1939 in the United Kingdom
UK-related events during the year of 1939
Events from the year 1939 in the United Kingdom . This year sees the start of the Second World War , ending the Interwar period .
Incumbents
Events
2 January – the all-time highest attendance for a British association football league game is set as 118,567 people watch Rangers beat Celtic in an "Old Firm derby" played at Ibrox Park in Glasgow.[ 1]
23 January – "Dutch War Scare": Admiral Wilhelm Canaris of the Abwehr [ 2]
4 February – the Irish Republican Army plants bombs at two London Underground stations, Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square, injuring seven, two seriously.[ 3] [ 4]
25 February – the first Anderson shelter (a household air raid shelter) is built in London .[ 5]
27 February – Borley Rectory , a reputed haunted house in Essex, is destroyed by fire.[ 5]
31 March – Britain pledges support to Poland in the event of an invasion.[ 6]
4 April – the Royal Armoured Corps is formed.
11 April – the Women's Royal Naval Service is re-established.[ 7]
27 April – the Military Training Act (coming into force 3 June) introduces conscription ; men aged 20 and 21 must undertake six months military training.[ 8]
May–September – the Sutton Hoo treasure – an Anglo-Saxon ship burial – is excavated. On 28 July the Sutton Hoo helmet is uncovered. The principal treasures are presented to the British Museum by the landowner, Edith Pretty , at this time its largest ever gift from a living donor.[ 9]
6 May
Dorothy Garrod is elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the University of Cambridge , the first woman to hold an Oxbridge chair.[ 10] German anti-Nazi Carl Friedrich Goerdeler tells the British government that the German and Soviet governments are secretly beginning a rapprochement, with the aim of dividing Eastern Europe between them. Goerdeler also informs the British of German economic problems which he states threaten the survival of the Nazi regime, and advises that if a firm stand is made for Poland, then Hitler will be deterred from war.
15 May – the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips Robert Donat will win the Academy Award for Best Actor .
17 May – George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Quebec City to begin the first-ever visit to Canada by a reigning British sovereign.
1 June – submarine HMS Thetis sinks during trials in Liverpool Bay . 99 men are lost.[ 11]
7 June – George VI and Queen Elizabeth visit New York City on the first visit to the United States by a reigning British sovereign.[ 5]
14 June–20 August – Tientsin Incident : the Imperial Japanese Army blockades British trading settlements in the north China treaty port of Tientsin .
28 June – the Women's Auxiliary Air Force is created, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the Auxiliary Territorial Service which have been formed since 1938.[ 12]
30 June – the Mersey Ferry stops running to Rock Ferry .[ 5]
1 July – Women's Land Army re-formed to work in agriculture .[ 13]
8 July – Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper inaugurates the world's first heavier-than-air North Atlantic air passenger service between the United States and Britain (Southampton).
22 July – royal visit to Britannia Royal Naval College , Dartmouth, during which the young Princess Elizabeth first meets her future husband Prince Philip of Greece .[ 14]
26 July – the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham , designed by Robert Atkinson , is officially opened by Queen Mary .[ 15] [ 16]
5 August – weekly transatlantic flights scheduled by Imperial Airways ; suspended in September.[ 6] [verification needed
15 August – first personnel of the Government Code and Cypher School move to Bletchley Park .
19 August – Sir Malcolm Campbell sets the water speed record in Blue Bird K4 Coniston Water .
23 August–2 September – most paintings from the National Gallery in London are evacuated to Wales .[ 17]
24 August – as details of the previous day's Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact become public, Parliament is recalled several weeks early; the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 gives full authority to defence regulations,[ 6] Army reservists are called up and Civil Defence workers placed on alert.
25 August – 1939 Coventry bombing : An Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in Coventry , killing 5 and injuring 70.[ 18] [ 19]
30 August – Royal Navy proceeds to war stations.
1 September
2 September – British Expeditionary Force headquarters formed.
3 September – World War II
4 September – first bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II by Royal Air Force Vickers Wellingtons .
5 September – National Registration Act.[ 24]
9 September – British Expeditionary Force crosses to France.[ 6]
10 September – British submarine HMS Triton torpedoes and sinks another British submarine, HMS Oxley , off the coast of Norway, believing her to be a German U-boat , with the loss of 52 crew.
16 September – the Duke of Windsor is appointed a major-general attached to the British Military Mission to France .[ 25]
17 September – aircraft carrier HMS Courageous is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-29 in the Western Approaches with the loss of 519 crew, the first British warship loss of the War.
18 September – American-born fascist politician William Joyce , at this time holding a British passport, begins broadcasting Nazi propaganda to Britain from Berlin, inheriting the nickname Lord Haw-Haw .[ 5]
19 September – popular radio comedy show It's That Man Again Tommy Handley first broadcast on the BBC Home service, following trial broadcasts from 12 July.[ 6] [ 26] ITMA ", it runs for ten years.
