On This Day in History for July 3

Events 1 - 100 of 133

• 683 St Leo II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
• 987 Hugh Capet (Hugh the Great) crowned King of the Franks
• 1090 Battle at Hagenoorde: German emperor beats earl Egbert II

• 1428 Treaty of Delft between Jacoba of Bavaria & Philip the Good of Burgundy

• 1630 Emperor Ferdinand II opens German Parliament

• 1720 Sweden and Denmark sign peace treaty

• 1767 Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret
• 1767 Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date)
• 1775 George Washington takes command of Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 1778 British forces massacre 360 men, women and children in Wyoming, Pennsylvania
• 1778 Prussia declares war on Austria
• 1806 Michael Keens exhibits 1st large-scale cultivated strawberry—a large fruit strawberry, called the Keen Seedling
• 1814 Americans capture Fort Erie, Canada (War of 1812)
• 1819 1st savings bank in US (Bank of Savings in NYC) opens its doors
• 1839 1st state normal school in US opens, Lexington, Massachusetts, with 3 students
• 1841 John Couch Adams decides to determine position of an unknown planet by irregularities it causes in the motion of Uranus
• 1844 The last pair of Great Auks is killed.

• 1848 Slaves freed in Danish West Indies (now US Virgin Islands)
• 1849 The French entered Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
• 1852 Congress authorizes US's 2nd mint (San Francisco, California)
• 1861 Colonel Jackson receives his commission as brigadier general
• 1861 Pony Express arrives in San Francisco with overland letters from NY
• 1861 Martinsburg, Virginia - Confederate forces pull out before US advance
• 1863 Battle of Donaldsonville, Louisiana
• 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, largest battle ever fought on the American continent, ends in a major victory for the Union during the US Civil War
• 1864 Battle of Chattahoochie River, Georia [until Jul 9]
• 1864 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - Federals evacuate in face of Early's advance

• 1876 Montenegro declares war on Turkey
• 1883 SS Daphne sinks on Clyde River Scotland; 195 die
• 1884 Dow Jones publishes its 1st stock index, the Dow Jones Transportation Average
• 1886 1st NY Tribune printing using 1st commercial linotype machine

• 1890 Idaho admitted as 43rd US state
• 1890 King Leopold II gives Congo, previously a private possession, to Belgium
• 1895 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Black Peter" (BG)
• 1898 American troops, en route to the Philippines on the SS China, raise the American flag on Wake Island
• 1898 Dutch Automobile Club forms (KNAC)
• 1898 Joshua Slocum completes 1st solo circumnavigation of the globe
• 1898 US Navy defeats Spanish fleet in Santiago harbor, Cuba
• 1900 Trying to stem the growing popular resentment, Tsar Nicholas of Russia issues a decree that abolishes the banishment of dissidents and troublemakers to Siberia
• 1900 The British evacuate Rustenburg and occupy Commando Nek and Silkaatsnek in the Anglo-Boer war
• 1905 Kuyper government forms in Holland
• 1907 Pope decree forbids modernization of theology


• 1908 Indian nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak arrested for sedition by the British in wake of Muzzafarpur bombing
• 1913 Common tern banded in Maine; found dead in 1919 in Africa (1st bird known to have crossed the Atlantic)
• 1913 Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors
• 1915 After exploding a bomb in US Senate reception room previous day, Erich Muenter, a German instructor at Cornell University, shoots JP Morgan for representing the British government in war contract negotiations
• 1917 Spontaneous demonstration at Tauride Palace, Petrograd
• 1918 SDAP'er Suze Groenweg elected 1st woman in Dutch parliament
• 1920 Java Technical School, Bandung, opens
• 1920 Royal Air Force holds an air display at Hendon, England

• 1923 Dockers' strike in Hull/Grimsby/Cardiff/Bristol over to London
• 1929 Dunlop Latex Development Laboratories made foam rubber
• 1930 US Veterans Administration created
• 1934 FDIC pays off 1st insured depositors, Fon du Lac Bank, East Peoria IL

• 1940 ARP-leader/ex-premier Colijn argues cooperation with Germany
• 1940 British Royal Navy damages the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, to prevent Germany seizing it
• 1940 German occupiers forbid using Dutch royal names
• 1942 German troops march into Sebastopol, Crimea
• 1942 Adolf Hitler visits Field Marshal Von Bock's headquarters in Ukraine
• 1943 Liberator bombers sinks U-628
• 1944 US V-III-E Army corp opens assault on Coutances Cotentin

