3 January –
Ratho rail crash in which
North British RailwayH class locomotive 874 Dunedin in charge of the Edinburgh to Glasgow express train is in collision with a
light engine at Queensferry Junction, leaving 12 people dead and 46 seriously injured. The cause is found to be inadequate signalling procedures.[2]
7 February – the Clyde-built Atlantic liner
SS California (1907), homeward bound for Glasgow from New York, is torpedoed and sunk by
SM U-85 approaching Ireland. 41 are killed but around 162 survivors return to Glasgow.[3]
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.[6]
22 October –
William Hole, English artist, illustrator, etcher and engraver, known for his industrial, historical and biblical scenes (born 1846 in
Salisbury)
November –
Glasgow watercolourist
Frederick Farrell (who was discharged from army service as a
sapper a year earlier on health grounds) serves as a
war artist on the
Western Front; uniquely sponsored by the city of his birth, the only British city to sponsor a painter.[10]
Joseph Lee (who is made a prisoner of war later this year) publishes the poetry collection Work-a-Day Warriors.