24 September – petrol rationing introduced.[ 6]
26 September – flying from HMS Ark Royal in the North Sea , Lieutenant B. S. McEwen of the Fleet Air Arm scores the first British victory over a German aircraft of the war, shooting down a flying boat. The aircraft carrier comes under air attack but survives.[ 27]
27 September – first war tax is revealed by the Cabinet , including a significant rise in income taxes .
29 September – national register of citizens compiled to support the introduction of identity cards and rationing.[ 24]
30 September – Identity cards introduced.[ 6]
1 October – call-up proclamation: All men aged 20–21 must register with the military authorities.
7 October – cruiser HMS Emerald departs Plymouth in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia , carrying £2M in gold bar to be used for purchase of military materiel in North America, a predecessor of Operation Fish .[ 28]
14 October – HMS Royal Oak sunk by a German U-boat in Scapa Flow , Orkney Islands with the loss of 833 crew.[ 5]
16 October – first enemy aircraft shot down by RAF Fighter Command , a Junkers Ju 88 brought down into the sea by Spitfires following an attack on Rosyth Naval Dockyard in Scotland .[ 29]
17 October – first bomb lands in the U.K., at Hoy in the Orkney Islands.[ 30]
21 October – registration of men aged 20 to 23 for National Service begins.[ 21]
28 October – "Humbie Heinkel ": A Heinkel He 111 bomber is the first German aircraft to be shot down on British soil by RAF Fighter Command, near Humbie in East Lothian, Scotland.[ 31]
30 October – British battleship HMS Nelson is unsuccessfully attacked by U-56 Wilhelm Zahn off Orkney and is hit by three torpedoes , none of which explode; Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty), Admiral of the Fleet Dudley Pound (First Sea Lord) and Admiral Charles Forbes (Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet) are on board.[ 32]
4 November – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the Secret Intelligence Service .
8 November – Venlo Incident : two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
23 November – British armed merchantman HMS Rawalpindi is sunk in the GIUK gap in an action against the German battleships Scharnhorst Gneisenau
24 November – British Overseas Airways Corporation formed by merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. effective from 1 April 1940.
4 December
9 December – first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force killed: Corporal Thomas Priday triggers a French land mine.
12 December – escorting destroyer HMS Duchess (H64) sinks after a collision with battleship HMS Barham (04) off the Mull of Kintyre in heavy fog with the loss of 124 men.[ 33]
13 December – the Battle of the River Plate takes place between HMS Exeter , HMS Ajax , HMNZS Achilles and the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee ,[ 5] scuttle herself on 17 December.
18 December – Battle of the Heligoland Bight : RAF Bomber Command , on a daylight mission to attack Kriegsmarine Heligoland Bight , is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft .
December – the Pilgrim Trust establishes a Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, predecessor of the Arts Council .
Undated
Publications
Births
8 January – Alan Wilson , mathematician and academic
11 January – Phil Williams , Welsh politician (died 2003)
15 January – Neil Cossons , industrial archaeologist and museum director
20 January – Chandra Wickramasinghe , Ceylonese -born British astronomer and poet
29 January – Tony Green , sportscaster
5 February – Derek Wadsworth , jazz trombonist and composer (died 2008)
10 February – Peter Purves , actor and television presenter
18 February – Ray Lovejoy , film editor (died 2001)
20 February – Frank Arundel , footballer (died 1994)
3 March – Bill Frindall , cricket statistician (died 2009)
4 March – Keith Skues , radio disc jockey
9 March – John Howard Davies , child screen actor and television comedy director (died 2011)
10 March – Len Ashurst , football player and manager (died 2021)
17 March – Robin Knox-Johnston , yachtsman
18 March – Ron Atkinson , footballer and football manager
23 March
24 March – Lynda Baron , actress (died 2022)[ 35]
5 April – David Winters , English-American actor, choreographer and director (died 2019)
7 April – David Frost , television personality (died 2013)[ 36]
10 April – Penny Vincenzi , novelist (died 2018)[ 37]
12 April – Alan Ayckbourn , playwright
13 April – Seamus Heaney , Irish poet, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (died 2013)[ 38]
15 April – Marty Wilde , actor and rock 'n' roll singer
22 April
1 May – Lady Susan Hussey , courtier
2 May
4 May – Neil Fox , rugby league footballer
5 May – Terry Walsh , actor and stuntman (died 2002)
7 May – David Hatch , radio broadcaster and actor (died 2007)
10 May – Bill Cash , English lawyer and politician
