1901 - 1910

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1901

January 22: Queen Victoria dies – Edward VII king

March 31: Seventh full British Census (available for inspection January 2002)

June: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War

October 2: Britain's first submarine launched

December 12: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi

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1902

Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education

May 24: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated

May 31: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War

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1903

Before 1903 people had flown in hot-air balloons and in motor less gliders, but—leaving aside one or two claims that are not officially accepted—until that year no one had ever flown in a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine, or aeroplane. Two American brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, invented and tested the first practical aeroplane. On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright made an initial flight of 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Within a year the brothers had built a craft that could stay aloft, and turn and bank. Other aircraft soon followed, and within a few years aeroplanes were carrying mail, crossing the English Channel, and fighting in World War I.

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1905

Einstein publishes theory of relativity 

In New Zealand, the postage meter is introduced.

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1906

Labour Party formed

Free school meals for poor children

San Francisco earthquake

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1907

School medical system begins

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1909

January 1: Old Age Pensions Act came into force

July 25: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)

Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges

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1910

Union of South Africa formed

May 6: Edward VII dies – George V king

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