1904 in the United Kingdom explained

Events from the year 1904 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Edward VII
• Prime Minister – Arthur Balfour (Coalition)

Events

• 1 January – Number plates are introduced as cars are licensed for the first time. A speed limit of is introduced.^[1]
• 25 January – Halford Mackinder's influential paper The Geographical Pivot of History is delivered to the Royal Geographical Society in London.^[2]
• 26 January
  • Daily Mirror re-launched as a daily morning pictorial newspaper using photographs.
  • Financier Whitaker Wright commits suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud.^{[3] [4] [5]}
• 12 March – Britain's first surface electric trains begin running from Liverpool to Southport on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.^[6]
• 26 March – 80,000 demonstrators gather in Hyde Park, London, to protest against the importation of Chinese labourers to South African gold mines.^[7]
• 8 April – Entente Cordiale signed between the United Kingdom and France.^[6]
• 25 April – Herbert Beerbohm Tree establishes an Academy of Dramatic Art, which will become RADA, at His Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket (London).^[8]
• May – Royal Horticultural Society completes the move of its demonstration garden to RHS Garden, Wisley, Surrey from Chiswick.^[9]
• 4 May – Charles Rolls and Henry Royce meet for the first time, at the new Midland Hotel, Manchester, to agree production of Rolls-Royce motor cars; the first produced under their joint names in Manchester are launched in December.^[10]
• 24 May – Celebration of Empire Day introduced to the UK by Lord Meath.
• 9 June – The London Symphony Orchestra performs its first concert.^{[6] [11]}
• 28 June – The Danish liner is wrecked on Helen's Reef off Rockall with the loss of 635 lives.^[12]
• 1 July–23 November – Great Britain and Ireland compete at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri and win one gold and one silver medal.
• 21 July – Official opening of Birmingham Corporation Water Department's scheme bringing water to the city from the Elan Valley Reservoirs in Wales via the Elan aqueduct.^{[13] [14]}
• 3 August – A British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.
• September – Start of 1904–1905 Welsh Christian revival.
• 1 September – Griffin Park football ground, home of Brentford F.C., opens in west London.
• c. October – Mrs H. Millicent McKenzie is appointed Associated Professor of Education at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff, the first woman in Britain to hold a professorial title.^[15]
• 11 October – Loftus Road football stadium, home of Shepherd's Bush F.C., opens in west London.
• 20 October – Admiral "Jackie" Fisher takes office as First Sea Lord, initiating a period of modernisation of the Royal Navy.^[16]
• 21 October – Dogger Bank incident: the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy, heading for the Russo-Japanese War, mistakes British fishing trawlers in the North Sea for Japanese torpedo boats and opens fire, sinking one, and causing serious diplomatic conflict between Russia and Britain.^[1]
• Late October – The first members of what will become the Bloomsbury Group move to the Bloomsbury district of London.^[17]
• c. November – Finchley fire brigade becomes the first to take delivery of a petrol-engined self-propelled motor fire pump.
• 9 November – Bahamian Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns becomes Mayor of Thetford, the first Black person to hold such an office in Britain.^{[18] [19] [20] [21]}
• 16 November – John Ambrose Fleming patents the first thermionic vacuum tube, the two-electrode diode ("oscillation valve" or Fleming valve).^[22]
• 7 December – Royal Navy torpedo boat destroyer begins sea trials as the first capital warship to be powered solely using fuel oil.
• 10 December
  • John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies".^[23]
  • William Ramsay wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic system".^[24]
• 24 December – The Coliseum Theatre in London opens.^[6]
• 27 December – The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premières in London.^[6]

Undated

• Hill House, Helensburgh, Scotland, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, completed.^[25]
• Licensing Act permits magistrates to refuse renewal of a pub licence if there are sufficient in the area (on payment of compensation).
• Victoria University dissolved, its remaining constituents, Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Leeds, becoming independent institutions.
• Parker Steel, a metal and engineering tool products processor and distributor based in Canterbury, is founded.^[26]

Publications

• G. K. Chesterton's novel The Napoleon of Notting Hill.
• Joseph Conrad's novel Nostromo.
• W. H. Hudson's novel Green Mansions: a romance of the tropical forest.
• Hermann Muthesius' study Das englische Haus begins publication in Berlin.
• Frederick Rolfe's novel Hadrian the Seventh.
• Saki's short story collection Reginald.
• Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration.

