From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UK-related events during the year of 1917
Events from the year 1917 in the United Kingdom . The year was dominated by the
First World War .
Incumbents
Events
Women's Land Army recruitment poster
January –
J. R. R. Tolkien , on medical leave from the
British Army at
Great Haywood , begins writing
The Book of Lost Tales (the first version of
The Silmarillion ), starting with the "
Fall of Gondolin "; thus Tolkien's
mythopoeic
Middle-earth
legendarium is first chronicled in prose.
[1]
[2]
19 January –
Silvertown explosion : a blast at a munitions factory in
London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2M-worth of damage.
[3]
25 January –
armed merchantman
SS Laurentic (1908) is sunk by mines off
Lough Swilly with the loss of 354 of the 475 aboard.
26 January – the sea defences at the village of
Hallsands ,
Devon are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable.
1 February –
Atlantic U-boat Campaign (World War I) : Germany announces its
U-boats will resume
unrestricted submarine warfare , rescinding the '
Sussex pledge '.
2 February – bread
rationing introduced.
[4]
21 February –
Elder Dempster Line
troopship
SS Mendi is accidentally rammed by SS Darro off the
Isle of Wight , killing 646, mainly members of the
South African Native Labour Corps .
February – formation of the
Women's Land Army , superseding the
Women's National Land Service Corps .
[5]
March – establishment of the
Imperial War Cabinet , a body composed of the chief British ministers and the prime ministers of the
Dominions (Australia,
Canada , New Zealand and South Africa) to set policy.
11 March –
World War I : British forces led by Sir
Stanley Maude
capture Baghdad , the southern capital of the
Ottoman Empire .
17 March – World War I:
Action of 17 March 1917 – German warships attack British naval patrols off the
Goodwin Sands (sinking
HMS Paragon (1913) ) and shell
Ramsgate and
Margate .
26 March – World War I:
First Battle of Gaza – British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
28 March – the
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps begins recruiting.
[4]
5 April – Food Hoarding Order issued to prevent households from hoarding food in short supply.
[6]
20–21 April – World War I: Second
Battle of Dover Strait : German
torpedo boats raid the
Dover Barrage .
6/7 May – World War I: bomb dropped on London by a fixed-wing aircraft (one death).
[7]
25 May – World War I: first daylight bombing raid on the UK by fixed-wing aircraft: 95 killed in
Folkestone area.
[7]
4 June – the Most Excellent
Order of the British Empire is established as an
order of chivalry by
George V under
letters patent .
[8]
[9]
7 June – World War I:
Battle of Messines in Flanders opens with the British Army detonating 19
ammonal
mines under the German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest deliberate non-nuclear man-made explosion in history, which can be heard in London.
13 June
1–7 July – first National Baby Week, a campaign for improved infant health.
9 July –
HMS Vanguard is blown apart by an internal explosion at her moorings in
Scapa Flow ,
Orkney , killing an estimated 843 crew with no survivors.
[10]
17 July
December: British troops on parade at Jaffa Gate after the capture of Jerusalem and occupation of southern Palestine
31 July–10 November – World War I:
Battle of Passchendaele ("Third Battle of Ypres"): Allied offensive in Flanders.
July – first
Cottingley Fairies photographs taken, apparently depicting fairies; a hoax not admitted by the child creators until 1981
1 August – Women's Forestry Service under Miss Rosamond Crowdy instituted under the Timber Supply Department of the
Board of Trade .
2 August –
Squadron Commander E. H. Dunning becomes the first pilot to land his aircraft on a ship
[11] when he lands his
Sopwith Pup on
HMS Furious in Scapa Flow but is killed five days later during another landing on the ship.
17 August – one of English literature's most important and famous meetings takes place when
Wilfred Owen introduces himself to
Siegfried Sassoon at
Craiglockhart War Hospital in
Edinburgh . Owen's war poems "
Anthem for Doomed Youth " and "
Dulce et Decorum est " are written at this time.
[12]
21 August – most provisions of
Corn Production Act 1917 come into force. This guarantees minimum prices for
wheat and
oats and specifies a minimum wage for agricultural workers.
