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United Kingdom

island country in north-west Europe

64 dated entries naming United Kingdom, drawn from 47 separate years between 1746 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.

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18th century

  • 1746January 17 – Battle of Falkirk Muir: British Government forces are defeated by Jacobite forces.source

19th century

  • 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
  • 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
  • 1853January 20 – The United Kingdom proclaims its annexation of Lower Burma, ending the Second Anglo-Burmese War.source
  • 1855June 15 – Stamp duty revenue tax is removed from British newspapers, creating free mass media thereafter in the United Kingdom.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
  • 1865July 5 – The first speed limit is introduced in Britain: 2 mi/h km/h in town and 4 mi/h km/h 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
  • 1881August 3 – The Pretoria Convention peace treaty is signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and Britain.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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 1940August 25 – WWII: The first Bombing of Berlin is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force.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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 1973January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.source
  • 1974Skittles was created and released by a British company in the United Kingdom.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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 1986March 3 – Full independence of Australia - Australia Act 1986: This law formally severed all legal ties between Australia 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
  • 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
  • 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

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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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 kph 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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