Events in History
- 1181 Supernova SN 1181 in the constellation Cassiopeia observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers, lasting until August 6
- 1265 Battle of Evesham: English prince Edward beats Simon de Montfort the younger
- 1347 English troops conquer Fort Calais
- 1351 Sea battle at Zwartewaal: Willem V beats Hoeksen and English
- 1558 1st printing of Zohar (Jewish Kabbalah)
- 1578 Battle of Alcazarquivir, Moroccans defeat Portuguese, 10,000 killed
- 1598 London's head office of Hanze closed
- 1636 Johan Mauritius appointed governor of Dutch Brazil
- 1666 Hurricane hits Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Christopher; thousands die
- 1666 Sea battle between Netherlands and England
- 1693 Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pérignon's invention of Champagne
- 1704 War of Spanish Succession, English and Dutch troops occupy Gibraltar
- 1730 Crown prince Frederick of Prussia escapes to England
- 1735 Jury acquits John Zenger (NY Weekly Journal) charged with seditious libel by royal governor of NY (victory for Freedom of press)
Event of Interest
1753 George Washington becomes a master mason
George Washington
Event of Interest
1772 English poet and artist William Blake aged 14 is first apprenticed to engraver James Basire in London
William Blake
- 1789 French Revolution: The National Constituent Assembly meets and issues the first decrees that abolish centuries of feudalism in France
- 1790 United States Revenue Cutter Service is established to serve as an armed customs enforcement service (becoming the US Coast Guard in 1915)
- 1791 The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg wars
- 1821 1st edition of American magazine "The Saturday Evening Post"
Russian Antarctic Expedition
1821 Russian Antarctic expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen returns to Kronshtadt after becoming the 1st to circumnavigate Antarctica
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- 1824 Battle of Kos is fought between Turks and Greeks
- 1830 Plans for city of Chicago laid out
- 1854 The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships
- 1855 John Bartlett publishes "Familiar Quotations"
- 1862 US government collects its 1st income tax
- 1864 Land & naval action new Brazos Santiago, Texas
- 1870 British Red Cross Society forms
Event of Interest
1873 Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, US 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the 1st time with the Sioux near the Tongue River. 1 man killed on each side.
George Armstrong Custer
Murder of Interest
1892 Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden arrested in Fall River, Massachusetts on two counts of murder
Lizzie Borden
- 1897 Henry A Rucker appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Georgia
- 1900 An allied expeditionary force, made up of Japanese, Russian, British, French and American troops, sets off from Tientsin for Peking, China, to put down Boxer rebellion
- 1902 The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens
- 1903 Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto of Venice elected Pope Pius X
- 1914 WWI: German army shoots Belgian priests and burns down village of Battice
- 1914 German fleet under admiral Souchon fire on Algerian coast
- 1914 WWI: Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany
- 1914 WWI: King Albert I becomes Supreme Commander of Belgian army after German declaration of war
Declaration of War
1914 WWI: Field Marshal Lord Kitchener becomes British Minister of War after British declaration of war on Germany
Horatio Kitchener
Event of Interest
1918 Adolf Hitler receives the Iron Cross first class for bravery on the recommendation of his Jewish superior, Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann
Adolf Hitler
Event of Interest
1919 Rodin Museum opens in Paris in The hôtel Biron containing works left to the state by the sculptor Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
- 1919 Hungarian communist leader Béla Kun flees to Vienna after the Hungarian Soviet Republic is overthrown by the Romanian Army
- 1925 1st Dutch Colijn government forms
- 1925 US marines leave Nicaragua after 13-year occupation
- 1929 60,000 SA'ers/SS'ers march by Munich
- 1929 Jones Beach in NY opens
- 1930 Child labor laws established in Belgium
- 1934 II British Empire Games open at London's White City Stadium
- 1936 Ioannis Metaxas names himself dictator of Greece
Event of Interest
1941 Winston Churchill departs on Prince of Wales to US
Winston Churchill
- 1942 1st train with Jews departs Mechelen Belgium to Auschwitz
- 1942 British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Cairo
Event of Interest
1942 Colonel general Jeremenko arrives in Stalingrad and welcomed by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
- 1942 German occupier orders all Dutch homing pigeons killed
- 1943 British premier Winston Churchill travels on the Queen Mary to Canada
- 1943 Soviet units reach suburbs of Orel
- 1943 USAAF bombs Germans in Troina
Event of Interest
1944 Anne Frank arrested in Amsterdam by German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified
