1908-06-10

The Australian Parliament passes the Invalid and Old Age Pensions Act providing for pensions for British subjects (excluding aborigines) at age 65

1908-08-13

Kind Edward VII of Great Britain meets with Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria at Ischl; the King tries to persuade the Emperor to advise Germany against aggressive (anti-British) policies

1909-01-01

In Great Britain, the Old Age Pension Law is finally instituted, providing pensions for every British subject over 70 with low income

1909-01-09

Ernest Shackleton as part of the British Nimrod Expedition reaches a record farthest South latitude (88°23' south)

1909-01-16

British explorers David, Mawson & Mackay reach south magnetic pole as part of the Nimrod Expedition

1909-08-01

British SS Waratah disappears on Sydney to London, 300 killed

1909-09-20

The British Parliament passes the South Africa Act; it calls for union of Cape Colony, Natal, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal; and both English and Dutch as official languages

1909-11-30

The British House of Lords rejects the 'People's Budget' prepared by David Loyd George; the budget tries to shift the tax burden to the wealthy

1910-01-03

British miners strike for 8 hour working day

1910-01-21

British-Russian military intervention in Persia

1910-02-01

1st British labour exchange opens

1910-02-25

Dali Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troop to British-Indies

1910-05-10

The British House of Commons pass three major resolutions on political reform

1910-06-24

50th British Golf Open: James Braid shoots a 299 at St Andrews Scot

1911-02-18

The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.

1911-02-22

The Canadian Parliament resolves to maintain union with the British Empire, while controlling domestic fiscal affairs

1911-05-15

British House of Commons accept Parliament Bill

1911-07-20

Generals Henry Wilson/Auguste Dubail sign plan for British Expeditionary army in case of war with Germany

1911-08-23

British premier Asquith holds secret meeting about British strategy in case of war with Germany

1912-01-04

The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.

1912-02-08

British Emissary journeys to Berlin to suggest that Britain might support German colonial aspirations in Africa if Germany agrees to hold her current naval strength

1912-04-11

The British Parliament introduce a Irish home rule bill, granting Ireland its own bicameral parliament and be required to send a representative to the British House of Commons; Protestants in Ulster resist

1912-07-15

British National Health Insurance Act goes into effect

1912-07-22

In the face of ever-increasing German naval power, the British Admiralty decides to recall British warships from the Mediterranean and base them in the North Sea

1912-08-21

Mr Carter-Cotton chosen 1st chancellor of Univ of British Columbia

1912-09-29

French/British troops lands on Samoa

1912-11-30

11th Davis Cup: British Isles beats Australasia in Melbourne (3-2)

1912-12-23

In Delhi, India, terrorist agitation continues as British Viceroy Lord Hardinge is wounded by a bomb explosion

1913-01-16

British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland

1913-04-03

British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst sentenced to 3 years in jail

1913-05-07

British House of Commons rejects women's right to vote

1913-06-24

53rd British Golf Open: J H Taylor shoots a 304 at Hoylake Hoylake

1913-07-12

150,000 Ulstermen gather and resolve to resist Irish Home Rule by force of arms; since the British Liberals have promised the Irish nationalists Home Rule, civil war appears imminent

1913-07-28

12th Davis Cup: USA beats British Isles in Wimbledon (3-2)

1913-10-10

British passenger ship Volturno catches fire in Atlantic (136 killed)

1913-12-13

British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey proposes that southern Albania be divided between Greece and Albania with compensation to Greece in the Aegean islands

1914-01-01

Northern & Southern Nigeria united in British colony of Nigeria

1914-03-01

Dutch Minister of war H Colijn named director of British Petroleum

1914-05-06

British House of Lords rejects women's suffrage

1914-05-25

British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule Bill

1914-06-19

54th British Golf Open: Harry Vardon shoots a 306 at Prestwick Club

1914-07-20

Armed resistance against British rule begins in Ulster

1914-07-26

First Lord of the Admiralty (British Minister of Navy) Winston Churchill orders British fleet to remain

1914-07-26

Irish Volunteers unload a shipment of 1,500 rifles and 45,000 rounds of ammunition arrived from Germany aboard Erskine Childers' yacht the Asgard; British troops fire on jeering crowd on Bachelors Walk, Dublin, killing three citizens

1914-07-28

First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill orders British Grand Fleet to Scapa Flow

1914-07-29

British fleet leaves Portland/passes Straits of Dover

1914-07-30

John French appointed British supreme commander

1914-08-01

British fleet reaches Scapa Flow

1914-08-04

WWI: Field Marshal Lord Kitchener becomes British Minister of War after British declaration of war on Germany

1914-08-07

Engagement between British cruiser HMS Gloucester and German cruisers SMS Breslau and SMS Goeben off Greece

1914-08-09

German U-15 was sunk by the British cruiser, H.M.S. Birmingham

1914-08-14

British field marshal John French & Gen Wilson land in France

1914-08-15

The first large public gathering of Boers in South Africa who do not want to support Britain in a war against Germany; British authorities will try to repress this movement, but discontent spreads

1914-08-22

1st encounter between British & German troops (in Belgium)

1914-08-24

Battle at Bergen: Germans defeat Belgian/British troops

1914-08-28

Battle of Helgoland: British fleet beats German, 1,100 killed

1914-08-28

British General John French evacuate Amiens

1914-09-01

Von Gluck's army meets up with British expeditionary army

1914-09-03

British expeditionary army/general Lanrezacs army attack the Marne

1914-09-05

- till the 12th Sept Battle of Marne (WWI) begins French and British forces prevent German forces advancing on Paris

1914-09-08

Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during WW1

1914-09-09

World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.

