January – Mass Observation carries out a national survey into the sexual behaviour and attitudes of 4,000 British people, "Little Kinsey". The results remain largely unpublished for over fifty years.[1]
1 January
Peacetime conscription in the United Kingdom is regularised under the National Service Act 1947. Men aged 18–26 in England, Scotland and Wales are obliged to serve full-time in the armed forces for 18 months.[2]
The British Nationality Act 1948 comes into effect, creating the status of "Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies", superseding the shared status of "Commonwealth citizen".
Royal NavyfrigateHMS Amethyst goes up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's communist forces. Under heavy fire, it runs aground off Rose Island. After an aborted rescue attempt on 26 April, it anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the communist forces to let the ship leave drag on for weeks, during which time its cat, Simon, raises the crew's morale.
29 April – The News Review reveals that neither the English public school Selhurst College nor its headmaster H. Rochester Sneath exist, but are a hoax created by Humphry Berkeley the previous year.
3 May – Parliament passes the Ireland Act guaranteeing the position of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom as long as a majority of its citizens want it to be. The government also recognises the existence of the Republic of Ireland.
6 May – EDSAC, the first practicable stored-programme computer, runs its first programme at Cambridge University.[9]
14 July – Church Dignitaries (Retirement) Measure of the Church of England provides for the retirement of certain diocesan office-holders on the grounds of incapacity, unbecoming conduct or neglect of duty.[11]
30 July – Legal Aid and Advice Act establishes a much-extended system of legal aid in England and Wales[12] (with the Legal Aid and Solicitors (Scotland) Act applying similarly in Scotland).
31 July – Captain Kerans of HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army both sides of the Yangtze River and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.
30 September – The Berlin Airlift comes to an end, during which 17 American and 7 British planes have crashed delivering supplies to Soviet blockaded Berlin.[4]
24 November – Representation of the People Act 1949 provides for reviews of parliamentary boundaries by the permanent Boundary Commissions; abolishes the terms 'parliamentary borough' and 'parliamentary county', renaming them 'borough constituency' and 'county constituency'; abolishes the university constituencies; and removes remaining provisions allowing plural voting in parliamentary elections by owners of business premises.[18]
28 November – Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill makes a landmark speech in support of the idea of a European Union at Kingsway Hall, London, but without commitment to early U.K. membership.[19]
The number of workforce deaths in the coal industry is reported to have fallen to a record low since nationalisation two years ago.[20]
With an average Central England temperature of 10.64 °C or 51.15 °F, the record for the hottest year in that series set in 1834 and equalled in 1921 is broken. 1949's record stands until 1990 by when anthropogenic global warming has come largely to control temperatures.[21]
Publications
Enid Blyton's children's books Little Noddy Goes to Toyland, the first to introduce the title character; and The Secret Seven, first in the eponymous series.
^"Address given by Winston Churchill (London, 28 November 1949)". cvce.eu. Retrieved 28 March 2017. The British Government have rightly stated that they cannot commit this country to entering any European Union without the agreement of the other members of the British Commonwealth.
