Events from the year 1916 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the First World War and is noted for the Easter Rising in Ireland.
Incumbents
Monarch – George V
Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith (Coalition) (until 5 December), David Lloyd George (Coalition) (starting 6 December) Parliament – 30th
Events
1 January – the Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion using blood that has been stored and cooled. 9 January – World War I: Battle of Gallipoli: last British troops evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture Istanbul. 27 January – conscription introduced by the Military Service Act; applies to unmarried men aged 18–41 from 2 March and to married men in the same age bracket from April/May; it does not extend to Ireland. 1 February – night-long German Zeppelin raid on the West Midlands of England, claiming at least 35 lives; Tipton suffers the heaviest losses, with 14 fatalities. 1 March – transfer of the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth into its purpose-built premises is completed. 4 March – third war budget raises income tax to five shillings in the pound. 10 March – Sir Hubert Parry writes the choral setting of William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time", which becomes known as "Jerusalem" (first performed 28 March at the Queen's Hall, London). 22 March – marriage of J. R. R. Tolkien and Edith Bratt at St. Mary Immaculate Roman Catholic Church, Warwick. They will serve as the inspiration for his fictional characters Beren and Lúthien. 25 March – Military Medal instituted as a military decoration for personnel of the British Army and other services below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. 28 March – severe blizzard across the east midlands. 1/2–5/6 April – nightly German Navy airship raids on England. 2 April – munitions factory explosion at Uplees near Faversham, Kent, kills 108 men. 7 April – Garrick Theatre fire, Hereford: 8 young girls appearing in an amateur benefit evening performance for soldiers are killed when their costumes catch fire. 24–30 April – Easter Rising in Ireland: Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin before surrendering to the British Army. 24 April–19 May – Voyage of the James Caird, an open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean () undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (left under command of Frank Wild) following the loss of its ship Endurance. 25 April – German battlecruisers and Zeppelins bombard Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. 27 April – Gas attack at Hulluch in France: 47th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, decimated in one of the most heavily concentrated gas attacks of the war. 29 April – Siege of Kut ends with the surrender of British Indian Army forces to the Ottoman Empire at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris in Basra Vilayet during the Mesopotamian campaign. 2 May – eight German Zeppelins raid the east coast of England. 16 May – the UK and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of the war, into French and British spheres of influence. 21 May – daylight saving time introduced. 31 May–1 June – Battle of Jutland between the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, World War I's only large-scale clash of battleships. The result is tactically inconclusive but British dominance of the North Sea is maintained. Prince Albert is present as an officer. 5 June – HMS Hampshire sinks having hit a mine off Orkney with Lord Kitchener aboard. 737 lives, including Kitchener, were lost. 12 June – Whit Monday bank holiday abandoned (rescheduled to 8 August but subsequently abandoned altogether).