1914-09-20

John Redmond urges Irish Volunteers to enlist in the British Army

1914-09-22

1 German submarine sinks 3 British ironclads, 1,459 die

1914-09-22

Louis Botha, premier of the Union of South Africa, assumes command of the armed forced after having dismissed General Beyers because of his resistance to aiding British in the war against Germany

1914-10-13

Pro-German Boers begin opposition to British authority in South Africa

1914-10-27

British battleship Audacious sunk by mine

1914-11-01

German-British naval battle at Coronel, Chile

1914-11-06

The British land troops (mostly from the Indian Army) at the head of the Persian Gulf in Mesopotamia, and will begin to move westward in an attempt to draw Turkish troops from other fronts

1914-11-21

British army conquerors Bazra

1914-11-27

1st British woman elected political agent (Grantham, Linconshire)

1914-12-08

British & German fleets battle at Falkland Island

1914-12-08

Boers rebelling against the British have recently suffered several defeats; today, one of their leaders, General Beyers, accidently drowns

1914-12-15

British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea

1914-12-25

Legendary "Christmas Truce" takes place on the battlefields of WWI b/w British & Germans troops - gifts exchanged and football played

1914-12-26

The US Government protests British interference with American merchant ships at sea, but this same day the German announce they will treat food as contraband, subject to seizure; this will weaken America's protest

1915-01-24

German-British sea battle at Dogger Bank & Helgoland

1915-02-10

US President Wilson protests to Britain on the use of US flags on British merchant ships to deceive the Germans

1915-02-19

British fleet fire on Dardanelles coast

1915-03-02

British vice adm Carden begins bombing of Dardanelles forts

1915-03-10

British Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle

1915-03-11

The British declare a blockade of all German ports

1915-03-18

Failed British attack in Dardanelles

1915-05-01

British liner Lusitania leaves NY for Liverpool

1915-05-17

Last liberal British government of Asquith falls

1915-06-09

US President Wilson sends the second Lusitania note to Germany demanding reparations and prevention of 'recurrence of anything so obviously subversive of the principles of warfare'; Wilson refuses to recognize the 'war zone' that Germany has proclaimed around the British Isles

1915-06-10

British/French troops conquer German colony of Cameroon

1915-06-16

The foundation of the British Women's Institute.

1915-06-21

Anti-British revolt in South Africa ends with arrest of General De Law

1915-07-03

After exploding a bomb in the US Senate reception room the previous day, Erich Muenter, an instructor in German at Cornell University, shoots JP Morgan for representing the British government in war contract negotiations

1915-07-10

British/South African troops march into German SW-Africa

1915-08-06

The British land more troops at Suvla Bay on the northern shore of Gallipoli in an effort to break the stalemate on the peninsula

1915-08-09

British attack at Chanak Bair at Gallipoli

1915-08-14

British transport Royal Edward sank by German U boat kills 1000

1915-08-19

British liner 'SS Arabic' sunk by German submarine without warning leaving Liverpool for New York; killing 44. Creates diplomatic incident

1915-08-25

The British decide to try capture Constantinople and force Turkey out of the war; 78,000 ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli

1915-09-01

The German ambassador to the US pledges again that German submarines will no longer sink liners without warning and providing safety of passengers and crew following the sinking of the British liner \'Arabic\'

1915-09-25

Battle of Loos commenced, lasted until 14th October. Chlorine gas deployed by the British was blown back into their own trenches: 59,000 British & 26,000 German casualties

1915-09-28

Battle of Kut-el-Amara: British defeat Turks in Mesopotamia

1915-09-29

British army conquerors Chilly al Imara, Mesopotamia

1915-10-08

Battle of Loos WWI, almost 430,000 French, British & Germans killed

1915-10-19

US bankers arrange a $500 million loan to the British and French

1915-12-28

Today the British Cabinet recognizes the true nature of the war by deciding to institute compulsory military service, with single men to be conscripted before married ones

1915-12-30

Cromarty Harbour, Scot-British cruiser Natal explodes: 405 die

1916-01-09

The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated.

1916-01-24

The Military Service Bill, calling for conscription of men for war services, passes in the British House of Commons

1916-03-12

French airship sinks British submarine D3

1916-04-09

The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans; Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection

1916-04-20

German-British sea battle off Belgian coast

1916-04-21

Sir Roger Casement, an Ulster Protestant and ardent Irish nationalist, lands on the coast from a German submarine; he attempts to get German aid for an uprising against the British

1916-04-21

The Aud, carrying a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans in staging what would become the 1916 Rising, is captured by the British Navy and forced to sail towards Cork Harbour

1916-04-24

Easter rebellion of Irish against British occupation begins

1916-04-27

The British renew their assault on the Irish Volunteer position in Mount Street; shelling also sets the buildings on fire

1916-05-04

Ned Daly, Willie Pearse, Michael O'Hanrahan and Joseph Plunkett are executed by British authorities following the Easter Rising, at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

1916-05-08

Irishmen Eamon Kent, Michael Mallin, Con Colbert and Sean Houston are executed by British authorities following the Easter Rising at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

1916-05-09

British-France Sykes-Picot meet over division of Turkey

1916-05-17

British Summer Time (Daylight Savings) introduced

1916-05-18

A British Royal Inquiry into the Easter Rising in Dublin is set up in London

1916-05-24

Last British-Indian contract workers arrive in Suriname

1916-05-31

Battle of Jutland (Skagerrak): naval battle betwwen British Grand Fleet and German High Seas Fleet: 10,000 die in this inconcluisve slaughter

