Events from the year 1917 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the First World War.
Incumbents
Monarch – George V
Prime Minister – David Lloyd George (Coalition) Parliament – 30th
Events
January – J. R. R. Tolkien, on medical leave from the British Army at Great Haywood, begins writing The Book of Lost Tales (the first version of The Silmarillion), starting with the "Fall of Gondolin"; thus Tolkien's mythopoeic Middle-earth legendarium is first chronicled in prose. 19 January – Silvertown explosion: a blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2M-worth of damage. 25 January – armed merchantman is sunk by mines off Lough Swilly with the loss of 354 of the 475 aboard. 26 January – the sea defences at the village of Hallsands, Devon are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable. 1 February – Atlantic U-boat Campaign (World War I): Germany announces its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare, rescinding the 'Sussex pledge'. 2 February – bread rationing introduced. 21 February – Elder Dempster Line troopship is accidentally rammed by SS Darro off the Isle of Wight, killing 646, mainly members of the South African Native Labour Corps. February – formation of the Women's Land Army, superseding the Women's National Land Service Corps. March – establishment of the Imperial War Cabinet, a body composed of the chief British ministers and the prime ministers of the Dominions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) to set policy. 11 March – World War I: British forces led by Sir Stanley Maude capture Baghdad, the southern capital of the Ottoman Empire. 17 March – World War I: Action of 17 March 1917 – German warships attack British naval patrols off the Goodwin Sands (sinking ) and shell Ramsgate and Margate. 26 March – World War I: First Battle of Gaza – British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance. 28 March – the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps begins recruiting. 5 April – Food Hoarding Order issued to prevent households from hoarding food in short supply. 20–21 April – World War I: Second Battle of Dover Strait: German torpedo boats raid the Dover Barrage. 6/7 May – World War I: bomb dropped on London by a fixed-wing aircraft (one death). 25 May – World War I: first daylight bombing raid on the UK by fixed-wing aircraft: 95 killed in Folkestone area. 4 June – the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is established as an order of chivalry by George V under letters patent. 7 June – World War I: Battle of Messines in Flanders opens with the British Army detonating 19 ammonal mines under the German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest deliberate non-nuclear man-made explosion in history, which can be heard in London. 13 June World War I: daylight bombing raid on London by fixed-wing aircraft: 162 killed. Ashton-under-Lyne munitions explosion: 43 killed. 1–7 July – first National Baby Week, a campaign for improved infant health. 9 July – HMS Vanguard is blown apart by an internal explosion at her moorings in Scapa Flow, Orkney, killing an estimated 843 crew with no survivors. 17 July King George V issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor. Winston Churchill is appointed Minister of Munitions.