Anne Frank
Murder of Interest
1952 Gambling boss Theodore Roe is murdered by the crew of Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana
Event of Interest
1955 Eisenhower authorizes $46 million for construction of CIA headquarters
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1956 German Wilhelm Herz becomes first to ride motorcycle at 200mph (210mph/338kph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
- 1956 Indonesia says it will not pay debts to the Netherlands
- 1960 Rocket propelled USAF research aircraft sets record at 2,150 MPH
- 1961 Spokane, Washington reaches August record 108°F
Event of Interest
1962 Nelson Mandela captured by South African police
Nelson Mandela
- 1964 Bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney discovered in an earthen Mississippi dam
- 1964 North Vietnam torpedoes US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin
- 1965 Cook Islands enters into free association with New Zealand
- 1966 8th British Empire Games & Commonwealth Games open in Kingston, Jamaica; first Games held outside 'White Dominions'
- 1967 British pirate radio station Radio 355 resigns air
- 1967 Shortwave group ANARC's 1st convention (Chicago)
- 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1971 US launches 1st satellite into lunar orbit from manned spacecraft
- 1972 Arthur Bremer jailed for 63 years for shooting Alabama Governor Wallace
- 1974 Crawford-Butler Act allows Puerto Ricans to elect own governor
- 1976 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1977 US President Carter establishes Department of Energy
- 1977 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1979 Italian government of Cossiga begins
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1980 -11] Hurricane Aline, kills 272 in Texas & Caribbean
- 1981 Columbia mated with SRBs and external tank for STS-2 mission
- 1981 Oliver North is assigned to White House duty
- 1983 Bettino Craxi sworn in as premier of Italy
Birthdays in History
- 1222 Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, English soldier (d. 1262)
- 1290 Duke Leopold I of Austria (d. 1326)
- 1502 Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter and carpet designer
- 1521 Pope Urban VII (d. 1590)
- 1604 François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French writer, born in Paris (d. 1676)
- 1701 Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar, born in Aberdeen, Scotland (d. 1757)
- 1719 Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German minerologist and geologist, born in Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel, Germany (d. 1767)
- 1721 Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
- 1755 Nicolas-Jacque Conte, French painter and inventor (modern pencil), born in Aunou-sur-Orne, France (d. 1805)
- 1792 Percy Bysshe Shelley, English romantic poet (Adonais), born in Horsham, Sussex, England (d. 1822)
- 1805 William Rowan Hamilton, Irish astronomer and mathematician, born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1865)
- 1815 Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich, Sulz am Neckar, German Physician and advocate of scientific medicine
- 1816 Israel Vogdes, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Chester County, Pennsylvania (d. 1889)
- 1818 Lovell Harrison Rosseau, American lawyer politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Stanford, Kentucky (d. 1869)
- 1821 James Springer White, American theologian (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), born in Palmyra, Maine (d. 1881)
Louis Vuitton
1821 Louis Vuitton, French founder of the Louis Vuitton brand of leather goods now owned by LVMH, born in Anchay, France (d. 1892)
Louis Vuitton
- 1823 Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton, American politician (Governor of Indiana), born in Salisbury, Indiana (d. 1877)
- 1834 John Venn, English mathematician (Venn Diagram), born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England (d. 1923)
- 1839 Walter Pater, writer (Plato & Platoism), born in London, England
- 1848 Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
- 1859 Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer (Nobel Prize in Literature 1920), born in Lom, Gudbrandsdalen, Norway (d. 1952)
- 1873 Damaso Berenguer, Spanish soldier and politician (122nd Prime Minister of Spain), born in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba (d. 1953)
- 1877 Dame Laura Knight, English impressionist artist, born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England (d. 1970)
- 1888 Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Bohra Spiritual Leader, born in Surat, India (d. 1965)
- 1890 Erich Weinert, German communist writer, born in Magdeburg (d. 1953)
- 1899 Ezra Taft Benson, 13th President of Mormon Church and US Secretary of Agriculture, born in Whitney, Idaho (d. 1994)
- 1900 Arturo Umberto Illia, President of Argentina (1963-66), born in Pergamino, Argentina (d. 1983)
- 1900 Douglas L Mays, cartoonist (Punch)
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
