1916 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1916 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - George V of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith, coalition (until 5 December), David Lloyd George, coalition

Events

* 1 January - The Royal Army Medical Corps first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* 9 January - World War I: The last British troops evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevailed over of a joint British and French operation to capture Istanbul at the Battle of Gallipoli.
* 24 January - Conscription introduced by the Military Service Act.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 22 March - Marriage of Edith Bratt and J. R. R. Tolkien. They would serve as the inspiration for the fictional characters Lúthien and Beren.
* 24–30 April - Easter Rising in Ireland.
* 27 April - Battle of Hulluch in World War I, 47th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division decimated in one of the most heavily-concentrated gas attacks of the war.
* 21 May - daylight saving time introduced.
* 31 May–1 June - Battle of Jutland between the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1|pages=483]
* 5 June - HMS "Hampshire" sinks off the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with Lord Kitchener aboard.
* 1 July–18 November - More than 1 million soldiers die during the Battle of the Somme including 60,000 casualties for the British Commonwealth on the first day.
* 2 September - William Leefe-Robinson becomes the first pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain.
* 18 November - World War I: First Battle of the Somme ends. In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on 1 July.
* 7 December - Asquith resigns; Lloyd-George becomes Prime Minister.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 352-353|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 11 December - Lloyd-George establishes a War Cabinet.

Undated

* Gustav Holst composes "The Planets", Opus 32.

Publications

* John Buchan's novel "Greenmantle".

Births

* 9 January - Peter Twinn, mathematician and World War II code-breaker (died 2004)
* 2 February - Olaf Pooley, actor
* 14 February - Sally Gray, actress (died 2006)
* 15 February - Ernest Millington, politician
* 11 March - Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1995)
* 17 March - Ray Ellington, singer (died 1985)
* 20 May - Owen Chadwick, author and historian
* 31 May - Bernard Lewis, historian
* 8 June - Francis Crick, molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 2004)
* 23 June - Len Hutton, cricketer (died 1990)
* 1 July - Olivia de Havilland, actress
* 9 July - Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (doed 2005)
* 11 July - Reg Varney, actor
* 13 September - Roald Dahl, author (died 1990)
* 3 October - James Herriot, veterinarian and author (died 1995)
* 11 November - Robert Carr, politician
* 17 December - Penelope Fitzgerald, poet, essayist and biographer (died 2000)
* 19 December
** Roy Ward Baker, film director
** Jack Agazarian, World War II spy (died 1945)

Deaths

* 28 February - Henry James, author (born 1843, United States)
* 5 June - Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Field Marshal, diplomat and statesman (born 1850)
* 23 July - William Ramsay, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852)
* 13 November - Lanoe Hawker, fighter pilot (born 1890)
* 14 November - Saki, writer (born 1870)
* 5 December - Augusta of Cambridge, member of the Royal Family (born 1822)

References

ee also