1916-05-31

British battle cruiser HMS Invincible explodes, killing all but 6 (Battle of Jutland)

1916-07-01

British court martial (Easter uprising)

1916-07-01

First day of the Battle of the Somme: the British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)

1916-07-26

The US Protests the 'Blacklist' issued by the British forbidding trade with some 30 US firms

1916-08-04

The Turks attack the British line at Romani in the northern Sinai (WWI)

1916-08-21

Sir Roger Casement, an Ulster Protestant and ardent Irish nationalist, arrested by the British

1916-10-07

The German submarine U-53 arrives off Newport, Rhode Island, and sinks 9 British merchant ships in international waters

1916-11-03

Treaty establishes British suzerainity over Qatar

1916-11-13

British offensive at Ancre, Belgium

1916-12-07

British government of David Lloyd George forms

1916-12-07

David Lloyd George replaces resigning H. H. Asquith as British PM

1916-12-11

David Lloyd George forms British war government

1917-01-29

British submarine K13 leaves Gaire Loch

1917-02-21

British Mendi sinks off Isle of Wight, 627 die

1917-06-04

Most Excellent Order of British Empire inaugurated by King George V to recognise the efforts of his people in WW1

1917-07-09

British warship "Vanguard" explodes at Scapa Flow killing 804

1917-07-17

Royal Proclamation by King George V changes name of British Royal family from German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor

1917-07-22

British bomb German lines at Ypres, 4,250,000 grenades

1917-08-05

British troops attack canal of Ypres in Boesinghe Belgium

1917-09-20

British assault on Polygon Forest, France

1917-09-26

British assault on Menin-street, France

1917-10-04

British assault on Broodseinde, France

1917-10-17

1st British bombing of Germany

1917-10-30

British government gives final approval to Balfour Declaration

1917-11-07

British capture Gaza, Palestine, from Turks

1917-11-16

British occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa

1917-12-09

British forces under General Allenby capture Jerusalem

1917-12-23

3 British warships come close to Holland

1918-01-05

British premier Lloyd George demand for unified peace

1918-01-31

A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

1918-08-01

British troops enter Vladivostok

1918-08-08

WWI: The Battle of Amiens begins - Canada/Australian/British breakthrough with 600 tanks, The end of trench warfare

1918-08-17

British troops attack Baku, Azerbaijan

1918-10-15

British Q-ship Cymric sinks British submarine J6

1918-11-21

The German High Seas Fleet of 5 battlecruisers, 9 battleships, 7 cruisers and 49 destroyers surrendered to the British Grand Fleet and were shepherded into the Firth of Forth.

1919-01-02

Anti-British uprising in Ireland

1919-04-12

British Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages

1919-04-13

Amritsar Massacre-British Army fires on nationalist rioters in India

1919-04-13

British forces kill 100s of Indian Nationalists (Amritsar Massacre)

1919-05-12

The Transvaal British Indian Association calls a mass meeting to organise opposition to the proposed Asiatics (Land and Trading) Amendment Act; in the Act, Transvaal Indians are prohibited from owning shares in limited companies

1919-07-06

British R-34 lands in NY, 1st airship to cross Atlantic (108 hr)

1919-08-08

Treaty of Rawalpindi, British recognise Afghanistan's independence

1919-08-13

British troops open fire on demonstrators in Amritsar, India; killing 350

1919-09-04

British intervene in Petrograd

1919-09-14

British regime forbids Sinn Fein Dáil

1919-09-27

British troops withdraw from Archangelsk

1919-10-07

First London-Amsterdam airline service (British Aerial Transport & KLM)

1919-11-28

US-born Lady Astor elected first female member of British House of Commons

1919-12-01

Lady Nancy Astor sworn-in as 1st female member of British Parliament

1920-03-31

British parliament accepts Irish Home Rule law

1920-04-20

Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate

1920-04-24

British Mandate over Palestine goes into effect (lasts 28 years)

1920-07-01

55th British Golf Open: George Duncan shoots a 303 at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club

1920-07-23

British East Africa renamed Kenya & becomes a British crown colony

1920-08-10

Turkish government renounces its claim to Israel, recognizes British mandate

1920-12-17

British Empire receives League of Nations mandate to Nauru

1921-01-20

British submarine K5 leaves with man & mouse

1921-02-12

Winston Churchill becomes British Minister of Colonies

1921-02-18

British troops occupy Dublin

1921-03-31

British coal miners goes on strike

1921-05-24

British Legion forms

1921-05-27

After 84 years of British control, Afghanistan achieves sovereignty

1921-06-20

At the Imperial Conference in London, V.S. Srinivasa Sastri, the Indian representative, puts forward a case for the granting of full citizenship rights to Indians in South Africa and other British colonies; the South African Prime Minister, General J.C. Smuts, opposes Sastris resolution, claiming that he cannot grant the franchise to Indians while withholding it from Blacks

1921-06-25

56th British Golf Open: Jock Hutchison shoots a 296 at St Andrews

1921-08-24

British airship R-38 crashes in River Humber, 44 die

1921-11-13

US, France, Japan & British Empire sign a Pacific Treaty

1922-02-28

Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain

1922-03-18

British magistrates in India sentence Mahatma Gandhi to 6 years imprisonment for disobedience