1900 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, British consort of King George VI and Queen Mother after his death, born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England (d. 2002)
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
- 1904 Witold Gombrowicz, Polish author (Ferdydurke, Pornography), born in Małoszyce, Russian Empire (d. 1969)
- 1905 Michael Scott Montague Fordham, English child psychiatrist and Jungian analyst, born in Kensington, London (d. 1995)
- 1906 Marie-Jose von Saksen-Coburg, Belgian Princess (last Queen of Italy), born in Ostend, Belgium (d. 2001)
- 1908 Leslie Wilkinson, journalist
- 1908 Osbert Lancaster, English cartoonist and author (Daily Express), born in London (d. 1986)
- 1909 Roberto Burle Marx, Brazilian landscape gardener, born in São Paulo, Brazil (d. 1994)
- 1909 Saunders Mac Lane, American mathematician (co-founded category theory), born in Taftville, Connecticut (d. 2005)
- 1910 Hedda Sterne, Romanian born American artist , born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 2011)
- 1912 Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat in WW II (saved 10,000s of Jews), born in Lidingö Municipality, Sweden (d. 1947)
- 1912 Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and mountaineer, born in Volyn, Ryazan Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1999)
- 1913 Robert Hayden, African-American poet (Those Winter Sundays), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1980)
- 1915 Warren Avis, American entrepreneur (Avis Rent a Car System), born in Bay City, Michigan (d. 2007)
- 1918 Iceberg Slim (a.k.a. Robert Beck), African-American author, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1992)
- 1920 Helen Thomas, American reporter and UPI journalist (starts press conferences), born in Winchester, Kentucky (d. 2013)
- 1922 Charley Harper, American modernist artist, born in Frenchton, West Virginia (d. 2007)
- 1923 Reg Grundy, Australian media and television mogul (Neighbours, Prisoner), born in Sydney, New South Wales (d. 2016)
- 1923 Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi, Pakistani satirical and humor writer, born in Jaipur, India
- 1930 David M G Curry, South African Labour Party parliament leader
- 1930 John Gorman, printer and socialist historian, born in Stratford, East London (d. 1996)
- 1930 Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iranian shia cleric, born in Mashhad, Iran
Sheldon Adelson
1933 Sheldon Adelson, American business magnate (CEO of Las Vegas Sands), born in Boston, Massachusetts
Sheldon Adelson
- 1934 Jonas Savimbi, Angolian leader of Unita
- 1934 Rutger Kopland, [Rutger van den Hoofdakker], Dutch poet
- 1937 Jacobus H "Koos" van de Merwe, South African attorney/CP parliament leader
- 1938 Ellen Schrecker, American college professor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1940 Karel Vachek, Czech director (Moravska Hellas, Elective Affinities), born in Tišnov, Czech Republic
- 1941 Ted Strickland, American politician, Governor of Ohio (2007-2011), born in Lucasville, Ohio
- 1942 David Russell Lange, PM (L) NZ (1984-89)
David Lange
1942 David Lange, New Zealand politician (Prime Minister, 1984-1990), born in Otahuhu, Auckland (d. 2005)
David Lange
- 1943 Michael J McCulley, Cmdr USN/astronaut (STS-34), born in San Diego, California
- 1943 Milan Máčala, Czech football coach, born in Biskupice, Czech Republic
- 1945 John Qace Hardbattle, political activist
- 1948 James C Slattery, (Rep-D-Kansas, 1983- )
- 1951 Lane Evans, (Rep-D-IL, 1983- )
- 1952 Gábor Demszky, Hungarian politician (Mayor of Budapest, 1990-2010), born in Budapest, Hungary
- 1955 Andrew M Allen, Captain USMC/astronaut (STS 46, 62, 75), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1955 Alberto Gonzales, American U.S. Attorney General
- 1957 Robert E Andrews, (Rep-D-New Jersey)
- 1957 Brooks D. Simpson, American historian
- 1958 Allison Hedge Coke, American poet and writer, born in Amarillo, Texas
- 1958 Phil Scott, American politician, Governor of Vermont (2017-), born in Barre, Vermont
- 1959 John Gormley, Irish politician, Leader of the Green Party, Mayor of Dublin (1994-95), born in Dublin, Ireland
- 1959 Laurence Anholt, British children's author, born in London, England
- 1959 Kim Reynolds, American politician, 1st female Governor of Iowa (2017-), born in St. Charles, Iowa
- 1960 Bernard Rose, English director
- 1960 Tim Winton, Australian author
- 1960 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish politician
Barack Obama
1961 Barack Obama, 44th United States President (Democrat: 2009-17) and first African-American president, born in Honolulu, Hawaii
Barack Obama
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1757 American revolution patriot Paul Revere (22) weds Sarah Orne in Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Paul Revere
Wedding of Interest
1847 Author of Moby-Dick, American novelist Herman Melville (28) marries Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Herman Melville
Wedding of Interest
1853 Confederate general Thomas Jackson (29) weds Elinor Junkin in Lexington
Stonewall Jackson
Wedding of Interest
