1909 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1909 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Edward VII
• Prime Minister – H. H. Asquith (Liberal)

Events

• 1 January – the first pensions are paid out under terms of the Old Age Pensions Act 1908, which provides for a non-contributory weekly sum of 5 shillings to be paid through post offices to people aged over seventy with a weekly income under 12 shillings but of 'good character'. Around 490,000 people are granted the pension during its first year.
• 9 January – Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole forced to turn back 112 miles from the pole.
• 23 January – the Tottenham Outrage, an armed robbery and the murder of a ten-year-old boy and a police constable in Tottenham, North London, carried out by two Latvian anarchists.
• 16 February – West Stanley Pit Disaster, a coal mining disaster in Stanley, County Durham, in which more than 160 miners are killed in an explosion.
• 22 February – Thomas Beecham conducts the first concert with his newly established Beecham Symphony Orchestra.
• 26 February – first film shown in colour using Kinemacolor at the Palace Theatre, London.
• March – construction of the Rosyth Dockyard for the Royal Navy on the east coast of Scotland begins.
• 6 March – Birkenhead dock disaster: a temporary cofferdam collapses during construction of Vittoria Dock, killing 14 navvies.
• 10 March – Anglo-Siamese Treaty signed in Bangkok.
• 15 March – Selfridges department store opens in London.
• 16 March – Port of London Authority established.
• 11 April – coming into effect of Children Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 67), establishing separate juvenile courts for 10–16-year-olds; abolishing the use of custody for under-fourteens and hanging for under-sixteens; introducing the registration of foster parents; and restricting access for under-16s to cigarettes and alcohol.
• 24 April – the FA Cup final is won by Manchester United for the first time, as they beat Bristol City 1–0 at Crystal Palace.
• 29 April – People's Budget introduced in the British Parliament by David Lloyd George.
• 2 May – John Moore-Brabazon becomes the first resident British citizen to make a recognised powered heavier-than-air flight in the UK, flying from The Aero Club's ground at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in his Voisin biplane Bird of Passage.
• 13 May – Lonmin is incorporated in the UK as the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company Limited.
• 26 May – the King's horse, Minoru, wins the Epsom Derby.
• 15 June – representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.
• 25 June – Herbert Samuel, is appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, making him the first practising Jew to serve as a member of the Cabinet.
• 26 June – Edward VII and Queen Alexandra open the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, designed by Aston Webb. The Science Museum, London, comes into existence as an independent entity.
• 27 June – Eric Gordon England flies a Weiss glider at Amberley, West Sussex, in the first recorded soaring flight, origin of sport gliding.
• July – Ivy Evelyn Woodward is admitted as the first woman Member of the Royal College of Physicians.
• 1 July – The British Indian army officer and politician Curzon Wyllie is shot dead at the Imperial Institute in South Kensington, London, and a bystander fatally wounded; the assassin, Madan Lal Dhingra, an Indian nationalist student, is subsequently sentenced to death and hanged at Pentonville Prison on 17 August.
• 25 July – Louis Blériot flies a Blériot XI monoplane across the English Channel from Calais to Dover, winning a prize of £ from the Daily Mail.
• 23 August – the Secret Service Bureau counter-espionage unit (later known as MI5) is secretly established.
• 3 September – the first Boy Scout rally held at The Crystal Palace in London.
• 17 September – militant suffragette Mabel Capper is among the first to suffer force-feeding while on hunger strike, at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham.
• 20 September – Labour Exchanges Act leads to setting up of labour exchanges as a source of information on employment.
• 2 October – the first match is played at the Rugby Football Union's Twickenham Stadium in Middlesex, Harlequins v. Richmond.
• 15–23 October – "Aviation week" of demonstration flying held at Doncaster; this is followed by a similar event at Blackpool.
• 20 October – the Trade Boards Act, a form of minimum wage legislation, is passed.
• 5 November – the first Woolworth's branch in the UK opens in Liverpool.
• 8 November – first contest for a Lonsdale Belt in boxing, won by Welsh lightweight Freddie Welsh in London.
• 30 November – the House of Lords rejects the People's Budget proposed by David Lloyd George, forcing a general election.
• 3 December – the SS Ellan Vannin sinks in Liverpool Bay resulting in the loss of all 15 passengers and 21 crew.
• 4 December – the University of Bristol is founded and receives its Royal Charter.
• 7 December – South Africa granted dominion status.
• Undated – First British bird ringing programme initiated by Arthur Landsborough Thomson at Aberdeen.

Publications

• Florence Barclay's novel The Rosary.
• Angela Brazil's schoolgirl story The Nicest Girl in the School.
• Daniel Jones' introductory The Pronunciation of English.
• H. G. Wells' novels Ann Veronica and Tono-Bungay.