25 May – Sir Ian McKellen , English actor[ 40]
27 May – Sarah Caudwell , barrister and author (died 2000)
30 May – Tim Waterstone , businessman
31 May
5 June – Margaret Drabble , novelist and biographer
8 June
11 June
14 June – Peter Mayle , writer (died 2018)
19 June – Michael Standing , actor
26 June – Arthur Sutton , cricketer
30 June
2 July – Ferdinand Mount , journalist and novelist
7 July – Stanley Henig , academic and politician
10 July – John Dunlop , racehorse trainer (died 2018)
11 July – John Walters , musician and radio presenter (died 2001)
15 July – Reg Pridmore , motorcycle road racing national champion
16 July – Corin Redgrave , actor and political activist (died 2010)
17 July – Spencer Davis , Welsh beat musician, multi-instrumentalist (The Spencer Davis Group ) (died 2020 in the United States)
18 July – Brian Auger , jazz and rock keyboardist
22 July – Robert Phelps , modern pentathlete
28 July – Richard Johns , air marshal
4 August – Jack Cunningham , politician
10 August
11 August – Naseem Khan , journalist (died 2017)
15 August
16 August
19 August
25 August – John Bardon , actor (died 2014)
30 August – John Peel , né Ravenscroft, disc jockey and radio presenter (died 2004)
12 September – John Pearse , guitarist (died 2008)
18 September – Maurice Colbourne , actor (died 1989)
19 September
22 September – Jean Golding , epidemiologist
22 September - Bette Bourne , actor, drag queen, campaigner and activist (died 2024)
23 September – Henry Blofeld , cricket commentator
25 September – Leon Brittan , politician (died 2015)
26 September - Ricky Tomlinson , actor
27 September – Nicky Haslam , interior designer
29 September – Rhodri Morgan , Welsh politician (died 2017)
1 October – Geoffrey Whitehead , actor
6 October – Melvyn Bragg , media arts presenter, critic and novelist
7 October – Harry Kroto , organic chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (died 2016)
9 October – Nicholas Grimshaw , architect
19 October – David Clark, Baron Clark , Scottish politician
22 October – George Cohen , English footballer (died 2022)
23 October – Peter Armitage , English actor (died 2018)
24 October – John Adye , intelligence officer
25 October – Dave Simmonds , road racer (died 1972)
27 October – John Cleese , comic actor
31 October – Tom O'Connor , entertainer and comedian (d. 2021)[ 44]
4 November – Michael Meacher , politician (died 2015).[ 45]
8 November – Elizabeth Dawn , actress (died 2017)
11 November – Alf Adams , physicist
12 November – Terry McDonald , footballer and coach
16 November – Michael Billington , drama critic
17 November – Auberon Waugh , journalist (died 2001)
18 November
3 December – David Phillips , chemist
13 December – Eric Flynn , singer-songwriter (died 2002)
16 December – Gordon Miller , Olympic high jumper
20 December – Tony Bentley , footballer
26 December – Carol M. Black , physician and academic
Deaths
9 January – Edwin Farley , mayor (born 1864)
2 March – Howard Carter , archaeologist (born 1874)
29 March – Ernest Hanbury Hankin , English bacteriologist and naturalist (born 1865)[ 46]
18 April – Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair , patron and promoter of women's interests (born 1857)[ 47]
9 May – Sophie Williams, previously Mary, Lady Heath , aviator and athlete (born 1896)
25 May – Sir Frank Dyson , astronomer (born 1868)[ 48]
25 June – Richard Seaman , racing driver (car crash) (born 1913)[ 49]
26 June – Ford Madox Ford , novelist, poet, critic and editor (born 1873)
20 July – Sir Dan Godfrey , conductor (born 1868)[ 50]
6 September – Arthur Rackham , illustrator (born 1867)
13 September – Henry Halcro Johnston , botanist, physician, rugby union international and Deputy Lieutenant for Orkney (born 1856 )
18 September - Gwen John , artist (born 1876)[ 51]
19 September – Ethel M. Dell , romantic fiction writer (born 1881)
26 September - Leif Jones , politician (born 1862)[ 52]
3 December – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll , daughter of Queen Victoria (born 1848)
15 December – Len Cundell , English racehorse trainer (born 1879)
19 December – Eric Fogg , composer and conductor (killed by train) (born 1903)[ 53]
See also
References
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ISBN 0-7134-6185-3 ^ "WW2 People's War Timeline, BBC" . Retrieved 2 March 2008 .^ Libraries and Culture, Stanley Chodorow ^ Callander, Jane (2004). "Garrod, Dorothy Annie Elizabeth (1892–1968)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/37443 . Retrieved 14 February 2011 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ Warren, C. E. T.; Benson, James (1958). "The Admiralty regrets ...": the story of His Majesty's submarine Thetis and Thunderbolt . London: Harrap. ^ Narracot, A.H. (1941). "9 – Woman in Blue". How The R.A.F. Works 108 (n115). Retrieved 30 July 2009 . ^ Twinch, Carol (1990). Women on the Land: their story during two World Wars . Cambridge: Lutterworth Press. p. 67. ISBN 0-7188-2814-3 ^ Heald, Tim (1991). The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip . London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-54607-7 . p. 57.