1888 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1886 | 1887 | 1888 | 1889 | 1890

Sport

1888 English cricket season

1887-88 in English football

Events from the year 1888 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister - Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative

Events

• 26 January - The Lawn Tennis Association is founded.^[1]
• 13 February - The first issue of the Financial Times goes on sale.^[2]
• 22 March - The Football League is formed.^[3]
• June - Annie Besant organises the London matchgirls strike.
• 7 August - The body of Martha Tabram was found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper.^[3]
• 9 August - The Local Government Act 1888 establishes county councils in England and Wales, redraws some county borders, and gives women the vote in local elections.^[2]
• 31 August - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She was perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.
• 6 September - Charles Turner becomes the first cricket bowler (a sport) to take 250 wickets in an English season, a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
• 8 September
  • In London, the dead body of Annie Chapman is found. She is considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
  • In England, the first six Football League matches were played.^[3]
• 27 September - the Dear Boss letter signed Jack the Ripper, the first time the name is used, received by London's Central News Agency.^[3]
• 30 September - In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
• 2 October - The Whitehall Mystery: a body is discovered during the construction of New Scotland Yard.
• 14 October - The first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds. The film is two seconds and 18 frames in length.
• 9 November - In London, the dead body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is considered to be the fifth, and last, of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders in England follows, but the police attribute them to copy-cat killers.
• 7 December - John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tyre.^[3]
• 17 December - The Lyric Theatre in London opens.^[3]

Undated

• Prosecution of Edward King, Anglican bishop of Lincoln for using ritualistic practices begins.
• Sarawak and Borneo become British protectorates.
• Camborne School of Mines founded in Cornwall.

Publications

• Richard Francis Burton's English translation of One Thousand and One Nights.
• Thomas Hardy's short story collection Wessex Tales.
• Henry James' novella The Aspern Papers.
• Rudyard Kipling's short story collection Plain Tales from the Hills.
• Oscar Wilde's collection of children's fairy stories The Happy Prince and Other Tales.

Births

• 18 January - Thomas Sopwith, aviation pioneer and yachtsman (died 1989)
• 8 February - Edith Evans, actress (died 1976)
• 1 March - Ewart Astill, cricketer (Leicestershire) (died 1948)
• 17 May - Tich Freeman, cricketer (died 1965)
• 25 May - Miles Malleson, actor (died 1969)
• 9 July - Simon Marks, 1st Baron Marks of Broughton, businessman (died 1964)
• 14 August - John Logie Baird, inventor (died 1946)
• 16 August - T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") liaison officer during the Arab Revolt, writer, and academic (died 1935)
• 6 December - Will Hay, actor and comedian (died 1949}
• 7 December - Joyce Cary, author (died 1957)
• 22 December - J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank, film magnare (died 1972)
• 25 December - Michael Sadleir, novelist (died 1957)

Deaths

• 29 January - Edward Lear, artist and writer (born 1812)
• 3 February - Henry Maine, jurist (born 1822)
• 15 April - Matthew Arnold, poet (born 1822)
• 23 August - Philip Henry Gosse, scientist (born 1810)

References

See also