1915 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1915 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - George V of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith, Liberal and coalition

Events

* 1 January - Sinking of the battleship HMS "Formidable", off Lyme Regis, Dorset, by a German U-Boat.
* 19 January - German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn for the first time, killing more than 20.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 24 January - Battle of Dogger Bank: British Grand Fleet defeats the German High Seas Fleet, sinking the armoured cruiser "Blücher".
* 1 February - Photographs required in passports for the first time.
* 14 March - World War I: Off the coast of Chile, the Royal Navy forced the German light cruiser SMS "Dresden" to scuttle.
* 14 March - Britain, France and Russia agree to give Constantinople and the Bosporus to Russia in case of victory (the treaty is later nullified by the Bolshevik revolution).
* 18 March - World War I: British attack on the Dardanelles fails.
* 7 May - World War I: The RMS "Lusitania" is sunk by a German U-boat killing 1,198.
* 17 May - The last purely Liberal government ends when Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith forms an all party coalition.
* 22 May - Quintinshill rail crash in Scotland, 200 killed.
* 31 May - Zeppelins raid London for the first time.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 351-352|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 16 June - Foundation of the British Women's Institute.
* 6 September - The first prototype tank is tested by the British Army for the first time.
* 11 September - first Women's Institute meeting held in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Wales.
* 21 September - Cecil Chubb acquires Stonehenge at an auction for £6600.
* 12 October - World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.
* 20 October - Women recruited as bus and tram conductors.

Undated

* William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg win the Nobel Prize in Physics "For their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays." [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1915/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915|accessdate=2008-01-28]

Publications

* John Buchan's novel "The Thirty-nine Steps".
* Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel "The Valley of Fear".
* Ford Madox Ford's novel "The Good Soldier".
* D. H. Lawrence's novel "The Rainbow".
* W. Somerset Maugham's novel "Of Human Bondage".
* P. G. Wodehouse's first Blandings Castle novel, "Something Fresh".

Births

* 23 January - Arthur Lewis, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991)
* 30 January - John Profumo, cabinet minister (died 2006)
* 1 February - Sir Stanley Matthews, footballer (died 2000)
* 4 February - Sir Norman Wisdom, comedian, singer, and actor
* 11 February - Patrick Leigh Fermor, author and soldier
* 19 February - John Freeman, politician
* 9 March - John Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson, pilot (died 2001)
* 31 March - Albert Hourani, historian (died 1993)
* 15 May - Hilda Bernstein, English-born author, artist, and activist (died 2006)
* 20 May - Peter Copley, actor
* 24 June - Sir Fred Hoyle, astronomer (died 2001)
* 22 August - Hugh Paddick, actor (died 2000)
* 28 August - Max Robertson, sports commentator
* 22 September - Arthur Lowe, actor (died 1982)
* 13 October - Terry Frost, artist (died 2003)
* 16 November - Maurice Oldfield, intelligence chief (died 1981)

Deaths

* 14 January - Richard Meux Benson, founder of an Anglican religious order (born 1824)
* 15 January - Mary Slessor, Christian missionary (born 1848)
* 4 March - William Willett, inventor of Daylight Saving Time (born 1856)
* 15 March - George Llewelyn-Davies, one of the 'Lost Boys' who inspired "Peter Pan" (born 1893)
* 31 March - Wyndham Halswelle, runner (born 1882)
* 23 April - Rupert Brooke, poet (born 1887)
* 26 July - James Murray, lexicographer (born 1837)
* 12 October
** Edith Cavell, nurse (born 1865)
** Charles Sorley, poet (born 1895)
* 23 October - W. G. Grace, cricketer (born 1848)

References

ee also