Events

  • 685: Battle of Dun Nechtain checks Northumbrian power

    On 20 May 685, a Pictish force led by Bridei defeated a Northumbrian army led by King Ecgfrith at the Battle of Dun Nechtain, also known as Nechtansmere. Ecgfrith was killed in the fighting. That made the battle more than a failed expedition. Northumbria was one of the strongest kingdoms in northern Britain, and Ecgfrith’s…

  • 1043: Edward the Confessor is crowned at Winchester

    Edward the Confessor was crowned king at Winchester on 3 April 1043. The ceremony made the kingship public. It did not remove every difficulty. Edward had already been king for months when he was crowned at Winchester on Easter Day, 3 April 1043. Harthacnut, his half-brother, had died in 1042, and Edward had succeeded him…

  • 1199: King John is crowned at Westminster Abbey

    John was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey on 27 May 1199. His brother Richard I had died the previous month after being wounded in France. John now took the crown. The ceremony gave him public recognition in England, but his claim was open to challenge. John was Richard’s younger brother. Arthur of Brittany,…

  • 1216: Prince Louis lands in Kent to challenge King John

    On 21 May 1216, Prince Louis of France landed at Thanet in Kent with an army. He came into a kingdom already broken by civil war. Less than a year earlier, King John had agreed to Magna Carta at Runnymede. The agreement had not restored peace. John rejected the limits placed on him, the rebel…

  • 1217: Second Battle of Lincoln helps secure Henry III’s cause

    On 20 May 1217, royalist forces relieved Lincoln Castle and defeated a French-backed rebel army during the First Barons’ War. The battle came two years after Magna Carta, but England was still unsettled. King John had died in 1216, leaving his nine-year-old son, Henry III, as king. That changed the war. The quarrel over John’s…

  • 1298: Edward I defeats William Wallace at Falkirk

    On 22 July 1298, an English army led by Edward I defeated William Wallace’s Scottish forces near Falkirk. It was Edward’s largest military success in Scotland, but it did not end the war. Wallace had become Guardian of Scotland after the Scottish victory at Stirling Bridge in September 1297. The English army there had attempted…

  • 1337: Philip VI confiscates Guyenne from Edward III

    On 24 May 1337, Philip VI of France declared Edward III’s lands in Guyenne forfeit. The act was legal in form, but political in effect. Edward was king of England, yet he held land in south-west France as Duke of Aquitaine. For that land, he owed duties to the French king. The arrangement left him…

  • 1381: Peasants’ Revolt begins at Brentwood

    On 30 May 1381, resistance to the poll tax broke out in Brentwood, Essex. The government was trying to raise money for the war with France. The poll tax had already caused anger because it was difficult to avoid and fell on many ordinary people. When officials came to investigate unpaid taxes in Essex, they…

  • 1403: Henry IV Defeats Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury

    On 21 July 1403, King Henry IV defeated a rebel army led by Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy in fields north of Shrewsbury. Hotspur was killed during the fighting, and the most serious immediate challenge to Henry’s rule collapsed with him. The two men had once been allies. The powerful Percy family supported Henry Bolingbroke when he…

  • 1420: Treaty of Troyes makes Henry V heir to France

    On 21 May 1420, Henry V of England and Charles VI of France agreed on the Treaty of Troyes. The treaty made Henry regent of France and heir to the French throne. He was also to marry Charles’s daughter, Catherine of Valois. On paper, it was an extraordinary settlement. Henry had turned military success into…

  • 1455: First Battle of St Albans opens the Wars of the Roses

    On 22 May 1455, a Yorkist force defeated the royal army at St Albans. Henry VI was captured. Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was killed. The battle was small beside later fighting in the Wars of the Roses, but its consequences were serious. It showed that the king’s government could no longer contain the rivalries…

  • 1533: Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s first marriage invalid

    On 23 May 1533, Thomas Cranmer’s court at Dunstable declared Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon invalid. The judgment was brief, but it carried more weight than a private ruling about a failed royal marriage. Henry had already married Anne Boleyn. Catherine was still widely regarded as queen. Anne was pregnant. Henry’s marriage case…

  • 1533: Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn valid

    On 28 May 1533, Thomas Cranmer declared Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn good and valid. The ruling did not begin the marriage. Henry and Anne had already married. Cranmer’s judgement gave the marriage formal standing in England, at a moment when Henry needed more than private agreement, royal will or court loyalty. Five days…

