September 1909 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

Sep 2 King Edward VII signs South Africa Act

Event of Interest

Sep 6 New York Times headline announces American explorer Robert Peary had discovered the North Pole 5 months earlier

Sep 7 Eugene Lefebvre becomes first pilot to die in an airplane craft, while test piloting new French-built Wright biplane at Juvisy
Sep 9 China's Metropolitan Library established by the Qing Dynasty in Beijing Guanghua temple (now the National Library of China) [1]
Sep 11 German astronomer Max Wolf rediscovers Halley's comet
Sep 12 World's first patent for synthetic rubber granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann
Sep 17 Denis Peyrony and Louis Capitan discover the skull of an adult male Neanderthal (La Ferrassie 1) during excavations in a rock shelter near La Ferrassie, France
Sep 20 The British Parliament passes the South Africa Act; it calls for union of Cape Colony, Natal, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal; and both English and Dutch as official languages
Sep 25 Hudson-Fulton Celebration opens in NY

Event of Interest

Sep 27 US President William Howard Taft sets aside some 3 million acres of oil-rich public land (including Teapot Dome, Wyoming) for conservation purposes

Birthdays in History

Sep 1 E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat (d. 1957)

Eduard Wirths (1909-1945)

Sep 4 Nazi physician at Auschwitz, born in Würzburg, Germany

Sep 11 William Natcher, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky 1953-94), born in Bowling Green, Kentucky (d. 1994)
Sep 12 Donald MacDonald, Canadian politician and former president of the Canadian Labour Congress (1967-74), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (d. 1986)
Sep 12 Lawrence Brooks, American US Army soldier, 1940-45 (91st Engineer Battalion - New Guinea, The Philippines), and longest-living American World War II veteran, born in Norwood, Louisiana (d. 2022)
Sep 14 Peter Scott, British naturalist & explorer, born in London (d. 1989)
Sep 15 C. N. Annadurai, Indian politician and 1st Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, born in Kancheepuram, Madras, British India (d. 1969)

Jean Batten (1909-1982)

Sep 15 New Zealand aviator (first-ever solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936), born in Rotorua, New Zealand

Sep 16 Fernand Lodewick, literature historian (d. 1995)
Sep 16 John Megaw, British Lord Justice of Appeal, born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1997)
Sep 17 Elizabeth Wilkinson, English professor of German (University College London), born in Keighley (d. 2001)
Sep 17 Kenneth Darling, British Army Commander-in-chief Allied Forces, born in Bengal Presidency, British India (d. 1998)
Sep 19 Ferry Porsche, Austrian automobile pioneer (Porsche AG), born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria-Hungary (d. 1998)

Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972)

Sep 21 1st Prime Minister of Ghana (1957-60) and 1st President of Ghana (1960-66), born in Nkroful, Gold Coast (Ghana) [1]

Sep 22 David Riesman, US sociologist (Lonely Crowd)
Sep 23 Marianne Straub, weaver
Sep 23 Susan Travers, English-French Foreign Legion soldier, born in London, England (d. 2003)
Sep 24 Gerard Ciołek, Polish architect, born in Wyżnica, Austria-Hungary (d. 1966)
Sep 25 Florizel Glasspole, 3rd Governor-General of Jamaica (1973-91), born in Kingston, Jamaica (d. 2000)
Sep 26 Helen Giuliani, Mother of Rudy Giulani (107th Mayor of New York City), born in NYC, New York (d. 2002)
Sep 28 Al Capp [Alfred Gerald Caplin], cartoonist (Li'l Abner), born in New Haven, Connecticut
Sep 28 Stephen Spender, English poet (Oxford Poets), born in London, England (d. 1995)

Deaths in History

Clyde Fitch (1865-1909)

Sep 4 American playwright (Nathan Hale, The Girl with the Green Eyes), dies of blood poisoning after an appendectomy at 44 [1]

Sep 7 Eugene Lefebvre, French aviator pioneer (1st stunt pilot and 1st pilot to die flying a plane), dies test piloting a Wright A aircraft at 30
Sep 8 Frank Crawford Armstrong, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 73
Sep 9 Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad entrepreneur (b. 1848)