Births

• 14 January – Cecil Beaton, photographer (died 1980)^[27]
• 18 January – Cary Grant, actor (died 1986)^[28]
• 28 February – Anthony Havelock-Allan, film producer (died 2003)^[29]
• 1 March – Margaret Steuart Pollard, née Gladstone, oriental scholar, bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, philanthropist and eccentric (died 1996)^[30]
• 8 March – C. R. Boxer, historian (died 2000)
• 30 March – Wilfred White, equestrian (died 1995)^[31]
• 8 April – John Hicks, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989)^[32]
• 14 April
  • Sir John Gielgud, actor (died 2000)^[33]
  • Elizabeth Irving, actress (died 2003)^[34]
• 23 April – Ivor Montagu, aristocrat, documentary film maker, table tennis player and Communist activist (died 1984)^[35]
• 26 April – Jimmy McGrory, footballer (died 1982)^[36]
• 27 April – Cecil Day-Lewis, poet (died 1972)^{[37] [38]}
• 6 May – Max Mallowan, archaeologist (died 1978)^[39]
• 8 May – John Snagge, radio personality (died 1996)^[40]
• 20 May – Margery Allingham, writer (died 1966)^[41]
• 26 May – George Formby, entertainer (died 1961)^[42]
• 28 May – Margaret Harris, costume designer (died 2000)
• 4 June – Jack Lauterwasser, racing cyclist (died 2003)^[43]
• 6 June – Lesley Blanch, writer and fashion editor (died 2007)^[44]
• 8 June – Angus McBean, photographer (died 1990)^[45]
• 12 July – Edward Max Nicholson, environmentalist (died 2003)^[46]
• 24 July – Anton Dolin, dancer and choreographer (died 1983)^{[47] [48]}
• 16 August – Mollie Maureen, actress (died 1987)
• 24 August – Ida Cook, campaigner for Jewish Holocaust refugees and (as Mary Burchell) romance novelist (died 1986)
• 26 August – Christopher Isherwood, novelist (died 1986)
• 19 September – Enid Hattersley, politician (died 2001)
• 29 September – Greer Garson, actress (died 1996)
• 2 October – Graham Greene, author (died 1991)
• 20 October – Anna Neagle, actress (died 1986)
• 31 October – Elisabeth Collins, painter and sculptor (died 2000)
• 2 November – Hugh Patrick Lygon, aristocrat (died 1936)
• 11 November – J. H. C. Whitehead, mathematician (died 1960)
• 14 November
  • Harold Larwood, fast bowler (cricket) (died 1995)
  • Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1988)
• 16 November – Norman Feather, nuclear physicist (died 1978)
• 12 December – Edward Pilgrim, victim of bureaucracy (died 1954)

Deaths

• 17 January – Sir Henry Keppel, admiral (born 1809)^{[49] [50]}
• 26 January – Whitaker Wright, fraudulent financier (born 1846) (suicide)^{[3] [4] [5]}
• 8 February – Alfred Ainger, biographer (born 1837)
• 22 February – Sir Leslie Stephen, writer and critic (born 1832)^[51]
• 5 March – John Lowther du Plat Taylor, founder of the Army Post Office Corps (born 1829)^[52]
• 17 March – Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, grandson of King George III (born 1819)^{[53] [54]}
• 5 April – Tom Allen, boxing champion (born 1840)
• 16 April – Samuel Smiles, author and reformer (born 1812)^{[55] [56]}
• 8 May
  • Eadweard Muybridge, photographer and motion picture pioneer (born 1830)^[57]
  • Frederick York Powell, historian and scholar (born 1850)
• 10 May – Sir Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh explorer and journalist (born 1841)^{[58] [59] [60]}
• 1 July – George Frederic Watts, symbolist painter and sculptor (born 1817)^{[61] [62]}
• 22 July – Wilson Barrett, playwright and actor (born 1846)^[63]
• 12 August – William Renshaw, tennis player (born 1861)
• 4 October – Violet Nicolson ("Laurence Hope"), poet (born 1865)
• 7 October – Isabella Bird, explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist (born 1831)
• 12 November – George Lennox Watson, naval architect (born 1851)
• 24 November – Christopher Dresser, designer influential in the Anglo-Japanese style (born 1834)

