Timeline of events
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July 26
General Election: Labour win a majority of 146. Polling day was in fact 5 July, but the result was declared on 26 July in order that the votes of servicemen abroad could be included. |
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February 7
World shortage of butter, margarine and cooking fats
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February 14
Nationalisation of Bank Of England
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March 31
London Airport at Heathrow opens
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May 8
Ministry of Town and Country Planning supervise opening 20 New Towns
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May 20
Nationalisation of coal industry
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June 7
Television service resumes for first time since 1939
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July 21
Bread and flour rationed
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October 16
11 Nazis hanged for war crimes in Nuremberg
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November 6
National Health Service Bill enacted |
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January 1
National Coal Board takes over mines
View an example of a Post-War National Coal Board mining recruitment poster
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January 13
Coldest weather since 1883 leads to rationing coal industry and homes
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February 10
Acute fuel crisis as severe cold continues to March 4
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March 23
Mountbatten appointed Viceroy of India to negotiate early independence
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June 13
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin warmly supports European Recovery Programme (Marshall Plan)
Learn more about Ernest Bevin
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August 6
Austerity measures announced because of financial exchange crisis
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August 15
India and Pakistan become independent
View a scene in Hyderabad city, India, in the 1940s, photographed by Cecil Beaton
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August 15
Britain's first atomic pile comes into operation at Harwell
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November 20
Princess Elizabeth marries Lt Philip Mountbatten |
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January 1
Nationalisation of British Railways effective
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January 4
Burma becomes independent republic outside Commonwealth
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June 24
Great Britain, France and USA establish air lift into West Berlin after USSR stops all road and rail traffic through East Germany
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July 5
National Health Service inaugurated
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July 25
End of Bread rationing
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July 30
British Nationality Act: all Commonwealth subjects have status of British citizens
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July 30
Gas industry nationalised
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July-August
London Olympics:
Learn more about the 1948 Olympics
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November 14
Prince Charles born |
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March 15
End of clothes rationing
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April 4
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) established
A formation of deHavilland Vampire FB5 fighter bombers of 603 Squadron, the Vampire entered service with the RAF in 1946
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April 24
End of sweet rationing, but as demand outstripped supply, four months later rationing was re-introduced until February 1953.
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September 18
Pound devalued from $4.03 to $2.80
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October 1
Chinese Communist People's Republic formally established
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November 24
Iron and Steel Nationalisation Bill enacted |
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February 23
General Election: Labour majority cut to 5
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March 1
Klaus Fuchs, atomic scientist at Harwell, imprisoned for passing secrets to Soviet agents
The Cold War: View documents relating to Klaus Fuchs, the 'atom spy'
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May 26
Petrol rationing ends
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June 27
Attlee pledges support for United Nations in resisting invasion of South Korea (25 June) by North Korea
The Right Hon Major Clement Richard Attlee (1883-1967)
Labour Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951
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September 9
Soap rationing ends |
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January 26
Ration for carcass meat cut to 18d a week
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April 10
Chancellor Hugh Gaitskell's budget imposes prescription charges for NHS dentures and spectacles to help meet the financial demands of the Welfare State and Korean War.
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April 22
Aneurin Bevan resigns because of prescription charges
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May 5
Opening of main Festival of Britain site on South Bank
Artist's impression of an aerial perspective of the 1951 South Bank Exhibition, London
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June 7-8
Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean defect to USSR
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July 9
State of war with Germany formally declared at an end
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October 25
General Election: Conservatives win with a majority of 17, although they polled fewer votes than Labour
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October 27
Sir Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden Foreign Secretary, and 'Rab' Butler Chancellor
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