Births

• 24 January – Martin Lings, Islamic scholar (died 2005)
• 26 January – Alexander King, chemist (died 2007)
• 28 January – Geoff Charles, photojournalist (died 2002)
• 29 January
• Phoebe Hesketh, poet (died 2005)
• George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy, politician, speaker of the House of Commons (died 1997)
• 9 February
• Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson, historian (died 2002)
• Heather Angel, actress (died 1986)
• 10 February – Irene Calvert, politician and economist (died 2000)
• 24 February – Ethel MacDonald, activist (died 1960)
• 28 February – Stephen Spender, poet (died 1995)
• 14 March – W. Montgomery Watt, Anglican priest and professor (died 2006)
• 26 March – Martin Hodgson, rugby league footballer (died 1991)
• 6 April - Katherine Russell, social worker and university teacher (died 1998)
• 7 April – Robert Raglan, actor (died 1985)
• 26 April – Rodney Collin, writer (died 1956)
• 30 April – F. E. McWilliam, sculptor (died 1992)
• 5 May – Sonia Dresdel, actress (died 1976)
• 11 May – Herbert Murrill, organist and composer (died 1952)
• 15 May – James Mason, actor (died 1984)
• 16 May – Charles Wilson, political scientist (died 2002)
• 18 May – Fred Perry, tennis player (died 1995)
• 19 May – Nicholas Winton, humanitarian (died 2015)
• 26 May – Matt Busby, football manager (Manchester United) (died 1994)
• 31 May – John Spencer Churchill, painter, sculptor and stockbroker (died 1992)
• 5 June – Marion Crawford, educator, governess to Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) (died 1988)
• 7 June – Jessica Tandy, actress (died 1994)
• 12 June – Tom Steele, Scottish-born American actor and stuntman (died 1990)
• 18 June – Christabel Bielenberg, writer (died 2003)
• 28 June – Eric Ambler, novelist and playwright (died 1998)
• 3 July – Sylvia Gray, businessperson (died 1991)
• 4 July – Robert Manuel Cook, classical scholar (died 2000)
• 5 July – Douglas Dodds-Parker, soldier and politician (died 2006)
• 7 July – Richard Turnbull, colonial governor (died 1998)
• 10 July – Donald Sinclair, naval officer and hotel owner, inspiration for Fawlty Towers (died 1981)
• 16 July – Bernard Gadney, English rugby union player (died 2000)
• 19 July – Percy Stallard, cyclist (died 2001)
• 28 July
• Malcolm Lowry, novelist (died 1957)
• Brenda de Banzie, actress (died 1981)
• 30 July – C. Northcote Parkinson, historian and author (died 1993)
• 13 August – Brian Lawrance, Australian-born bandleader (died 1983)
• 21 August – Ethel Caterham, supercentenarian, last surviving person in the UK born in the 1900s decade
• 25 August – Michael Rennie, actor (died 1971)
• 28 August – Ralph Kilner Brown, athlete, politician and judge (died 2003)
• 9 September – Setsuko, Princess Chichibu, née Matsudaira, Japanese princess consort (died 1995)
• 12 September – Chili Bouchier, actress (died 1999)
• 14 September – Peter Scott, ornithologist and painter (died 1989)
• 23 September
• Molly Harrison, museum curator (died 2002)
• Susan Travers, World War II nurse (died 2003)
• 6 October – Robert Potter, architect (died 2010)
• 24 October – Elwyn Jones, Baron Elwyn-Jones, barrister and politician, Lord Chancellor (died 1989)
• 28 October – Francis Bacon, painter (died 1992)
• 6 November – Elizabeth Douglas-Home, spouse of the prime minister (died 1990)
• 8 November – Eric Bedford, architect (died 2001)
• 17 November – E. S. Turner, author and journalist (died 2006)
• 19 November – Griffith Jones, actor (died 2007)
• 23 November – Nigel Tranter, historian and writer (died 2000)
• 30 November – Nancy Carline, artist (died 2004)
• 1 December – Frank Gillard, radio broadcaster (died 1998)
• 4 December
• Edward Britton, trade unionist (died 2005)
• Jimmy Jewel, comedian and actor (died 1995)
• 8 December – Lesslie Newbigin, bishop and theologian (died 1998)
• 10 December – F. W. Walbank, scholar of Greek history (died 2008)
• 15 December – Jack Gwillim, actor (died 2001)
• 22 December – Patricia Hayes, character actress (died 1998)
• 23 December
• Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 2000)
• Maurice Denham, actor (died 2002)
• 27 December – Neal Arden, actor (died 2014)

Deaths

• 8 January – Harry Seeley, palaeontologist (born 1839)
• 14 January – Arthur William à Beckett, journalist (born 1844)
• 24 February – Fanny Cornforth, artists' model (born 1835)
• 1 April – Sir Marshal Clarke, Anglo-Irish colonial administrator (born 1841)
• 10 April – Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet (born 1837)
• 13 April – Sir Donald Currie, Scottish shipping magnate (born 1825)
• 12 May – Sir Hugh Gough, general, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1833 in British India)
• 18 May – George Meredith, novelist and poet (born 1828)
• 31 May – Thomas Price, Welsh-born Prime Minister of South Australia (born 1852)
• 10 June – Aylmer Cameron, Scottish army officer, VC recipient (born 1833)
• 22 June – Edward John Gregory, painter (born 1850)
• 1 July – Curzon Wyllie, soldier and politician (murdered) (born 1848)
• 9 July
• George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, politician (born 1827)
• Rosa Nouchette Carey, children's writer (born 1840)
• 1 August – Sir Hugh Rowlands, Welsh general, first Welsh Victoria Cross recipient (born 1828)
• 14 August – William Stanley, inventor, precision engineer (born 1829)
• 22 August – Henry Radcliffe Crocker, dermatologist (born 1846)
• 25 October – Arthur Bromley, British Royal Navy officer, Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard (born 1847)
• 9 November – William Powell Frith, painter (born 1819)
• 10 November – George Essex Evans, Welsh-Australian poet (born 1863)
• 11 December – Ludwig Mond, industrialist (born 1839)
• 13 December – Sir Alfred Lewis Jones, shipping magnate (born 1845)

See also

• List of British films before 1920

References