1922-06-23

57th British Golf Open: Walter Hagen shoots a 300 at Royal St George

1922-09-11

British mandate of Palestine begins

1922-10-18

British Broadcasting Company (BBC) founded (later called British Broadcasting Corporation)

1922-11-15

British Conservative Party wins election; /Labour Party comes second

1922-11-16

Turkish kalief/sultan Mehmed VI asks British army for help

1922-11-17

The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed VI is expelled to Malta on British warship

1922-11-22

British Labour party selects Ramsay MacDonald as leader

1922-12-17

Last British troops leave Irish Free State

1922-12-24

BBC broadcasts 1st British radio play "Truth about Father Christmas"

1923-03-25

British government grants Trans-Jordan autonomy

1923-05-22

Stanley Baldwin succeeds Andrew Bonar Law as British premier

1923-06-15

58th British Golf Open: Arthur Havers shoots a 295 at Troon Golf Club

1923-07-18

British House of Lords accepts new divorce law

1923-09-12

Britain takes over Southern Rhodesia from British South Africa Co

1923-10-02

British occuping army leaves Constantinople

1923-12-08

Labour/Liberals win British parliament

1923-12-21

Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation

1924-03-06

British Labour government cuts military budget

1924-04-01

Crown takes over Northern Rhodesia from British South Africa Co

1924-04-23

British Empire Exhibition opens at Wembley

1924-06-24

59th British Golf Open: Walter Hagen shoots a 301 at Hoylake Hoylake

1924-08-08

British-Russian trade agreement signed

1924-10-08

British Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald falls to Conservatives

1924-10-29

Labour party loses British parliamentary election

1924-11-02

Sunday Express publishes first British crossword puzzle

1924-11-04

British Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns

1924-11-21

British premier Baldwin cancels Labour contract with USSR

1924-12-02

British-German trade agreement signed

1925-01-29

British Liberal Party chooses David Lloyd George as leader

1925-03-12

British government of Baldwin refuses to ratify Geneva agreement

1925-04-06

1st film shown on an airplane (British Air)

1925-05-01

Cyprus becomes a British Crown Colony

1925-05-21

George Lloyd, Baron Lloyd of Dolobran, becomes British High Commissioner in Egypt

1925-05-30

British mariners shoot on demonstrators

1925-06-23

British warship fires on Hong Kong harbor strikers

1925-06-26

60th British Golf Open: Jim Barnes shoots a 300 at Prestwick Golf Club

1925-11-06

British secret agent Sidney Reilly ('Ace of Spies') is executed by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union.

1926-05-01

British coal miners go on strike

1926-05-03

British general strike: 3 million workers support miners

1926-05-12

British general strike ends, but mine workers stay on strike

1926-06-25

61st British Golf Open: Bobby Jones shoots a 291 at Royal Lytham

1926-09-01

British Columbia Rugby Football Union forms

1926-11-19

British mine strikes after 28 weeks ends

1926-11-22

Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside British Commonwealth

1927-01-19

British government decides to send troops to China

1927-02-12

British expeditionary army lands in Shanghai

1927-02-19

General strike against British occupiers in Shanghai

1927-03-21

Guomindang Army conquerors Shanghai as British marines flee

1927-03-26

Gaumont-British Film Corporation forms

1927-05-01

1st British airliner to serve cooked meals (Imperial Airways)

1927-07-15

62nd British Golf Open: Bobby Jones shoots a 285 at St Andrews

1927-12-14

Iraq gains independence from Britain, but British troops remain

1928-05-11

63rd British Golf Open: Walter Hagen shoots a 292 at Royal St George's

1928-07-02

British parliament reduces the age at women can vote to 21 - the same as men (Representation of the People Act 1928)

1928-11-12

British steamer "Vestris" capsizes & sinks off Virginia, kills 110

1929-05-10

64th British Golf Open: Walter Hagen shoots a 292 at Muirfield Gullane

1929-09-17

British troops begin withdrawal from occupied Germany

1929-10-03

British Labour government recovers diplomatic relations with USSR

1929-10-07

Ramsay MacDonald is first British premier to address US Congress

1929-11-01

Lundy Island, part of British Isles, issue its own stamps

1930-03-12

Mohandas Gandhi begins 200m (300km) march protesting British salt tax

1930-04-18

Attempted raid on the armoury of police and auxiliary forces in Chittagong in Bengal province, British India by armed pro-independence revolutionaries led by Surya Sen popularly known as Master-da.

1930-04-22

British troops battle pro-independence revolutionaries in the Jalalabad hills near Chittagong in Bengal province, British India leaving 80 troops and 12 revolutionaries dead.

1930-06-20

65th British Golf Open: Bobby Jones shoots a 291 at Hoylake Hoylake

1930-10-05

British airship crashes in storm at Beauvais France, 48 die

1930-10-20

British White Paper restricts Jews from buying Arab land

1931-03-05

Gandhi & British viceroy Lord Irwin sign pact

1931-03-10

British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley

1931-03-26

New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies

1931-04-20

British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday

1931-06-05

66th British Golf Open: Tommy Armour shoots a 296 at Carnoustie Golf Links

1931-09-10

Lord Cecil of British government says War was never so improbable

1931-09-15

British naval fleet mutinies at Invergordon over pay cuts

1932-01-04

British East Indies Viceroy Willingdon arrests Gandhi & Nehru

1932-01-26

British submarine M-2 sinks in Channel (60 dead)

1932-03-01

12 pro-independence revolutionaries captured in and around Chittagong in Bengal province, British India are sentenced to deportation for life, two to three-year prison terms with the remaining 32 being acquitted.

