1926 in the United Kingdom

1926 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1924 | 1925 | 1926 (1926) | 1927 | 1928

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport

1926 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland

Events from the year 1926 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the General Strike.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George V
• Prime Minister – Stanley Baldwin (Conservative)

Events

• 2 January – Contributory old age pensions payable to those between 65 and 70 years of age under the provisions of the Widows', Orphans', and Old-Age Contributory Pensions Act of 1925.
• 16 January – BBC radio play about worker's revolution causes a panic in London.
• 27 January – John Logie Baird demonstrates a mechanical television system in London.
• 31 January – British and Belgian troops leave Cologne.
• 9 February – Flooding of London suburbs.
• 6 March – The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon is destroyed by fire.
• 1 May – Coal miners' strike begins in Britain over planned pay reductions.
• 3 May – General Strike begins in support of the coal strike.
• 4 May – The BBC broadcasts five news bulletins a day as no newspapers are published due to the General Strike.
• 9 May – Martial law in Britain because of the General Strike.
• 10 May – Talks between government and strikers begin.
• 12 May – The General Strike ends.
• 24 July – First greyhound track in Britain opens in Manchester.
• 25 July – BBC history: The previously experimental long-wave station 5XX moves from Chelmsford to Daventry and becomes the first station to achieve near national coverage. The Daventry station will later become the main transmitter of the BBC National Programme.
• 6 August – American swimmer Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel from France to England.
• 7 August – The first British Grand Prix held at the Brooklands circuit near Weybridge.
• 18 August – The Miners' Federation of Great Britain begins negotiations with the government.
• 30 August – Cricketer Jack Hobbs scores 316 runs at match at Lord's, the highest individual total scored at that ground.
• 12 October – British miners agree to end their strike.
• December
  • Imperial Chemical Industries formed by merger of Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives, the United Alkali Company, and the British Dyestuffs Corporation.
  • Council for the Preservation of Rural England formed by Patrick Abercrombie to limit urban sprawl and ribbon development.
• 2 December – The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin ends the martial law that had been declared due to General Strike.
• 3 December – Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey; on 14 December she is found in a Harrogate hotel by journalist Ritchie Calder.
• 15 December – Legitimacy Act 1926 permits the legitimisation of a child born to unmarried parents by their subsequent marriage to each other.

Undated

• Electricity (Supply) Act creates the Central Electricity Board to set up the National Grid.
• K2 red telephone box introduced, chiefly in London area.
• First appearance of the Gill Sans sans-serif typeface, designed by Eric Gill for Douglas Cleverdon.

Publications

• Patrick Abercrombie's tract The Preservation of Rural England.
• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
• Georgette Heyer's historical romance novel These Old Shades.
• D. H. Lawrence's novel The Plumed Serpent.
• Hugh MacDiarmid's Scots language poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle.
• A. A. Milne's children's book Winnie-the-Pooh.

Births

• 3 January – George Martin, producer of The Beatles
• 13 January – Michael Bond, author and creator of Paddington Bear
• 14 January – Warren Mitchell, actor (died 2015)
• 17 January – Moira Shearer, actress and dancer (died 2006)
• 10 February – Danny Blanchflower, footballer and football manager (died 1993)
• 11 February – Alexander Gibson, conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera (died 1995)
• 16 February – John Schlesinger, film director (died 2003)
• 20 February – Gillian Lynne, director and choreographer
• 22 February – Kenneth Williams, actor (died 1988)
• 27 March – Louis Blom-Cooper, lawyer
• 31 March – John Fowles, writer (died 2005)
• 6 April – Ian Paisley, politician (died 2014)
• 21 April – HRH Princess Elizabeth of York, later Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms
• 22 April – James Stirling, architect (died 1992)
• 26 April – David Coleman, television sports broadcaster (died 2013)
• 30 April – Edmund Cooper, author and poet (died 1982)
• 8 May – David Attenborough, broadcaster and naturalist
• 12 May – John Shipley Rowlinson, chemist and academic
• 14 May – Eric Morecambe, comedian (died 1984)
• 15 May – Peter Shaffer, playwright
• 26 June – Sir Rex Hunt, diplomat (died 2012)
• 18 July – Robert Sloman, actor and journalist (died 2005)
• 21 July – Bill Pertwee, actor (died 2013)
• 22 July – Bryan Forbes, film director (died 2013)
• 30 July – Thomas Patrick Russell, High Court judge (died 2002)
• 3 August – Anthony Sampson, journalist and biographer (died 2004)
• 17 August – George Melly, jazz singer (died 2007)
• 4 September – George William Gray, Scottish-born chemist, pioneer of liquid crystal technology (died 2013)
• 12 September – Dave Valentine, Scottish representative rugby union and rugby league footballer (died 1976)
• 18 September – Sir Thomas Hetherington, barrister (died 2007)
• 21 October – Leonard Rossiter, actor (died 1984)
• 31 October – Jimmy Savile, television and radio personality (died 2011)
• 5 November – John Berger, art critic, novelist and painter
• 6 November – Frank Carson, comedian (died 2012)
• 12 November – Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, lawyer and judge
• 20 December – Geoffrey Howe, politician (died 2015)

Deaths

• 7 February – William Evans Hoyle, director of the National Museum of Wales (born 1855)
• 12 July – Gertrude Bell, archaeologist, writer, spy, and administrator known as the "Uncrowned Queen of Iraq" (born 1868)
• 25 September – Herbert Booth, the third son of William and Catherine Booth (born 1862)
• 5 October – Dorothy Tennant (Lady Stanley), artist (born 1855)
• 12 October – Edwin Abbott Abbott, schoolmaster and theologian (born 1838)
• 13 October – Eliseus Williams, poet (born 1867)
• 4 November – John Owen, Bishop of St David's (born 1854)