1904 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1904 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - Edward VII of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative

Events

* 1 January - Number plates are introduced as cars are licensed for the first time. A speed limit of 20 miles per hour is introduced.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 335-336|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 12 March - Britain's first electric trains begin running from Liverpool to Southport on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 8 April - Entente Cordiale signed between the United Kingdom and France.
* 4 May - Frederick Henry Royce meets Charles Stewart Rolls to discuss Rolls-Royce agreement.
* 9 June - the London Symphony Orchestra performs its first concert.
* 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.
* 3 August - A British expedition under colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.
* 21 October - The Dogger Bank incident; Russian fleet mistakes British fishing trawlers in the North Sea for Japanese torpedo boats, and opens fire, sinking one. War narrowly averted.
* 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". [ [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1904/strutt-bio.html Lord Rayleigh The Nobel Prize in Physics 1904] ]
** 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". [ [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1904/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1904] ]
* 24 December - The Coliseum Theatre in London opens.
* 27 December - The stage play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" premiered in London.

Undated

* John Ambrose Fleming invents the diode valve. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]
* Loftus Road stadium opened.
* Griffin Park stadium opened.

Ongoing events

* 1904-1905 Welsh Revival: Christian revival breaks out in Wales.

Publications

* G. K. Chesterton's novel "The Napoleon of Notting Hill".
* Joseph Conrad's novel "Nostromo".
* Frederick Rolfe's novel "Hadrian the Seventh".

Births

* 14 January - Cecil Beaton, photographer (died 1980)
* 18 January - Cary Grant, actor (died 1986)
* 8 April - John Hicks, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989)
* 14 April - Sir John Gielgud, actor (died 2000)
* 26 April - Jimmy McGrory, footballer (died 1982)
* 27 April - Cecil Day-Lewis, poet (died 1972)
* 8 May - John Snagge, radio personality (died 1996)
* 27 July - Anton Dolin, dancer and choreographer (died 1983)
* 26 August - Christopher Isherwood, novelist (died 1986)
* 29 September - Greer Garson, actress (died 1996)
* 11 November - J. H. C. Whitehead, mathematician (died 1960)
* 14 November - Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1988)
* 12 December - Edward Pilgrim, victim of bureaucracy (died 1954)

Deaths

* 22 February - Leslie Stephen, writer and critic (born 1832)
* 5 March - John Lowther du Plat Taylor, founder of the Army Post Office Corps (born 1829)
* 16 April - Samuel Smiles, author and reformer (born 1812)
* 8 May - Frederick York Powell, historian and scholar (born 1850)
* 10 May - Henry Morton Stanley, explorer and journalist (born 1841)
* 22 July - Wilson Barrett, actor (born 1846)
* 4 October - Laurence Hope, poetess (born 1865)

References

ee also