1900 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1900 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
January
- 3 January â Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert capsizes while being floated out of dry dock at Pembroke Dock on completion of her construction.[1]
- 9 January â influenza outbreak in London.
- 24 January â Second Boer War: Boers repel British troops under General Sir Redvers Buller at the Battle of Spion Kop.[2]
- 31 January â the Gramophone Company copyrights the His Master's Voice illustration.[3]
February
- 5 February â the UK and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal through Nicaragua.
- 6 February â a House of Commons vote of censure over the government's handling of the Second Boer War is defeated by a majority of 213.
- 8 February â Second Boer War: British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
- 12 February â meeting held at Mile End in London to protest against the Boer War ends in an uproar.
- 14 February â Second Boer War: 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State in South Africa.
- 27 February
- Second Boer War: British military leaders in South Africa receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé.
- Creation of the Labour Party; Ramsay MacDonald is appointed its first secretary.[4]
- 28 February â Second Boer War: the 118-day Siege of Ladysmith is lifted.[4]
March
- 3 March â official inauguration of the Boundary Estate, Shoreditch, London; Britain's first council estate to be commenced (10 years previously).[5]
- MarchâSeptember â War of the Golden Stool fought against the Ashanti Empire.
April
- 1 April â Irish Guards formed by Queen Victoria.
- 4 April
- An anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium for the birthday celebrations of the King of Belgium.
- Queen Victoria arrives in Dublin on her fourth and last visit to Ireland.
- 23 Aprilâ12 May â the Automobile Club of Great Britain stages a Thousand Mile Trial, a reliability motor rally over a circular route between London and Edinburgh.[6]
- 24 April â the Daily Express newspaper is published for the first time.[4]
May
- 14 Mayâ28 October â Great Britain and Ireland compete at the Olympics in Paris and win 15 gold, 6 silver and 9 bronze medals.
- 17 May â Second Boer War: Siege of Mafeking ends.[4]
- 18 May â the UK proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
June
- 5 June â Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria, South Africa.
July
- 19â21 July â Bernard Bosanquet first bowls a googly in first-class cricket, playing for Middlesex against Leicestershire at Lord's.[7]
- 27 July â Louise, Princess Royal, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, marries Alexander Duff, Earl of Fife, in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace, London; 2 days later he is created Duke of Fife, the last Dukedom created in Britain for a person who is not a son, grandson or consort of the Sovereign.
- 30 July
- The Duke of Albany becomes Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as Carl Eduard following the death of his uncle, Duke Alfred, a son of Queen Victoria who is the third of the reigning monarch's children to die.
- Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act prohibits children under the age of thirteen from working in mines.[8]
August
- 8 August â Great Britain loses to the United States in the first Davis Cup tennis competition.[4]
- 14 August â an international contingent of troops under British command invades Peking and frees Europeans taken hostage during the Boxer Rebellion.
- 27 August â British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal.
September
- 3 September â West Bromwich Albion F.C. move into The Hawthorns, a new stadium on the border of West Bromwich and Handsworth.[9]
- 12 September â The Prince of Wales's horse Diamond Jubilee completes the English Triple Crown by finishing first in the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and St Leger, ridden by Herbert Jones.
October
- 3 October â Edward Elgar's choral work The Dream of Gerontius receives its first performance, in Birmingham Town Hall.
- 25 October â Second Boer War: United Kingdom annexes Transvaal.[4]
November
- 22â14 November 1903 â strike of Welsh slate workers at Penrhyn Quarry.[10]
December
- 3 December â the Conservative Party under Lord Salisbury wins the 'Khaki' general election. Winston Churchill becomes a Member of Parliament for the first time, elected for Oldham; and two Labour candidates are successful: Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby.[11]
- 15 December â the three lighthouse keepers on Flannan Isle disappear without a trace
- 28 December â the Liverpool barque Primrose Hill is wrecked on South Stack off Holyhead with the loss of 33 lives.[12]
- 31 December â a storm causes a stone and a lintel to fall at Stonehenge; they are restored in 1958.[4]
Undated
- Beer Scare: beer drinkers in North West England suffer poisoning from arsenic in brewing sugars: 6,000 people affected and 70 killed.[13]
- Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers formed by the amalgamation of 24 cement companies.[14]
- William Harbutt of Bathampton begins commercial production of Plasticine modelling clay.
