May 1906 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

May 2 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia dismisses his moderate Prime Minister Witte and appoints Ivan Goremykin, a conservative bureaucrat

May 3 British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey
May 6 "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Street, San Francisco allows United Railroads to run electric streetcars
May 6 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia claims right to legislate by decree and restricts the power of the Duma (Russian Parliament)
May 10 Italian King Victor Emmanuel & Swiss President Ludwig Forrer open Simplon tunnel
May 10 Russian Duma (Parliament) meets for 1st time
May 13 Bezalel Art School opens in Jerusalem
May 17 Switzerland's Simplon Tunnel open to rail traffic
May 19 Federated Boys' Club (Boys' Club of America) organizes
May 19 Portugal's King Carlos I names Joao Franco premier
May 21 Louis H. Perlman patents a demountable tire carrying rim for cars
May 21 The US and Mexico sign an agreement over distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande, increasingly diverted to the US for irrigation
May 22 A British garrison leaves Esquimalt, on the Pacific coast, after a military occupation that began in 1858: the last British soldiers stationed in Canada
May 22 Wright Brothers are granted a patent for their "flying machine," having applied for one 3 years earlier (patent no. 821,393)
May 26 Archaeological Institute of America forms
May 26 Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London, England

Event of Interest

May 30 Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened

Assassination Attempt

May 31 Assassination attempt on King Alfonso XIII & Victoria of Battenberg in Madrid during the procession after their marriage in Madrid by a Catalan anarchist kills 30

Birthdays in History

May 1 Horst Schumann, Nazi physician, born in Halle an der Saale, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1983)
May 2 Philippe Halsman, American portrait photographer, born in Riga, Latvia (d. 1979)
May 6 André Weil, French mathematician (foundational work in number theory and algebraic geometry), born in Paris (d. 1998)
May 6 Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican writer (La Llamarada), born in Moca, Puerto Rico (d. 2005)
May 9 Eleanor Estes, American children's author and illustrator (Ginger Pye, Moffats), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1988)
May 11 Jacqueline Cochran, US pilot and 1st woman to break the sound barrier, born in Muscogee, Florida (d. 1980)
May 12 Maurice Ewing, US pioneering geologist and geophysicist, born in Lockney, Texas (d. 1974)
May 13 Thomas Mitchell, British architect and engineer, (d. 1996)
May 14 Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Prime Minister then 1st President of Malawi (1964-94), born near Kasungu, British Central Africa (d. 1997)
May 16 Alfred Pellan, French Canadian painter (d. 1988)
May 16 Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer, historian and politician (Lanzas Coloradas), born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 2001)
May 16 Margret Rey, author and illustrator (d. 1996)
May 16 Nicholas Beriozoff, Lithuanian-British dancer, choreographer and ballet master, born in Kaunus, Lithuania (d. 1996)
May 17 Eric Mensforth, British pioneer in the development of the helicopter in Britain, born in Stretford, Manchester (d. 2000)
May 20 Giuseppe Siri, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1989)
May 27 Robert Shone, British economist and director-general (NEDC), born in Birkenhead, Cheshire (d. 1992)

T. H. White (1906-1964)

May 29 English novelist (England Have My Bones) and author of the King Arthur novels,, born in Bombay, British India

May 30 Bruno Gröning, German faith healer (d. 1959)

Weddings in History

James F. Byrnes

May 2 US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes marries Maude Busch

Nancy Astor

May 3 American-English businessman Waldorf Astor (26) weds fellow American-English socialite Nancy Langhorne Shaw (26) at All Souls Church in London, England, until his death in 1952

Deaths in History

May 1 Carlos Calvo, Argentine historian, diplomat and human rights scholar (Calvo Clause), dies at 82
May 12 Gabriel C. Wharton, American civil engineer and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 81
May 14 Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and statesman (b. 1829)