Events from the year 1938 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – George VI Prime Minister – Neville Chamberlain (Coalition)
Events 1 January – Sir Alexander Cadogan succeeds Sir Robert Vansittart as permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office. 17 January – Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., is appointed United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. 14 February – The British naval base at Singapore begins operations. 20 February – Anthony Eden resigns as Foreign Secretary over the foreign policy of the Chamberlain ministry towards Fascist Italy. Lord Halifax takes over. 14 March – Chamberlain makes a speech in the House of Commons saying the government "emphatically" disapproves of the Nazi German Anschluss in Austria two days previously but that "nothing could have prevented this action by Germany unless we and others with us had been prepared to use force to prevent it." 16 April – Anglo-Italian Treaty: Britain recognises Italian government over Ethiopia, in return for Italian troops withdrawing from Spain. 23 April – York Castle Museum opened. 25 April – Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement with the Republic of Ireland settles the Anglo-Irish Trade War and agrees to the Royal Navy abandoning the British sovereign bases at the Treaty ports in Ireland. 3 May – Empire Exhibition opens in Glasgow. 10 May – An underground explosion at Markham Colliery, near Staveley, Derbyshire, kills 79. 1 June – The Bren light machine gun comes into service with the British Army. 2 June – The children's zoo at London Zoo is opened by Robert and Ted Kennedy, two of the sons of United States ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy. 18 June – Women's Voluntary Service founded to assist the Civil Defence Service. 24 June – Test cricket is televised for the first time. 3 July – The London and North Eastern Railway's streamlined Class A4 4468 Mallard reaches a speed of 126 mph (203 km/h), the highest certified speed for a steam locomotive. 9 July – Gas masks are issued to the civilian population. 11 July–3 October – Military installations at the Treaty Ports in the Republic of Ireland (Berehaven, Spike Island at Queenstown, and Lough Swilly) are handed over from British control to the Government of Ireland, under terms of the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement ratified by the Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act earlier in the year. 22 July – Britain rejects a proposal from its ambassador in Berlin, Nevile Henderson, for a four power summit on Czechoslovakia consisting of Britain, France, Germany and the U.S.S.R. as London will under no circumstances accept the Soviet Union as a diplomatic partner. 29 July – Holidays with Pay Act provides for paid annual leave in wage-regulated industries and for similar voluntary schemes in other employment. 30 July – The Beano comic first goes on sale, featuring the character Lord Snooty. August – Muslims protest in London about passages they consider disrespectful of their religion in H. G. Wells' A Short History of the World (1922). 3 August – Lord Runciman, sent by Neville Chamberlain, arrives in Prague on his mission of mediation in the Sudetenland dispute. 4 August – Major thunderstorm over Devon. 13–20 August – Great Britain and the United States contest the inaugural Amateur World Series in baseball, played in the north of England. Britain wins every match. 18 August – Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin arrives in London looking for British support for an anti-Nazi putsch, using the looming crisis over the Sudetenland as a pretext. His private mission is dismissed by Neville Chamberlain as unimportant (Chamberlain refers to von Kleist as a "Jacobite"), but he finds a sympathetic if powerless audience in Winston Churchill. 23 August – English cricketer Len Hutton scores a record Test score of 364 runs in a match against Australia. 28 August – Lord Runciman's mission to mitigate the Sudetenland crisis begins to break down. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain recalls Ambassador Nevile Henderson from Berlin to instruct Henderson to set up a personal meeting between Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler. 31 August – Winston Churchill, still believing France and Britain mean to honour their promises to defend Czechoslovakia against Nazi aggression, suggests in a personal note to Neville Chamberlain that His Majesty's Government may want to set up a broad international alliance, including the United States (specifically mentioning U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as possibly receptive to the idea) and the Soviet Union. 7 September – The Times publishes a lead article which calls on Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany. 9 September – Auxiliary Territorial Service, as a women's voluntary service, established. 15 September – Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain meets German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden in an attempt to negotiate an end to German expansionist policies. 21 September – Representatives of the British and French governments call on Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš to tell him Britain and France will not fight Hitler if he decides to annex the Sudetenland by force. At home, Winston Churchill warns of grave consequences to European security if Czechoslovakia is partitioned. 25 September – The Royal Navy ordered to sea. 27 September – is launched at Clydebank; she is the largest ship in the world at this time. 29 September – Chamberlain signs the Munich Agreement and a resolution with Germany determining to resolve all future disputes between the two countries through peaceful means. 30 September – Neville Chamberlain returns to the UK from Munich, at Heston Aerodrome memorably waving the resolution signed the day earlier with Germany, and later in Downing Street giving his famous Peace for our time speech. George VI and Queen Elizabeth appear with Chamberlain on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to celebrate the agreement, a key moment in the European foreign policy of the Chamberlain ministry. 1 October – Picture Post magazine first published. 29 October – City Hall, Norwich, designed in the Art Deco style by C. H. James and S. R. Pierce, is opened. 4 November – At a public meeting in his parliamentary constituency of Epping, Winston Churchill narrowly survives an attempt by fellow Conservative and constituent Sir Colin Thornton-Kemsley to remove him from Parliament. 16 November – First reported "attack" of the Halifax Slasher mass hysteria incident. 20 November – Queen consort Maud of Norway (aunt of the King) dies in a nursing home in London aged 68. 21 November – Apostolic Delegation to Great Britain appointed. 1–2 December – First Kindertransport from Berlin to London Liverpool Street station via Harwich. 16 December – Aircraft carrier (launched by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead in 1937 under the 1934 build plan) is commissioned into the Royal Navy.