Publications
- Ernest Bramah's oriental fantasy stories The Wallet of Kai Lung.
- Joseph Conrad's novel Lord Jim.
- Maurice Hewlett's historical novel The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay.[15]
- Gertrude Jekyll's book Home and Garden: notes and thoughts, practical and critical, of a worker in both.
- Arthur Quiller-Couch's anthology The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250â1900.
- H. G. Wells' novel Love and Mr Lewisham.
Births
- 1 January
- Roger Maxwell, film actor (died 1971)
- Lillian Rich, silent film actress (died 1954)
- 2 January â Una Ledingham, physician, specialist in diabetes mellitus and pregnancy (died 1965)[16]
- 4 January â William Young, World War I veteran (died 2007)
- 9 January â Eve Garnett, writer and illustrator (died 1991)
- 20 January â Dorothy Annan, painter, potter and muralist (died 1983)
- 23 January â William Ifor Jones, composer (died 1988)
- 6 February â Guy Warrack, Scottish-born conductor (died 1986)
- 12 February
- Robert Boothby, politician (died 1986)
- Fred Emney, comic performer (died 1980)
- 20 February â Bernard Knowles, cinematographer and screenwriter (died 1975)
- 3 March
- Edna Best, stage, film and early television actress (died 1974 in Switzerland)[17]
- Basil Bunting, modernist poet (died 1985)
- 15 March â Frances Partridge, writer (died 2004)
- 29 March â Margaret Sinclair, Scottish-born nun (died 1925)
- 31 March â Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (died 1974)
- 3 April â Albert Ingham, mathematician (died 1967)
- 9 April â Mary Potter, painter (died 1981)
- 19 April â Richard Hughes, novelist (died 1976)
- 22 April â Nellie Beer, Conservative politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (died 1988)[18]
- 24 April â Elizabeth Goudge, novelist (died 1984)[19]
- 25 April â Gladwyn Jebb, acting Secretary-General of the UN (died 1996)
- 30 April â Cecily Lefort, World War II heroine, spy for SOE (executed 1945 in Germany)
- 2 May â A. W. Lawrence, Classical archaeologist (died 1991)
- 5 May â Harold Tamblyn-Watts, comic strip artist (died 1999)
- 10 May â Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, astronomer and astrophysicist (died 1979 in the United States)[20]
- 27 May â Ethel Lang, supercentenarian (died 2015)
- 29 May â David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir, Scottish-born politician, lawyer and judge, Lord Chancellor (died 1967)
- 30 May â Gerald Gardiner, Lord Chancellor (died 1990)
- 6 June
- Arthur Askey, comedian (died 1982)
- Lester Matthews, actor (died 1975)
- 17 June â Evelyn Irons, Scottish-born journalist, war correspondent (died 2000)[21]
- 25 June
- Philip D'Arcy Hart, medical researcher, pioneer in tuberculosis treatment (died 2006)
- Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Admiral of the Fleet and last Viceroy of India (assassinated 1979 in Ireland)
- 26 June â John Benham, 400m runner (died 1990)
- 30 June â James Stagg, Scottish-born meteorologist (died 1975)
- 2 July
- Tyrone Guthrie, theatre director (died 1971 in Ireland)
- Sophie Harris, theatre and opera costume and scenic designer (died 1966)
- 10 July â Evelyn Laye, actress (died 1996)
- 4 August â Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen consort of George VI and later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (died 2002)
- 17 August â Vivienne de Watteville, adventurer (died 1957)[22]
- 19 August â Gilbert Ryle, philosopher (died 1976)
- 23 August â Bella Reay, footballer (died 1979)
- 27 August â Frank Moody, Welsh boxer (died 1963)
- 25 August â Isobel Hogg Kerr Beattie, Scottish architect (died 1970)[23]
- 4 September â Maxwell Knight, spymaster and naturalist (died 1968)
