Birthdays in History on March 17

1231 Emperor Shijō of Japan (d. 1242)

James IV (1473-1513)

King of Scotland (1488-1513), born in Stirling Castle, Stirling, Scotland

1537 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō & warrior (Japan's second "great unifier"), born in Nakamura-ku, Japan (d. 1598)
1578 Francesco Albana, Italian painter (Mary's Ascension)
1628 Daniel van Papenbroeck [Papebrochius], Flemish historian
1676 Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
1685 Jean-Marc Nattier, French portrait painter
1695 Antoine Court, French minister and itinerant preacher in the Reformed church who restored Protestantism to France, born in Villeneuve-de-Berg, France (d. 1760)
1725 Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (d. 1806)
1754 Madame Roland [Marie-Jeanne Phlippon], French revolutionary (member of the Girondist faction), born in Paris, France (d. 1793)
1775 Ninian Edwards, American politician (Governor of Illinois Territory, 1809–1813; U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1818–1824; Governor of Illinois 1826–1830), born in Montgomery County, Maryland (d. 1833)
1777 Roger Brooke Taney, 5th Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court (Dred Scott decision), born in Calvert, Maryland (d. 1864)
1780 Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and 1st moderator (Free Church of Scotland 1843-47), born in Anstruther, Scotland (d. 1847)
1781 Dominique J de Eerens, governor-general of Neth Indies
1781 Ebenezer Elliott, British Poet. Know as the "Corn Law Rhymer'" (d. 1849)
1804 James Bridger, American scout, fur trader and mountain man par excellence, born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1881)
1806 Norbert Rillieux, American chemical engineer and inventor (sugar refiner), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1894)
1820 Jean Ingelow, English poet (d. 1897)
1820 Patrick Edward Connor, Irish-American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland (d. 1891)
1825 Rodolphe Bresdin, French cartoonist/lithographer (Le Bon Samaritain)
1826 Oskar Peschel, German journalist/geography (Volkerkunder)
1828 Patrick Cleburne, Irish -born American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Ovens, Ireland (d. 1864)
1832 Moncure Daniel Conway, US abolitionist (Life of Thomas Paine)
1832 Walter Quintin Gresham, American statesman, jurist, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Lanesville, Indiana (d. 1895)

Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900)

German engineer and inventor, designed 1st motorcycle, born in Schorndorf, Kingdom of Württemberg

1846 Kate Greenaway, English artist known for her children's book illustrations (Under the Window), born in London (d. 1901)
1856 Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
1862 Silvio Gesell, Belgian economist (d. 1930)
1863 Homer Plessy, American Creole shoemaker and civil rights pioneer (plaintiff in landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson 1896), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1925)
1866 Pierce Butler, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1939)
1870 Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (d. 1951)
1873 Margaret Bondfield, British politician and 1st British female cabinet minister (1929-31), born in Chard, Somerset (d. 1953)
1874 Stephen Samuel Wise, American Rabbi and President of Zionist Org of America, born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1949)
1877 Albert P Hahn, Dutch political cartoonist (People/Nutcracker)
1880 Lawrence Oates, English army officer and Antarctic explorer (d. 1912)
1880 Sir Patrick Hastings, British barrister (d. 1952)
1881 Kristian Elster, Norwegian author (Less bror Harris)
1881 Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
1883 Urmuz, Romanian writer (d. 1923)
1886 Princess Patricia of Connaught, British princess (d. 1974)
1887 Ben Sajet, Dutch physician/politician
1888 Paul Ramadier, French politician (d. 1961)
1894 Paul Green, American novelist/playwright (In Abraham's Bosom)
1897 Jozef C. Mazur, American stained glass artist and painter (d. 1970)

Eisaku Satō (1901-1975)

Prime Minister of Japan (1963-72) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1974), born in Tabuse, Yamaguchi, Japan

1904 Patrick Hamilton, English author and playwright (Gaslight, Rope), born in Hassocks, England (d. 1962)
1906 Brigitte Helm [Gisele Eve von Kuenheim], German actress (Gloria, Gold, Metropolis), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1996)
1907 Jean Van Houtte, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium, 1952-56; Finance Minister, 1950-52 and 1958-61), born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1991)
1908 Boris Polevoy, Russian journalist and writer, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1981) [OS=Mar 4]
1909 Patrick Reilly, British diplomat, born in Ootacamund, India

Bayard Rustin (1910-1987)

American civil rights leader (March on Washington organizer, Social Democrats USA), born in West Chester, Pennsylvania