Undated J. Arthur Rank purchases a share in Odeon Cinemas. First green belts begin to be established in the UK, around Sheffield and London, the latter under terms of the Green Belt (London and Home Counties) Act. Little ringed plover first breeds in England.
Publications Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Death of the Heart. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels Appointment with Death and Hercule Poirot's Christmas. Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca. Walter Ian Reid Fraser's textbook An Outline of Constitutional Law. Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock. Kathleen Hale's children's book Orlando (The Marmalade Cat): A Camping Holiday, first in the series featuring the eponymous character. C. S. Lewis' science fiction novel Out of the Silent Planet. George Orwell's memoir Homage to Catalonia. Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel Scoop. T. H. White's novel The Sword in the Stone, first in the multi-volume The Once and Future King. P. G. Wodehouse's comic novel The Code of the Woosters.
Births 1 January – Robert Jankel, businessman, founder of carmaker Panther (died 2005) 2 January David Bailey, photographer Ian Brady, serial killer (died 2017) 3 January – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, civil servant 6 January – Michael Graham Cox, actor (died 1995) 11 January Alastair Morton, railway executive (died 2004) Arthur Scargill, trade union leader 20 January Liz Calder, publisher and editor Derek Dougan, footballer (died 2007) Bob Friend, newscaster (died 2008) 21 January – Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales 26 January – Henry Jaglom, English-born director 3 February – Geoff Clayton, English cricketer (died 2018) 7 February – Andrea Newman, writer (died 2019) 8 February – Margo McLennan, actress (died 2004) 17 February – Yvonne Romain, actress 26 February – Brian Kilby, marathon runner 27 February – Jake Thackray, singer-songwriter (died 2002) 28 February – John Bulmer, documentary photographer and filmmaker 6 March – Pauline Boty, pop art painter (died 1966) 14 March – Eleanor Bron, actress and author 18 March – Kenny Lynch, entertainer (died 2019) 24 March – Ian Hamilton, poet and critic (died 2001) 31 March – David Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, politician. 6 April – Paul Daniels, magician (died 2016) 19 April – Hugh Pennington, bacteriologist 22 April Alan Bond, English-born Australian businessman (died 2015) Adam Raphael, English journalist and editor 28 April – Fred Dibnah, steeplejack and television personality (died 2004) 3 May – Lindsay Kemp, dance and mime artist (died 2018) 9 May – Geoffrey Holland, English civil servant and academic (died 2017) 11 May – Bob Scott, ornithologist (died 2009) 12 May – Terry Farrell, architect (died 2025) 19 May – Herbie Flowers, musician (died 2024) 23 May – Peter Preston, newspaper editor (died 2018) 25 May – Margaret Forster, writer (died 2016) 26 May May Blood, Baroness Blood, politician (died 2022) Andrew Clennel Palmer, engineer (died 2019) 27 May – Elizabeth Harwood, operatic soprano (died 1990) 31 May – John Prescott, Welsh-born Deputy Prime Minister (died 2024) 2 June – Helen Oxenbury, illustrator and children's book writer 5 June – Allan Ahlberg, children's book writer (died 2025) 7 June Graham Percy, illustrator (born in New Zealand; died 2008) Ian St John, Scottish footballer (died 2021) 14 June – Angela Browne, actress (died 2001) 18 June – Michael Sheard, actor (died 2005) 21 June – Don Black, lyricist 25 June – Jim Feast, chemical scientist 26 June – Ted Wragg, professor of education (died 2005) 27 June Kathryn Beaumont, English actress Alan Coren, writer and broadcaster (died 2007) David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, judge 28 June – Simon Douglas-Pennant, 7th Baron Penrhyn 29 June – Peter Wollen, film theorist and filmmaker (died 2019) 30 June – Mike Hellawell, footballer (died 2023) 1 July – Susan Maughan, singer 2 July – David Owen, politician 3 July – Ron Fogg, footballer (died 2020) 5 July – James Bond, motorcycle speedway rider 6 July Tony Lewis, cricketer Stuart Young, cricketer 8 July – John Ridgway, sailor 9 July – Faanya Rose, British-American businesswoman, conservationist, philanthropist and explorer 10 July – Hugh Mellor, philosopher (died 2020) 11 July – Brian Scarlett, physicist (died 2004) 15 July – Josephine Cox, novelist (died 2020) 18 July – Ian Stewart, Scottish rock keyboardist (The Rolling Stones) (died 1985) 19 July – Nicholas Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell, historian and human rights campaigner (died 2007) 20 July Roger Hunt, footballer (died 2021) David Pratt, cricketer Diana Rigg, actress (died 2020) 22 July – Terence Stamp, actor (died 2025) 27 July – Peter Ucko, archaeologist (died 2007) 28 July – Ian McCaskill, weather forecaster (died 2016) 29 July Christopher Gibbs, antiques dealer (died 2018) Tom Raworth, poet (died 2017) 30 July – Terry O'Neill, photographer (died 2019) 4 August – Simon Preston, organist (died 2022) 6 August – Rees Davies, historian (died 2005)