On This Day in History for July 9

Events 1 - 100 of 142

• 455 Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the Western Roman Empire
• 660 Battle of Hwangsanbeol: At Nonsan, China a 50,000 strong Silla force led by general Kim Yu-shin annihilate the army of Baekje and kill their leader general Gyebaek
• 711 Berbers under Tarik-ibn Ziyad occupy North Spain
• 1357 Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor assists laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague
• 1371 Pope Gregory XI names Arnold II of Horne as bishop of Utrecht
• 1386 Battle at Sempach: Swiss beat duke Leopold III of Austria

• 1517 Gelderse crowd robber murders population of Asperen

• 1541 Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to help the Emperor of Ethiopia defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi who has invaded his Empire
• 1553 Battle at Sievershausen Solingen: van Saksen beats Alcibiades
• 1572 19 Catholic priests hanged in Gorcum
• 1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
• 1672 William III inaugurated as viceroy of Holland/Zealand
• 1686 Germany, Sweden and Spain sign anti-French League of Augsburg
• 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's "Elisabeth" battles with HMS Lion
• 1755 Battle at Duquesne (Pittsburgh): French troops beat British
• 1755 British General Edward Braddock mortally wounded during French and Indian War
• 1766 British premier Rockingham resigns

• 1780 Denmark declares neutrality
• 1789 French Revolution: the National Assembly renames itself the National Constituent Assembly
• 1790 Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund - in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet
• 1795 James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt
• 1800 Mt Vernon Gardens becomes site of 1st summer theater in US

• 1810 Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire
• 1815 1st natural gas well in US is discovered

• 1816 Argentina declares independence from Spain
• 1835 St Etienne-Lyons railway opens in France
• 1842 Notary Stamp Law passes
• 1846 Captain Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (San Francisco) for US
• 1846 The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress
• 1852 Fire destroys 1,100 construction sites in Montreal, Canada
• 1853 Admiral Perry and US Navy visit Japan
• 1860 Temperature hits 115°F in Fort Scott and 112°F in Topeka, Kansas
• 1862 General John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky
• 1863 John Hunt Morgan's cavalry aid into Indiana [->JUL 13]
• 1863 Union troops enter Port Hudson
• 1864 Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, confederate forces led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early

• 1868 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L Cardozo as Secretary of State
• 1869 Corncob pipe, made from small corn kernels, invented
• 1872 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
• 1876 Black landowner murdered in Hamburg South Carolina
• 1878 An improved corncob pipe patents by Henry Tibbe, Washington, Missouri

• 1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is established by the British House of Commons
• 1908 CHU (Christian Historic Union) Dutch political party forms


• 1910 Walter Brookins becomes 1st to pilot an airplane to 1 mile altitude
• 1914 1st US duplicate auction bridge championship held, Lake Placid, NY
• 1915 Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa
• 1916 1st cargo submarine to cross Atlantic arrives in US from Germany

• 1918 101 killed and 171 injured in worst US train wreck, Nashville, Tennessee
• 1918 US Congress creates Distinguished Service Medal (not to be confused with other countries' decorations of the same name)
• 1922 Johnny Weissmuller swims 1st 100m free style under 1 minute

• 1926 Coup under General Sinel de Cordes in Portugal
• 1927 William T Francis named US minister to Liberia
• 1932 Yanks' Ben Chapman hits 2 inside-the-park HRs, tying record
• 1932 The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution

• 1940 German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms
• 1941 Dutch-American Physicist Abraham Pais is awarded his Ph.D. in Holland five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees
• 1943 5th day of battle at Kursk: Germans occupy Verchopenje
• 1943 British air raid sinks U-435
• 1944 In World War II, US troops secure Saipan as Japan falls
• 1944 U-740 sunk by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft

• 1948 Satchel Paige, 42, debuts in majors pitching 2 scoreless inn for Cleve
• 1950 13.15" (33.40 cm) of rainfall, York, Nebraska (state 24-hour record)

