1944 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1944 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the Second World War.

Incumbents

Monarch – George VI
Prime Minister – Winston Churchill

Events

January – Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service officially formed.
21–22 January – World War II: start of Operation Steinbock, a nocturnal Luftwaffe bombing offensive chiefly targeted at the Greater London area. On the first attack, few aircraft reach the target area.
10 February – PAYE system of tax collection introduced.
20 February – World War II: destroyer HMS Warwick is torpedoed by German submarine U-413 off Trevose Head, Cornwall, sinking in 6 minutes with the loss of 66 men, over half her crew.
26 February – World War II: last heavy air-raids on London.
February – government white paper A National Health Service published.
10 March – lifting of marriage bar on women working as teachers.
22 March – World War II: Moordown air disaster – a Royal Air Force Halifax bomber crashes soon after take-off from RAF Hurn at Bournemouth, killing all 7 crew and 2 civilians in their homes.
28 April – World War II: Allied convoy T4, forming part of amphibious Exercise Tiger in Start Bay off the Devon coast, is attacked by E-boats, resulting in the deaths of 749 American servicemen from LSTs.
3–8 May – World War II: Exercise Fabius, the last major Allied rehearsals for the Normandy landings, take place along the south coast of England.
29 May – thunderstorms lead to severe flooding, particularly around Holmfirth.
5 June – World War II: final preparations for the Normandy landings take place in the south of England. Group Captain James Stagg correctly forecasts a brief improvement in weather conditions over the English Channel which will permit the following day's landings to take place. The BBC transmits coded messages to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is about to begin.
6 June – World War II: D-Day for the Normandy landings: 155,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in France, beginning Operation Overlord and the Invasion of Normandy.
13 June – World War II: the first V-1 flying bomb attack on London takes place. Eight civilians are killed in the blast. The bomb earns the nickname "doodlebug".
15 July – World War II: Park Street riot in Bristol, a confrontation between black G.I.s and U.S. Military Police.
21 July – World War II: German submarine U-212 is depth-charged and sunk off Brighton on the south coast by British warships.
Summer
* Ministry of Works builds the first demonstration temporary prefab houses designed for postwar reconstruction.
* The 1944 Summer Olympics, scheduled for London, are not held due to World War II.
3 August – the Education Act, promoted by Rab Butler, provides for the postwar education system, including free secondary education for children of both sexes and raising of the school leaving age to 15. As generally implemented, although not mandated by the Act, this leads to a Tripartite System of secondary education in England and Wales with Secondary Modern, Technical, and Grammar schools, entrance being determined in most cases by the results of the Eleven plus exam.
12 August – World War II: the V-1 flying bomb campaign against London by the Germans reaches its 60th day, with more than 6,000 deaths, 17,000 injuries and damage or destruction to around 1 million buildings.
20 August – American Liberty ship is wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary with around 1,400 tonnes of explosives on board, never recovered.
21 August – Dumbarton Oaks Conference opens in Washington, D.C.: American, British, Chinese, French and Soviet representatives meet to plan the founding of the United Nations.
23 August – Freckleton air disaster: A USAAF Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashes into the village school at Freckleton, Lancashire, in a storm with 58 ground fatalities and 3 aircrew killed.
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, striking in the Chiswick district of the city and resulting in the deaths of three people.
15 September – a fatal explosion at ROF Kirkby in Lancashire kills 14 workers who were engaged on filling munitions.
17 September – World War II: restrictions imposed by the Blackout are relaxed.
19 September – World War II: the UK is a co-signatory with the Soviet Union of the Moscow Armistice, ending the latter's Continuation War with Finland.
25 September – World War II: V-2 rockets aimed at Ipswich and Norwich by the Germans miss their targets by a distance.
9 October – fourth Moscow Conference: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.
10 October – Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act makes arrangements for postwar provision of adequate housing for all who need it.
23 October – the Allies recognise Charles de Gaulle's cabinet as the provisional government of France.
November – Donald Watson and friends in Leicester establish The Vegan Society, pioneering and naming the modern vegan movement.
12 November – World War II: sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage off Norway by RAF Avro Lancaster bombers.
22 November – release of Laurence Olivier's Henry V, the first work of Shakespeare filmed in colour.
25 November – World War II: a V-2 rocket destroys the Woolworths store in New Cross Road, south east London, killing 168, the highest death toll from one of these weapons. More than 100 people survive with injuries.
27 November – RAF Fauld explosion: between 3,450 and 3,930 tons of ordnance explodes at an underground storage depot in Staffordshire leaving about 75 dead and a crater 1,200 metres across and 120 metres deep, one of the largest explosions in history and the largest on UK soil.
3 December – World War II: the Home Guard is stood down.
19 December – Council of Industrial Design established.
24 December – World War II: fifty German V-1 flying bombs, air-launched from Heinkel He 111 bombers flying over the North Sea, target Manchester, killing at least 27 and injuring more than 100 in the Oldham area.

