1897 in the United Kingdom

1897 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1895 | 1896 | 1897 (1897) | 1898 | 1899

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport

1897 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland

Events from the year 1897 in the United Kingdom. This is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Victoria
• Prime Minister – Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)

Events

• 8 January – Frederick Temple enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 29 March – Church of England encyclical replies to the Papal Apostolicae Curiae (1896) defending the validity of Anglican orders.
• 10 April – Aston Villa F.C. win the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Everton in the final at Crystal Palace. Having already sealed the Football League title, they have completed the double.
• 30 April – J. J. Thomson first announces his discovery of the electron.
• 17 April – Double winners Aston Villa move into their new stadium, Villa Park in Birmingham.
• 10 May – The Blue Cross animal welfare charity is founded as Our Dumb Friends League in London, a "society for the encouragement of kindness to animals".
• 13 May – Guglielmo Marconi sends the first ever wireless communication over open sea when the message "Are you ready" is transmitted across the Bristol Channel from Lavernock Point in South Wales to Flat Holm Island, a distance of 3.7 miles (6.0 km).
• 19 May – The Anglo-Irish writer Oscar Wilde is released from prison.
• 22 May – The Blackwall Tunnel, at this time the longest underwater tunnel in the world, is opened for road traffic beneath the River Thames in the East End of London by the Prince of Wales.
• 22 June – Queen Victoria celebrates her accession to the throne in 1837 with her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, centred on London.
• 26 June – At the Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead, Charles Parsons gives an audacious unscheduled display before the world's navies of the unprecedented speed attainable by his steam turbine-powered Turbinia.
• July – Sir Benjamin Stone establishes the National Photographic Record Association.
• 21 July – The Tate Gallery opens.
• 26 July – 2 August – Siege of Malakand: British troops besieged by Pashtun tribesmen in Malakand.
• 10 August – The Automobile Club of Great Britain (now known as the Royal Automobile Club) founded in London.
• 19 August – First horseless, electric, taxicabs begin operating in London.
• 20 August – Physician Ronald Ross discovers malarial parasites.
• 10 September – First conviction for drink-driving given to London taxi driver George Smith.
• 12 September – Battle of Saragarhi: 21 Sikhs from the 36th Sikhs regiment of the British Indian Army battle 10,000 Afghans to the death.

Undated

• A British military force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosers, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin. In retaliation, Benin City is burned to the ground by British forces in a Punitive Expedition.
• General Post Office 'Jubilee concession': free postal delivery granted to every household.
• Workmen's Compensation Act introduces a form of no-fault workman's compensation in dangerous trades.
• The Weaver building, a mill at Swansea, becomes the first building in the UK to be constructed from reinforced concrete, by L. G. Mouchel to Hennebique patents.
• Galtee More wins the English Triple Crown by finishing first in the Epsom Derby, 2,000 Guineas and St Leger.
• Jaques of London patent the board game Ludo.

Publications

• The magazine Country Life is first published.
• Hall Caine's novel The Christian, first in Britain to sell over a million.
• Joseph Conrad's novella The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'.
• Henry James' novels The Spoils of Poynton and What Maisie Knew.
• Rudyard Kipling's novel Captains Courageous and his poem Recessional.
• W. Somerset Maugham's novel Liza of Lambeth.
• Henry Newbolt's ballads Admirals All, including Vitaï Lampada and Drake's Drum.
• Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.
• H. G. Wells' novel The Invisible Man, and short story The Crystal Egg.

Births

• 25 March – John Laurie, actor (died 1980)
• 26 March – David McCallum, Sr., violinist (died 1972)
• 27 May – John Cockcroft, physicist (died 1967)
• 12 June – Anthony Eden, Prime Minister (died 1977)
• 15 July – R. J. Yeatman, humorist (died 1968)
• 29 July – Neil Ritchie, general (died 1983)
• 11 August – Enid Blyton, children's writer (died 1968)
• 1 September – Andy Kennedy, footballer (died 1963)
• 9 November – Ronald Norrish, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1978)
• 15 November
  • Aneurin Bevan, politician (died 1960)
  • Sacheverell Sitwell, writer (died 1988)
• 18 November – Derek McCulloch ("Uncle Mac"), presenter for BBC children's programmes (died 1967)

Deaths

• 12 January – Isaac Pitman, inventor of Pitman Shorthand (born 1813)
• 19 June – Charles Boycott, land agent, origin of the word "boycott" (born 1832)
• 19 August – George Palmer biscuit manufacturer (born 1818)
• 15 October – C. J. Vaughan, scholar and churchman (born 1816)