12 September –
Gay Crusader completes the
English Triple Crown by finishing first in the
Derby ,
2,000 Guineas and
St. Leger , the latter being run as the September Stakes at
Newmarket because of the war.
17 September –
Constance Coltman becomes the first English woman ordained as a Christian minister in a mainstream denomination, the
Congregational Church , at the
King's Weigh House church in London.
1–4 October – White Lund explosions: blasts at
National Filling Factory No. 13, a munitions works near
Morecambe , kill 10.
[13]
5 October –
Sir Arthur Lee donates the country house
Chequers (in Buckinghamshire) to the nation;
[4] it is to be used as an official country residence for the
Prime Minister , the first recognition in law that such an office exists.
19 October – World War I: Last major German
Zeppelin raids: 11 airships spread across the country, killing 36 people, but 5 of the craft are lost on their return.
November – World War I: Some British troops are moved to the
Italian Front .
2 November –
Foreign Secretary
Arthur Balfour makes the
Balfour Declaration proclaiming British support for establishment of a
homeland for the Jewish people in
Palestine .
7 November – World War I:
Third Battle of Gaza ends – British forces capture
Gaza from the
Ottoman Empire .
16 November – British troops occupy
Tel Aviv and
Jaffa in
Palestine .
17 November –
People's Dispensary for Sick Animals established by
Maria Dickin .
20 November – World War I:
Battle of Cambrai begins
[4] – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
29 November –
Women's Royal Naval Service established.
[14]
11 December – World War I:
Battle of Jerusalem – General
Edmund Allenby leads units of the British
Egyptian Expeditionary Force into
Jerusalem on foot following the
Ottoman Empire 's surrender of the city.
25 December –
Dick, Kerr's Ladies F.C. plays its first match, in
Preston, Lancashire .
31 December – World War I: British government imposes
rationing of sugar (8 oz per person per week).
[15]
Undated
Publications
Births
1 January –
Celia Whitelaw, Viscountess Whitelaw , noblewoman, horticulturist and philanthropist (died 2011)
4 January –
Maurice Wohl , philanthropist (died 2007)
5 January –
Lucienne Day , textile designer (died 2010)
9 January –
Claud William Wright , civil servant and scientific expert (died 2010)
12 January
16 January
19 January
22 January –
Guy Millard , diplomat (died 2013)
27 January –
Tufton Beamish, Baron Chelwood , army officer and politician (died 1989)
1 February –
Maurice Levitas , academic and communist (died 2001)
2 February –
Mary Ellis , pilot (died 2018)
5 February
12 February –
Denis Eadie , Scottish World War II army officer and Military cross recipient (died 2015)
18 February –
Arthur Norman , industrialist (died 2011)
20 February –
Frederick Page , aircraft designer (died 2005)
22 February –
Jocelyn Herbert , stage designer (died 2003)
25 February –
Anthony Burgess , author (died 1993)
2 March
6 March –
Frankie Howerd , comedian and actor (died 1992)
7 March –
Reginald Maudling , politician (died 1979)
10 March –
Kenneth Boyd Fraser , virologist (died 2001)
12 March –
Googie Withers , actress (died 2011)
13 March –
Robert Mark , police officer (died 2010)
14 March –
Alan Smith , World War II spitfire fighter ace (died 2013)
20 March
22 March
23 March
24 March –
John Kendrew , molecular biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (died 1997)
25 March –
Allan Cameron , Scottish soldier and curler (died 2011)
29 March –
Ieuan Maddock , Welsh nuclear scientist (died 1988)
30 March –
Alec Stock , footballer (died 2001)
1 April –
Michel Donnet , military officer and RAF wing commander (died 2013)
4 April –
Peter Olver , World War II fighter ace (died 2013)
6 April –
Leonora Carrington , surrealist painter and fiction writer working in Mexico (died 2011)
9 April –
Basil Mitchell , philosopher (died 2011)
13 April
14 April
22 April –
Leo Abse , lawyer and politician (died 2008)
23 April
Bill Green , fighter pilot (died 2014)
29 April –
Shirley Becke , police officer (died 2011)
1 May –