• 1946 1st Dutch government of Beel forms
• 1946 The Cape Passive Resistance Council is formed at a mass meeting in Cape Town, attended by 1,500 people
• 1947 252,288 people (record) pass through Grand Central Station, NYC
• 1947 Soviet Union doesn't participate in Marshall Plan
• 1948 Kidnapper Caryl Chessman sentenced to death, California; execution dosn't happen until 1960
• 1952 Puerto Rico's constitution approved by US Congress
• 1962 Algerian Revolution against French rule ends (Algeria gains independence on 5th July)
• 1963 In New Zealand, a National Airways Corporation Dakota DC-3 crashes in the Kaimai Ranges; all 23 passengers and crew are killed in New Zealand’s worst internal civil aviation accident
• 1965 USSR and Persia sign dam building and economic aid pact
• 1965 Harold Strachan, member of the Communist Party of South Africa and Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress, is served with a restriction order in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act
• 1966 Race riots in Omaha Nebraska
• 1967 "News at 10" premieres on British TV
• 1968 41°F lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in July
• 1968 As part of a series of protests against housing conditions in Derry, the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) hold a sit-down protest on the newly opened second deck of the Craigavon Bridge in the city, Northern Ireland
• 1970 British aircraft crashes at Barcelona, 112 killed
• 1970 The British Army impose curfew on Falls Road area of Belfast as they search for weapons; coming under attack from the Official IRA (OIRA) and republican rioters
• 1972 Themba Sono is forced to resign as president of South African Student Organisation (SASO)
• 1972 The Ulster Defence Association and the British Army come into conflict about a 'no-go' area at Ainsworth Avenue, Belfast
• 1973 General Walters, serves as acting director of CIA
• 1974 Soyuz 14 carries 2 cosmonauts to space station Salyut 3
• 1976 Adolfo Suarez becomes premier of Spain
• 1977 The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded
• 1977 Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew's 9-race win streak ends in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park, finishes 4th
• 1978 US Supreme Court rules 5-4, FCC had a right to reprimand NY radio station WBAI for broadcasting George Carlin's "Filthy Words"
• 1981 NYC transit fare rises from 60 cents to 75 cents, new brass Y-cut-out token
• 1983 American Calvin Smith sets new world record of 9.93 for 100m in Colorado Springs, beats Jim Hines 1968 mark by 0.02 seconds

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• 1423 Louis XI, King of France (1461-83), born in Bourges, France (d. 1483)
• 1442 Go-Tsuchimikado, 103rd Emperor of Japan (d. 1500)
• 1530 Claude Fauchet, French historian, born in Paris (d. 1601)

• 1676 Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal, born in Dessau, Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1747)
• 1683 Edward Young, English poet (Revenge, Complaint), born in Upham, Winchester, England (d. 1765)
• 1685 Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer, born in Roos Hall, Beccles, England (d. 1768)
• 1687 Arnold Hoogvliet, Dutch poet (Abraham the Patriarch), born in Vlaardingen, Netherlands (d.1763)
• 1728 Robert Adam, Scottish architect and designer (Adelphi Terrace, London), born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland (d. 1792)
• 1731 Samuel Huntington, American politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Windham, Connecticut (d. 1796)
• 1738 John Singleton Copley, American painter of portraits and historical objects, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1815)
• 1743 Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, Queen consort of Sweden, born in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1813)
• 1794 Eberhard Friedrich Walcker, German organ builder (Paulskirche Frankfurt), born in Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1872)
• 1796 Nikoli A Poveloi, Russian writer/publisher (Sotsjinenija) [NS]
• 1828 John Austin Wharton, American lawyer and Major General (Confederate Army), born in Nashville, Tennessee (d. 1865)
• 1860 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist, writer and lecturer for social reform, born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1935)
• 1866 Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter, born in Stege, Møn, Denmark (d. 1906)

• 1871 William Henry Davies, Welsh poet (Autobiography of a Super Tramp), born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales (d. 1940)
• 1872 Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (1901-19), born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (d. 1919)
• 1874 Āpirana Ngata, Māori New Zealand politician and lawyer known for promoting and protecting Māori culture and language, born in Te Araroa, New Zealand (d. 1950)
• 1875 Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon, born in Barmen, German Empire (d. 1951)
• 1879 Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist and philosopher, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1950)