1932-06-10

67th British Golf Open: Gene Sarazen shoots a 283 at Prince's England

1932-10-01

Oswald Mosley forms British Union of Fascists

1932-10-19

British government signs trade agreement with Soviet Union

1932-10-24

British government signs trade treaty with USSR

1932-12-19

British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas

1933-01-27

Otto Meisnner (Head of the German President's Office) dines with British ambassador Sir Horace Rumbold

1933-05-08

Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India.

1933-07-08

68th British Golf Open: Denny Shute shoots a 292 at Old Course at St Andrews

1934-06-29

69th British Golf Open: Henry Cotton shoots a 283 at Royal St George's Golf Club

1934-09-26

British liner Queen Mary is launched

1934-11-28

Winston Churchill tells British Premier Stanley Baldwin not to under estimate German air power

1935-05-06

British King George & Queen Mary celebrates silver jubilee

1935-06-03

One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario.

1935-06-28

70th British Golf Open: Alf Perry shoots a 283 at Muirfield

1935-11-13

Anti-British riots in Egypt

1936-01-20

Edward VIII succeeds British king George V

1936-03-11

British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin pardons five convicted Irish militants who promise to join growing conflict with Germany.

1936-04-01

Orissa constituted a province of British India

1936-05-16

1st British air hostess (Daphne Kearley) flight to France

1936-06-27

71st British Golf Open: Alf Padgham shoots a 287 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club

1936-12-10

Edward VIII signs Instrument of Abdication, giving up British throne to marry Wallis Simpson

1936-12-11

Edward VIII announces in a radio broadcast that he is abdicating the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson

1937-04-01

Aden becomes a British crown colony

1937-07-09

72nd British Golf Open: Henry Cotton shoots a 290 at Carnoustie Golf Links

1938-02-25

British Lord Halifax becomes Foreign Minister

1938-03-18

Pres Cardena of Mexico nationalizes US & British oil companies

1938-03-25

1st US bred and owned horse (Battleship) to win British Grand National Steeplechase

1938-07-08

73rd British Golf Open: Reg Whitcombe shoots a 295 at Royal St George's Golf Club

1938-08-26

British leaders & Arabians fight in Palestine

1938-09-15

British PM Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgarden

1938-09-17

British premier Neville Chamberlain leaves Munich

1938-09-23

British premier Neville Chamberlain flies to Munich

1938-09-27

British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth" launches at Clydebank Scotland

1939-03-28

Dutch hunter shoots down British bombers

1939-04-13

In India, the Hindustani Lal Sena (Indian Red Army) is formed and vows to engage in armed struggle against the British.

1939-04-16

Stalin requests British, French & Russian anti-nazi pact

1939-04-17

Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-Nazi pact

1939-05-19

Churchill signs British-Russian anti-Nazi pact

1939-05-23

British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949

1939-06-01

British submarine "Thetis" sinks in Liverpool Bay with all 99 aboard

1939-07-07

74th British Golf Open: Dick Burton shoots a 290 at St Andrews

1939-09-03

German submarine U-30, commanded by Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, sinks British passenger ship SS Athenia; 117 people die, among them 28 Americans

1939-09-11

British submarine Triton torpedoes British submarine Oxley

1939-09-14

British fleet attacks German U-39 boat

1939-09-17

German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die

1939-09-19

British Expeditionary Force reaches France

1939-09-20

British navy captures German U-27 boat

1939-10-14

German U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak, 833 killed

1939-12-02

British Imperial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC

1939-12-13

Battle of the River Plate - 3 British cruisers vs German pocket battleship Graf Spee

1940-02-07

British railroads nationalized

1940-02-14

British merchant vessel fleet is armed

1940-02-16

British search plane finds German Altmark off Norway

1940-02-17

Crew of the British destroyer Cossack board German Altmark in Jøssingfjord, Norway, and realised 299 British prisoners after hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and the last recorded Royal Naval action with cutlass.

1940-03-16

German air raid on British fleet base Scapa Flow

1940-03-19

Failed British air raid on German base at Sylt

1940-04-08

German battle cruisers sink British aircraft carrier Glorious

1940-04-15

British troops land at Narvik, Norway

1940-05-10

British Local Defence Volunteers forms (later renamed the Home Guard)

1940-05-10

Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister

1940-05-13

British bomb factory at Breda

1940-05-14

Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production

1940-05-16

British Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris

1940-05-20

German General Guderian's tanks reach the English Channel (British expeditionary army)

1940-05-27

British & French begin evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during WWII

1940-05-28

British-French troops capture Narvik, Norway

1940-06-03

Last British/French troop leave Dunkirk

1940-06-04

British complete the "miracle of Dunkirk" by evacuating 300,000 allies troops from France

1940-06-07

British/French troops evacuate Narvik

1940-06-08

Last British troops leave Narvik Norway

1940-06-11

British Premier Winston Churchill flies to Orleans

1940-06-11

World War II: British forces bomb Genoa and Turin in Italy.

1940-06-18

Winston Churchill's "this was their finest hour" speech urging perseverance during Battle of Britain delivered to British House of Commons

1940-06-21

The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia.

1940-07-02

British PM Churchill meets Major General Bernard Montgomery

1940-07-03

British Royal Navy sinks French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, to prevent Germany seizing it.