^ Spencer-Longhurst, Paul (2004). "Atkinson, Robert (1883–1952)" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/38347 . Retrieved 31 December 2010 . ^ "The Barber Institute: A Cultural Centre For Birmingham". The Times ^ Bosman, Suzanne (2008). The National Gallery in Wartime . London: National Gallery Company. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-85709-424-4 ^ Scott, Jenny (25 August 2014). "Coventry IRA bombing: The 'forgotten' attack on a British city" . BBC News . BBC. Retrieved 30 March 2018 . ^ Kirby, Dick (2021). IRA Terror on Britain's Streets, 1939–1940 . Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781526786425 ^ Clouting, Laura. "The Evacuated Children of the Second World War" . London: Imperial War Museum . Retrieved 19 August 2015 . ^ a b "Conscription" . Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 18 February 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2008 .^ Brennecke, Jochen (2003). The Hunters and the Hunted . Naval Institute Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 1-59114-091-9 ^ Kean, Hilda (2017). The Great Cat and Dog Massacre ISBN 978-0-226-31832-5 ^ a b "1939: An emergency population count in wartime" . 2011 Census . 2011. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011 .^ Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (1894–1972)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/31061 . Retrieved 8 March 2012 .(Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ "The BBC Story – 1930s" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2010 .^ Sturtivant, Ray (1990). British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990 33–34 . ISBN 0-87021-026-2 ^ Draper, Alfred (1979). Operation Fish: The Fight to Save the Gold of Britain, France and Norway from the Nazis . Don Mills: General Publishing. ISBN 9780773600683 ^ Duncan, George. "Lesser-Known Facts of World War II" . Retrieved 19 January 2012 . ^ Doyle, Peter (2010). ARP and Civil Defence in the Second World War . Oxford: Shire Publications. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-7478-0765-0 ^ "History of the 602 Squadron – WW2" . 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron Museum Association. 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2024 .^ Flower, Stephen (2011). No Phoney War . Stroud: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-84868-960-2 ^ English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s . Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9 ^ "Takeaway market holds key to Greggs' future" . The Northern Echo . Darlington. 18 November 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2024 .^ "Open All Hours actor Lynda Baron dies aged 82" . The Guardian Archived from the original on 8 July 2023.^ Jeffries, Stuart (1 September 2013). "Sir David Frost obituary" . The Guardian . Retrieved 13 June 2018 . ^ "Penny Vincenzi: 'I never plot what will happen' . The Telegraph . 16 June 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2016 .^ Cocoran, Neil (30 August 2013). "Seamus Heaney obituary" . The Guardian . Retrieved 13 June 2018 . ^ "Sir John Chilcot obituary" . The Guardian Archived from the original on 7 April 2023.^ "Ian McKellen" . BFI . Archived from the original on 29 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2022 .^ "Mick Ives Racing" . Fibrax. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2012 .^ "Kate O'Mara obituary" . The Guardian . 30 March 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2022 .^ Wüstholz, Gisbert (9 April 2018). "Alan Baker obituary" . The Guardian . Retrieved 13 June 2018 . ^ Shafer, Ellise (18 July 2021). "Tom O'Connor, Comedian and Veteran Game Show Host, Dies at 81" . Variety Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021 . ^ Steven, Alasdair (22 October 2015). "Obituary: Michael Meacher, politician" . The Scotsman the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018 . ^ Who was who: A Companion to "Who's Who" ^ Ewan, Elizabeth; Pipes, Rose; Rendall, Jane; Reynolds, Siân, eds. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women . Edinburgh University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9781474436281 ^ Frank Watson Dyson 1868-1939) ^ "Obituary: Mr Richard Seaman" The Times . 27 June 1939. p. 16.^ Sean Street; Ray Carpenter (1 January 1993). The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, 1893-1993: a centenary celebration ISBN 978-1-874336-10-5 ^ Gwen John; Michael Holroyd; Anthony d'Offay (Firm) (1982). Gwen John, 1876-1939 ISBN 9780950398938 ^ Llewelyn Gwyn Chambers. "Jones, Leifchild Stratten (1862-1939), Liberal politician and temperance advocate" . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 5 September 2019 . ^ The Listener