• 1953 1st helicopter passenger service (NYC)
• 1955 (E Frederic Morrow is the first African American executive on US White House staff
• 1955 Bill Haley & Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" tops billboards chart
• 1955 Strike in Belgium for 5 day work week

• 1957 Discovery of element 102 (Nobelium) announced
• 1958 Giant splash caused by fall of 90 million tons of rock & ice into Lituya Bay, Alaska washes 1,800 feet up the mountain
• 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island

• 1963 Crusher Lisowski beats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
• 1965 John Edrich completes 310* v NZ in 532 minutes, 52 fours 5 sixes
• 1965 Senators Frank Howard ties record with 7 strikeouts in DH
• 1968 15.68" (39.83 cm) of rainfall, Columbus, Mississippi (state 24-hour record)
• 1970 In Atlanta, Chief-No-ka-homa is joined by cousin Chief Round-the-Horn

• 1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test

• 1972 Springhill Massacre: British snipers shoot dead five Catholic civilians and wounded two others in Springhill, Belfast
• 1972 The ceasefire between the Provisional IRA and the British Army comes to an end
• 1973 9th Maccabiah games opens in Tel Aviv, Israel

• 1975 The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that paves way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system
• 1976 England all out for 71 v WI at Old Trafford, Holding 14 5-7-17-5

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• 1511 Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1571)
• 1513 John van Hembyze, Flemish calvinist
• 1535 Emanuel van Meteren, Southern Neth, merchant/historian
• 1577 Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English Jamestown colonist (d. 1618)
• 1578 Ferdinand II, King of Bohemia/Hungary/German Emperor (1619-37)
• 1589 Johannes a Sancto Thoma, [Poinset], Portuguese theologist
• 1654 Emperor Reigen of Japan (d. 1732)
• 1689 Alexis Piron, French writer (d. 1773)
• 1721 Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (d. 1781)
• 1753 William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1825)
• 1764 Ann Ward Radcliffe, English Gothic novelist (Italian)
• 1766 J Schopenhauer, writer
• 1766 Jacob Perkins, Newburyport Massachusetts, American Inventor
• 1775 Matthew Lewis, English novelist (d. 1818)
• 1777 Henry Hallam, British lawyer/historian
• 1786 Sophie Hélène Béatrix, Princess of France (d. 1787)
• 1800 Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (d. 1885)
• 1802 Thomas Davenport, invented 1st commercial electric motor
• 1808 Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier (d. 1887)
• 1809 Frederick Henle, German pathologist
• 1819 Elias Howe, Spencer Mass, invented sewing machine
• 1825 Jules Oppert, German Assyriologist (decodes characters)
• 1828 Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian Catholic churchman (d. 1913)
• 1831 Johan P van der Kellen, Dutch stamp cutter/lithographer/writer
• 1836 Camille de Renesse, Belgian count (d. 1904)
• 1848 Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (d. 1907)
• 1856 Daniel Guggenheim, US (Guggenheim Museum)
• 1857 Frederik II W, grandduke of Baden (1907-18)
• 1858 Franz Boas, German-American anthropologist and linguist (Mind of Primitive Man), born in Minden, Westphalia, Prussia (d. 1942)
• 1864 Franz Miller, becomes first Train Murderer
• 1879 Friedrich Adler, Austria social-democrat/murderer of premier Storgkh
• 1879 Carlos Chagas, Brazilian physician (d. 1934)
• 1887 Samuel Eliot Morison, historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea)
• 1889 Leo Dandurand, American-born Canadian hockey executive (d. 1964)
• 1894 Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
• 1898 Gerard Walschap, Flemish writer/journalist (Mary, Revolt in Congo)
• 1901 Barbara Cartland, romance author (Camfield #69)
• 1902 Gerhard Pohl, German writer (Crazy Ferdinand)
• 1906 Beene Dubbelboer, Dutch writer (Secret Resistance)
• 1908 Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1911 Simon Fraser [Shimi], Lord Lovat, Scottish head of clan Fraser and cattle breeder, born in Inverness (d. 1995)
• 1911 Mervyn Peake, British writer and illustrator (d. 1968)
• 1911 John A. Wheeler, American physicist (d. 2008)
• 1914 Willi Stoph, president German DR

