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United Kingdom

island country in north-west Europe

126 dated entries naming United Kingdom, drawn from 87 separate years between 1654 CE and 2025 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.

Also written as U.K., United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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17th century

  • 16541 October – Formal diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom begins: The United Kingdom opens an embassy in Copenhagen. Denmark has an embassy in London.source

18th century

  • 1746January 17 – Battle of Falkirk Muir: British Government forces are defeated by Jacobite forces.source
  • 1777October 17 – American Revolution – Battle of Saratoga: British General John Burgoyne surrenders to the American troops.source

19th century

  • 1804May – In an attempt to maintain a British monopoly of trade in Australian waters Governor King prohibits the construction of unauthorised boats of more than fourteen feet long in New South Wales.source
  • 180712 August - Start of the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1813December 17 – A trade embargo comes into effect, aimed at New England merchants who have been supplying the British in Canadasource
  • 1814In the complex peace treaty, the Cape Colony is permanently taken from the Dutch by the United Kingdom.source
  • 1815January 3 – Austria, Britain, and Bourbon-restored France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.source
  • 1816March 1 – The Gorkha War between the United Kingdom and Nepal is ended after more than a year by the ratification of the Treaty of Sugauli, with Nepal ceding about one-third of its territory to British Indian control.source
  • 181927 January – The Indiana, together with the Discover and the Investigator with William Farquhar surveying the possibility of the Karimun Islands as a new British site. After a discussion, they decided that it was not suitable.source
  • 181930 January – An informal agreement was written between the Temenggong and the British and the Union Jack is raised with a little ceremony.source
  • 182017 March - The first British settlers arrive in Table Bay, Cape Town on the "Nautilus" and the "Chapman".source
  • 1820May 1 – The last judicial decapitation in the United Kingdom is meted out to the principals in the Cato Street conspirators after their public hanging for treason in London. Legally, the post-hanging beheading is a mitigation of the last sentence in Britain of "hanging, drawing and quartering".source
  • 1826June 20 – The Burney Treaty is signed in Bangkok between the United Kingdom and the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Siam, securing British power in southeast Asia.source
  • 183230 September - Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, commander of British troops in the Second Boer War, is born in Cawnpore, Indiasource
  • 1835The Voortrekkers start leaving the Cape Colony in what is called the Great Trek into the interior to escape British dominationsource
  • 184028 January – Simeon Lord, merchant and magistrate (born in the United Kingdom) (born 1771)source
  • 18411 May - Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin, acting Governor of the Cape Colony who supervised the arrival and settling of the British settlers and who founded Port Elizabeth, dies in Southampton, Englandsource
  • 1842War breaks out between the British and the Boers in Natal in the Battle of Congella.source
  • 1843December – Gwalior campaign was fought between the United Kingdom and Marathan forces in Gwalior in Indiasource
  • 1850The "Childe Herold", a British ship en route from Bombay to London is wrecked off Dassen Island, Cape Colonysource
  • 185226 February – The British troopship, HMS Birkenhead is wrecked near Gansbaai, Western Capesource
  • 1853January 20 – The United Kingdom proclaims its annexation of Lower Burma, ending the Second Anglo-Burmese War.source
  • 1855May 22 – In Australia, the province of Victoria (named for then reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria) to the southeast is separated administratively from the earlier larger province of New South Wales to the north.source
  • 1855June 15 – Stamp duty revenue tax is removed from British newspapers, creating free mass media thereafter in the United Kingdom.source
  • 185531 December – Sir Charles Hotham, 1st Governor of Victoria (born in the United Kingdom) (born 1806)source
  • 1865July 5 – The first speed limit is introduced in Britain: 2 mph in town and 4 mph in the country.source
  • 1868January 9 – Penal transportation from Britain to Australia ends, with arrival of the convict ship Hougoumont in Western Australia, after an 89-day voyage from England. There are 62 Fenians among the transportees.source
  • 1868March 12 – Basutoland is proclaimed a British Protectorate, becoming independent in 1966 as Lesotho.source
  • 1868March 12 – Basutoland is proclaimed a British Protectorate.source
  • 1870The first submarine telegraph cable from UK landed in Bombay.source
  • 1872December 4 – The crewless American-owned ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia in the Atlantic.source
  • 1878May 14 – Paul Kruger leads a second deputation to the United Kingdom to demand the freedom of the South African Republic.source
  • 1878December 11 – The British present an ultimatum to the Zulu king Cetshwayo, triggering the Anglo-Zulu War.source
  • 1879January 11 – Britain declares war against the Zulus and launches the Anglo-Zulu War after an ultimatum issued on 11 December 1878 is rejected.source
  • 1881August 3 – The Pretoria Convention peace treaty is signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and Britain.source
  • 1881August 3 – The Pretoria Convention peace treaty is signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and the Britain.source
  • 188127 August – the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act prohibits the sale of alcohol in Wales on a Sunday. This is the first act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, Great Britain or England since the 1542 Act of Union between England and Wales whose application is restricted to Wales.source
  • 18901 July — Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty. Germany receives Heligoland and the Caprivi Strip from the United Kingdom and a free hand to control and acquire the coast of Dar es Salaam. In return, Germany renounces its protectorate over Wituland (part of modern-day Kenya) and pledges not to interfere in the actions of the UK vis-à-vis the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The U.K. cedes sovereignty of the Heligoland archipelago to Germany.source
  • 18972 February – The Treaty of Washington between Venezuela and the United Kingdom is signed, towards the end of the Venezuelan crisis of 1895.source
  • 189828 March – The German Reichstag builds a battleship fleet from the Fleet Act, triggering an arms race at sea with the United Kingdom.source

