page_title: 1936 in the United Kingdom
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: 1936 in the United Kingdom / Events
caption_attribution_description: English: Statement of Abdication Français&#160;: Acte d'abdication d'Edouard VIII. Texte: Acte d'abdication. Moi, Edouard le Huitième, de Grande Bretagne, Irlande, et des Dominions Britanniques par delà les Mers, Roi, Empereur de l'Inde, déclare par le présent Ma détermination irrévocable de renoncer au Trône pour Moi-même et pour Mes descendants, et Mon désir que cet acte d'abdication prenne effet immédiatement. En foi de quoi j'ai apposé Ma signature ce dixième jour de Décembre, mil neuf cent et trente six, en la présence des témoins dont les signatures figurent ci-dessous. (signature) Edward R.I. SIGNÉ À FORT BELVEDERE EN LA PRÉSENCE DE (signature) Albert (signature) Henry (signature) George.
context_page_description: Events from the year 1936 in the United Kingdom.
  This year is notable for the death of George V early in the year, the accession of his son Edward VIII to the throne and his subsequent abdication, resulting in the accession to the throne of his younger brother George VI.
context_section_description: 13 January – GPO Film Unit documentary Night Mail, incorporating poetry by W. H. Auden and music by Benjamin Britten, is premiered at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
  20 January – King George V dies at Sandringham House, Norfolk, aged 70. His eldest son, The Prince Edward, Prince of Wales succeeds as King Edward VIII.
  21 January – King Edward VIII breaks royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his own accession to the throne from a window of St. James's Palace, in the company of the still-married Wallis Simpson.
  6–16 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and win 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals.
  5 March – first test flight of the Supermarine Spitfire.
  11 April – Billy Butlin opens his first Butlins holiday camp, Butlins Skegness in Skegness (Ingoldmells), Lincolnshire. It is officially opened by Amy Johnson.
  18 April – Ordnance Survey begins the retriangulation of Great Britain with its first triangulation station near Cold Ashby, Northamptonshire.
  17 May – barquentine Waterwitch is laid up at Par, Cornwall, the last square rigged ship to trade under sail alone in British ownership.
  22 May – J. H. Thomas resigns from politics for leaking Budget proposals.
  27 May – the RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York.
  3 July
  Short Empire flying boat makes first flight, from Rochester, Kent.
  Fred Perry wins his third successive men's singles tennis title at The Championships, Wimbledon, the last British player to win this title until 2013. This year he also wins his third U.S. National Championship, the last Grand Slam victory for a British men's player until 2012, and turns professional.
  16 July – George McMahon tries to shoot King Edward VIII during the Trooping the Colour ceremony.
  24 July – the General Post Office introduces the speaking clock.
  27 July – opening of new swimming pool at Morecambe, claimed to be the largest open-air example in Europe.
  28 July – Great Britain wins the 1936 International Lawn Tennis Challenge at Wimbledon, the last British victory in what becomes the Davis Cup until 2015.
  31 July – Public Health Act empowers local authorities to make byelaws regulating building construction.
  1–16 August – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Berlin and win 4 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze medals.
  6 August – an underground explosion at Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery in South Yorkshire kills 58.
  26 August – signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty which requires the withdrawal of British troops and recognises Egypt as a sovereign state.
  31 August – Elizabeth Cowell becomes the first female British television presenter making a broadcast from Alexandra Palace.
  8 September – arson attack on a bombing school building at Penyberth on the Llŷn Peninsula as part of the Tân yn Llŷn campaign led by Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and D.J. Williams of the Welsh nationalist group Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru.
  30 September – official opening of Pinewood Studios.
  4 October – Battle of Cable Street between Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and anti-fascist demonstrators.
  5–31 October – Jarrow March: 207 miners march from Jarrow to London in a protest against unemployment and poverty.
  20 October – Prime minister Stanley Baldwin confronts King Edward VIII about his relationship with Wallis Simpson.
  27 October – Wallis Simpson divorces Ernest Aldrich Simpson, removing the legal barrier to her marrying Edward VIII.
  2 November – BBC launch world's first regular television service, initially alternating between the 240-line Baird electromechanical and the Marconi-EMI all-electronic 405-line television systems.
  6 November – Terence Rattigan's comedy French Without Tears premieres in London.
  12 November – Alan Turing's paper "On Computable Numbers" is formally presented to the London Mathematical Society, introducing the concept of the "Turing machine".
  16 November – King Edward VIII informs Stanley Baldwin of his intention to marry Wallis Simpson. Baldwin responds by informing the King that any woman he marrie
caption: The Instrument of Abdication
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