1940-07-04

British destroys French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 die

1940-07-11

British & German dogfight above Lyme Bay

1940-08-03

Italian troops invade British Somalia

1940-08-03

Seaplane Clare makes 1st British passenger flight to the US

1940-08-07

Largest amount paid for a stamp ($45,000 for 1 1856 British Guiana)

1940-08-11

German air raid on British harbors Portland/Weymouth

1940-08-12

Luftwaffe bombs British radar stations, loses 31 aircraft

1940-08-20

British PM Churchill says of Royal Air Force, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"

1940-08-25

First British night bombing of Germany (Berlin)

1940-09-23

-27] French/British assault on French fleet in Dakar, flees

1940-10-02

British Council receives Royal Charter

1940-10-02

British liner Empress loaded with refugees for Canada, sunk

1940-11-11

British Fleet Air Arm attack destroys half of Italian fleet at Taranto

1940-12-07

North Africa: British counter offensive under general O'Connor

1940-12-09

British assault on Banghazi Libya: 1st major offensive in North Africa

1940-12-10

British anti-offensive in Libya (Sidi Barrani)

1940-12-12

British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani

1940-12-16

British air raid on Mannheim

1940-12-17

British troops occupy Sollum, Egypt

1941-01-05

British/Australian troops conquer Bardia Lybia

1941-01-09

Maiden flight by Canada's British-built Avro Lancaster military plane

1941-01-19

British offensive in Eritrea

1941-01-19

British troops occupies Kassalaf Sudan

1941-01-21

Australian and British troops attack Tobruk, Libya

1941-01-21

British communist newspaper "Daily Worker" banned

1941-01-22

British/Australian troops capture Tobruk from Italians

1941-01-24

British troops march into Abyssinia

1941-02-04

British tanks occupy Maus, Libya

1941-02-06

British troops conquer Bengazi, Libya

1941-02-09

British troops conquer El Agheila

1941-02-22

Arthur "Bomber" Harris becomes British Air Marshal

1941-02-28

British-Italian dogfight above Albania

1941-03-07

50,000 British soldiers land in Greece

1941-03-07

British troops invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

1941-03-24

British troops defeat British Somalia

1941-03-28

Sea battle at Cape Matapan: British fleet under Cunningham defeats Italy

1941-04-06

British general Gambier-Parry caught in North Africa

1941-04-06

Italian held Addis Ababa surrenders to British & Ethiopian forces

1941-04-07

British generals O'Connor & Neame captured in North Africa

1941-04-17

British troop land in Iraq/Yugoslavia; surrender to nazis

1941-04-24

British army begins evacuation of Greece

1941-04-28

Last British troops in Greece surrender

1941-05-07

British House of Commons votes for Churchill (477-3)

1941-05-09

British Army breaks German spy codes

1941-05-10

British House of Commons & Holborn Theatre damaged in an air raid

1941-05-12

British forces march into Alexandria

1941-05-15

1st British turbojet flies

1941-05-15

British attack Halfaya-pass & Fort Capuzzo in Egypt & Libya

1941-05-22

British troops attack Baghdad

1941-05-24

Bismarck sinks British battle cruiser HMS Hood; 1,416 die, 3 survive

1941-05-27

German battleship Bismarck sunk by British naval force

1941-05-28

British army begins evacuation of Crete

1941-05-30

British Army enters Baghdad, chasing pro-German coup government

1941-05-31

British troops vacate Crete

1941-06-01

British troops occupy Bagdad, Iraq

1941-06-08

British & French troops overthrow pro-German Syria

1941-07-07

World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops.

1941-07-19

British PM Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign

1941-08-14

US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue the joint declaration that later becomes known as the Atlantic Charter

1941-08-25

British & Russian troops attack pro-German Iran

1941-09-11

Charles Lindbergh, charges "British, Jewish & Roosevelt administration" are trying to get US into WW II

1941-09-22

British signal officer Bill Hudson lands in Montenegro

1941-11-07

British air attacks on Berlin, Mannheim & Ruhrgebied

1941-11-14

British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sank in Mediterranean, having been torpedoed by a German submarine the day before

1941-11-18

British troops open attack on Tobruk, North Africa

1941-11-22

British cruiser Devonshire sinks German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis

1941-11-26

General Alan Cunningham relieved of command of British 8th Army in North Africa

1941-11-26

British troops conquer Belhamed, Sidi Rezegh & El Duda

1941-11-27

British 13th Army Corps reaches Tobruk

1941-12-01

British cruiser Devonshire sinks German sub Python

1941-12-06

Dutch & British pilots see Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore

1941-12-10

British battleship Prince of Wales sinks off Singapore

1941-12-13

U-81 torpedoes British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal

1941-12-14

U-557 torpedoes British cruiser Galatea

1941-12-23

British troops overrun Benghazi Libya

1941-12-25

Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong

1941-12-26

Winston Churchill becomes 1st British PM to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that Axis would "stop at nothing"

1942-01-03

American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command forms

1942-01-08

British Air Marshal Richard Peirse replaced as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Bomber Command

1942-01-12

British troops reconquer Sollum

1942-01-23

Tank battle at Adzjedabia, Africa Korp vs British 8th army

1942-02-15

WWII: British ruled Singapore surrenders to the Japanese

1942-03-03

1st combat flight for Canadian British-built Avro Lancaster bomber

1942-03-12

British troops vacate the Andamanen in Gulf of Bengal

1942-03-28

British naval forces raid Nazi occupied French port of St Nazaire

1942-03-29

British cruiser HMS Trinidad torpedoes itself in the Barents Sea

1942-03-29

British destroyer HMS Campbeltown explodes in St Nazaire: 400 Germans die

1942-05-05

British assault on Diego Suarez Madagascar

1942-05-16

1st transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma

1942-05-26

Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: Afrika Korps vs British army