  • 1533: Anne Boleyn is crowned queen at Westminster Abbey

    Anne Boleyn was crowned queen of England at Westminster Abbey on 1 June 1533. The ceremony followed Henry VIII’s decision to set aside his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, had declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine invalid and had recognised Henry’s marriage to Anne. In England, those rulings gave Anne the…

  • 1536: Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour

    On 30 May 1536, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. The wedding came eleven days after the execution of Anne Boleyn. Henry had removed one queen and taken another almost at once. The main issue was succession. Henry still had no legitimate son. Mary, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon, had been pushed out of the…

  • 1543: Henry VIII marries Katherine Parr at Hampton Court

    Henry VIII married Katherine Parr at Hampton Court Palace on 12 July 1543. The private ceremony took place in the Queen’s Closet. It was attended by members of the royal family, including Henry’s daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Parr was Henry’s sixth wife. She was also a twice-widowed woman in her early thirties with experience of…

  • 1567: Mary, Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate

    On 24 July 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, signed documents surrendering the Scottish crown to her thirteen-month-old son. She was twenty-four years old and a prisoner at Loch Leven Castle. Mary’s position had collapsed during the months after the murder of her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, was widely…

  • 1578: Martin Frobisher leaves Harwich on his third Arctic voyage

    On 31 May 1578, Martin Frobisher left Harwich with a fleet of 15 ships. It was his third voyage to the Arctic, and it was much larger than his earlier attempts. The voyage still carried the old aim of finding a North-West Passage. English backers hoped the route might open trade with Asia by sailing…

  • 1649: England is declared a Commonwealth

    On 19 May 1649, Parliament declared England to be a Commonwealth and Free State. The old order had already been broken. Charles I had been tried and executed in January. In March, Parliament abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. By May, the new regime needed legal form. The Act of 19 May gave…

  • 1659: Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector

    Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector on 25 May 1659. The Protectorate, which had seemed the strongest alternative to monarchy after the execution of Charles I, was over. Richard had inherited the office after Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. He had the title, but little of the authority that had made his father powerful. Oliver…

  • 1660: Charles II lands at Dover

    Charles II landed at Dover on 25 May 1660 after years in exile, as the political order that had replaced his father was breaking apart. His return was not a military conquest. That is what makes the date useful. Charles returned because enough people in England had decided that monarchy was once again the least…

  • 1660: Charles II enters London at the Restoration

    Charles II entered London on 29 May 1660, his thirtieth birthday. The Restoration now had a public centre: the king in the capital, recognised in the streets, with monarchy visibly returned after eleven years without a ruling king in England. The road back had been long and violent. Charles I had been tried and executed…

  • 1662: Charles II marries Catherine of Braganza

    On 21 May 1662, Charles II and Catherine of Braganza were formally married at Portsmouth. Charles had been restored to the throne two years earlier, after civil war, republic and exile. His marriage was part of the effort to restore the Stuart monarchy to European politics. Catherine was a Portuguese princess, and the match tied…

  • 1669: Samuel Pepys writes the final entry in his diary

    On 31 May 1669, Samuel Pepys wrote the final entry in his diary. He stopped because he feared that continuing to write was damaging his eyesight. The reason was practical and personal. Pepys was not bringing a public work to a planned end. He had kept a private record, written in shorthand, for nearly ten…

  • 1679: Habeas Corpus Act receives royal assent

    The Habeas Corpus Act received royal assent on 27 May 1679. Habeas corpus already existed. The act made the remedy harder to ignore. Habeas corpus was a way of testing detention. A prisoner could be brought before a court, and the court could ask by what authority that person was being held. Locking someone up…

  • 1689: Toleration Act receives royal assent

    On 24 May 1689, the Toleration Act received royal assent. The Act gave many Protestant dissenters in England a legal right to worship outside the Church of England. It was a real change. People who had faced penalties for nonconformist worship could now meet more openly, provided they accepted the conditions set by law. Those…

  • 1694: The Bank of England receives its Royal Charter

    On 27 July 1694, William III and Mary II granted a Royal Charter to the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. The institution had been created mainly to provide the government with money for war against France. The Nine Years’ War placed heavy demands on government finances. England needed a larger and more…