Publications

H. E. Bates' novel Fair Stood the Wind for France.
Joyce Cary'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 economic text The Road to Serfdom.
C. S. Lewis's theological dream vision The Great Divorce.
W. Somerset Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge.
L. T. C. Rolt's travelogue Narrow Boat.
G. M. Trevelyan's book English Social History: a survey of six centuries from Chaucer to Queen Victoria.

Births

January – June

4 January – Angela Harris, Baroness Harris of Richmond, politician
9 January – Jimmy Page, guitarist
27 January
* Mairead Corrigan, Northern Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
* Nick Mason, English drummer
28 January – John Tavener, English composer of religious music
2 February
* Andrew Davis, English conductor
* Geoffrey Hughes, English actor
3 February – Virginia Ironside, journalist and agony aunt
8 February
* Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor
* Tony Minson, virologist and academic
10 February – Clifford T. Ward, English singer-songwriter
13 February – Jerry Springer, English-born television host
14 February – Alan Parker, English film director
17 February – Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer
22 February – Christopher Meyer, diplomat
23 February – Bernard Cornwell, historical novelist
24 February – Nicky Hopkins, English rock keyboardist
27 February – Roger Scruton, English philosopher
1 March – Roger Daltrey, English rock singer
4 March – Harvey Postlethwaite, engineer and racecar designer
7 March – Ranulph Fiennes, English adventurer
17 March – John Lill, pianist
18 March – Nicholas Snowman, arts administrator and jeweller
21 March – Mike Jackson, British Army officer
23 March – Michael Nyman, composer
24 March – Steve Jones, geneticist
31 March
* Mick Ralphs, guitarist and singer/songwriter
* Malcolm Roberts, singer
3 April – Derek Higgs, English banker and businessman
4 April – Phyllida Barlow, sculptor
6 April – Felicity Palmer, English soprano
12 April – Lisa Jardine, historian and polymath
13 April – Brian Pendleton, guitarist
16 April – Sue Clifford, environmentalist and academic, co-founder of Common Ground
23 April – Timothy Garden, Baron Garden, RAF pilot and politician
25 April – Len Goodman, ballroom dancer and television personality
26 April – Richard Bradshaw, orchestral conductor
27 April – Michael Fish, television weatherman
29 April
* Michael Angelis, actor
* Francis Lee, English footballer
5 May
* Roger Rees, Welsh actor
* John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor
6 May – Mike Coulman, dual-code rugby international
8 May
* Gary Glitter, English singer and convicted sex offender
* David Vaughan, psychedelic artist
12 May
* Sara Kestelman, actress
* Chris Patten, politician
20 May – Joe Cocker, English singer
22 May – Lynn Barber, journalist
25 May – Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director
28 May – Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress
24 June
* Jeff Beck, rock guitarist
* John "Charlie" Whitney, rock guitarist
1 June
* Colin Blakemore, neurobiologist
* Robert Powell, actor
3 June – Peter Bonfield, businessman
6 June
* Reuven Bulka, rabbi, writer, broadcaster and activist
* David Penhaligon, politician
11 June – Alan Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport, English politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries

