1888 in the United Kingdom

1888 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1886 | 1887 | 1888 | 1889 | 1890

Sport

1888 English cricket season

1887–88 in English football

Events from the year 1888 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch — Queen Victoria
• Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)

Events

• 26 January — The Lawn Tennis Association is founded.^[1]
• 13 February — The first issue of the Financial Times goes on sale.^[2] (originally launched on 9 January by Horatio Bottomley as the London Financial Guide).
• 22 March — The Football League is formed.^[3]
• 8 May — Royal opening of the International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow (continues to November).^[4]
• 28 May — Celtic Football Club of Glasgow play their first official match, beating Rangers 5–2.
• June — Annie Besant organises the London matchgirls' strike.
• 7 August — The body of Martha Tabram is found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper.^[3]
• 9 August — Oaths Act permits the oath of allegiance taken to the Sovereign by Members of Parliament to be affirmed rather than sworn to God, thus confirming the ability of atheists to sit in the House of Commons.
• 13 August — The Local Government Act, effective from 1889, establishes county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales, redraws some county boundaries, and gives women the vote in local elections.^[2]
• 31 August — Mary Ann Nichols is murdered, perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.
• 6 September — Charles Turner becomes the first bowler in cricket to take 250 wickets in an English season, a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
• 8 September
  • In London, the body of Annie Chapman is found. She is considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
  • In England, the first six Football League matches are played.^[3] The 12 members of the new league are Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Burnley, Accrington, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Notts County, Derby County and Stoke City. All of the league's members are from the north of England or the midlands.^[5]
• 27 September — The 'Dear Boss letter' signed "Jack the Ripper", the first time the name is used, is received by London's Central News Agency.^[3]
• 30 September — In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
• 2 October — The Whitehall Mystery: a body is discovered during the construction of New Scotland Yard.
• 14 October — The first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds. The film is two seconds and 18 frames in length.
• 8 November — Joseph Assheton Fincher files a patent for the parlour game which he calls "Tiddledy-Winks".^[6]
• 9 November — In London, the dead body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is considered to be the fifth, and last, of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders in England follows, but the police attribute them to copy-cat killers.
• 7 December — John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tyre.^[3]
• 17 December — The Lyric Theatre (London) opens.^[3]

Undated

• Prosecution of Edward King, Anglican bishop of Lincoln, for using ritualistic practices begins.
• Completion of first stage of Royal Museum in Edinburgh.
• University College of North Wales, Bangor, opens its agriculture department — the first in a British university.
• Camborne School of Mines founded in Cornwall.
• W.D. & H.O. Wills launch the Woodbine brand of cigarette.
• Sarawak and Borneo become British protectorates.
• First International Forestry Exhibition opens in Edinburgh.^[7]

Publications

• Richard Francis Burton's English translation of One Thousand and One Nights.
• Thomas Hardy's short story collection Wessex Tales.
• W. E. Henley's A Book of Verses, containing the first publication of the poem Invictus.^[8]
• Henry James' novella The Aspern Papers.
• Rudyard Kipling's short story collection Plain Tales from the Hills.
• Mrs Humphrey Ward's 'novel of doubt' Robert Elsmere.
• Oscar Wilde's collection of children's fairy stories The Happy Prince and Other Tales.

Births

• 18 January — Thomas Sopwith, aviation pioneer and yachtsman (died 1989)
• 8 February — Edith Evans, actress (died 1976)
• 1 March — Ewart Astill, cricketer (Leicestershire) (died 1948)
• 17 May — Tich Freeman, cricketer (died 1965)
• 25 May — Miles Malleson, actor (died 1969)
• 9 July — Simon Marks, businessman (died 1964)
• 14 August — John Logie Baird, inventor (died 1946)
• 16 August — T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") liaison officer during the Arab Revolt, writer, and academic (died 1935)
• 6 December — Will Hay, actor and comedian (died 1949)
• 7 December — Joyce Cary, author (died 1957)
• 18 December — Gladys Cooper, actress (died 1971)
• 22 December — J. Arthur Rank, film magnate (died 1972)
• 25 December — Michael Sadleir, novelist (died 1957)

Deaths

• 29 January — Edward Lear, artist and writer (born 1812)
• 3 February — Henry Maine, jurist (born 1822)
• 15 April — Matthew Arnold, poet (born 1822)
• 23 August — Philip Henry Gosse, scientist (born 1810)

References

See also