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Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during the First World War

This is a timeline of the British home front during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. This conflict was the first modern example of total war in the United Kingdom; innovations included the mobilisation of the workforce, including many women, for munitions production, conscription and rationing. Civilians were subjected to naval bombardments, strategic bombing and food shortages caused by a submarine blockade.

1914

  • 4 August: Germany invades Belgium to outflank the French army.
  • British Government protests the violation of Belgian neutrality, guaranteed by the Treaty of London; German Chancellor replies that the treaty is just a chiffon de papier (a scrap of paper).
  • The United Kingdom declares war on Germany.
  • British mobilisation: The Army and Navy Reserves are "called out" and the Territorial Force is "embodied" by Royal Proclamation.
  • 5 August: The Aliens Registration Act 1914 was introduced, compelling German immigrants in the United Kingdom to register with the police and making provision for the deportation or internment of those deemed to be a particular risk.
  • "Your King and Country need you: a call to arms" is published by Lord Kitchener, the new Secretary of State for War, calling for 100,000 men to enlist in the army. This figure is achieved within two weeks allowing six new divisions to be formed from these volunteers, to be called Kitchener's Army. From December 1914, battalions can be recruited from a specific locality, known as "Pals battalions". By March 1915, a total of 41 new divisions have been raised.
  • 6 August: Currency and Bank Notes Act 1914 authorises the issue of paper £1 and 10 shilling notes.
  • 7 August: The British Expeditionary Force arrives in France.
  • 8 August: The Defence of the Realm Act 1914 (widely known as "DORA") is passed, imposing, censorship and security controls on the civil population.
  • 12 August: The United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary.
  • 16 August: The British Government announces an amnesty for Suffragettes, following the suspension of militant action by Women's Social and Political Union and other groups.
  • September: German businesses in Britain are shutting down, for example the Münchener Löwenbräu London Depot.
  • November: First "dilution" agreement between the Engineering Employers Federation and trades unions, allowing unskilled workers (including women) to take on some of the roles usually reserved for skilled workers.
  • 19 November: The Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps is recognised by the War Office, legitimising the many town guards and local defence companies that have been formed illegally around the country.
  • December: Registration of Belgian refugees in Britain begins. More than 200,000 civilians had arrived since August; they were hosted by communities across the country, managed by more than 2,500 local Belgian refugee committees.
  • 3 December: The No Conscription Fellowship is formed.
  • 16 December: A squadron of German battlecruisers and other warships conduct a raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, resulting in 137 deaths and 592 casualties, most of whom are civilians.

1915

  • 9 January: Kaiser Wilhelm II authorises airship raids on the United Kingdom, excluding London.
  • 19 January: The first air raid over Britain. Two German Navy Zeppelin airships drop bombs and incendiaries over Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in Norfolk; four civilians are killed and sixteen injured.
  • 12 February: The Kaiser authorises airship raids on the London Docks.
  • 18 February: The Kaiser authorises an unrestricted submarine blockade of the United Kingdom.
  • 16 March: Defence of the Realm (Amendment) (No 2) Act allows the government to force engineering firms to accept contracts for war related work.
  • 27 March: Commander-in-Chief of the BEF, Sir John French gave an interview to The Times highlighting the shortage of artillery ammunition at the front. This scandal was to become known the Shell Crisis.
  • 16 April: A single German Albatros B.II aircraft bombs Sittingbourne and Faversham in Kent; the first raid by an aeroplane. There are no casualties.
  • 7 May: The sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania by a U-boat, with the loss of 1,198 passengers and crew, provokes anti-German riots in London and other cities. Mobs target shops and businesses owned by Germans or those with German surnames.
  • 26 May: Prime Minister H. H. Asquith announces his new ministry, a coalition government with the Conservative Party. David Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions, relieving Kitchener of that aspect of his role. Churchill is relieved of control of the Admiralty following the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign.
  • 31 May: First air raid on London; an Army Zeppelin dropped bombs over north and east London killing seven civilians.
  • July: Women's War Agricultural Committees established to encourage more women to work on the land.
  • 2 July: The Munitions of War Act 1915 becomes law, regulating the wages, hours and conditions of munitions workers. It becomes an offence for a worker to leave employment at a "Controlled Establishment" without the consent of the employer.
  • 15 July: National Registration Act 1915 was passed, requiring all men and women between the ages of 15 and 65 to register their address.
  • 17 July: Emmeline Pankhurst leads a "Women's Right to Serve" demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London.
  • 3 September: Lieutenant Leefe Robinson flying a BE2 biplane, shoots down the first German airship over British soil. The Schütte-Lanz SL 11, which had been bombing north London and St Albans, crashed in flames at Cuffley in Hertfordshire. For this action Lieutenant Robinson was awarded the Victoria Cross.
  • 16 October: Start enrolment for the Derby Scheme which encouraged men of military eligibility to voluntarily attest their willingness to join the armed forces at a later date. After attesting, men were placed on the Class B army reserve list until required. In return, they received a day's army pay and a khaki brassard which they could wear with their civilian clothes.
  • 15 December: Finish of the Derby Scheme (originally planned for 30 November); although 2,950,514 men had attested, enlisted or tried to enlist during the scheme, a further 2,060,927 eligible men had refused to do so, increasing pressure for conscription.