1967 Writer Jorge Luis Borges (67) weds old friend Elsa Astete Millán
Jorge Luis Borges
- 2006 Former Miss Ireland Andrea Roche (30) weds PJ Mansfield at Church of The Nativity of the Blessed Mary in Saggart Village, Dublin
Deaths in History
- 1060 Henry I, King of the Franks (1031-60), dies at 52
- 1113 Gertrude of Saxony (b. 1030)
- 1204 Boniface of Montferrat, margrave of Montferrat, murdered
- 1265 Simon de Montfort the younger, English Earl of Leicester, dies in battle
- 1265 Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, killed in the Battle of Evesham (b. 1223)
- 1306 Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, King of Hungary (1301-05) and King of Bohemia and Poland (1305-06), stabbed to death at 16
- 1338 Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I of England (b. 1300)
- 1430 Philip I, Duke of Brabant (1427-30), dies at 26
- 1476 Jacob van Armagnac-Pardiac, French duke of Nemours, beheaded
- 1526 Juan Sebastian Cano, Spanish explorer, dies
- 1566 Girolamo della Robbia, Italian sculptor (Majolica relief), dies
- 1578 Sebastiaan, King of Portugal (1557-78), dies in battle at about 24
- 1578 Thomas Stucley, English adventurer
- 1584 John van Hembyze, Flemish Calvinist, dies at 71
- 1598 William Cecil, 1st baron Burghley, English statesman, dies at 77
- 1612 Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
- 1633 George Abbott, English theologist and the Archbishop of Canterbury (1611-1633), dies at 60
- 1639 Juan R Alarcon y Mendoza, Mexican/Spanish playwright, dies at 58
- 1666 Johan Evertsen, ltalian admiral of Zeeland, lynched in Brielle
- 1699 Maria Sophia of Neuburg, Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Peter II from 1687-99), dies at 32
- 1718 René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France, dies at 62
- 1727 Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
- 1741 Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer
- 1778 Pierre de Rigaud, Canadian-born French Governor of New France, dies at 79
- 1795 Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (b. 1711)
- 1821 William Floyd, American soldier who signed the US Declaration of Independence, dies at 86
- 1844 Jakob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman, dies at 71
- 1859 Jean Vianney, French Catholic priest, dies at 73
- 1873 Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter, dies at 39
Hans Christian Andersen
1875 Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of 150 fairy tales (The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen), dies at 70
Hans Christian Andersen
Enver Pasha
1922 Enver Pasha, Turkish general and politician, dies in battle at 40
Enver Pasha
Daniel Williams
1931 Daniel Williams, American heart surgeon who performed the 1st open heart surgery, dies at 73
Daniel Williams
- 1938 L H Perquin, Dutch radio announcer, dies at 73
- 1940 Vladimir Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, dies
- 1957 Washington Luís, President of Brazil (1926-30), dies at 87
- 1958 Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (b. 1883)
- 1976 Enrique Angelelli, Argentine bishop
- 1976 Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- 1977 Edgar Adrian, English physiologist (Nobel 1932-function of neurons), dies at 87
- 1977 Emil Bloch, German philosopher (Principle Hope, Traces), dies at 92
- 1982 Bruce Goff, American Architect (b. 1904)
- 1991 Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet (Hodyne), dies at 80
- 1992 František Tomášek, 34th Archbishop of Prague and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Bohemia, dies at 93
- 1992 Ralph Cooper, creator (Amateur Night at the Apollo), dies of cancer
- 1994 Giovanni Spadolini, Italian historian and politician, dies at 69
- 1994 Richard Du Cann, English lawyer and QC,, dies at 65
- 1994 Sol Adler, economist Sinophile, dies at 85
- 1995 J. Howard Marshall [James Howard Marshall II], American businessman and husband of Anna Nicole Smith, dies at 90
- 1996 Geoff Hamilton, gardner/journalist, dies at 59
- 1997 Jeanne Calment, world's oldest person (born Feb 21, 1875), dies at 122 years, 164 days
- 1998 Yuri Artyukhin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1930)
- 1999 Carl Toms, British stage designer (1 Million BC, Moon Zero Two), dies at 72
- 2002 Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, Soham murder victims, murdered by Ian Kevin Huntley at 10
- 2003 Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist and Nobel Prize laureate 1954, dies at 86
- 2004 Sir Kenneth Couzens, British Deputy Chairman of British Coal Board and significant figure during Miners Strike, dies at 79
- 2005 Anatoly Larkin, Russian American physicist, dies at 72
- 2009 David Haslam, British rear admiral (hydrographer), dies at 86
- 2011 Mark Duggan is shot by police in London at 29, sparking widespread riots
- 2013 Sandy Woodward [John Forster], English admiral (British Naval Task Force, Falklands War), dies at 81
- 2014 James Brady, U.S. press secretary (wounded during Reagan assassin attempt), dies at 73
- 2019 Nuon Chea, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader 'Brother Number Two', dies at 93