1920 in the United Kingdom
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See also: 1919 in the United Kingdom, other events of 1920, 1921 in the United Kingdom and the Timeline of British history.
Events
1920
- January 10 - The steamer Treveal is wrecked in the English Channel. 35 people lose their lives.
- February 11 - The Council of the League of Nations meets for the first time in London.
- February 17 - The Metropolitan Police are told that their horses will be replaced by cars.
- February 23 - War Secretary Winston Churchill announces that conscripts will be replaced by a volunteer army of 220,000 men.
- March 10 - The Ulster Unionist Council accepts the Government's plan for a Northern Ireland Parliament.
- March 17 - Queen Alexandra unveils a monument to Nurse Edith Cavell in London.
- March 27 - Troytown wins the Grand National.
- March 31 - Parliament passes the Home Rule Act, but Unionist leader Sir Edward Carson opposes the division of Ireland, seing it as a betrayal of southern and western unionists.
- April 24 - Aston Villa beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the first FA Cup Final since 1915.
- May 10 - Forty Irish prisoners on hunger strike at Wormwood Scrubs are released.
- May 17 - Sinn Féin supporters and Unionists engage in pitched street battles in Londonderry.
- May 18 - Women lecturers are given equal status to their male colleagues at Oxford University.
- May 21 - The Government proposes a car tax of £1 per horsepower (13 p/kW).
- May 30 - At least twenty people drown in serious floods in Lincolnshire.
- June 9 - King George V opens the Imperial War Museum at the Crystal Palace.
- June 24 - Troops are sent to reinforce the Londonderry garrison.
- July 3 - Bill Tilden is the first American to win Wimbledon. French player Suzanne Lenglen takes the ladies' title for the second time.
- July 13 - London County Council bans foreigners from almost all council jobs.
- July 31 - The Communist Party of Great Britain is founded in London.
- August 1 - The first Congress of the Communist Party of Great Britain opens.
- August 2 - The Government introduces a new bill to restore order in Ireland which allows for suspension of jury trials.
- August 3 - There are Catholic riots in Belfast in protest at the continuing British military presence.
- August 9 - The Labour Party says it will call for a general strike if Britain declares war on Russia.
- September 22 - The Metropolitan Police forms the Flying Squad.
- October 7 - The first one hundred women are admitted to study for full degrees at Oxford University.
- October 10 - It is announced that compulsory hand signals are to be introduced for all drivers.
- October 16 - The miners go on strike.
- October 20 - Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst is charged with sedition after calling upon workers to loot the London Docks.
- October 25 - The Emergency Powers Bill to counter the miners' strike has its second reading in the House of Commons.
- October 25 - Terence MacSwiney, jailed Lord Mayor of Cork, dies in Brixton Prison after a 78-day hunger strike.
- October 28 - Sylvia Pankhurst is jailed for six months.
- November 3 - The miners' strike ends after only a small majority vote to continue.
- November 10 - The body of the Unknown Soldier arrives from France for burial in Westminster Abbey.
- December 5 - The Scots vote against prohibition.
- December 23 - Jewish leaders in London launch a £25 million appeal for Palestine.
- December 23 - The Irish Partition Act receives Royal Assent.