1938 in the United Kingdom

	1938 in the United Kingdom
	Other years
	1936 \| 1937 \| 1938 \| 1939 \| 1940
	Constituent countries of the United Kingdom
	England \| Northern Ireland \| Scotland \| Wales
	Popular culture
	1938 English cricket season; Football: England \| Scotland; 1938 in British television; 1938 in British music;

Events from the year 1938 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – George VI
Prime Minister – Neville Chamberlain (Coalition)
Parliament – 37th

Events

1 January – Sir Alexander Cadogan succeeds Sir Robert Vansittart as permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office.
6 January – psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud arrives in London having fled from Vienna in Austria.[1]
17 January – Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., is appointed United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
14 February – the British naval base at Singapore begins operations.
20 February – Anthony Eden resigns as Foreign Secretary, over Chamberlain's policy towards Italy. Lord Halifax takes over.[2]
14 March – Chamberlain makes a speech in the House of Commons saying the government "emphatically" disapproves of the Nazi German Anschluss in Austria two days previously but that "nothing could have prevented this action by Germany unless we and others with us had been prepared to use force to prevent it."[3]
16 April – Anglo-Italian Treaty: Britain recognises Italian government over Ethiopia, in return for Italian troops withdrawing from Spain.[2]
23 April – York Castle Museum opened.
25 April – Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement with the Republic of Ireland settles the Anglo-Irish Trade War and agrees to the Royal Navy abandoning the British sovereign bases at the Treaty ports in Ireland.[2]
3 May – Empire Exhibition opens in Glasgow.[2]
10 May – an underground explosion at Markham Colliery, near Staveley, Derbyshire, kills 79.[4]
1 June – the Bren light machine gun comes into service with the British Army.
2 June – the children's zoo at London Zoo is opened by Robert and Ted Kennedy, two of the sons of United States ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy.[1]
18 June – Women's Voluntary Service founded to assist the Civil Defence Service.
3 July – the London and North Eastern Railway's streamlined Class A4 4468 Mallard reaches a speed of 126 mph (203 km/h), the highest certified speed for a steam locomotive.
9 July – gas masks are issued to the civilian population.[5]
24 June – Test cricket is televised for the first time.[2]
11 July–3 October – military installations at the Treaty Ports in the Republic of Ireland (Berehaven, Spike Island at Queenstown, and Lough Swilly) are handed over from British control to the Government of Ireland, under terms of the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement ratified by the Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act earlier in the year.
15 July – Josephine Cox, English novelist (died 2020).
22 July – Britain rejects a proposal from its ambassador in Berlin, Nevile Henderson, for a four power summit on Czechoslovakia consisting of Britain, France, Germany and the U.S.S.R. as London will under no circumstances accept the Soviet Union as a diplomatic partner.
30 July – The Beano comic first goes on sale, featuring the character Lord Snooty.[1]
August – Muslims protest in London about passages they consider disrespectful of their religion in H. G. Wells' A Short History of the World (1922).[6]
4 August – major thunderstorm over Devon.[7]
13–20 August – Great Britain and the United States contest the inaugural Amateur World Series in baseball, played in the north of England. Britain wins every match.[8]
23 August – English cricketer Len Hutton scores a record Test score of 364 runs in a match against Australia.[1]
7 September – The Times publishes a lead article which calls on Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.
9 September – Auxiliary Territorial Service, as a women's voluntary service, established.
15 September – Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain meets German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden in an attempt to negotiate an end to German expansionist policies.[1]
21 September – representatives of the British and French governments call on Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš to tell him Britain and France will not fight Hitler if he decides to annex the Sudetenland by force. At home, Winston Churchill warns of grave consequences to European security if Czechoslovakia is partitioned.
27 September – RMS Queen Elizabeth is launched at Clydebank; she is the largest ship in the world at this time.[2]
29 September – Chamberlain signs the Munich Agreement; and a resolution with Germany determining to resolve all future disputes between the two countries through peaceful means.
30 September – Neville Chamberlain returns to the UK from Munich, at Heston Aerodrome memorably waving the resolution signed the day earlier with Germany, and later in Downing Street giving his famous Peace for our time speech.[1][9] George VI and Queen Elizabeth appear with Chamberlain on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to celebrate the agreement.
1 October – Picture Post magazine first published.[10]
29 October – City Hall, Norwich, designed in the Art Deco style by C. H. James and S. R. Pierce, is opened.
4 November – At a meeting in Epping, Winston Churchill narrowly survives an attempt by fellow Conservative and constituent Sir Colin Thornton-Kemsley to remove him from Parliament.
16 November – First reported "attack" of the Halifax Slasher mass hysteria incident.
21 November – Apostolic Delegation to Great Britain appointed.[11]
1–2 December – first Kindertransport from Berlin to London Liverpool Street station via Harwich.
16 December – aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91) (launched by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead in 1937 under the 1934 build plan) is commissioned into the Royal Navy.

Undated

J. Arthur Rank purchases Odeon Cinemas.
First green belts begin to be established in the UK, around Sheffield and London, the latter under terms of the Green Belt (London and Home Counties) Act.
Little ringed plover first breeds in England.

Publications

Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Death of the Heart.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels Appointment with Death and Hercule Poirot's Christmas.
Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca.
Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock.
Kathleen Hale's children's book Orlando (The Marmalade Cat): A Camping Holiday, first in the series featuring the eponymous character.
C. S. Lewis' novel Out of the Silent Planet.
George Orwell's memoir Homage to Catalonia.
Evelyn Waugh's novel Scoop.
T. H. White's novel The Sword in the Stone, first in the twelve-volume The Once and Future King.
P. G. Wodehouse's novel The Code of the Woosters.

