1944 in the United Kingdom

1944 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1942 | 1943 | 1944 (1944) | 1945 | 1946

World War II

UK during World War II

Events from the year 1944 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George VI
• Prime Minister – Winston Churchill, coalition

Events

• January – Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service officially formed
• 21–22 January – World War II: Start of Operation Steinbock (the "Baby Blitz"), a nocturnal Luftwaffe bombing offensive chiefly targeted at the Greater London area (continues until May). On this attack, few aircraft reach the target area.^[1]
• 10 February – PAYE (Pay as you earn) system of tax collection introduced.^[2]
• 26 February – World War II: Last heavy air-raids on London.^[3]
• March – Lifting of prohibition on married women working as teachers.^[4]
• 28 April – Allied convoy T4, forming part of amphibious Exercise Tiger (a full-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings) off the Devon coast, is attacked by E-boats, resulting in the deaths of 749 American servicemen from LSTs.^[5][6][7][8]
• 29 May – Thunderstorms lead to severe flooding, particularly around Holmfirth.^[9]
• 1 June – World War II: The BBC transmits a coded message (the first line of a poem by Paul Verlaine) to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is imminent.
• 5 June – World War II: Final preparations for D-Day take place in the South of England.
• 6 June – World War II: Battle of Normandy begins – Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.^[2]
• 13 June – World War II: The first V-1 Flying Bomb attack on London takes place.^[2]
• 12 July – Release of Laurence Olivier's Henry V, the first work of Shakespeare filmed in colour.
• 3 August – The Education Act, promoted by Rab Butler, creates a Tripartite System of secondary education with Secondary Modern, Technical, and Grammar schools, entrance being determined in most cases by the results of the Eleven plus exam.^[10]
• 21 August – American, British, Chinese, French and Soviet representatives meet to plan the foundation of the United Nations.^[2]
• 7 September – The Belgian government leaves the UK and returns to Belgium following the liberation of Brussels on 3 September.
• 8 September – World War II: The first V-2 Rocket attack on London takes place.^[2]
• 17 September – World War II: Restrictions imposed by the Blackout are relaxed.^[2]
• 9 October – Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.
• 23 October – The Allies recognise Charles de Gaulle's cabinet as the provisional government of France.
• 12 November – World War II: Sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz by RAF Lancaster bombers.^[2]
• 25 November – World War II: A V-2 rocket destroys the Woolworth's store in New Cross Road, south east London, killing 168, the highest death toll from one of these weapons.^[11]
• 27 November – RAF Fauld explosion: Between 3,450 and 3,930 tons (3,500 and 4,000 tonnes) of ordnance explodes at an underground storage depot in Staffordshire leaving about 75 dead and a crater 1,200 metres (0.75 miles) across and 120 metres (400 ft) deep, one of the largest explosions in history and the largest on UK soil.^[12]
• 3 December – World War II: The Home Guard is stood down.
• 24 December – World War II: V-1 Flying Bomb attack kills 27 in Oldham, having been aimed at Manchester.^[3]

Undated

• Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act makes arrangements for postwar provision of adequate housing for all who need it.
• Ministry of Works builds the first demonstration temporary prefab houses designed for postwar reconstruction (in Northolt).^[13]
• Council of Industrial Design established.^[14]

Publications

• H. E. Bates' novel Fair Stood the Wind for France.
• Joyce Carey's novel The Horse's Mouth.
• Agatha Christie's novels Towards Zero and Death Comes as the End.
• L. P. Hartley's novel The Shrimp and the Anemone, first in the Eustace and Hilda trilogy.
• F. W. Hayek's book The Road to Serfdom.
• W. Somerset Maugham’s novel The Razor's Edge.
• L. T. C. Rolt's book Narrow Boat.
• G. M. Trevelyan's book English Social History: a survey of six centuries from Chaucer to Queen Victoria.

Births

January – June

• 9 January – Jimmy Page, English guitarist (Led Zeppelin)
• 27 January
  • Mairead Corrigan, Northern Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
• 3 February – Dave Davies, British musician (The Kinks)
• 13 February – Jerry Springer, English-born television host
• 14 February – Alan Parker, English film director
• 17 February – Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer
• 24 February – Nicky Hopkins, British musician (died 1994)
• 1 March – Roger Daltrey, English musician (The Who)
• 7 March – Ranulph Fiennes, adventurer
• 11 March – Don Maclean, British comedian
• 6 April – Felicity Palmer, English soprano
• 27 April – Michael Fish, British TV weatherman
• 5 May – John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor
• 8 May – Gary Glitter, English singer
• 12 May – Sara Kestelman, British actor
• 20 May – Joe Cocker, British singer
• 25 May – Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director
• 28 May – Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress
• 24 June
  • Jeff Beck, British musician
  • John "Charlie" Whitney, British rock guitarist (Family)

July – December

• 21 July – Tony Scott, English film director
• 27 July – Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor, and musician (died 2003)
• 2 August – Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic) (died 2005)
• 11 August – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
• 26 August – Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
• 31 August – Roger Dean, British artist
• 22 September – Frazer Hines, British actor
• 26 September – Anne Robinson, British television host
• 30 September – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer
• 9 October – John Entwistle, English bassist (The Who) (died 2002)
• 15 October – David Trimble, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 28 October – Ian Marter, British actor (died 1986)
• 10 November – Tim Rice, lyricist, writer and broadcaster
• 6 December – Jonathan King, British music producer
• 21 December – Bill Atkinson, English footballer

Deaths

• 1 January – Edwin Lutyens, architect (born 1869)
• 13 April – Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, sportsman after whom the brand Lonsdale is named (born 1857)
• 8 May – Ethel Smyth, composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement (born 1858)
• 28 July – Ralph H. Fowler, astronomer and physicist (born 1889)
• 19 August – Henry Wood, conductor (born 1869)
• 13 September – W. Heath Robinson, cartoonist and illustrator (born 1872)
• 23 October – Charles Glover Barkla, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877)
• 26 October
  • William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1881)
  • The Princess Beatrice, the last surviving child of Queen Victoria (born 1857)
• 22 November – Arthur Stanley Eddington, astrophysicist (born 1882)

References

See also