1931 in the United Kingdom

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1931 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933

Sport

1931 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

Events from the year 1931 in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Incumbents

• Monarch - George V of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister - Ramsay MacDonald, Labour and national coalition

[edit] Events

• 6 January - Sadler's Wells Theatre opens in London.^[1]
• 14 April - The Highway Code issued.^[1]
• 15 May - Shoppers in London escape with their lives when a chemical factory in Bayswater explodes.
• 23 May - Whipsnade Zoo opens in Bedfordshire.^[1]
• 7 June - The Dogger Bank earthquake is felt across Britain.^[2]
• 12 June - Charlie Parker equals J.T. Hearne's record for the earliest date to reach 100 wickets.
• 24 August - Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns in Britain and is replaced by National Government of people drawn from all parties also under MacDonald.
• 6 September - Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden announces salary cuts for all government employees, and reductions to unemployment benefit.^[3]
• 15 September - The Invergordon Mutiny: Strikes in Royal Navy due to decreased salaries.
• 20 September - Pound sterling comes off the gold standard.^[1]
• 17 October - General election results in victory for the National Government. Ramsay Macdonald remains Prime Minister.^[3]
• 12 November - The Abbey Road Studios in London are opened by Sir Edward Elgar.^[1]
• 11 December - Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.

[edit] Undated

• The Vic-Wells Ballet, later to become the Royal Ballet, debuts in London.^[4]

[edit] Publications

• Agatha Christie's novel The Sittaford Mystery.
• Anthony Powell's novel Afternoon Men.
• Vita Sackville-West's novel All Passion Spent.
• Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves.

[edit] Births

• 10 January - Peter Barnes, playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004)
• 2 February - Les Dawson, comedian (d. 1993)
• 24 February - Brian Close, cricket player
• 26 February - Ally McLeod, football manager
• 6 March - Jimmy Stewart, racing driver (d. 2008)
• 14 March - Frank Sando, long-distance runner
• 19 March - Alan Newton, track cyclist
• 7 April - Jeff Elliott, decathlete and pole vaulter
• April 9 - Ken Wilmshurst, triple jumper (d. 1992)
• 29 April - Lonnie Donegan, musician (d. 2002)
• 7 June
  • Virginia McKenna, actress
  • Malcolm Morley, painter
• 28 August - John Shirley-Quirk, bass-baritone
• 8 September - Jack Rosenthal, playwright (d. 2004)
• 22 September - Fay Weldon, author
• 22 September - George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, politician (d. 2003)
• 4 October - Terence Conran, designer and businessman
• 19 October - John le Carré, novelist
• 23 October - Diana Dors, actress (d. 1984)
• 9 November - Eric Sandstrom, track and field sprinter

[edit] Deaths

• 22 January - Alfred Maudslay, colonial diplomat, explorer and archaeologist (born 1850)
• 11 February - Charles Algernon Parsons, inventor (born 1854)
• 5 March - Arthur Tooth, Anglican clergyman prosecuted for Ritualist practices in the 1870s (born 1839)
• 17 March - James Stewart, Scottish Labour Party politician, MP for Glasgow St. Rollox 1922–1931 (born 1863)
• 27 March - Arnold Bennett, novelist (born 1867)
• 30 April - Sammy Woods, cricketer (born 1867)
• 13 June - Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent, businessman (born 1850)
• 5 September - John Thomson, footballer (born 1909)
• 2 October - Thomas Lipton, merchant and yachtsman (born 1850)

[edit] Unknown dates

• Lancelot Speed, illustrator (born 1860)
• Joseph Tabrar, songwriter (born 1857)

[edit] References

[edit] See also