20th century

  • 1901January 22 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. She is 81 years old and, having ruled for nearly 64 years, will be the second longest-reigning monarch in British history. Her eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, "Bertie", the longest-serving Prince of Wales to this time, succeeds his mother at the age of 59, reigning as King Edward VII, of the United Kingdom and in innovation the British Dominions and also becoming Emperor of India.source
  • 1901August 4 – Lieutenant-general Paul Methuen destroys the village of Schweizer-Reneke under the British scorched earth policy.source
  • 1906December 13 – The United Kingdom, France and Italy sign an agreement to preserve, in Ethiopia, the integrity of the ancient empire of Abyssinia.source
  • 1908May 26 – At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.source
  • 1908October 1 – Penny Post is established between the United Kingdom and United States.source
  • 1915April 26 – A secret pact, the Treaty of London or London Pact (Patto di Londra), is signed between the Triple Entente (the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire) and the Kingdom of Italy. According to the pact, Italy was to leave the Triple Alliance and join the Triple Entente. Italy was to declare war against Germany and Austria-Hungary within a month in return for territorial concessions at the end of the war to fulfil Italy’s irredentist claims.source
  • 1918June 16 – The Declaration to the Seven, a British government response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven Syrian notables, is published.source
  • 1924November 4 – Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom againsource
  • 192712 April – The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 renames the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The change acknowledges that the Irish Free State is no longer part of the Kingdom.source
  • 1931April 22 – Austria, the UK, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States recognize the Spanish Republic.source
  • 1933April 13 – The Children and Young Persons Act is passed in the United Kingdom. This raises the age of criminal responsibility from 7 to 8, raises the minimum age for capital punishment to 18, places restrictions on the identification in the press of persons under 18 appearing in court, sets a minimum full-time working age of 14 and makes it illegal to sell tobacco products to under-16s.source
  • 19393 September – The United Kingdom declared war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September.source
  • 194010 June – Count Ciano, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, relays Italy's declaration of war to André François-Poncet, the French Ambassador to Italy, declaring war on both the United Kingdom and France. This begins Italy's participation in World War II.source
  • 1940August 25 – WWII: The first Bombing of Berlin is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force.source
  • 194226 January – First United States troops for the European Theatre of World War II arrive in the United Kingdom at Belfast.source
  • 194327 July – World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The continued British bombing of Hamburg, initiates a firestorm. The fire rages through the night into the morning of the 28th, causing the majority of Operation Gomorrah's deaths.source
  • 1943October 30 — World War II: The Moscow Declaration is signed by the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union during the Moscow Conference.source
  • 1943December 2 – Fifteen atomic scientists, including Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, arrive from Britain to join the US atomic research project.source
  • 194523 May – President of Germany Karl Dönitz and Chancellor of Germany Count Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by British forces at Flensburg. They are respectively the last German Head of state and Head of government until 1949.source
  • 1945October 24 – The United Nations is founded by ratification of its Charter, by 29 nations including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Canada, Egypt, Brazil, Haiti, Luxembourg, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and others.source
  • 1946August 3 – A Canadian wheat agreement provided for British purchases of large amounts of Canadian wheat at prices considerably below the world market.source
  • 194727 February - United Nations Security Council Resolution 19 is passed. It creates a three-member subcommittee to examine the dispute over the Straits of Corfu between the United Kingdom and Albania and to make a report on these facts.source
  • 1947August 28 – The United States request the Korean issue to be handled by the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of China in a four-country conference.source
  • 1948August 1945 – 1948 – Due to Korea being under Japanese rule during World War II, Korea was considered an Axis belligerent against the Allies. The surrender of Japan led to the division of Korea into southern and northern occupation zones. The southern being administered by the United States and the area north of the 38th parallel being administered by the Soviet Union. The division was to be temporary and was meant to return a unified Korea back to its people after the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China could implement a single government for Korea. Due to differing opinions between the two parties on the implementation of Joint Trusteeship over Korea, two separate governments were established in 1948 with two opposing ideologies; the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the First Republic of Korea – both claiming to be the legitimate government of the entire Korean peninsula.source