• 1918 Rowley I Arenstein, South African attorney/communist/ANC'er
• 1919 Peggy Braithwaite, lighthouse-keeper
• 1921 Jacob J Hage, Dutch farmer/WW II resistance fighter
• 1922 Rey Hassan, Morroco, King of Morocco (1961- )
• 1925 Peter Ludwig, businessman/art collector
• 1925 Thomas A Luken, (Rep-D-OH, 1973-74, 77- )
• 1926 Ben Roy Mottelson, American-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1926 Murphy Anderson, American comic artist (DC Comics), born in Asheville, North Carolina (d. 2015)
• 1926 Mathilde Krim, American medical researcher and founding chairman of amfAR (Foundation for AIDS Research), born in Como, Italy (d. 2018)
• 1929 Hassan II, King of Morocco (1961-99), born in Rabat, Morocco (d. 1999)
• 1932 Donald Rumsfeld, politician (involved in Watergate)
• 1932 John Paul Getty II, American-born British oil magnate and billionaire (Getty Oil)
• 1933 Oliver Sacks, English Neurologist and author (Awakenings), born in London (d. 2015)

• 1935 Ronnie Burns, adopted son of George Burns, born in Evanston, Illinois
• 1935 Willem Duisenberg, minister of Finance (PvdA)/pres (Nethche Bank)
• 1936 June Jordan, US playwright/poet (His Own Where)
• 1937 David Hockney, Bradford England, artist (Pop Art)
• 1941 James Scott, director (Strike it Rich)
• 1941 Scotty Baesler, (Rep-D-Kentucky)
• 1942 Hermann Burger, writer
• 1942 Paul B Henry, (Rep-R-Michigan, 1985- )
• 1943 John H Casper, USAF/astronaut (STS 36, 54, 62, 77), born in Greenville, South Carolina
• 1944 Glen [Charles] Cook, American sci-fi author (Shadowline, Star's End)
• 1945 Dean R[ay] Koontz, American sci-fi author (Star Quest, Beastchild)
• 1945 Lewis F Payne Jr, American politician (Rep-D-Virginia)
• 1945 Root Boy Slim, American entertainer (d. 1993)
• 1946 Joe Micelli, American rocker, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• 1948 Hassan Wirajuda, Indonesian current foreign minister

• 1953 Dave Camp, (Rep-R-Michigan)
• 1953 Irina D Latysheva, Russian cosmonaut
• 1953 Thomas Ligotti, American author
• 1955 Sergei Vladimirovich Krichevsky, Russian lt-colonel/cosmonaut
• 1957 Tim Kring, American writer and producer
• 1959 Clive Stafford Smith, British human-rights lawyer
• 1960 Christopher J "Gus" Loria, Major USMC/astronaut, born in Newton, Massachusetts
• 1965 Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (d. 2006)
• 1967 Gunnar Axén, Swedish politician
• 1968 Lars Gyllenhaal, Swedish author
• 1970 Masami Tsuda, Japanese manga author
• 1971 Marc Andreessen, American software developer
• 1974 Sian Berry, British politician
• 1982 Alecko Eskandarian, Armenian-American footballer
• 1986 Dominic Cervi, American footballer

• 1735 Author, poet, critic and lexicographer and writer of the first English dictionary Dr. Samuel Johnson (25) marries the widow Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, 21 years his senior

• 1988 "Facts of Life," Lisa Whelchel weds Steve Cauble
• 1999 Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark (33) weds architect and yachtsman Carlos Morales Quintana (28) at St. Sophia Cathedral in London, England