Notes and References

1. Book: Palmer, Alan . Palmer . Veronica . 1992 . The Chronology of British History . Century Ltd . London . 335–336 . 0-7126-5616-2.
2. Mackinder . H. J. . Halford Mackinder . The Geographical Pivot of History . The Geographical Pivot of History . . XXIII . 4 . April 1904 . 421–444. 10.2307/1775498 . 1775498 . 2027/uc1.b000726582 . free ., cited in Mackinder . H J . The geographical pivot of history (1904) . The Geographical Journal . 170 . 4 . December 2004 . 298–321 . 10.1111/j.0016-7398.2004.00132.x . 2027/uc1.b000726582 . 15 December 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171107031836/http://www.iwp.edu/docLib/20131016_MackinderTheGeographicalJournal.pdf . 7 November 2017 . live.
3. News: WHITAKER WRIGHT COMMITS SUICIDE IN COURT AFTER HEARING SENTENCE CONDEMNING HIM TO PENAL SERVITUDE Great Promoter's Career Ends in Tragedy. . . 95 . 58 . 27 January 1904 . Page 1, columns 1-3 . 22 December 2021 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
   • News: WRIGHT'S SAN JOSE CAREER. Efforts Made by Promoter to Engage Capital Not Successful. . San Francisco Call . 95 . 58 . 27 January 1904 . Page 2, column 5 . 22 December 2021 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
   • News: KINDLY WORD FOR WRIGHT. Ex-Senator Turner Believes in the Promoter's Honesty. . San Francisco Call . 95 . 58 . 27 January 1904 . Page 2, column 5 . 22 December 2021 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
   • News: WRIGHT'S REMARKABLE LIFE. Won and Lost $15,000,000 Fortune Before Going to England. . San Francisco Call . 95 . 58 . 27 January 1904 . Page 2, columns 5-6 . 22 December 2021 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
4. News: WRIGHT'S DEATH DUE TO POISON Cyanide of Potassium the Drug Taken in Courtroom by the Convicted Promoter ELUDES WATCHFUL EYES Swallows Fatal Dose While Facing the Justice After Hearing Sentence Pronounced . San Francisco Call . 95 . 59 . 28 January 1904 . Page 11, column 5 . 22 December 2021 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
5. News: McKie . David . David McKie . The fall of a Midas . . Portrait . 2 February 2004 . 16 December 2021.
6. Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library . 0-14-102715-0 . 2006.
7. News: Big Mass-Meeting is Held in London: Trades Unions Show Their Opposition to the Introduction of Chinese Labor in South Africa. 95 . 118 . 27 March 1904 . Page 21, column 6 . San Francisco Call . 8 February 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
8. News: The Academy of Dramatic Art . . London . 26 April 1904 . 16.
9. Web site: History of Wisley garden . RHS . 21 July 2019.
10. Web site: How Rolls Met Royce . . 16 March 2022.
11. Web site: 1900s . . Chronology . 30 July 2022.
12. Book: Sebak, Per Kristian . Titanic's Predecessor: the S/S Norge Disaster of 1904 . Laksevaag . Seaward . 2004 . 82-996779-0-4.
13. Book: 1926 . A Short History of the Development of the Undertaking, with a Description of the Existing Sources of Supply . City of Birmingham Water Department.
14. Book: Judge, Colin . 1987 . The Elan Valley Railway: the Railway of the Birmingham Corporation Waterworks . . . 0-85361-353-2.
15. Book: Vanessa . Cunningham . John . Goodwin . Cardiff University: a celebration . . 2001 . 0-9540884-0-9 . 30–31.
16. Book: Mackay, Ruddock F. . Fisher of Kilverstone . . 1973 . 9780198224099 . 315.
17. Book: Nicolson . Nigel . Nigel Nicolson . The Flight of the Mind: The Letters of Virginia Woolf . I: 1888–1912 (Virginia Stephen) . London . . 1975 . 0701204036.