Wendy Toye , dancer and actress (died 2010)
4 May –
C. K. Barrett , theologian (died 2011)
6 May –
Paul Weatherley , botanist (died 2001)
7 May –
David Tomlinson , actor (died 2000)
11 May –
Montague Woodhouse , politician (died 2001)
12 May –
Rita Barisse , writer and translator (died 2001)
14 May
18 May –
Dorrit Dekk , Czech-born graphic designer (died 2014)
20 May –
Ann Welch , glider pilot (died 2002)
21 May –
Frank Bellamy , comics artist (died 1976)
24 May
4 June –
John Walter Baxter , civil engineer (died 2003)
9 June –
Eric Hobsbawm , historian (died 2012)
10 June –
Ruari McLean , Scottish typographer (died 2006)
15 June –
Charles Chilton , writer, producer and presenter (died 2013)
21 June –
Leslie Shepard , author and archivist (died 2004)
[21]
23 June
24 June
25 June –
Arthur Bonsall , civil servant (died 2014)
26 June –
Willie Hamilton , politician (died 2000)
29 June –
Mary Berry , canoness, choral conductor and musicologist (died 2008)
1 July –
Humphry Osmond , psychiatrist (died 2004)
5 July –
Geraldine Mucha , Scottish composer (died 2012)
8 July –
Pamela Brown , English actress (died 1975)
10 July –
Reg Smythe , cartoonist (died 1998)
14 July –
Frank Vigar , English cricketer (died 2004)
17 July –
John Beech Austin , aviator (died 2012)
20 July –
Harold Faragher , English cricketer (died 2006)
23 July –
John Stokes , politician (died 2003)
27 July –
John Cunningham , World War II pilot and air ace (died 2002)
29 July –
Jake Saunders , banker (died 2002)
6 August –
Nigel Walker , criminologist (died 2014)
13 August –
Diana Collins , activist (died 2003)
14 August –
Cardew Robinson , comic actor (died 1992)
22 August –
Kent Walton , sports commentator (died 2003)
24 August –
Charles Causley , poet (died 2003)
30 August –
Denis Healey , politician and author (died 2015)
31 August –
Hugh McGregor Ross , computer scientist and theologian (died 2014)
3 September –
Anthony Robert Klitz , artist (died 2000)
7 September
13 September –
Osgood Hanbury , pilot (died 1943)
15 September –
Richard Arnell , composer (died 2009)
18 September –
Phil Taylor , footballer and manager (died 2012)
30 September –
Peter Malam Brothers , World War II pilot (died 2008)
2 October
8 October
10 October
13 October –
Denis Forman , Scottish television executive (died 2013)
18 October –
William Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston , politician (died 2004)
20 October –
Daphne Hardy Henrion , sculptor (died 2003)
21 October
22 October
25 October –
Don Clark , footballer (died 2014)
28 October –
Honor Frost , underwater archaeologist (died 2010)
7 November
12 November –
Leila Berg , children's author (died 2012)
15 November –
E. J. Mishan , economist (died 2014)
16 November –
John Forfar , Scottish paediatrician and academic (died 2013)
21 November –
Bill Cross , World War II soldier (died 2015)
22 November
24 November –
John Justin , actor (died 2002)
25 November –
William "Bill" Ralph Merton , military scientist and banker (died 2014)
28 November –
Marni Hodgkin , American-born book editor (died 2015)
29 November –
Pamela Rose , actress and
Bletchley Park indexer (died 2021)
[22]
30 November –
Bill Ash , American-born writer and broadcaster (died 2014)
6 December –
Tony Hibbert , army officer (died 2014)
9 December –
Eleanor Mears , medical practitioner and campaigner (died 1992)
[23]
12 December –
Fred Stansfield , Welsh footballer (died 2014)
15 December –
Douglas Allen, Baron Croham , politician and civil servant (died 2011)
16 December
20 December –
Billy Drake , World War II fighter pilot (died 2011)
21 December –
Diana Athill , author (died 2019)
22 December –
Freddie Francis , cinematographer (died 2007)
24 December –
Edward Crew , World War II air ace (died 2002)
27 December –
Derek Hodgkinson , air chief marshal (died 2010)
28 December –
John Moreton , diplomat (died 2012)
Deaths
2 January –
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor , anthropologist (born 1832)
8 January –
Sir George Warrender, 7th Baronet , admiral (born 1860)
29 January –
Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer , diplomat and colonial administrator (born 1841)