  • 1952February 6 – Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. The princess, who is on a visit to Kenya when she hears of the death of her father, King George VI, aged 56, takes the regnal name Elizabeth II.source
  • 1953June 2 – Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, at Westminster Abbey.source
  • 1962August 31 – The Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes fully independent of the United Kingdom's British Empire.source
  • 1965January 8 – Adam Faith, a British pop singer, cancels his tour of South Africa because the South African government prohibited mixed audiences at concerts.source
  • 1967June 24 – Flooding kills six cavers in Mossdale Caverns in the United Kingdom, the single deadliest incident in British caving.source
  • 1969June 24 – The United Kingdom and Rhodesia sever diplomatic relations, after the Rhodesian constitutional referendum.source
  • 1970September 27 – Richard Nixon begins a tour of Europe, visiting Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.source
  • 1970September 27 – Richard Nixon begins a tour of Europe, visiting Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland.source
  • 197115 February – Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland both switch to decimal currency.source
  • 1972February – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom made her first official visit to Malaysia. She visited General Hospital at Kota Kinabalu. The hospital was then renamed in her honour (Hospital Queen Elizabeth). It is the only hospital in Malaysia named after her.source
  • 1973January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.source
  • 1973May 18 - Joseph Godber, British Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announces that Royal Navy frigates will protect British trawlers fishing in the disputed 50-mile limit round Iceland.source
  • 1974Skittles was created and released by a British company in the United Kingdom.source
  • 19746 April – Having won the previous year's competition, Luxembourg is offered the chance to host the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, but RTL turns down the opportunity on the grounds of cost. Thus, it is held in the United Kingdom instead. Representing Luxembourg, Ireen Sheer finishes fourth with the song Bye bye, I Love You.source
  • 1979January 1 – Following a deal agreed during 1978, French carmaker Peugeot completes a takeover of American manufacturer Chrysler's European operations, which are based in Britain's former Rootes Group factories, as well as the former Simca factories in France.source
  • 198336 anniversary of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan's independence from the United Kingdom.source
  • 1984January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.source
  • 1984March 12 – The National Union of Mineworkers strikes as tens of thousands of miners in the United Kingdom stop working in protest over colliery closures, starting the United Kingdom miners' strike that lasts a year.source
  • 1984April 17 – Metropolitan Police officer Yvonne Fletcher was fatally shot, during a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in London, leading to an eleven-day siege of the embassy, and the severing of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Libya.source
  • 1986March 3 – Full independence of Australia - Australia Act 1986: This law formally severed all legal ties between Australia and the United Kingdom.source
  • 19863 May – 21 people are killed and 41 are injured in an LTTE bombing of an Air Lanka flight set to fly to the Maldives. The attack was condemned by France and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1988June 21 – The Poole explosion of 1988 caused 3,500 people to be evacuated out of the town centre in the biggest peacetime evacuation the United Kingdom had seen since the World War II.source
  • 1990February 15 – The United Kingdom and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. The UK had severed ties in response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British Dependent Territory, in 1982.source
  • 1991March 15 – Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the U.K., the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.) relinquish all remaining rights to the country.source
  • 19942 June - 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash: A Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter carrying almost all the United Kingdom's senior Northern Ireland intelligence experts, crashes on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, killing all 25 passengers and 4 crew members.source
  • 1996July 5 – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland, UK.source
  • 1996December 11 – Tung Chee-hwa is appointed to become the new leader of Hong Kong after it reverts to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, at the end of a 99-year lease to the United Kingdom.source
  • 1999January 6 - Rebels and government forces continue to clash over the capital of Freetown. The United Kingdom encourages their citizens to leave Sierra Leone.source
  • 20001 October - Nigeria celebrates 40 years of independence from the United Kingdom.source