18. News: Thetford . . Norwich . 1904-11-10 . 9.
19. Book: Pike, W. T. . Norfolk & Suffolk in East Anglia: Contemporary Biographies . 1911.
20. Book: Negro Year Book . 1914.
21. Web site: Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns (1858–1930), Britain’s First Black Mayor . Norfolk Black History Month . 2011 . 13 July 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101012191945/http://www.norfolkblackhistorymonth.org.uk/history/local/minns.html . 12 October 2010 . dead.
22. Book: The Hutchinson Factfinder . Helicon . 1999 . 978-1-85986-343-5.
23. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1904/strutt-bio.html Lord Rayleigh The Nobel Prize in Physics 1904
24. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1904/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1904
25. Web site: Armin . Grewe . C. R. Mackintosh: Hill House in Helensburgh . The Armin Grewe Homepage . . 2001–2006 . 7 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100623144333/http://www.armin-grewe.com/crm/crm-hillhouse.htm . 23 June 2010 . live.
26. News: Steel plant still on course to create jobs . The Argus . Brighton . 26 November 2008.
27. Web site: Cecil Beaton - Broadway Cast & Staff . . . 15 December 2021.
28. Web site: Cary Grant - Broadway Cast & Staff . Internet Broadway Database . The Broadway League . 15 December 2021.
29. News: Anthony Havelock-Allan . Whitaker . Sheila . Sheila Whitaker . . News . 13 January 2003 . 5 January 2022.
30. Book: Ferguson's Gang: The Remarkable Story of the National Trust Gangsters. Bagnall. Polly. Sally. Beck. Pavilion Books. 2015. 9781909881716. London.
31. Web site: Wilf White . Olympedia . OlyMADMen . 19 January 2022.
32. Web site: John R. Hicks – Facts . NobelPrize.org . Nobel Prize Outreach AB . 2022 . 14 February 2022 .
33. Web site: John Gielgud – Broadway Cast & Staff . Internet Broadway Database . The Broadway League . 14 February 2022.
34. News: Elizabeth Brunner . Carey . Helen . . Obituaries . 15 January 2003 . 18 February 2022.
35. Book: Notice de personne "Montagu, Ivor (1904-1984)" . Person notice "Montagu, Ivor (1904-1984)" . 24 July 2002 . . fr . 18 February 2022.
36. McManus . John . Jimmy McGrory . . Oxford University Press., cited in News: ((The Newsroom)) . Jimmy McGrory . . People . 28 October 2006 . 16 February 2022.
37. Book: Stanford, Peter . C Day-Lewis — A Life . Peter Stanford . . 2007 . 6 . 9780826486035 . 16 February 2022 . Google Books.
38. Web site: History . Ballintubbert Gardens & House . Our Story . 16 February 2022.
39. Book: Notice de personne "Mallowan, Max (1904-1978)" . Person notice "Mallowan, Max (1904-1978)" . 19 April 2007 . Bibliothèque nationale de France . fr . 24 March 2022.
40. News: Miall . Leonard . Leonard Miall . Obituary: John Snagge . The Independent . People . 28 March 1996 . 10 March 2022.
41. Encyclopedia: David . Langford . John . Clute . Allingham, Margery . The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . John . Clute . David . Langford . Peter . Nicholls . Graham . Sleight . London . Gollancz . 14 October 2021 . Web . 10 March 2022 .
42. Web site: George Formby . https://web.archive.org/web/20180324025741/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f471218 . dead . 24 March 2018 . . Films, TV and people . 8 March 2022.
43. Web site: Jack Lauterwasser . . OlyMADMen . 30 July 2022.
44. News: Lesley Blanch . Salmon . Alice Wooledge . The Guardian . 9 May 2007 . 30 July 2022.