  • 1701: Captain Kidd is executed at Execution Dock

    William Kidd was hanged at Execution Dock in London on 23 May 1701 after being convicted of piracy and murder. Kidd’s case was awkward because he had not begun as a simple outlaw. He was a Scottish sailor who had been commissioned as a privateer and authorised to attack certain enemy or pirate vessels. Privateering…

  • 1706: Marlborough wins at Ramillies

    On 23 May 1706, the Duke of Marlborough led Allied forces to victory over the French at Ramillies during the War of the Spanish Succession. The war had begun over the Spanish inheritance, but it had become a wider struggle over power in Europe. England, the Dutch Republic and their allies sought to prevent Bourbon…

  • 1745: Charles Edward Stuart lands on Eriskay

    On 23 July 1745, Charles Edward Stuart landed on the Hebridean island of Eriskay. He had come to begin an uprising intended to place his father on the British throne. Charles was the grandson of James II of England and VII of Scotland, who had been removed in 1688. His father, James Francis Edward Stuart,…

  • 1760: British forces complete victory at Restigouche

    On 8 July 1760, British forces completed their victory at the Battle of Restigouche. The battle was fought on the Restigouche River, between what is now Quebec and New Brunswick, and formed part of the Seven Years’ War. France had lost Quebec to British forces in 1759, but the war in Canada was not over.…

  • 1791: The Priestley Riots Begin in Birmingham

    On 14 July 1791, political reformers and religious dissenters met at the Royal Hotel in Birmingham. Their dinner marked the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille and expressed support for the early French Revolution. The diners had left when a crowd gathered outside the hotel. The building was attacked, and the violence soon…

  • 1794: The Royal Navy wins the Glorious First of June

    On 1 June 1794, the Royal Navy fought the French fleet in the Atlantic at the battle later known in Britain as the Glorious First of June. Britain and Revolutionary France were at war. The fighting at sea was not only about ships and honour. It was also about supplies. France needed food, and a…

  • 1798: William Pitt fights George Tierney on Putney Heath

    William Pitt the Younger and George Tierney fought a pistol duel on Putney Heath on 27 May 1798. Pitt was the Prime Minister. Tierney was an opposition MP. Both men fired. Neither was hurt. The quarrel had begun in Parliament. Britain was at war with revolutionary France, and arguments over national defence carried heavy political…

  • 1809: First prisoners arrive at Dartmoor Prison

    On 24 May 1809, around 2,500 French prisoners of war arrived at Dartmoor Prison. The prison had been built during the Napoleonic Wars, when Britain needed secure places to hold men captured in the long war with France. Dartmoor did not begin as the civilian prison it later became. Its first purpose was military: large-scale…

  • 1813: HMS Shannon captures USS Chesapeake

    On 1 June 1813, HMS Shannon captured USS Chesapeake off Boston during the War of 1812. The action came at a difficult point for British naval pride. The Royal Navy was still the stronger sea force, but American frigates had already won several single-ship actions. Those defeats challenged Britain’s claim to naval superiority. Shannon’s capture…

  • 1815: Napoleon Surrenders Aboard HMS Bellerophon

    On 15 July 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte boarded HMS Bellerophon off Rochefort and placed himself in the hands of Captain Frederick Maitland. Napoleon had been defeated at Waterloo on 18 June. He returned to Paris, abdicated for a second time and travelled towards the French Atlantic coast. He hoped to sail to the United States, beyond…

  • 1834: The Slavery Abolition Act comes into force

    On 1 August 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into force across most British colonies. Around 750,000 people ceased to be legally classified as slaves, but many did not receive immediate full freedom. Britain had abolished the British slave trade in 1807. That law prohibited British participation in the trade but did not free people…

  • 1838: The Battle of Bossenden Wood takes place in Kent

    On 31 May 1838, soldiers confronted a small group of followers in Bossenden Wood, near Dunkirk in Kent. By the end of the clash, 11 people were dead. The group had gathered around John Nichols Tom, who called himself Sir William Courtenay. He made religious and political claims, and some people in the local area…

  • 1840: Parliament acts to end the use of climbing boys

    On 7 August 1840, the Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act became law. Parliament intended to stop children being used as climbing chimney sweeps, but the practice continued. Children had been sent inside chimneys for generations. Their size allowed them to climb narrow flues that adults could not enter. Some were apprenticed to master sweeps,…