Births

1 January – Robert Jankel, businessman, founder of carmaker Panther (died 2005)
2 January
- David Bailey, photographer
- Ian Brady, serial killer (died 2017)
11 January
- Alastair Morton, railway executive (died 2004)
- Arthur Scargill, trade union leader
20 January
- Derek Dougan, footballer (died 2007)
- Bob Friend, newscaster (died 2008)
3 February – Geoff Clayton, English cricketer (died 2018)
8 February – Margo McLennan, actress (died 2004)
17 February – Yvonne Romain, actress
26 February – Brian Kilby, marathon runner
27 February – Jake Thackray, singer-songwriter (died 2002)
28 February – John Bulmer, documentary photographer and filmmaker
6 March – Pauline Boty, pop art painter (died 1966)
14 March – Eleanor Bron, actress and author
18 March – Kenny Lynch, entertainer (died 2019)
6 April – Paul Daniels, magician (died 2016)
22 April
- Alan Bond, English-born Australian businessman (died 2015)
- Adam Raphael, English journalist and editor
28 April – Fred Dibnah, steeplejack and television personality (died 2004)
3 May – Lindsay Kemp, dance and mime artist (died 2018)
9 May – Geoffrey Holland, English civil servant and academic (died 2017)
11 May – Bob Scott, ornithologist (died 2009)
23 May – Peter Preston, newspaper editor (died 2018)
31 May – John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister
7 June – Graham Percy, artist (born in New Zealand; died 2008)
18 June – Michael Sheard, actor (died 2005)
21 June – Don Black, lyricist
25 June – James Feast, chemical scientist
26 June – Ted Wragg, professor of education (died 2005)
27 June – Kathryn Beaumont, actress, voice actress, singer and schoolteacher
28 June – Simon Douglas-Pennant, 7th Baron Penrhyn
29 June – Peter Wollen, film theorist and filmmaker (died 2019)
1 July – Susan Maughan, singer
3 July – Ron Fogg, footballer
5 July – James Bond, motorcycle speedway rider
6 July
- Tony Lewis, cricketer
- Stuart Young, cricketer
9 July – Faanya Rose, British-American businesswoman, conservationist, philanthropist and explorer
10 July – David Hugh Mellor, philosopher (died 2020)
11 July – Brian Scarlett, physicist (died 2004)
18 July – Ian Stewart, Scottish rock keyboardist (The Rolling Stones) (died 1985)
19 July – Nicholas Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell, historian and human rights campaigner (died 2007)
20 July
- Roger Hunt, footballer
- David Pratt, cricketer
- Diana Rigg, actress
22 July – Terence Stamp, actor
27 July – Peter Ucko, archaeologist (died 2007)
28 July – Ian McCaskill, weather forecaster (died 2016)
29 July
- Christopher Gibbs, antiques dealer (died 2018)
- Tom Raworth, poet (died 2017)
6 August – Rees Davies, historian (died 2005)
25 August – Frederick Forsyth, writer
30 August – Alf Meakin, track and field athlete
31 August – Martin Bell, journalist and independent politician
10 September – David Hamilton, radio and TV personality
12 September – Michael Leader, actor (died 2016)
13 September
- Angus Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton and 12th Duke of Brandon, Scottish peer (died 2010)
- John Smith, Scottish politician, leader of the Labour Party (died 1994)
16 September – Eddie George, financier and Governor of the Bank of England (died 2009)
9 October – Denzil Davies, politician (died 2018)
20 October – Iain MacMillan, photographer (died 2006)
22 October – Derek Jacobi, actor
24 October – Michael Graydon, air marshal
28 October
- David Dimbleby, broadcaster
- Anne Perry, born Juliet Marion Hulme, detective novelist and murderer
1 November – Malcolm Laycock, radio presenter and producer (died 2009)
12 November
- Terry McDonald, footballer and coach
- Richard May, judge (died 2004)
27 November – Rodney Bewes, comedy actor (died 2017)
4 December – Richard Meade, equestrian (died 2015)
9 December – Robin Popplestone, computer scientist (died 2004)
10 December – Brian Jones, poet (died 2009)
12 December – Felicity Ann d'Abreu, film producer
15 December – Michael Bogdanov, theatre director (died 2017)
17 December – Carlo Little, drummer (died 2005)
21 December – John Quayle, actor
22 December – Brian Locking, bassist (The Shadows)

Deaths

13 March – Frederick George Jackson, Arctic explorer (born 1860)
9 April
- Archibald Kennedy, 3rd Marquess of Ailsa, aristocrat (born 1847)
- Sir Thomas Callender, engineer and businessman (born 1855)
16 April
- Steve Bloomer, footballer and manager (born 1874)
- Bertram Mills, circus manager (born 1873)
16 May – Sir Lewis Bayly, admiral (born 1857)
9 June – John Broadbent, army officer and politician (born 1872)
23 June
- Clement Edwards, lawyer, journalist and activist (born 1869)
- William Gillespie, actor (born 1894)
4 July – Archibald Berkeley Milne, admiral (born 1855)
18 July – Marie of Edinburgh, Queen consort of Ferdinand I of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria (born 1875)
12 September – Prince Arthur of Connaught, grandson of Queen Victoria (born 1883)

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