page_title: Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during the First World War
section_title: 1915
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during the First World War / 1915
caption_attribution_description: English: Women at work during the First World War A full-length portrait of a woman serving with the Women's Hospital Corps at Endell Street, London.
context_page_description: This is a timeline of the British home front during the First World War from 1914 to 1918.
context_section_description: 9 January 1915
  Kaiser Wilhelm II authorises airship raids on the United Kingdom, excluding London.
  19 January 1915
  The first air raid over Britain. Two German Navy Zeppelin airships drop bombs and incendiaries over Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in Norfolk; four civilians are killed and sixteen injured.
  12 February 1915
  The Kaiser authorises airship raids on the London Docks.
  18 February 1915
  The Kaiser authorises an unrestricted submarine blockade of the United Kingdom.
  16 March 1915
  Defence of the Realm (Amendment) (No 2) Act allows the government to force engineering firms to accept contracts for war related work.
  27 March 1915
  Commander-in-Chief of the BEF, Sir John French gave an interview to The Times highlighting the shortage of artillery ammunition at the front. This scandal was to become known the Shell Crisis.
  16 April 1915
  A single German Albatros B.II aircraft bombs Sittingbourne and Faversham in Kent; the first raid by an aeroplane. There are no casualties.
  7 May 1915
  The sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania by a U-boat, with the loss of 1,198 passengers and crew, provokes anti-German riots in London and other cities. Mobs target shops and businesses owned by Germans or those with German surnames.
  26 May 1915
  Prime Minister H. H. Asquith announces his new ministry, a coalition government with the Conservative Party. David Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions, relieving Kitchener of that aspect of his role. Churchill is relieved of control of the Admiralty following the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign.
  31 May 1915
  First air raid on London; an Army Zeppelin dropped bombs over north and east London killing seven civilians.
  July 1915
  Women's War Agricultural Committees established to encourage more women to work on the land.
  2 July 1915
  The Munitions of War Act 1915 becomes law, regulating the wages, hours and conditions of munitions workers. It becomes an offence for a worker to leave employment at a "Controlled Establishment" without the consent of the employer.
  15 July 1915
  National Registration Act 1915 was passed, requiring all men and women between the ages of 15 and 65 to register their address.
  17 July 1915
  Emmeline Pankhurst leads a "Women's Right to Serve" demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London.
  3 September 1915
  Lieutenant Leefe Robinson flying a BE2 biplane, shoots down the first German airship over British soil. The Schütte-Lanz SL 11, which had been bombing north London and Saint Albans, crashed in flames at Cuffley in Hertfordshire.
  16 October 1915
  Start enrolment for the Derby Scheme which encouraged men of military eligibility to voluntarily attest their willingness to join the armed forces at a later date. After attesting, men were placed on the Class B army reserve list until required. In return, they received a day's army pay and a khaki brassard which they could wear with their civilian clothes.
  15 December 1915
  Finish of the Derby Scheme (originally planned for 30 November); although 2,950,514 men had attested, enlisted or tried to enlist during the scheme, a further 2,060,927 eligible men had refused to do so, increasing pressure for conscription.
caption: A member of the Women's Hospital Corps in London, 1915.
exif: {}