See also: 1919 in the United Kingdom, other events of 1920, 1921 in the United Kingdom and the Timeline of British history.

Events

1920

• January 10 - The steamer Treveal is wrecked in the English Channel. 35 people lose their lives.

• February 11 - The Council of the League of Nations meets for the first time in London.

• February 17 - The Metropolitan Police are told that their horses will be replaced by cars.

• February 23 - War Secretary Winston Churchill announces that conscripts will be replaced by a volunteer army of 220,000 men.

• March 10 - The Ulster Unionist Council accepts the Government's plan for a Northern Ireland Parliament.

• March 17 - Queen Alexandra unveils a monument to Nurse Edith Cavell in London.

• March 27 - Troytown wins the Grand National.

• March 31 - Parliament passes the Home Rule Act, but Unionist leader Sir Edward Carson opposes the division of Ireland, seing it as a betrayal of southern and western unionists.

• April 24 - Aston Villa beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the first FA Cup Final since 1915.

• May 10 - Forty Irish prisoners on hunger strike at Wormwood Scrubs are released.

• May 17 - Sinn Fein supporters and Unionists engage in pitched street battles in Londonderry.

• May 18 - Women lecturers are given equal status to their male colleagues at Oxford University.

• May 21 - The Government proposes a car tax of £1 per horsepower (13 p/kW).

• May 30 - At least twenty people drown in serious floods in Lincolnshire.

• June 2 - Spion Kop wins the Derby.

• June 9 - King George V opens the Imperial War Museum at the Crystal Palace.

• June 20 - Five die in severe rioting in Ulster.

• June 24 - Troops are sent to reinforce the Londonderry garrison.

• July 3 - Bill Tilden is the first American to win Wimbledon. French player Suzanne Lenglen takes the ladies' title for the second time.

• July 5 - A new airmail service starts from London to Amsterdam.

• July 13 - London County Council bans foreigners from almost all council jobs.

• July 16 - The Great War is officially declared over with Austria.

• July 23 - Fourteen die and one hundred are injured in fierce rioting in Belfast.

• July 24 - Mr F Courtney wins an air race at an average speed of 153.5 mph.

• July 31 - The Communist Party of Great Britain is founded in London.

• August 1 - The first Congress of the Communist Party of Great Britain opens.

• August 2 - The Government introduces a new bill to restore order in Ireland which allows for suspension of jury trials.

• August 3 - There are Catholic riots in Belfast in protest at the British military presence.

• August 9 - The Labour Party says it will call for a general strike if Britain declares war on Russia.

• August 18 - The first night bus services are introduced in London.

• August 29 - Eleven die and forty are injured in street battles in Belfast.

• September 22 - The Metropolitan Police forms the Flying Squad.

• October 7 - The first one hundred women are admitted to study for full degrees at Oxford University.

• October 10 - It is announced that compulsory hand signals are to be introduced for all drivers.

• October 16 - The miners go on strike.

• October 20 - Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst is charged with sedition after calling upon workers to loot the London Docks.

• October 25 - The Emergency Powers Bill to counter the miners' strike has its second reading in the House of Commons.

• October 25 - Tomas MacSwiney, jailed Lord Mayor of Cork, dies in Brixton Prison after a 78-day hunger strike.

• October 28 - Sylvia Pankhurst is jailed for six months.

• November 3 - The miners' strike ends after only a small majority vote to continue.

• November 10 - The body of the France for burial in Westminster Abbey.

• December 5 - The Scots vote against prohibition.

• December 23 - Jewish leaders in London launch a £25 million appeal for Palestine.

• December 23 - The Irish Partition Act receives Royal Assent.