21st century

  • 2007June 29 – The iPhone, the first modern smartphone, is released in the United States. It is later released in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, and Austria, in November 2007.source
  • 2008November 2 – In a race won by Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, British driver Lewis Hamilton ends in 5th place in 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix and becomes the first black driver to win the Formula One World Championship, and the second youngest driver to achieve the feat at the age of 23.source
  • 2009August 14 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry that found evidence of government corruption.source
  • 2010November 29 – The European Union agree to an €85 billion rescue deal for Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility, the International Monetary Fund and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.source
  • 2013April 8 – Death of Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.source
  • 201329 August – Britain sends six Typhoon fighter jets to the country in order to guard against potential retaliation by the Assad regime in the event of air strikes against Syria.source
  • 2013November 12 – Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a series of portraits of Lucian Freud by the British painter Francis Bacon, sells for US$142.4 million in a New York City auction, setting a world record for an auctioned work of art.source
  • 2015Nineteen of the victims are revealed to be from other countries; fifteen from the United Kingdom and one each from Belgium, Portugal, Germany and Ireland.source
  • 2016June 23 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, triggering the so-called Brexit.source
  • 2017March 29 – The United Kingdom triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting the Brexit negotiations, the talks for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.source
  • 2018March 25 – Qantas launches direct non-stop Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights between Perth Airport and Heathrow Airport, making it the first commercially non-stop service between Australia and the United Kingdom.source
  • 2018April 14 – Syrian Civil War: The United States, the United Kingdom and France order the bombing of Syrian military bases in response to the sarin attack allegedly by the Bashar al-Assad regime on civilians in Ghouta.source
  • 2019May 13 – Prosecutors in Sweden reopen the rape allegation investigation against Julian Assange. Swedish prosecutors mention their intent to seek extradition of Assange from the U.K. after he has served his 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail.source
  • 2019June 3–5 – U.S. President Donald Trump makes a state visit to the U.K., meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May. It is the first official state visit to the U.K. by a sitting U.S. president since 2011. Trump also attends D-Day commemorative ceremonies.source
  • 2019July 19 – The Iranian Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps captures British tanker Stena Impero and temporarily seizes British-operated and Liberian-flagged tanker Mesdar in the Persian Gulf. The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warns there will be "serious consequences" if Iran does not release the tanker.source
  • 2020May 4 – A team of British and Kenyan scientists announce the discovery of Microsporidia MB, a parasitic microbe in the Microsporidia fungi group that blocks mosquitos from carrying malaria, potentially paving the way for the control of malaria.source
  • 2020June 3 – Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the UK will change immigration laws to offer a pathway to UK citizenship for all Hong Kong citizens who are eligible for BN(O) status if the government of China imposes new security laws on the territory.source
  • 2020September 17 – France, Germany, and the United Kingdom issue a joint note verbale to the United Nations rejecting China's claims to the South China Sea, and supporting the ruling in Philippines v. China that said the historic rights per the nine-dash line ran counter to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. However, the statement says that on "territorial sovereignty" they "take no position".source
  • 2020December 24 – The United Kingdom and the European Union agree to a comprehensive free trade agreement prior to the end of the transition period.source
  • 2021April 28 – The European Union approves the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, governing the relationship between the EU and UK after Brexit.source
  • 2021December 6 – The United States announces a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in response to China's human rights record. Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia join shortly after.source
  • 202214 February – The flag of Mauritius is raised on the British-controlled Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean for the first time in history. Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth describes the event as a "historic moment", saying that it was time for the United Kingdom to cede control of the archipelago.source
  • 2022May 6 – 2022 monkeypox outbreak: An outbreak of monkeypox begins when the first monkeypox virus case is reported in London, the United Kingdom.source
  • 2022September 8 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. Her son Charles III succeeds her as King.source
  • 20236 April – The International Court of Justice rules that the case of territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over Guayana Esequiba can proceed. Guyanese President Irfaan Ali welcomes the decision and commits Guyana to solve the dispute peacefully. Venezuela had earlier rejected the ruling, alleging that the case cannot be heard without the involvement of the United Kingdom, Guyana's former colonial power.source
  • 2023May 6 – The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.source
  • 2023May 9–13 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is held in Liverpool, UK. Swedish contestant Loreen wins with the song "Tattoo".source
  • 2023November 1 – The first AI Safety Summit takes place in the United Kingdom, with 28 countries signing a "world first agreement" on how to manage the riskiest forms of artificial intelligence.source
  • 202324 December – The United Kingdom announces that it will deploy the patrol vessel HMS Trent off the coast of Guyana amid Guyana's dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo region.source
  • 2024June 24 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves the United Kingdom after being freed from prison in a plea deal with the United States. He returns to his native Australia two days later.source
  • 2025January 24 – Storm Éowyn hits Ireland and the United Kingdom. Record high wind speeds of 183 km/h are recorded in Ireland, while over a million homes are left without power.source
  • 2025September 21 – The UK, Canada, and Australia announce their formal recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state, with France also doing so the next day.source

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