30 January – British troops remain in
Korea, where they have spent the last eighteen months, after a breakdown of talks aimed at ending the
Korean War.[6]
1 February – The first
TV detector van is commissioned in the UK as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 British households that watch television illegally without a licence.[7]
6 February – King
George VI dies at
Sandringham House aged 56 early this morning. It is revealed that he had been suffering from
lung cancer. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh who ascends to the throne as Queen
Elizabeth II.[8] The new Queen is on a visit to
Kenya at the time of her father's death and returns to London the following day. She will be the
longest-lived and
longest-reigning British monarch with a reign of 70 years.
8 February – Queen Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at
St James's Palace.[8]
31 March – Computer scientist
Alan Turing is convicted of "gross indecency" after admitting to a consensual homosexual relationship in Regina v. Turing and Murray. He consents to undergo oestrogen treatment to avoid imprisonment.
21 May –
Eastcastle Street robbery: a post office van is held up in the West End of London and £287,000 (worth £8,189,519 in 2019) stolen, Britain's largest post-war robbery up to this date;[12][13] the thieves are never caught.
24 July – Somali sailor
Mahmood Mattan, 28, is convicted of the murder of pawnbroker Lily Volpert, and sentenced to death at
Glamorgan Assizes; his conviction will be quashed 45 years later.[17]
16 August –
Lynmouth Flood: 34 people killed in a flood at
Lynmouth in
Devon. Many other people are injured and numerous buildings are damaged.[18]
3 September – Mahmood Mattan becomes the last person to be hanged at
Cardiff Prison.[19]
19 September – English film star
Charlie Chaplin, sailing to the United Kingdom with his family for the premiere of his film Limelight (London, 16 October), is told that by instruction of
J. Edgar Hoover he will be refused re-entry to the United States until he has been investigated by the U.S.
Immigration Service. He chooses to remain in Europe.[21]
29 September – The Manchester Guardian prints news, rather than advertisements, on its front page for the first time.
9 October –
Knowsley Hall shootings: Lady Derby and her cook are injured, and the butler and under-butler killed, when trainee footman Harold Winstanley fires a Schmeisser pistol at
Knowsley Hall in Lancashire. Winstanley flees and is later arrested.
29 November – First
GPOpillar box of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II to be erected in
Scotland, on the Inch housing estate in
Edinburgh, is attacked in protest at its bearing the
Royal Cipher of
Elizabeth II, considered historically incorrect in Scotland.[29]
4–9 December –
Great Smog blankets
London, causing transport chaos and, it is believed, around 4,000 deaths.[30]
16 December – Harold Winstanley, the perpetrator of the
Knowsley Hall shootings, is found guilty but insane at Manchester Assizes, and sentenced to detention at
Broadmoor Hospital.
25 December – The Queen makes her first Christmas speech to the Commonwealth.[32]
30 December – An RAF
Avro Lancaster bomber
crashes in
Luqa, Malta, after an engine failure, killing three crew members and a civilian on the ground.[33]
30 January – British troops remain in
Korea, where they have spent the last eighteen months, after a breakdown of talks aimed at ending the
Korean War.[6]
1 February – The first
TV detector van is commissioned in the UK as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 British households that watch television illegally without a licence.[7]
6 February – King
George VI dies at
Sandringham House aged 56 early this morning. It is revealed that he had been suffering from
lung cancer. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh who ascends to the throne as Queen
Elizabeth II.[8] The new Queen is on a visit to
Kenya at the time of her father's death and returns to London the following day. She will be the
longest-lived and
longest-reigning British monarch with a reign of 70 years.
8 February – Queen Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at
St James's Palace.[8]
31 March – Computer scientist
Alan Turing is convicted of "gross indecency" after admitting to a consensual homosexual relationship in Regina v. Turing and Murray. He consents to undergo oestrogen treatment to avoid imprisonment.
21 May –
Eastcastle Street robbery: a post office van is held up in the West End of London and £287,000 (worth £8,189,519 in 2019) stolen, Britain's largest post-war robbery up to this date;[12][13] the thieves are never caught.
24 July – Somali sailor
Mahmood Mattan, 28, is convicted of the murder of pawnbroker Lily Volpert, and sentenced to death at
Glamorgan Assizes; his conviction will be quashed 45 years later.[17]
16 August –
Lynmouth Flood: 34 people killed in a flood at
Lynmouth in
Devon. Many other people are injured and numerous buildings are damaged.[18]
3 September – Mahmood Mattan becomes the last person to be hanged at
Cardiff Prison.[19]
19 September – English film star
Charlie Chaplin, sailing to the United Kingdom with his family for the premiere of his film Limelight (London, 16 October), is told that by instruction of
J. Edgar Hoover he will be refused re-entry to the United States until he has been investigated by the U.S.
Immigration Service. He chooses to remain in Europe.[21]
29 September – The Manchester Guardian prints news, rather than advertisements, on its front page for the first time.
9 October –
Knowsley Hall shootings: Lady Derby and her cook are injured, and the butler and under-butler killed, when trainee footman Harold Winstanley fires a Schmeisser pistol at
Knowsley Hall in Lancashire. Winstanley flees and is later arrested.
29 November – First
GPOpillar box of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II to be erected in
Scotland, on the Inch housing estate in
Edinburgh, is attacked in protest at its bearing the
Royal Cipher of
Elizabeth II, considered historically incorrect in Scotland.[29]
4–9 December –
Great Smog blankets
London, causing transport chaos and, it is believed, around 4,000 deaths.[30]
16 December – Harold Winstanley, the perpetrator of the
Knowsley Hall shootings, is found guilty but insane at Manchester Assizes, and sentenced to detention at
Broadmoor Hospital.
25 December – The Queen makes her first Christmas speech to the Commonwealth.[32]
30 December – An RAF
Avro Lancaster bomber
crashes in
Luqa, Malta, after an engine failure, killing three crew members and a civilian on the ground.[33]