July – December

2 July – Billy Campbell, Northern Irish footballer
7 July
* Glenys Kinnock, politician
* Ian Wilmut, embryologist
11 July – Peter de Savary, entrepreneur
12 July – Terry Cooper, English footballer
21 July – Tony Scott, English film director
22 July – Rick Davies, English musician
27 July
* Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor and musician
* Matthew Robinson, English television and film producer, director and writer
31 July
* Jonathan Dimbleby, broadcaster and writer
* Tommy Robson, English footballer
2 August – Jim Capaldi, drummer and singer-songwriter
9 August – John Simpson, journalist and broadcaster
11 August – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
15 August – R. A. W. Rhodes, political scientist and academic
17 August – Bobby Murdoch, footballer and football manager
20 August – Brian Barnes, artist
26 August – Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, member of the British royal family
28 August
* Ray Lowry, cartoonist
* Kay Parker, actress
30 August – John Surman, saxophonist
31 August – Roger Dean, English graphic artist
4 September
* Tony Atkinson, economist
* Dave Bassett, football manager
8 September – Margaret Hodge, politician
10 September – Thomas Allen, opera singer
13 September – Jacqueline Bisset, English film actress
15 September – Graham Taylor, English footballer and manager
18 September – Veronica Carlson, English film actress
20 September
*Jeremy Child, English actor
*Paul Madeley, English footballer
22 September – Frazer Hines, screen actor
26 September – Anne Robinson, television host
27 September – Ian Garnett, admiral
30 September – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer
9 October – John Entwistle, English rock bassist
15 October – David Trimble, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
21 October – Janet Ahlberg, children's book writer
23 October – Mike Harding, comedian and musician
28 October – Ian Marter, television actor and writer
10 November – Tim Rice, lyricist, writer and broadcaster
14 November – Karen Armstrong, writer
25 November – Sylvia Gore, footballer
3 December – Ralph McTell, singer-songwriter
6 December – Jonathan King, music producer and convicted sex offender
9 December
* Neil Innes, English comedian and musician
* Roger Short, diplomat
12 December – Kenneth Cranham, actor
14 December – Denis Thwaites, English footballer
15 December – Duncan Campbell, investigative journalist
16 December – Tony Martin, farmer convicted of shooting a burglar
17 December – Bernard Hill, actor
19 December
* Fred Callaghan, English footballer
* Alvin Lee, guitarist and singer-songwriter
20 December – Anton Rippon, journalist and author
21 December – Bill Atkinson, English footballer
22 December – Mary Archer, scientist
24 December – Mick Shoebottom, rugby league player
25 December – Kenny Everett, comedian
26 December – Jane Lapotaire, actress
27 December – Mick Jones, English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer

Deaths

1 January – Sir Edwin Lutyens, architect
19 January – Emily Winifred Dickson, gynaecologist
9 February – Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux, poet, biographer and novelist
12 February
* Olive Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas, poet
* Kenneth Gandar-Dower, sportsman, aviator, explorer and author, torpedoed
2 March – Ida Maclean, biochemist, first woman admitted to the Chemical Society of London
5 March – Alun Lewis, war poet
24 March – Orde Wingate, soldier, in aviation accident in India
19 March – Mary Paley Marshall, economist
2 April – John Batchelor, missionary
13 April – Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, sportsman, donor of the Lonsdale Belt in boxing
16 April – William Percival Crozier, editor of The Manchester Guardian
17 April – J. T. Hearne, cricketer
8 May – Dame Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragette
12 May
* Harold Lowe, sailor, 5th officer of
* Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, writer
9 June – Keith Douglas, war poet, killed in action
6 July
* Vera Leigh, SOE agent, executed in France
* Diana Rowden, SOE agent, executed in France
18 July
* Thomas Sturge Moore, poet, author and artist
* Rex Whistler, painter, killed in action
28 July – Ralph H. Fowler, astronomer and physicist
12 August – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., US military aviator, on active service over England
13 August – Ethel Lina White, crime novelist
19 August – Sir Henry Wood, orchestral conductor
13 September
* Noor Inayat Khan, SOE agent, executed in Germany
* Eliane Plewman, SOE agent, executed in Germany
* W. Heath Robinson, cartoonist and illustrator
19 September – Guy Gibson VC, Wing Commander, on active service over the Netherlands
25 September – Sir Leo Chiozza Money, economist and politician
27 September – David Dougal Williams, painter
23 October – Charles Glover Barkla, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
26 October
* The Princess Beatrice, last surviving child of Queen Victoria
* William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury
31 October – Joseph Hubert Priestley, botanist
4 November – Sir John Dill, Field Marshal
7 November – Geoffrey Dawson, newspaper editor
14 November – Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Air Chief Marshal, in aviation accident in France
22 November
* Sir George Clausen, painter
* Sir Arthur Eddington, astrophysicist
27 November – Jill Furse, actress
30 November – Roy Emerton, actor
26 December – George Bellamy, silent film actor