1916

  • 2 March: Military Service Act 1916 comes into force, introducing compulsory conscription in Great Britain but not Ireland. Men from 18 to 41 years old were liable to be called up for service in the army unless they were married, widowed with children, serving in the Royal Navy, a minister of religion, or working in one of a number of reserved occupations. Local Military Service Tribunals could grant exemption from service, usually conditional or temporary.
  • 2 April: An explosion at a munitions factory in Faversham kills 115 workers.
  • 24–29 April: Easter Uprising by Irish Nationalists in Dublin.
  • 21 May: Daylight saving introduced in Britain, to save fuel for lighting and encourage longer working hours.
  • 5 June: Lord Kitchener dies when the cruiser, HMS Hampshire, which is carrying him to Russia, hits a mine and sinks off the coast off the coast of Scotland. Lloyd George succeeds him as Secretary of State for War.
  • 10 August: London première of The Battle of the Somme, giving audiences their first realistic impression of a modern battlefield. It is estimated that 20 million Britons had seen the film during the first six weeks of its release.
  • 5 December: Lloyd George resigns as Minister of War, after Asquith fails to agree Lloyd George's plan for a new "War Council", prompting Asquith's resignation as Prime Minister the next day.
  • 7 December: David Lloyd George forms a new coalition government.
  • 22 December: The first Ministry of Food was established under a food controller who, under the New Ministries and Secretaries Act 1916, was empowered to regulate the supply and consumption of food and take steps for encouraging food production. The Ministry was dissolved on 31 March 1921.

1917

1918

  • January: Women's Royal Naval Service is established.
  • 1 January: Food rationing on certain items introduced in Birmingham, soon followed by other major towns and cities.
  • 5 January: Lloyd George makes his War Aims speech to trades union leaders, setting out the government's terms for peace with the Central Powers.
  • 16 February: First 1,000 kilogram (2,205 pound) bomb is dropped on London during the twelfth night bomber raid.
  • 25 February: Start of rationing of meat and fats in London and the Home Counties.
  • 1 April: Women's Royal Air Force is established.
  • 18 April: Military Service (No. 2) Act 1918 extends conscription up to age 50 and to residents of Ireland; although the latter is never implemented because of the Conscription Crisis.

Notes

References

  • Beckett, Ian Frederick William (1985), A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War, Manchester University Press 1985,
  • Beckett, Ian Frederick William (2006), Home Front 1914–1918: How Britain Survived the Great War, The National Archives,
  • Castle, Ian and Hook, Christa (2010), London 1917–18: The Bomber Blitz, Osprey Publishing,
  • Doyle, Peter (2012), First World War Britain, Shire Books
  • White, Jerry (2014), Zeppelin Nights: London in the First World War , Bodley Head,