1942-06-05

British offensive in North Africa under General Ritchie

1942-06-22

Jewish Brigade attached by British Army in WW II, forms

1942-06-25

British RAF staged a 1,000 bomb raid on Bremen Germany (WW II)

1942-06-25

British premier Winston Churchill travels from US to London

1942-06-26

German assault on British at Mersa Matruh

1942-08-04

British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Cairo

1942-08-05

British government cancels agreement of Munich

1942-08-08

"Monty" appointed commander of British 8th Army at Alamein

1942-08-08

British corvette HMS Dianthus sinks U-379

1942-08-10

Gen B Montgomery becomes commandant British 8th leader in N Africa

1942-08-11

British aircraft carrier Eagle torpedoed & sinks

1942-08-12

British premier Churchill arrives in Moscow, meets Stalin

1942-08-16

British Premier Winston Churchill travels back to Cairo from Moscow

1942-08-19

WWI: Over 4,000 Canadian & British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France

1942-08-23

British Premier Winston Churchill flies back to London from Cairo

1942-09-05

British & US bomb Le Havre & Bremen

1942-09-10

British troops lands on Madagascar

1942-10-07

US & British government announce establishment of United Nations

1942-10-24

Second day of battle at El Alamein: British infantry

1942-10-25

3rd day of battle at El Alamein: British offensive

1942-10-28

6th day battle at El Alamein: British offensive under Montgomery

1942-11-02

11th day of battle at El Alamein: British assault on Tel el Aqqaqir

1942-11-05

Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission

1942-11-08

Operation Torch; began as US and British forces under Eisenhower land in French North Africa

1942-11-10

US-British troops occupies Oran, Algeria

1942-11-20

British 8th Army recaptures Benghazi, Libya

1942-12-01

The Beveridge Report is published by the British government unveiling plans for a post-war welfare state

1942-12-25

British Col S W Bailey reaches Mihailovics headquarter

1943-01-13

British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Casablanca

1943-01-23

British 8th army marches into Tripoli

1943-01-30

6 British Mosquitos bomb Berlin in daylight

1943-02-10

British 8th Army sweeps through North Africa to Tunisia

1943-02-11

US General Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe; British General Montgomery not best pleased.

1943-02-16

British premier Winston Churchill gets pneumonia

1943-03-19

British 8th army opens assault on Mareth line, Tunisia

1943-03-30

British 1st army recaptures Sejenane

1943-04-06

British & US armies link up in Africa during WW II

1943-04-06

British offensive at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia

1943-04-07

British/US troops make contact at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia

1943-04-23

British & US offensive directed at Tunis/Bizerta

1943-05-06

British 1st army opens assault on Tunis

1943-05-07

British 11th Hussars occupy Tunis

1943-05-12

British premier Winston Churchill arrives in USA

1943-05-20

French, British & US victory parade in Tunis Tunisia

1943-05-28

British miliitary reaches Tito

1943-06-11

British invades Pantelleria (a tiny island south of Sicily)

1943-07-08

British air raid sinks U-232

1943-07-09

British air raid sinks U-435

1943-07-10

US, British and Canadian forces invade Sicily in WW II (Operation Husky)

1943-07-18

British assault on Catania Sicily

1943-07-27

772 British bombers attack Hamburg

1943-07-28

World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.

1943-08-04

British premier Churchill travels on the Queen Mary to Canada

1943-08-05

Sicily: 3 US A-36's bomb British headquarter

1943-08-17

498 British bombers attack Peenemunde

1943-09-03

British 8th Army lands in Southern Italy (Messina)

1943-09-04

British 8th Army lands at Taranto, South Italy

1943-09-09

US, British & French troops land in Salerno (operation Avalanche)

1943-09-10

British 8th army occupies Tarente

1943-09-22

British dwarf submarines attack Tirpitz

1943-10-03

British 8th army lands at Termoli, East Italy

1943-11-18

444 British bombers attack Berlin

1943-11-23

British Forces Broadcasting Service begins operation

1943-12-10

British 8th Army (1st Canadian Infantry Division) occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy

1943-12-26

British sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst

1944-01-02

1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol)

1944-01-10

British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma

1944-01-21

649 British bombers attack Magdeburg

1944-01-28

683 British bombers attack Berlin

1944-02-15

891 British bombers attack Berlin

1944-02-19

823 British bombers attack Berlin

1944-03-24

811 British bombers attack Berlin

1944-03-26

705 British bombers attack Essen

1944-03-30

781 British bombers attack Nuremberg

1944-04-03

British dive bombers attack battle cruiser Tirpitz

1944-04-04

British troops capture Addis Ababa Ethiopia

1944-05-14

British troops occupy Kohima

1944-05-21

Hitler begins attack on British/US "terror pilots"

1944-05-23

British and Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo, Italy

1944-05-29

British troops occupy Aprilia, Italy

1944-06-04

1st British gliders touch down on French soil for D-Day

1944-06-05

1st British gliders touched down on French soil for D-Day invasion

1944-06-12

British 12th airborne batallion and the 13th & 18th Hussars attack and capture Bréville