• 1884 Moses Leverock Crossley, Dutch bio-chemist, born in Saba, Dutch West Indies
• 1886 Raymond A Spruance, U.S. Navy admiral (Battle of Midway), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1969)
• 1906 Francis Steegmuller, American biographer (Cocteau), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1994)
• 1906 F. Gwendolen Rees, Welsh zoologist and parasitologist, born in Abercynon, Wales (d. 1994)
• 1907 Arthur Steel, Dutch architect (Group '32)
• 1908 Thomas Narcejac, French writer (Vertigo), born in Rochefort-sur-Mer, France (d. 1998)
• 1908 M. F. K. Fisher, American cook book author, born in Albion, Michigan (d. 1992)
• 1908 Robert B. Meyner, American politician (44th Governor of New Jersey), born in Easton, Pennsylvania (d. 1990)
• 1909 Earl Butz, 18th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1971-76), born in Albion, Indiana (d. 2008)
• 1909 Lucy Kroll, American talent agent, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1997)
• 1909 Stavros Niarchos, Greek shipping magnate (Those Fabulous Greeks), born in Athens, Greece (d. 1996)
• 1910 Bernard Burrows, British diplomat (d. 2002)
• 1910 Eric Franklin, Indian civil servant
• 1912 Edward Jones, North Ireland lord justice of appeals
• 1913 Hugh Stirling Mackenzie, British Royal Navy officer, born in Inverness, Scotland (d. 1996)
• 1913 William Deakin, British historian and warden (St Anthony's College Oxford), born in London (d. 2005)
• 1918 Fred Mulley, British Labour politician, born in Leamington Spa, England (d. 1995)
• 1920 Louise Allbritton, American actress (The Egg and I, Stage Door, Got a Secret), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 1979)
• 1922 Corneille [Cornelis G of Beverloo], Dutch painter (Africa, Antilles), born in Liege, Belgium (d. 2010)
• 1922 François Reichenbach, French director (La douceur du Village), born in Paris (d. 1993)
• 1922 Tom Hudson, British artist and teacher, born in Horden, County Durham, England (d. 1997)
• 1923 Sue Ryder, Baroness Ryder of Warsaw & Cavendish, British volunteer with Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England (d. 2000)
• 1923 Bankole Timothy, Sierra Leonean journalist, born in Sierra Leone (d. 1994)
• 1923 William Mills, painter (d. 1997)
• 1924 Geoffrey Sammons, senior partner (Allen & Overy)
• 1924 S. R. [Sellapan Ramanathan] Nathan, 6th President of Singapore (1999-2011), born in Singapore (d. 2016)
• 1925 Michael Oliver, cardiologist, born in Borth, Wales (d. 2015)
• 1926 Joseph M Gaydos, (Rep-D-PA, 1969- )
• 1926 William Roll, German poltergeist researcher and parapsychologist (The Poltergeist, Unsolved Mysteries), born in Bremen, Germany (d. 2012)
• 1927 Ken Russell, England, director (Tommy, Altered States, Gothic)
• 1927 William McMillan, moderator (Gen Assembly of Church of Scot) [or 1/29]
• 1928 Evelyn Anthony, English historical writer (Poellenberg Inheritance)
• 1928 Günter Bruno Fuchs, German writer, poet and artist, born in Berlin (d. 1977)
• 1928 John Wills, lord-lt of Avon England
• 1929 Eustace Gibbs, vice marshal (Diplomatic Corps)
• 1931 Andres Burnier, [Catharina Dessaur], criminologist/author (Jongensuur)
• 1933 Edward Brandt, American doctor and public health official (d. 2007)
• 1934 Manfred Bieler, writer
• 1935 Harrison H "Jack" Schmitt, Santa Rita NM, astronaut (Apollo 17)
• 1935 John Swan, PM (Bermuda)
• 1936 Anthony Lester, CEO (Runnymede Trust)

• 1939 Jay Tarses, actor/writer (Open All Night, Duck Factory), born in Baltimore, Maryland
• 1940 Heather Steel, British judge
• 1940 Lamar Alexander, American politician
• 1941 Adoor Gopalakrishnan, cinematographer (Kathapurushan, Mathulikal)
• 1941 Gloria Allred, American feminist and civil rights attorney, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1941 Wylie Walker Vale, Endocrinologist who discovered the stress hormone, born in Houston, Texas
• 1943 Geraldo Rivera [Gerald Michael Riviera], American news personality (20/20, Geraldo), born in NYC, New York
• 1943 Norman Thagard, American scientist and astronaut (STS 7, 51-B, 30, 42, 71, Mir), born in Marianna, Florida
• 1945 Michael Martin, British politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (2000-09)
• 1946 Michael Shea, American sci-fi author (World Fantasy Award: Nifft the Lean, Growlimb), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2014)
• 1948 Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
• 1950 James Hahn, American politician and incumbent judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, born in Los Angeles, California

• 1953 Alynne Beth Amkraut, entertainer, born in Amityville, New York
• 1955 Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer
• 1956 Montel Williams, TV talk show host (Montel)
• 1956 Don Vito, American Viva La Bam castmember
• 1957 Faye Resnick, author (Nicole Brown Simpson-Private Diary)
• 1958 Matthew Fraser, Canadian-British journalist
• 1958 Siân Lloyd, Welsh weather presenter
• 1963 Tracey Emin, Croydon England, English artist
• 1964 Joanne Harris, British author