[24]
14 March –
Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn), member of the royal family (born 1860)
19 March –
Samuel Pasco , United States Senator from Florida from 1887 to 1899 (born 1834)
25 March –
John George Will , Scottish international rugby player (killed in action) (born 1892)
2 April –
Bryn Lewis , Wales international rugby player (killed in action) (born 1891)
9 April –
Edward Thomas , poet (killed in action) (born 1878)
13 May –
Sir Lambton Loraine, 11th Baronet , naval officer (born 1838)
16 May –
Robert Sandilands Frowd Walker , colonial administrator (born 1850)
18 May –
John Nevil Maskelyne , stage magician (born 1839)
26 June –
John Dunville , Army officer (killed in action) (born 1896)
31 July
7 August –
Edwin Harris Dunning , aviator (born 1892)
15 August –
Thomas Crisp , Victoria Cross recipient (born 1876)
30 August –
Alan Leo , astrologer (born 1860)
8 November –
Colin Blythe , cricketer (born 1879)
8 December –
Arthur Matthew Weld Downing , astronomer (born 1850)
14 December –
Phil Waller , Wales and British Lions rugby player (killed in action) (born 1889)
17 December –
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson , doctor and suffragist (born 1836)
See also
References
^
"J. R. R. Tolkien Chronology" . Retrieved 27 August 2013 .
^
Duriez, Colin (2012). J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend . Oxford: Lion. pp. 102–6.
ISBN
978-0-7459-5514-8 .
^ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher (1995). The London Encyclopaedia . Macmillan. p. 288.
ISBN
0-333-57688-8 .
^
a
b
c
d Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006.
ISBN
0-14-102715-0 .
^
"Women's organisations" . The Long, Long Trail .
Archived from the original on 19 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010 .
^
"On This Day – 5 April 1917" . firstworldwar.com . 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2014 .
^
a
b
c Castle, Ian (2010). London 1917–18: the bomber blitz . Oxford: Osprey.
ISBN
978-1-84603-682-8 .
^
"No. 30250" .
The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 24 August 1917. pp. 7791–7999. Statutes of the Order of the British Empire 24 August 1917.
^
"Order of the British Empire" . The Official Website of the British Monarchy . Retrieved 21 August 2012 .
^ Flett, Brian (11 July 2002).
"Research puts Vanguard loss at 843" . The Orcadian . Archived from
the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2010 .
^
"HMS Furious 1917" . 2006. Archived from
the original on 28 June 2006.
^ Like almost all of Owen's poetry, these remain unpublished until
1920 , after his death in action.
^
"The White Lund Explosions October 1–4th, 1917" . Heaton with Oxcliffe Parish Council. Retrieved 30 March 2019 .
^
"History of the Women's Royal Naval Service" . Association of WRENS. Archived from
the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2010 .
^ Cooper, Charlie (24 June 2014).
"Britons are forced to tighten their belts" .
The Independent . London. p. 17.
Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2014 .
^ Brewerton, Emma (12 December 2016).
"Ernest Rutherford" . New Zealand History . Retrieved 16 June 2017 .
^
Charles Glover Barkla The Nobel Prize in Physics 1917
^
"Oldest living Olympian Bill Lucas dies aged 101" . Mid Sussex Times . 4 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2019 .
^ Collins, Michael (8 May 2008).
"Professor Graham Higman: Leading group theorist" . The Independent . Obituaries. Retrieved 14 October 2008 .
^ Prasad, Raekha (11 May 2007).
"Obituary: Laurie Baker" . The Guardian . Retrieved 11 May 2022 .
^
"Leslie Shepard" . The Independent . 14 September 2004. Retrieved 18 July 2017 .
^
Pamela Rose obituary
^ Vaughan, Paul (23 September 2004). "Mears [née Loudon], Eleanor Cowie [Ellen Cowie] (1917–1992), medical practitioner and campaigner".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi :
10.1093/ref:odnb/47178 . (Subscription or
UK public library membership required.)
^ Grigg, John (2002) [1985]. Lloyd George: From Peace To War 1912-16 . Penguin. p. 436.
ISBN
0-140-28426-5 .