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British Empire

overseas possessions of England and later the United Kingdom (1607–1997)

30 dated entries naming British Empire, drawn from 27 separate years between 1583 CE and 1962 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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16th century

  • 1583August 5 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on the site of the modern-day city of St. John's, claims the island of Newfoundland on behalf of England, marking the beginning of the British Empire.source

18th century

  • 1752January 1 – The British Empire (except Scotland, which had changed New Year's Day to January 1 in 1600) adopts today as the first day of the year as part of adoption of the Gregorian calendar, which is completed in September: today is the first day of the New Year under the terms of last year's Calendar Act of the British Parliament.source
  • 1761January 16 – In India, the Siege of Pondicherry ends as the British Empire captures Pondichéry from the French colonial empire.source
  • 1786August 11 – Captain Francis Light acquires the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah on behalf of the British East India Company, renaming it Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir to the British throne, and establishing the settlement of George Town. This is the first colony of the British Empire in Southeast Asia.source

19th century

  • 1806January 18 – The Dutch Cape Colony capitulates to British forces, the origin of its status as a colony within the British Empire.source
  • 1807March 25 – The United Kingdom Slave Trade Act becomes law abolishing the slave trade in most of the British Empire with effect from 1 May (slavery itself is abolished in British colonies in 1833).source
  • 1833August 28 – The British Slavery Abolition Act 1833, beginning the process of giving slaves in much of the British Empire their freedom, receives royal assent, with an effective date of August 1, 1834. A £20 million fund is established to compensate slaveowners.source
  • 1834August 1 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire, by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.source
  • 1838August 1 – Most former slaves in the British Empire are released from apprenticeships, giving them full emancipation under terms of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.source
  • 1840August 1 – Remaining former slaves in the British Empire are released from apprenticeships under terms of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.source
  • 1857June 26 – At a ceremony in London, Queen Victoria awards the first 66 Victoria Crosses to British troops, for actions during the Crimean War.source
  • 1861August 6 – Lagos Treaty of Cession between the British Empire and Dosunmu, Oba of Lagos, by which the latter, under threat of military bombardment, cedes Lagos Island to Britain, whilst retaining his title and powers, subject to English law, and allowing the British Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron to have a base there to prevent the slave trade.source
  • 1867July 1 – Canadian Confederation: The British North America Act of 29 March comes into force, creating the Dominion of Canada, the first independent dominion in the British Empire.source
  • 1885March 30 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident, which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.source
  • 1887June 20 – The British Empire celebrates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, marking the 50th year of her reign.source
  • 1887October 1 – The British Empire takes over Balochistan.source
  • 1897June 22 – The British Empire celebrates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, marking the 60th year of her reign. No other British monarch will celebrate such a jubilee until Victoria's great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II in 2012.source

20th century

  • 1903July 7 – Britain take over the Fulani Empire.source
  • 1904August 3 – British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa, Tibet.source
  • 1914August 4 – World War I: German invasion of Belgium – At 08:02 (local time) Imperial German Army troops enter Belgium, bringing the July Crisis to a climax. At 23:00 (GMT) the British entry into World War I takes place when King George V in London declares war on Germany for this violation of Belgian neutrality (protected by the Treaty of London (1839)) and especially to defend France. This means a declaration of war by the whole British Empire against the German Empire. The United States declares neutrality.source
  • 1916January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored and cooled.source
  • 1916January 12 – The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, part of the British Empire, is established in modern-day Tuvalu and Kiribati.source
  • 1916July 1–November 18 – WWI: Battle of the Somme, opening with explosion of the British Y Sap and Lochnagar mines and the Battle of Albert: More than one million soldiers die, with 57,470 British Empire casualties on the first day, 19,240 of them killed, the British Army's bloodiest day. The immediate result is tactically inconclusive.source
  • 1919November 11 – The first Remembrance Day is observed in the British Empire with a two-minute silence at 11:00 hours.source
  • 1920March 15–16 – Constantinople is occupied by British Empire forces, acting for the Allied Powers against the Turkish National Movement. Retrospectively, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey regards this as the dissolution of the Ottoman regime in Istanbul.source
  • 1922April 24 – The first portion of the Imperial Wireless Chain, a strategic international wireless telegraphy network created to link the British Empire, is opened, from the UK to Egypt.source
  • 1942The Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942, to help establish a military and political alliance between the USSR and the British Empire, is signed in London by foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.source
  • 1947August 14 – The Muslim majority regions formed by the Partition of India gain independence from the British Empire as the Dominion of Pakistan. While the transition is officially at midnight on this day, Pakistan celebrates its independence on August 14, compared with India on the 15th, because the Pakistan Standard Time is 30 minutes behind the standard time of India.source
  • 1949March 31 – The former British colony of Newfoundland joins Canada, as its 10th province.source
  • 1962August 31 – The Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes fully independent of the United Kingdom's British Empire.source

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