naval raid on Yarmouth. 5 November – World War I: Britain annexes Cyprus and declares war on the Ottoman Empire. 6 November – World War I: German reservist Carl Hans Lody becomes the first spy to be executed for war treason during the War, suffering execution at dawn by firing squad in the Tower of London, the first execution for treason here since 1747. 11–24 November – World War I: Battle of Basra results in British Empire forces taking Basra from the Ottoman Empire. 17 November – announcement that income tax is to be doubled as a result of the War. 26 November – is blown apart by an internal explosion at her moorings on the Medway off Kingsnorth, Kent, killing all but nine of her 805 crew. 8 December – World War I: the Battle of the Falkland Islands results in a decisive British naval victory over a German squadron. 9 December – the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, is commissioned. 16 December – World War I: German naval raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. 137 are killed by bombardment, mostly civilians, but including the first death of a Kitchener volunteer, Theo Jones. 18 December – Egypt becomes a British protectorate. 21 December – World War I: First bombing raid on Britain when a German floatplane drops bombs in Dover Harbour. 24 December – World War I: British and German soldiers begin an unofficial Christmas truce. Britain's mainland is bombed for the first time when a German floatplane drops a bomb on Dover. 25 December – World War I: Cuxhaven Raid – British aircraft launched from warships attack the German port of Cuxhaven with submarine support, although little damage is caused. A German floatplane flies up the Thames and drops bombs at Cliffe, Kent. Unknown dates Official importation of Friesian cattle which is influential in establishing them as an eminent long-living dairy breed in Britain. Rosebuds, later renamed Brownies, established as the youngest section of The Guide Association, run by Agnes Baden-Powell. Jacob Epstein's Vorticist sculpture The Rock Drill completed. Publications Clive Bell's formalist study Art. Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, containing his Ode of Remembrance, first published in The Times 21 September. James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man commences serialization in The Egoist (2 February) and his collection of short stories Dubliners is published (June). Arthur Machen's