• 1976 Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist

• 1468 Charles the Stout, Duke of Burgundy marries Princess Margaret of York

• 1960 Vernon Presley (father of Elvis) weds Dee Alliot

• 1992 Mass Senator Ted Kennedy marries Victoria Reggie (38)
• 1993 Prince Alois of Liechtenstein weds Duchess Sophie of Bavaria

• 1929 American Playwright Eugene O'Neill divorces second wife novelist Agnes Boulton after 11 years of marriage

• 683 Leo II, Pope (681-83), dies
• 1090 Egbert II van Brunswick, Fries count, dies in battle
• 1570 Antonio Paleario, Italian humanist, executed by inquisition at 67
• 1642 Maria de' Medici, French queen-mother, dies at about 69
• 1672 Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)
• 1704 Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (b. 1657)
• 1749 William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
• 1775 Colonel Thomas Gardner, American heroic political figure and soldier, dies at 51
• 1778 Anna Maria Pertl Mozart, mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1720)
• 1795 Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (b. 1714)
• 1795 Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
• 1858 Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b. 1806)
• 1862 William Barksdale, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 40
• 1863 Alonzo Hersford Cushing, US Union lt, dies in battle at about 22
• 1863 Lewis Addison Armistead, Confederate brigadier general Gettysburg/dies in battle at 46
• 1863 Little Crow, [Ta-oya-te-duta], Santee Sioux indian chief, dies
• 1863 Richard Brooke Garnett, US Confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at 45
• 1863 Samuel Kosciuzko Zook, US Union general-major, dies in battle at 40
• 1863 Richard B. Garnett, Confederate Brigadier General, killed during Pickett's Charge, Battle of Gettysburg at 45
• 1863 George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
• 1863 Elon John Farnsworth, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 25
• 1890 Gilman Marston, American Brigadier General (Union Army) and politician (R-NH), dies at 78
• 1904 Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist and founder (Zionist movement), dies at 44
• 1904 Edouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)
• 1908 Joel Chandler Harris, American writer, created Uncle Remus, dies at 59
• 1910 Julius Slabbe, Belgian writer, dies

• 1918 Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
• 1918 David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, Welsh coal-mining entrepreneur, dies at 62

• 1934 Henry WAE, Prince of Netherlands/father of Queen Juliana, dies
• 1935 André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
• 1942 Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (b. 1856)
• 1948 Adrien H Gerhard, Dutch SDAP-politician, dies at 90
• 1954 Siegfried Handloser, German physician (b. 1895)
• 1965 Trigger, horse (Roy Rogers), dies at 25
• 1966 Cornelis "Kees" Boeke, theorist, dies at 81
• 1970 Frances Parkinson Keyes, American novelist (Dinner at Antoine's), dies at 84
• 1974 John C Ransom, US poet (World's Body), dies
• 1977 Mohammed al-Zahaby, Egyptian minister, murdered
• 1983 John Fleming (Jack) Brock, South African nutritional scientist, physician and a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town, dies at 78
• 1984 Raoul Salan, French general/OAS leader (Algeria), dies at 85
• 1989 Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician (President of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), dies just short of his 80th birthday
• 1990 Ludi Claire Hugo, entertainer, dies at 70
• 1990 Maurice Girodias, French publisher and founder (Olympia Press), dies at 71
• 1992 Arline Bletcher, entertainer, dies of natural causes at 99
• 1992 Marc Tannenbaum, rabbi (only Jew to attend Vatican II), dies at 66
• 1994 Felix Kelly, New Zealand-born British artist, dies at 80
• 1994 Harry Ebbeling, PC-corrector, dies at 54
• 1994 Pieter Hennipman, Dutch economist, dies at 85
• 1995 Bert Hardy, English photographer (Picture Post), dies at 82
• 1995 Gil Wolman, French artist, dies at 65
• 1998 Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
• 2001 Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (b. 1931)
• 2003 Gaetano Alibrandi, Papal diplomat (b. 1914)
• 2003 Sir Charles Henderson Tidbury, British brewing executive, former chairman (Whitbread & Company), dies at 77
• 2004 Andrian Nikolayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1929)
• 2005 Gaylord Nelson, American politician (b. 1916)
• 2006 Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (b. 1941)
• 2007 Alice Timander, Swedish dentist (b. 1915)
• 2009 John A. Keel, American Fortean, television scriptwriter, author of The Mothman Prophecies (b. 1930)
• 2015 Boyd K. Packer, LDS church apostle, dies at 90
• 2017 Spencer Johnson, American author (Who Moved My Cheese?), dies of pancreatic cancer at 78
• 2018 Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (Breaking the Waves, Dead Man, Korczak), dies at 78

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