1944-06-22

British 14th Army frees Imphal Assam

1944-06-25

British assault at Caen, Normandy

1944-06-26

2nd British army reaches Grainville-Mouen line

1944-07-08

British troops march into Caen

1944-07-18

7:45 Operation-Goodwood: British assault east of Caen

1944-07-18

British air raid on German convoy SW of Helgoland

1944-07-18

British troops occupy Bourquebus hill range, Normandy

1944-07-20

British and Canadian troops occupy Hill 67/Ifs/Bras/Frenouville, Normandy

1944-07-20

Heavy storm hampers British offensive at Caen

1944-07-21

British premier Winston Churchill flies to France, meets Montgomery

1944-07-27

1st British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor)

1944-08-04

British 8th Army reaches suburbs of Florence, Italy

1944-08-11

British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Italy

1944-08-13

British 8th Army occupies Florence

1944-08-14

British premier Winston Churchill arrives at Corsica

1944-08-20

US & British forces destroy German 7th Army at Falaise-Argentan Gap

1944-09-03

Tank division of British Guards free Brussels

1944-09-04

British 11th Armoured Division frees Antwerp

1944-09-05

British premier Churchill travels to Scotland

1944-09-15

British bombers hit Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs

1944-09-17

British Premier Winston Churchill travels to US

1944-09-17

Operation Market Garden: British airborne division lands Arnhem Neth

1944-09-18

British submarine Tradewind torpedoes Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed

1944-09-21

Last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrenders

1944-09-26

British & Polish paratroopers evacuate Oosterbeek (Arnhem)

1944-09-28

Battle of Arnhem, Germans defeat British airborne in Netherlands

1944-10-04

British troops land on Greek continent

1944-10-09

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Russia for talks with Stalin

1944-10-14

British troops march into Athens

1944-10-19

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies back to London from Moscow

1944-11-01

World War II: Units of the British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands.

1944-11-05

Canadian & British troops liberate Dinteloord

1944-11-30

Biggest & last British Battleship HMS Vanguard runs aground

1944-12-03

British order to disarm causes general strike in Greece

1944-12-27

Greece: British premier Winston Churchill flies back to London

1945-01-03

British Premier Winston Churchill visits France

1945-01-14

In Greece, Communists and the British agree to a cease-fire in the struggle to control Athens (and with it Greece)

1945-01-21

British troops land on Ramree, near coast of Burma

1945-02-05

British premier Churchill arrives in Yalta, the Crimea

1945-02-21

British Army captures Goch

1945-02-22

British troops take Ramree Island, Burma

1945-03-01

British 43rd Division under Gen Essame occupies Xanten

1945-03-04

In the United Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, joins the British Auxiliary Transport Service as a driver.

1945-03-16

Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.

1945-03-19

British 36th division conquers Mogok (ruby mine)

1945-03-23

British 7th Black Watch crosses the Rhine

1945-03-24

Operation Varsity: British, US & Canadian airborne landings east of the Rhine

1945-03-26

British premier Winston Churchill looks over at the Rhine (near Ginsberg)

1945-03-27

British premier Churchill sails to eastern banks of Rhine

1945-04-15

British Army liberates Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen

1945-04-25

British troops reach Grebbe line Neth

1945-04-28

British commandos attack Elbe & occupies Lauenburg

1945-05-03

British troop join in Rangoon

1945-05-07

WWII: British troops enter Utrecht, Netherlands

1945-05-09

World War II: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British.

1945-05-23

British military police arrest Admiral Karl Doenitz

1945-05-23

German island of Helgoland in North Sea surrenders to British

1945-07-05

Labour Party wins British parliamentary election

1945-07-26

After Labour landslide in general election, Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister

1945-08-29

British liberate Hong Kong from Japan

1945-10-09

British troops occupy Andamanen in Gulf of Bengal

1946-02-21

Anti-British demonstrations in Egypt

1946-03-01

British government takes control of Bank of England, after 252 years

1946-03-15

British premier Attlee agrees with India's right to independence

1946-05-01

Field Marshal Montgomery appointed British supreme commander

1946-06-29

British mandatory government of Palestine arrests 100 leaders of Yishnuv

1946-07-01

Rajah cedes Sarawak to British crown

1946-07-05

75th British Golf Open: Sam Snead shoots a 290 at St Andrews

1946-07-15

British North Borneo Co transfers rights to British crown

1946-07-23

Menachem Begin's Zionist militant group Irgun bombs the King David Hotel, the then British administrative headquarters for Palestine

1946-08-23

Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Land (state) of Schleswig-Holstein.

1946-10-22

2 British ships sink near Albania

1947-01-10

British stop ships Independence & In-Gathering from landing in Israel

1947-02-07

Arabs & Jews reject British proposal to split Palestine

1947-06-03

British Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten visits Pakistan

1947-07-01

British Dominion Affairs office becomes Commonwealth Relations office

1947-07-04

76th British Golf Open: Fred Daly shoots a 293 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club

1947-07-18

British seize "Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine

1947-09-08

British government sails "Exodus" with fugitives from Nazis

1947-10-26

The British Military Occupation ends in Iraq.

1947-12-26

British transfer Heard & McDonald Is (Indian Ocean) to Australia

1948-01-01

British railways are nationalised to form British Rail.

1948-02-29

Stern-group bomb Cairo-Haifa train, 27 British soldiers died

1948-05-14

Israel declares independence from under British administration

1948-05-15

28 year old British Mandate over Palestine ends

1948-06-28

US/British airlift to West Berlin begins

1948-06-30

Last British troops leave Israel

1948-07-02

77th British Golf Open: Henry Cotton shoots a 284 at Muirfield

1948-09-08