1911 Patrick Maitland, 17th Earl of Lauderdale, Scottish Unionist politician
1915 Hans Namuth, German-American photographer (Todos Santos, Guatemala)
1915 Henry Bumstead, American art director (d. 2006)
1916 David Stafford-Clark, English psychiatrist, born in Bromley, Kent, England (d. 1999)
1916 Donald Gibson, British vice-admiral, Fleet Air Arm pilot of the WWII
1917 Arthur Basil Cotle, medievalist
1918 Józef Franczak, Polish soldier and anti-communist resistance fighter who was the last cursed soldiers, born in Kozice Górne, Kingdom of Poland (d. 1963)
1918 Wilhelmus Russell, Dutch attorney and Member of 1st chamber (KVP/CDA)
1920 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladeshi politician (founding father of Bangladesh, Prime Minister and President of Bangladesh), born in Tungipara, British India (d. 1975)
1921 Donald Barron, Scottish accountant and CEO (Midland Bank), born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland (d. 2015)
1922 Megan Bull, British head mistress (Holloway Jail)

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1922-1975)

Founding father of Bangladesh and 1st and 4th President of Bangladesh (1971-72 and 1975-76), born in Tungipara, Bengal Presidency, British India

1926 Siegfried Lenz, German writer (Ein Kriegsende)
1927 Nancy Sheehan, writer
1927 Roberto Suazo Córdova, President of Honduras (1982-86), born in La Paz, Honduras (d. 2018)
1928 William John McKeag, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
1930 James Irwin, American air force officer and NASA astronaut (Apollo 15, 8th person to walk on the moon), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1991)
1931 David Peakall, British scientist (d. 2001)
1932 Donald N. Langenberg, American physicist, born in Devil's Lake, North Dakota (d. 2019)
1933 Myrlie Evers-Williams, American civil rights activist (NAACP chair), born in Vicksburg, Mississippi
1933 Penelope Lively, British writer (Moon Tiger, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe), born in Cairo, Egypt
1936 Ken Mattingly, American USN naval officer, and NASA astronaut (Apollo 16; STS-4, -51-C), born in Chicago, Illinois
1936 Robert Daniel, American Republican Congressman for Virginia (1972-1983), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 2012)
1937 Frank Calabrese [Frankie Breeze], American mafia hitman, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2012)
1938 Keith O'Brien, Scottish Catholic archbishop (St Andrews & Edinburgh), born in Ballycastle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
1939 Jim Gary, American sculptor known for whimsical monumental art and sculptors of large, colorful dinosaurs made from discarded automobile parts, born in Sebastian, Florida (d. 2006)
1940 Mark White, American politician, lawyer, and 43rd Governor of Texas (1983-7), born in Henderson, Texas (d. 2017)
1941 Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese politician

John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994)

American serial killer who killed 33 young men, born in Chicago, Illinois

1942 Sidney Barthelemy, American politician (Mayor of New Orleans), born in New Orleans, Louisiana
1945 Michael Hayden, American general and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1947 James K. Morrow, American author (The Last Witchfinder), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1947 Jan Andersson, Swedish politician
1948 Alexander Nelson Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport, British-born investment banker
1948 Pat Lloyd, English rocker (The Equals), born in London, England
1948 Robert Braunwart, who added thousands of dates to this database
1948 William [Ford] Gibson, Canadian sci-fi author (Neuromancer, Count Zero)
1950 Betty Dukes, American Walmart employee who fought against gender discrimination (2001 Betty Dukes v. Walmart lawsuit), born in Tallulah, Louisiana
1951 Donald Findlay, Scottish lawyer, born in Cowdenbeath, Scotland
1953 Filemon Lagman, Filipino communist revolutionary (d. 2001)
1955 Cynthia McKinney, American politician (Rep-D-Georgia, Green Party presidential candidate 2008), born in Atlanta, Georgia
1956 Patrick McDonnell, American cartoonist (Mutts), born in Elizabeth, New Jersey
1962 Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, Dutch politician
1962 Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American astronaut (1st woman of Indian origin into space, later died in Columbia disaster), born in Karnal, India (d. 2003)
1967 Barry Minkow, American businessman, religious leader and convicted felon (fraud), born in Inglewwood, California
1969 [Lee] Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, born in London, England (d. 2010)
1983 Martin Shkreli, American businessman (Pharma), former hedge fund manager and convicted felon, born in Brooklyn, New York