  • 1848: Waterloo Station opens in London

    Waterloo Bridge station opened in London on 11 July 1848. The opening had been brought forward by a week so passengers could travel by rail to the Epsom Derby. The London and South Western Railway built the terminus to replace its earlier station at Nine Elms. It brought the railway about two miles closer to…

  • 1859: The Great Clock at Westminster begins ticking

    On 31 May 1859, the Great Clock at Westminster began ticking. The Great Bell, commonly called Big Ben, was not heard until July. The clock belonged to the new Palace of Westminster, built after the 1834 fire. It was part of the rebuilding of Parliament, but it also had a public use. It gave time…

  • 1868: Michael Barrett is publicly hanged at Newgate

    Michael Barrett was hanged outside Newgate Prison on 26 May 1868. He became the last person publicly hanged in England. Barrett had been convicted after the Clerkenwell explosion of December 1867. The blast was connected to an attempt to free Fenian prisoners from the Clerkenwell House of Detention. It caused civilian deaths and injuries, and…

  • 1895: Oscar Wilde is convicted of gross indecency

    Oscar Wilde was convicted at the Central Criminal Court on 25 May 1895 and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour. The conviction followed a failed libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde had gone to court as the complainant. When the case collapsed, evidence raised there…

  • 1897: Blackwall Tunnel opens beneath the Thames

    The original Blackwall Tunnel opened on 22 May 1897, linking Blackwall on the north bank of the Thames with Greenwich on the south. Its purpose was practical. The Thames was central to London’s trade, but it also made road journeys awkward. Ferries, bridges and longer routes could only do so much for a city whose…

  • 1897: *Dracula* is published in London

    *Dracula* was published in London by Archibald Constable and Company in May 1897. 26 May is often given as the publication date, though it is safer to treat it as probable rather than exact. Bram Stoker’s novel reached the British market as a gothic story before Dracula became a figure of film, costume and shorthand.…

  • 1900: Queen Victoria gives royal assent to the Australian Constitution Act

    On 9 July 1900, Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. The Act had been passed by the British Parliament and gave legal force to the federation of the Australian colonies. Federation had not been created in London. Australian politicians and voters had debated the terms of union for years,…

  • 1902: Edward VII and Queen Alexandra are crowned

    On 9 August 1902, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were crowned at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony took place more than six weeks later than planned because the King had required emergency surgery shortly before the original date. Edward had succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria, on 22 January 1901. His coronation was arranged for 26 June…

  • 1907: The first Isle of Man TT race is held

    The first Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle race was held on 28 May 1907 on the St John’s Short Course. The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency, not part of the United Kingdom. Even so, the race fits a British-linked history archive because of the island’s close relationship with Britain and the TT’s…

  • 1914: Britain declares war on Germany

    On 4 August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany after a British ultimatum concerning Belgian neutrality expired without an acceptable reply. German troops had crossed into Belgium that morning. Germany’s war plan required its armies to move through Belgian territory to attack France from the north. The Belgian government had rejected a German demand for…

  • 1915: Quintinshill rail disaster kills more than 200 people

    On 22 May 1915, a troop train carrying men of the 1/7th Battalion Royal Scots crashed near Quintinshill Junction, near Gretna. A second collision and fire followed. The disaster killed 230 people and became Britain’s worst railway accident. The men on the troop train were part of Britain’s war effort. They were being moved by…

  • 1915: HMS Princess Irene explodes off Sheerness

    HMS Princess Irene exploded off Sheerness on 27 May 1915 while being loaded with mines. The ship was destroyed and sank. The disaster killed 352 people. Princess Irene had been a Canadian Pacific passenger liner before the Admiralty took her into service during the First World War. She was being used as an auxiliary minelayer.…

  • 1916: The Battle of Jutland begins

    On 31 May 1916, the Battle of Jutland began in the North Sea. The Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet met Germany’s High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the First World War. Britain depended on sea power. The Royal Navy kept Germany contained and maintained the blockade meant to weaken the German war effort.…

  • 1917: The Third Battle of Ypres begins

    On 31 July 1917, British and French troops attacked German positions east and north-east of Ypres in Belgium. The assault began the Third Battle of Ypres, later widely known as Passchendaele. British forces had occupied the Ypres Salient since the early part of the First World War. The salient projected into German-held territory and was…

