Birth of Simon Rattle
Birth of Simon Rattle
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
1955 in Great Britain
Explore 150 historical events and records for Great Britain in 1955.
Historical records for Great Britain in 1955
Sorted by month and day. Records with no month are shown last. Showing 40 of 150 unique records.
150Unique records
1 of 4Page
32Named events on this page
22Named people on this page
9Places on this page
January
Resignation of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
MacMillan advises Churchill to retire
Resignation of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
Advises Churchill to retire, the only member of the Government brave enough to do so
February
Succession
Cabinet decides to grant Prince Philip the title, Prince of the United Kingdom
Pact between Turkey and Iraq
Turkey & Iraq sign a Treaty of alliance, Parliament votes to support it
March
Budget
Churchills budget includes expenditure on the hydrogen bomb
Nuclear Power
Churchills budget includes expenditure on the hydrogen bomb
Nuclear Power
Supports the debate in Parliament for investing in a British hydrogen bomb
Nuclear Power
Opens the debate in Parliament in favour of investing in a British hydrogen bomb
Nuclear Power
Finishes off the debate in Parliament, "we have to prevent hot war & win the cold war"
Death of Alexander Fleming
Death of Alexander Flemming
Strike
Print Workers go on strike
April
Health of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
Resigns due to ill health
Resignation of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
Resigns due to ill health. Chairs the Cabinet for the last time & announces his resignation
Prime Minister
Succeeds Churchill as Prime Minister
Prime Minister
Succeeds Winston Churchill as Prime Minister.
Prime Minister of Great Britain
Appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1st term
Election
Calls a general election, the 1st in which television is extensively used
May
German Membership of NATO
West Germany joins NATO. Without West Germany it would have been impossible to field enough conventional forces to resist a Soviet invasion
Aberavon General Election
Contests the Labour-held Aberavon constituency as the Conservative candidate at the 1955 general election but is not elected.
Election Defeat
Loses Plymouth Devonport to Conservative Joan Vickers at the general election.
General Election
Retains Coventry East at the 1955 general election.
General Election
Wins the general election and increases the Conservative majority
General Election
Retains Birmingham Stechford for Labour as the Conservatives win nationally.
General Election - General Election
Wins the general election and increases the Conservative majority
General Election Election Outcome
General election outcome recorded for Robert Anthony Eden: Wins the general election and increases the Conservative majority
General Election Government
Government context for this general election: Wins the general election and increases the Conservative majority
Leeds East
Healey moves to Leeds East at the general election and holds it for decades.
Leeds East Election
Healey wins the newly created Leeds East constituency and represents it until retiring from the Commons.
Black Sash
Through the Black Sash organisation, Hayman offered free legal advice to many people, usually women, who had approached the Black Sash Advice Centre in Johannesburg, and often appeared herself in court to represent them
June
Birth of Tim Berners-Lee
Birth of Tim Berners-Lee
Birth of Michael Geoffrey Mick Jones
Birth of Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Jones, Brixton
Visit to Norway
Visits Norway
July
World Record
Breaks the world land speed record
Conference of Geneva
Attends the Geneva Summit conference
September
Governor
Appointed Governor of Cyprus
October
Birth of Stephen Michael James Steve Ovett
Birth of Stephen Michael James "Steve" Ovett
Marriage
Decides not to marry Peter Townsend
Visited by the President of Portugal
Visited by the President of Portugal
November
State of Emergency
Declares a state of emergency in Cyprus
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.