- 8 September â Tilly Devine, organised crime boss (died 1970 in Australia)[24]
- 9 September â James Hilton, novelist and screenwriter (died 1954 in the United States)
- 11 September â Jimmy Brain, footballer (died 1971)
- 12 September â Eric Thiman, composer (died 1975)[25]
- 1 October â Tom Goddard, cricketer (died 1966)
- 2 October â Isabella Forshall, paediatric surgeon (died 1989)
- 6 October â Stan Nichols, cricketer (died 1961)
- 8 October â Geoffrey Jellicoe, landscape architect (died 1996)
- 9 October â Alastair Sim, character actor (died 1976)
- 14 October â Roland Penrose, Surrealist painter and art collector (died 1984)
- 16 October â Edward Ardizzone, painter, printmaker and author (born in Vietnam; died 1979)
- 5 November â Ethelwynn Trewavas, ichthyologist (died 1993)[26]
- 18 November â Mercedes Gleitze, distance swimmer (died 1981)
- 20 November â Helen Bradley, painter (died 1979)[27]
- 22 November â Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and novelist (died 1980)
- 30 November â Geoffrey Household, novelist (died 1988)
- 4 December â John Axon, railwayman hero (killed in accident 1957)
- 16 December â V. S. Pritchett, short story writer (died 1997)
- 17 December â Mary Cartwright, mathematician (died 1998)[28]
- 22 December â Alan Bush, pianist, composer and conductor (died 1995)
- 26 December â Evelyn Bark, humanitarian, leading member of the Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (died 1993)[29]
- Robina Addis, psychiatric social worker (died 1986)[30]
- Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah, born Elizabeth Louise MacKenzie, Scottish writer as Morag Murray Abdullah (died 1960)
Deaths
- 20 January
- R. D. Blackmore, novelist (born 1825)[31]
- John Ruskin, writer and social critic (born 1819)
- 21 January â Francis, Duke of Teck, a cousin-in-law of Queen Victoria (born 1837)
- 22 January â David Edward Hughes, musician and professor of music (born 1831)
- 31 January â John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, nobleman and boxer (born 1844)
- 6 February â Sir William Wilson Hunter, colonial administrator, statistician and historian (born 1840 in Scotland)
- 23 February
- William Butterfield, architect (born 1814)
- Ernest Dowson, poet (born 1867)
- 6 March â Ada Williams, baby farmer and murderer, hanged (born c.1875)
- 10 March â George James Symons, meteorologist (born 1838)
- 16 March â Sir Frederic William Burton, painter and curator (born 1816 in Ireland)
- 24 April â George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, politician (born 1823)
- 4 May â Augustus Pitt Rivers, ethnologist and archaeologist (born 1827)
- 12 May â Frederika Perceval, last surviving child of assassinated Prime Minister Spencer Perceval (born 1805)[32]
- 28 May â Sir George Grove, writer on music and the Bible and civil engineer (born 1820)
- 3 June â Mary Kingsley, explorer, in Cape Colony (born 1862)
- 14 June â Catherine Gladstone, widow of Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone and philanthropist (born 1812)[33]
- 30 July â Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Duke of Edinburgh), second eldest son of Queen Victoria, in Germany (born 1844)[34]
- 28 August â Henry Sidgwick, philosopher (born 1838)
- 31 August â Sir John Bennet Lawes, agricultural scientist (born 1814)
- 19 September â Anne Beale, novelist (born 1816)
- 9 October â John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist and architectural patron (born 1847)[35]
- 16 October â Sir Henry Acland, physician (born 1815)
- 22 November â Sir Arthur Sullivan, composer (born 1842)
- 29 December â John Henry Leech, entomologist (born 1862)
- 30 November â Oscar Wilde, playwright, writer and poet, in France (born 1854 in Ireland)