  • 1918: The Battle of Amiens begins

    On 8 August 1918, British Empire and French forces attacked German positions east of Amiens. The offensive began at 4.20 am and achieved one of the largest Allied advances on the Western Front during the First World War. The main attack was made by General Sir Henry Rawlinson’s British Fourth Army, with the Australian and…

  • 1919: Eddington’s eclipse observations support Einstein’s theory

    On 29 May 1919, British-led teams observed a total solar eclipse from Príncipe, off the west coast of Africa, and Sobral in Brazil. The eclipse gave astronomers a rare chance to photograph stars close to the Sun. The test came from Einstein’s general theory of relativity. His theory predicted that the Sun’s gravity would bend…

  • 1935: The compulsory driving test begins in Great Britain

    The compulsory driving test began in Great Britain on 1 June 1935. It came as motor traffic was becoming a normal part of British life. Roads carried cars, buses, lorries, bicycles, pedestrians and older forms of traffic. More vehicles meant more risk, and road safety became a public concern rather than a private worry. The…

  • 1940: Operation Dynamo begins at Dunkirk

    Operation Dynamo began on 26 May 1940 because the British Expeditionary Force and other Allied troops were running out of ground to hold. The German advance through France and Belgium had pushed Allied forces back towards the Channel. Dunkirk became one of the few remaining exits. The operation would later be remembered as a rescue,…

  • 1940: Royal Navy attacks the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir

    On 3 July 1940, the Royal Navy opened fire on French warships at Mers-el-Kébir in Algeria. Britain and France had fought as allies against Germany, but France had signed an armistice less than two weeks earlier. The French Navy was one of the largest in the world. Its modern battleships could alter the balance of…

  • 1940: The Battle of Britain officially begins

    On 10 July 1940, the Battle of Britain officially began with concentrated German attacks on shipping in the English Channel. Air fighting and attacks on convoys had already taken place, but 10 July became the recognised starting date of the main campaign. Britain’s position had changed sharply during the previous two months. German forces had…

  • 1940: Hitler Orders Preparations to Invade Britain

    On 16 July 1940, Adolf Hitler issued Directive No. 16, ordering preparations for a possible German invasion of Britain. The operation was given the codename Sea Lion. France had agreed an armistice with Germany the previous month. British forces had withdrawn from Dunkirk, but the British government had refused to seek peace. Germany controlled much…

  • 1941: HMS Hood is sunk by Bismarck

    On 24 May 1941, HMS Hood was sunk during the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Hood was one of the Royal Navy’s best-known ships. It had been launched during the First World War and had spent years as a public symbol of British sea power. By 1941, it was more than a warship in service.…

  • 1941: Bismarck is lost after Royal Navy pursuit

    Bismarck was lost on 27 May 1941 after a Royal Navy pursuit across the Atlantic. Three days earlier, the German battleship had sunk HMS Hood during the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Only three men from Hood survived. That loss gave the pursuit public force, but the problem was also practical. Bismarck was still at…

  • 1941: The Allied evacuation from Crete is completed

    By 1 June 1941, the Allied evacuation from Crete was complete. The battle had begun with a German airborne invasion in May. British, Australian, New Zealand, and Greek troops fought on the island, but the Allied position collapsed. Once Crete could no longer be held, the aim changed. It was no longer possible to win…

  • 1942: RAF Bomber Command launches Operation Millennium

    On the night of 30–31 May 1942, RAF Bomber Command launched Operation Millennium against Cologne. The raid was planned as a mass attack. Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris wanted to send more than 1,000 aircraft over Germany in a single night. To reach that number, Bomber Command used front-line bombers, training aircraft and crews drawn…

  • 1945: Heinrich Himmler dies in British custody

    Heinrich Himmler killed himself in British custody on 23 May 1945 after his identity had been confirmed. Germany had surrendered earlier that month, but the end of the war in Europe did not bring an orderly end to Nazi power. Allied forces were dealing with prisoners, fugitives, displaced people and the remains of a collapsed…

  • 1947: The Indian Independence Act Receives Royal Assent

    On 18 July 1947, the Indian Independence Act received Royal Assent. It provided for British India to be divided into the independent dominions of India and Pakistan in August. The legislation passed through Parliament under a compressed timetable. Prime Minister Clement Attlee had announced in February that British rule would end no later than June…

  • 1948: The National Health Service begins operating

    On 5 July 1948, the National Health Service began operating across England and Wales. For the first time, most healthcare was available without direct payment when treatment was needed. The NHS was created under the National Health Service Act 1946 and introduced by the Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan. It brought together voluntary hospitals, municipal…

