1908 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Edward VII
• Prime Minister
• * Henry Campbell-Bannerman
• * H. H. Asquith
• Parliament – 28th

  Events

• 1 January
• * Nimrod Expedition: Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the Nimrod for Antarctica.
• * Harry Bensley leaves for his would-be trip around the world pushing a pram and wearing an iron mask, beginning from Trafalgar Square in London.
• 22 January – Arthur Henderson becomes the second leader of the Labour Party following the resignation of Keir Hardie.
• 24 January – start of publication of Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys in London. The book will over time sell over 100 million copies and effectively begin the worldwide Boy Scout movement.
• 15 February – weekly boys' story paper The Magnet is first published in London, containing "The Making of Harry Wharton", the first serial story of the fictional Greyfriars School written by Charles Hamilton as Frank Richards and introducing the character of Billy Bunter.
• March – first edition of The Children's Encyclopædia in fortnightly parts begins publication in London.
• 1 April – the Territorial Force of the British Army is established by merger of the civilian-organised Volunteer Force with the Yeomanry; and remaining units of the militia are transferred into the regular Special Reserve.
• 7 April – Campbell-Bannerman resigns as Prime Minister on the grounds of health; replaced by Asquith.
• 8 April – David Lloyd George becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Winston Churchill enters the Cabinet for the first time, as President of the Board of Trade.
• 18 April – Manchester United secure the Football League First Division title, the first major trophy of their history.
• 1 May–31 October – Scottish National Exhibition is held in Edinburgh
• 11 May – foundation stone of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool is laid.
• 24 May – formation of the 1st Arundel Scout Group.
• 26 May–October – Franco-British Exhibition held at what becomes known as White City, London.
• 21 June – first large suffragette rally, in London.
• July – Allied Artists' Association holds its first exhibition, at the Royal Albert Hall.
• 13–25 July – 1908 Summer Olympics held at the White City Stadium as part of the Franco-British Exhibition and of a festival of sport beginning on 14 May. The marathon is run on 24 July and the Winter Olympics are held here on 19–31 October. The Great Britain and Ireland team win 56 gold, 51 silver and 39 bronze medals.
• 31 July – Irish Universities Act receives Royal Assent in Parliament. This provides for establishment of the federal National University of Ireland based in Dublin and the Queen's University of Belfast.
• 10 September – the first Minas Geraes-class Dreadnought battleship for Brazil, Minas Geraes is launched at Armstrong Whitworth's yard on the River Tyne.
• 31 August–2 September – the Great Storm of 1908 pounds the Bristol Channel.
• October
• * Edith Morley is made Professor of English at University College, Reading, the first woman appointed to a chair at an English university-level institution.
• * First Ideal Home Exhibition held, at Olympia sponsored by the Daily Mail newspaper.
• 16 October – American-born Samuel F. Cody makes the first powered fixed-wing aircraft flight in Britain, taking off at the School of Ballooning, Farnborough, Hampshire, in British Army Aeroplane No 1.
• November
• * Horace, Eustace and Oswald Short found Short Brothers, the first aircraft manufacturing company in England, in Battersea, London.
• * The North and South Wales Bank is absorbed into the London City and Midland Bank, bringing an end to banknote issue in Wales.
• 14 November – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is the first woman in England to be elected as a mayor.
• 3 December – the first performance of Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1 is given by the Hallé in Manchester's Free Trade Hall.
• 10 December – the National Farmers' Union is founded.
• 21 December – royal assent given to the following Acts of Parliament:
• * Children Act – comes into force 1909, q.v.
• * Prevention of Crime Act – regularises national provision of Borstals.

  Undated

• Walter Sickert paints the series of problem pictures The Camden Town Murder.
• John Hassall paints the first version of the Jolly Fisherman poster.
• Punishment of Incest Act makes incest a civil crime for the first time.
• Bisto gravy powder is first marketed.
• Vimto is invented by John Noel Nichols in Manchester. Originally sold under the name Vimtonic, Nichols shortens it to Vimto in 1912.

  Publications

• Robert Baden-Powell's book Scouting for Boys.
• G. K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday and his book Orthodoxy.
• W. H. Davies' autobiography The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp.
• E. M. Forster's novel A Room with a View.
• Kenneth Grahame's children's novel The Wind in the Willows.
• E. Nesbit's children's novel The House of Arden.
• H. De Vere Stacpoole's novel The Blue Lagoon.

  Births

• 7 January – Frederick Gibberd, architect
• 8 January – William Hartnell, actor
• 24 January – Duncan Sandys, politician
• 30 January – Richard Hearne, comic performer
• 5 February – Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twin actresses
• 11 February – Vivian Fuchs, geologist and explorer
• 22 February – John Mills, actor
• 29 February – A. L. Lloyd, folk song collector
• 5 March – Rex Harrison, actor
• 12 March – Ida Crowe Pollock, writer
• 19 March – George Rodger, photojournalist
• 20 March – Michael Redgrave, actor
• 25 March
• * David Lean, film director
• * Bridget D'Oyly Carte, head of D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
• 27 March – Semprini, musician
• 11 April – Dan Maskell, tennis coach and commentator
• 14 May – Amy Jagger, gymnast
• 26 May – Robert Morley, actor
• 28 May – Ian Fleming, writer
• 30 May – Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, peer and Earl Marshal
• 1 June – Percy Edwards, animal impersonator
• 30 June – Winston Graham, writer
• 9 July – Ian Mikardo, politician
• 25 July – Bill Bowes, cricketer
• 27 July – Hugh Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Putney, politician
• 4 August – Osbert Lancaster, cartoonist
• 12 August – David Renton, politician
• 21 August – M. M. Kaye, writer
• 23 August – Hannah Frank, artist and sculptor
• 31 August – Kenneth Gandar-Dower, sportsman, aviator, explorer and author
• 6 September
• * Louis Essen, physicist
• * Anthony Wagner, herald at the College of Arms
• 12 September – Reginald C. Fuller, Roman Catholic priest and writer
• 19 October – Sydney MacEwan, singer
• 2 November – Fred Bakewell, cricketer
• 20 November – Alistair Cooke, journalist
• 26 November – Charles Forte, businessman
• 18 December – Celia Johnson, actress
• 25 December – Quentin Crisp, writer and raconteur

  Deaths

• 25 January – Ouida, novelist
• 28 January – Sidney Paget, illustrator
• 22 March – John William Crombie, Scottish woollen manufacturer and politician
• 20 April – Henry Chadwick, baseball writer and historian
• 22 April – Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister
• 31 May – Sir John Evans, archaeologist
• 2 June
• * Sir Redvers Buller, general, Victoria Cross recipient
• * William Napier, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient
• 22 July – William Randal Cremer, politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 25 August – Eyre Massey Shaw, first Chief Officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade
• 31 August – Leslie Green, architect
• 21 September – Sir Arnold Burrowes Kemball, general and diplomat
• 16 October – Joseph Leycester Lyne, Anglican Benedictine abbot
• 8 November – William Edward Ayrton, physicist and electrical engineer
• 17 November – Lydia Thompson, dancer, actress
• 1 December – Howell Jones, Welsh rugby union player