Events
- 4 January – a British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin, leading to a punitive expedition against Benin.
- 8 January – Frederick Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury. [1]
- February – Barrow's Cliff near Tintagel in north Cornwall is donated to the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, its first coastal property.
- 18 February – Benin is put to the torch by the British Army's Benin Expedition. The Benin Bronzes are carried back to London.
- 29 March – Church of England encyclical replies to the Papal Apostolicae Curiae (1896) defending the validity of Anglican orders. [2] [3]
- 8 April – Voluntary Schools Act provides voluntary elementary schools with annual Exchequer grants of up to five shillings per child annually and exempts the schools from paying rates. [4]
- 10 April – Aston Villa F.C. win the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Everton in the final at Crystal Palace. Having already sealed the Football League title, they have completed the double. [5]
- 17 April – double winners Aston Villa move into their new stadium, Villa Park in Birmingham. [6]
- 30 April – J. J. Thomson first announces his discovery of the electron.
- 10 May – the Blue Cross animal welfare charity is founded as Our Dumb Friends League in London, a "society for the encouragement of kindness to animals". [7]
- 13 May – Guglielmo Marconi sends his first wireless communication over open sea when the message "Are you ready" is transmitted across the Bristol Channel from Lavernock Point in South Wales to Flat Holm Island, a distance of 3.7 miles (6.0 km). [8]
- 19 May – Anglo-Irish writer Oscar Wilde is released from prison and goes into exile on the Continent.
- 22 May – the Blackwall Tunnel, at this time the longest underwater road tunnel in the world, is opened for traffic beneath the River Thames in the East End of London by the Prince of Wales. [9]
- 22 June – Queen Victoria celebrates her accession to the throne in 1837 with her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, centred on London but with beacons lit across the country.
- 26 June – at the Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead, Charles Parsons gives an audacious unscheduled display before the world's navies of the unprecedented speed attainable by his steam turbine-powered Turbinia . [10]
- July
- The recently formed Engineering Employers' Federation stages a lockout of its employees across the north of England and Scotland; continues to January 1898.
- Sir Benjamin Stone establishes the National Photographic Record Association. [11]
- 1 July – Workmen's Compensation Act introduces a form of no-fault workman's compensation in dangerous trades. [12]
- 2 July – Yorkshire Dialect Society founded, the oldest such society in England.
- 21 July – the Tate Gallery opens in London. [2]
- 26 July–2 August – Siege of Malakand: British troops are besieged by Pashtun tribesmen in Malakand.
- 10 August – the Automobile Club of Great Britain (later known as the Royal Automobile Club) is founded in London. [9]
- 19 August – Bersey electric cabs, the first horseless taxicabs, begin operating in London. [9]
- 20 August
- Physician Ronald Ross discovers malarial parasites. [9]
- First post-Reformation Roman Catholic pilgrimage to Walsingham.
- 8 September – Galtee More completes the English Triple Crown by finishing first in the Epsom Derby, 2,000 Guineas and St Leger. [13]
- 10 September – first conviction for drink-driving given, to London taxi driver George Smith. [9]
- 12 September – Battle of Saragarhi: 21 Sikhs from the 36th Sikhs regiment of the British Indian Army battle 10,000 Afghans to the death. [9]
- 13 October – HMS Canopus, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, is launched at Portsmouth; she will be deployed widely in World War I.
- 16 November – Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd , a landmark case in United Kingdom company law, is decided in the House of Lords: creditors of an insolvent company cannot not sue the company's shareholders individually to pay up outstanding debts.
- 16 December – 50-year-old actor William Terriss is stabbed to death outside the Adelphi Theatre in London by a deranged unsuccessful actor, Richard Archer Prince.
Undated
- General Post Office 'Jubilee concession': free postal delivery granted to every household. [14]
- The Weaver building, a mill at Swansea, becomes the first building in the UK to be constructed from reinforced concrete, by L. G. Mouchel to Hennebique patents. [15]
- Physical education teacher Mary Tait invents the gymslip. [16]
- Jaques of London patent the board game Ludo. [17]
- The Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry adopts the sub-title Earl of Carrick's Own , in honour of the future King Edward VII.