  • 1948: The first Stoke Mandeville Games are held

    On 29 July 1948, sixteen injured servicemen and women took part in a wheelchair archery competition at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. The event became known as the first Stoke Mandeville Games. It was held on the day the London Olympic Games opened at Wembley. The connection was deliberate. Dr Ludwig Guttmann wanted competitive sport…

  • 1948: The British Nationality Act receives Royal Assent

    On 30 July 1948, the British Nationality Act received Royal Assent. It created citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies and reorganised a nationality system developed across the British Empire. Before the Act, British nationality rested mainly on the status of British subject. The category covered people connected with Britain, its colonies and the self-governing…

  • 1949: Britain becomes a founding member of NATO

    Britain became a founding member of NATO on 4 April 1949, when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington. On paper, it was a diplomatic agreement between twelve states. In practice, it marked something Britain had to accept. The country had won the war, but it could no longer expect to defend its interests…

  • 1953: Hillary and Tenzing reach Everest’s summit

    Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953. They were part of a British expedition led by John Hunt. Hillary was from New Zealand. Tenzing Norgay was a Sherpa climber with long experience on Himalayan expeditions. Their final climb followed weeks of preparation. Camps had been set up, supplies…

  • 1953: Elizabeth II is crowned at Westminster Abbey

    Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. She had been queen since 6 February 1952, when George VI died. Still, the coronation gave the reign its formal public and religious shape. The coronation followed a ceremony that had developed over many centuries. It was held at the Abbey, where English and…

  • 1954: Food rationing ends in Britain

    On 4 July 1954, food rationing ended in Britain. Meat came off ration at midnight, bringing an end to the last major food restriction left from the wartime and post-war years. Food rationing had begun in January 1940, a few months after the start of the Second World War. Britain depended heavily on imported food,…

  • 1956: Egypt nationalises the Suez Canal Company

    On 26 July 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced that Egypt was nationalising the Suez Canal Company. Egyptian officials immediately began taking control of its offices and operations. The canal crossed Egyptian territory but was operated by a company dominated by British and French interests. It provided a short shipping route between the Mediterranean…

  • 1961: Amnesty International begins with ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’

    On 28 May 1961, Peter Benenson’s article ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ appeared in *The Observer*. The appeal helped begin Amnesty International. Benenson was a British lawyer. His article focused on people jailed for their beliefs, politics or religion, provided they had not used or advocated violence. He called them ‘prisoners of conscience’, a phrase that gave…

  • 1962: Coventry Cathedral is consecrated

    The new Coventry Cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962, more than twenty years after the old cathedral had been destroyed in the bombing of November 1940. The old building was not simply cleared away. Its ruins were left beside the new cathedral, keeping the evidence of war in view. That choice gave Coventry a…

  • 1962: Jamaica becomes independent from Britain

    On 6 August 1962, Jamaica became independent from Britain. The British government ceased to have responsibility for governing the island, and a new Jamaican constitution came into force. British rule had begun in 1655, when English forces took Jamaica from Spain. The island later became a Crown colony, governed through institutions in which political power…

  • 1963: Britain signs the Partial Test Ban Treaty

    On 5 August 1963, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater. The signatories were British Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home, United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. The agreement became commonly known as the…

  • 1982: HMS Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor are lost in the Falklands War

    On 25 May 1982, HMS Coventry was sunk during the Falklands War after being hit by Argentine bombs. The same day, Atlantic Conveyor was struck by Exocet missiles and was later lost. The two attacks belonged to the same phase of the campaign. British troops had landed around San Carlos, on East Falkland, and the…

  • 1988: Piper Alpha explodes in the North Sea

    On 6 July 1988, the Piper Alpha oil and gas platform exploded in the North Sea. The disaster killed 167 men and became the deadliest offshore oil and gas accident. Piper Alpha stood in the UK sector of the North Sea, north-east of Aberdeen. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum and had become a major…

  • 1998: Northern Ireland approves the Good Friday Agreement

    On 22 May 1998, voters in Northern Ireland approved the Belfast Agreement, better known as the Good Friday Agreement. The agreement had been signed the previous month. The referendum gave it democratic force. The vote came after decades of violence, failed political efforts and mistrust. The Troubles had left Northern Ireland with bombings, shootings, funerals,…