Events from 2013 in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
Incumbent
Events
January
*3 January – The Met Office reports that 2012 was the wettest year on record for England.
*4 January – Mark Cahill, a 51-year-old former pub landlord from
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...
becomes the first person in the UK to receive a
hand transplant
Hand transplantation is a surgical procedure to transplant a hand from one human to another. The donor hand usually comes from a brain-dead donor and is transplanted to a recipient who has lost one or both hands/arms. Most hand transplants to dat ...
.
*10 January –
April Casburn
Operation Elveden was a British police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investiga ...
, a senior detective with the
Metropolitan Police is found guilty of trying to sell information on the investigation into
phone hacking
Phone hacking is the practice of exploring a mobile device often using computer exploits to analyze everything from the lowest memory and central processing unit levels up to the highest file system and process levels. Modern open source tooling ...
to the ''
News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'', the newspaper at the centre of the scandal.
*16 January – A
helicopter crash
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
in central
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
kills two people and injures 13 others.
*22 January – A death sentence handed to British citizen
Lindsay Sandiford
Lindsay June Sandiford (born 25 June 1956) is a former legal secretary and convicted drug smuggler from Redcar, Teesside in North Yorkshire, England who was sentenced to death in January 2013 by a court in Indonesia after being found guilty of sm ...
by an Indonesian court for drug smuggling is condemned by the UK government.
*30 January – Tony McCluskie is found guilty of the March 2012 murder of his sister, the actress
Gemma McCluskie
Gemma Rose Veronica McCluskie (5 February 1983 – 1 March 2012) was a British television actress. Her most notable role was in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', in which she played Kerry Skinner.
In March 2012, McCluskie disappeared from he ...
and
jailed for life
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes f ...
with a recommendation he serve a minimum term of 20 years.
February
*1 February – Metropolitan Police detective April Casburn is jailed for fifteen months.
*4 February – Former
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
Minister
Chris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne (born 2 July 1954), known as Chris Huhne, is a British energy and climate change consultant and former journalist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 a ...
pleads guilty to
perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statu ...
over claims he caused his ex-wife to accept
speeding points he had incurred. He also announces his intention to
resign
Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...
his
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
seat.
*5 February – The House of Commons votes 400 to 175 in favour of a vote on the bill to legalise
gay marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is ...
.
*7 February –
Secretary of State for Education
The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
confirms that plans to replace the
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private s ...
with a new
English Baccalaureate
The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...
qualification have been abandoned.
*28 February – The
Eastleigh by-election, which was triggered by the resignation of Chris Huhne, sees the Liberal Democrats hold the seat despite a UKIP surge that pushes the Conservatives into third place.
March
*14 March –
Labour Party peer
Lord Ahmed
Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed ( ur, , born 24 April 1957) is a former British Labour politician of Pakistani origin. He was appointed a life peer in 1998 by the Labour Government.
Many of his political activities related to the Muslim commun ...
is suspended from the party after claiming a conspiracy by
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish-owned media organisations was responsible for his imprisonment for dangerous driving.
*26 March – A 14-year-old girl is found dead by police at a house in the
Atherton area of
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...
, where four "out of control" dogs are subsequently put down. Police have not confirmed the cause of death, but say her injuries are consistent with those of a dog attack.
April
* 1 April – Government reforms of the NHS in England have come into force with GP-led groups taking control of local budgets and a new board, NHS England, now overseeing the day-to-day running of services.
May
* 22 May – Off duty British soldier
Lee Rigby
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. ...
murdered by two Muslim converts in a terror attack in
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thro ...
, London.
July
*12 July – The funeral of murdered fusilier
Lee Rigby
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. ...
take place in
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...
, attendees include Prime Minister
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
.
November
*21 November – Former non-executive chairman of the Co-operative Bank
Paul Flowers is arrested by police in with a drugs supply investigation, having been exposed agreeing to buy cocaine and methamphetamine by the
Mail on Sunday
''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first publ ...
newspaper. Flowers is also suspended from the Labour Party and Methodist Church as a result of the allegations.
Deaths
*
1 January
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. ...
–
Christopher Martin-Jenkins
Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for '' Test Match Special'' (TMS) o ...
, Cricket journalist (''
Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 L ...
'') (born 1945)
*
8 April
Events Pre-1600
* 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
* 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
*1139 – Roger ...
–
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
, prime minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990) (born 1925)
*
29 June
Events Pre-1600
* 226 – Cao Rui succeeds his father as emperor of the Kingdom of Wei.
* 1149 – Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din Zangi.
*1194 – Sverre is crowned King of Norway, ...
–
Jean Kent
Jean Kent (born Joan Mildred Field; 29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013) was an English film and television actress.
Biography
Born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London in 1921, the only child of va ...
, actress (born 1921)
See also
*
2013 in Northern Ireland
Events during the year 2013 in Northern Ireland.
Incumbents
* First Minister - Peter Robinson
* deputy First Minister - Martin McGuiness
* Secretary of State - Theresa Villiers
Events
February
* 16 February – An Irish Premiership mat ...
*
2013 in Scotland
Events from the year 2013 in Scotland.
Incumbents
*First Minister and Keeper of the Great Seal – Alex Salmond
* Secretary of State for Scotland – Michael Moore until 7 October; then Alistair Carmichael
Law officers
* Lord Advocate ...
*
2013 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2013 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
*First Minister – Carwyn Jones
*Secretary of State for Wales – David Jones
*Archbishop of Wales – Barry Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff
*Ar ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 in England
*England
Years of the 21st century in England
2010s in England