45. Web site: Angus McBean Manuscripts . https://web.archive.org/web/20150716230623/http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/anw/get_collection.php?inst_id=1&coll_id=414&expand=&L=1 . 16 July 2015 . . . 2013 . 30 July 2022.
46. News: Obituary: Max Nicholson . Boote . Bob . Bob Boote . Higher education . The Guardian . 28 April 2003 . 24 January 2023.
47. Beryl. Grey. 10.1093/ref:odnb/31040. Dolin, Sir Anton [real name Sydney Francis Patrick Chippindall Healey Kay].
48. Book: Notice de personne "Dolin, Anton (1904-1983)" . Person notice "Dolin, Anton (1904-1983)" . Bibliothèque nationale de France . fr . 3 June 2014 . 30 December 2022.
49. News: FAMOUS ADMIRAL OF BRITISH FLEET PASSES TO REST Death Closes the Remarkable Career of Sir Henry Keppel. . San Francisco Call . 95 . 49 . 18 January 1904 . Page 1, columns 1-2 . 21 December 2021 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
50. Book: Notice de personne "Keppel, Henry (1809-1904)" . Person notice "Keppel, Henry (1809-1904)" . 11 February 2019 . Bibliothèque nationale de France . fr . 15 December 2021.
51. Book: Maitland, Frederic William . Frederic William Maitland . The life and letters of Leslie Stephen . London . . 1906 . 9, 490-491 . 26 December 2021 . Internet Archive.
52. Web site: https://pcsbranch.org.uk/REAphoto[2.html REA Photo Gallery 2 ]. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304214518/https://pcsbranch.org.uk/REAphoto[2].html . 4 March 2016 . Simon Fenwick and PCS Branch REA . 16 January 2022.
53. News: DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE DEAD. Cousin of the Late Queen Victoria Passes Away in London. . 95 . 109 . 18 March 1904 . Page 2, column 4 . San Francisco Call . 3 February 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
54. Encyclopedia: ((Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia)) . George William Frederick Charles, 2nd duke of Cambridge . Encyclopedia Britannica . 22 March 2021 . 16 January 2022.
55. News: DEATHS OF THE DAY Samuel Smiles . . XXXI . 201 . 17 April 1904 . Page 4, column 3 . 21 February 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
56. Web site: Simkin . John . Samuel Smiles : Biography . Chartism . https://web.archive.org/web/20131101194311/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRsmiles.htm . 1 November 2013 . June 2013 . Spartacus Educational . 17 February 2022.
57. Web site: CHRONOLOGY 1893-1904 . The Compleat Eadward Muybridge . 10 March 2022.
58. News: EXPLORER STANLEY'S LIFE ENDS Famous Man's Career Is Closed in London. . XCV . 162 . 10 May 1904 . Page 1, column 2 . San Francisco Call . 19 March 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
59. News: 1904 Arlington Journal . Arlington, Texas . 70–71 . 16 March 2022 .
60. Encyclopedia: Middleton . Dorothy . Dorothy Middleton . Henry Morton Stanley . Encyclopedia Britannica . 24 January 2022 . 10 March 2022.
61. News: Celebrated English Painter Dead . . . XXX . 155 . 2 July 1904 . Page 1, column 4 . 26 November 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
62. News: DEATH DEPRIVES WORLD OF ART OF GREAT MASTER At Age of Eighty-Seven George Frederick Watts, English Painter, Lays Aside Brush That for More Than Sixty Years Has Won Him Honors . XCVI . 32 . 2 July 1904 . Page 3, columns 1-2 . San Francisco Call . 17 December 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.
63. News: DEATH OF WILSON BARRETT. Actor Succumbs to the Effects of an Operation for Cancer. . XCVI . 53 . 23 July 1904 . Page 14, column 5 . San Francisco Call . 23 December 2022 . California Digital Newspaper Collection.