9. At the Parliamentary bye-election for King's County (Tullamore), due to the death of Mr. E. Haviland Burke (N.), Mr. E. J. Graham (I.N.) was returned by 1,667 votes, Mr. P. F. Adams (N.) receiving 1,588.
—At the Durham Assizes, before Mr. Justice Shearman, Nicolaus Emil Hermann Adolf Ahlers, recently German Consul at Sunderland and a naturalised Englishman, was convicted of high treason and sentenced to death, he having incited and assisted German reservists in England to join the German forces after the declaration of war. (The conviction was quashed on December 18 by the High Court.)
—The Edison Works at West Orange, New Jersey, burnt down; estimated damage $5,000,000.
10. Lieut.-Gen. Sir James Wolfe Murray appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff, vice Lieut.-Gen. Sir Charles Douglas, deceased.
11, 12. Suspension of the London tramway service owing to an accident at a generating station.
12. On board the s.s. Batavier V., at Tilbury, for Rotterdam, a box which broke during shipment contained a young German lieutenant, Otto Koehn, who was attempting escape to Germany and had been interned at Dorchester.
—Announcement that Russia had declined the Christmas truce suggested by the Pope.
13. In the Dardanelles the British submarine B 11, Lieut.-Com. Holbrook, torpedoed and sank the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh.
14. Serbian army re-entered Belgrade.
16. German bombardment of Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby. (See Eng. Hist., Chap. V.)