• 1228 Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1386 Leopold III of Austria (b. 1351)
• 1441 Jan/Johannes van Eyck, Flemish painter (Lamb Gods), dies
• 1553 Maurice, Elector of Saxony (b. 1521)
• 1639 Entonius Walaeus, calvinist theologist, dies at 65
• 1654 Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary, dies of smallpox (b. 1633)
• 1677 Angelus Silesius [Johann Scheffer], German medical/mystic poet, dies
• 1696 Waclaw Potocki, Polish poet (Wojna Chocimska), dies
• 1706 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, French Canadian sailor and explorer (b. 1661)
• 1716 Joseph Sauveur, French sound engineer, dies at 63
• 1737 de' Medici, last Medici-grand duke of Toscane, dies
• 1742 John Oldmixon, English historian (b. 1673)
• 1746 Philip V, King of Spain (1700-24, 1724-46), dies at 62
• 1755 Edward Braddock, British General, mortally wounded at Fort Duquesne during French & Indian War. Dies 13th July.
• 1756 Pieter Langendijk, painter, etcher and playwright, dies at 72
• 1766 Jonathan Mayhew, American Congregational minister, dies at 45
• 1795 Henry Seymour Conway, British general and statesman (b. 1721)
• 1797 Edmund Burke, British author/parliament leader (Reflections), dies at 68
• 1805 Georg W "Franz" Panzer, German vicar/librarian, dies at 76
• 1843 Washington Allston, US painter/author, dies at 63
• 1845 Jacob earl of Rechteren/Appeltern, gov of Gelderland, dies at 57
• 1850 Sajjid Ali Mohammed Bab, Persian founder of Babism

• 1852 Thompson McKennan, American politician who served as the 2nd United States Secretary of the Interior, dies at 58
• 1855 FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, British Army officer (commander of the British forces during the Crimean War), dies of dysentery in Crimea at 66

• 1856 James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (b. 1813)
• 1875 Francis Preston Blair Jr, famed St Louis lawyer, dies at 54
• 1880 Paul Broca, French physician and anatomist (b. 1824)
• 1882 Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean war hero(b. 1848)
• 1893 George Christopher Cato, Natal pioneer and first mayor of Durban South Africa, dies at 79
• 1903 Alphonse François Renard, Belgian geologist (b. 1842)
• 1909 Kasimir Felix Badeni, Premier of Polish/Austria (1895-97), dies at 62

• 1937 Oliver Law, first African-American commander of U.S. troops (b. 1899)
• 1938 Benjamin Cardozo, American jurist (b. 1870)
• 1947 Lucjan Żeligowski, Polish general (b. 1865)

• 1968 Allyn Edwards, host (One Minute Please, Mr Citizen), dies at 53
• 1968 Vardis Fisher, American writer (Passion Spin the Plot), dies at 73
• 1969 Gertrude Dixon, compiler of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, dies
• 1974 Sonia Gaskell, Russian/Neth choreographer (Diaghilev), dies at 70

• 1977 Loren C Eiseley, US anthropologist/writer (Animal Secrets), dies at 69

• 1978 Abdul Razak al-Naif, premier of Iraq, murdered
• 1979 Cornelia Otis Skinner, dies at 78
• 1981 Allen Ludden, TV show host (Password), dies at 61
• 1981 Wilhelm H C Tenhaeff, para-psychologist, dies at 87
• 1983 Keith Wickenden, British Politician (b. 1932)
• 1985 Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1896)
• 1985 Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
• 1986 Karl-Heinz Beckurts, West german Siemens manager, murdered
• 1986 Le Duan, Vietnamese politician, dies at 78
• 1988 Anthony Holland, AIDS sufferer committed suicide at 60
• 1988 Barbara Woodhouse, dog trainer, dies at 78 of a stroke
• 1990 Brigitte D'Ortschy, German author, trnslator and Zen teacher Sanbo Kyodan line, dies in Japan at 69
• 1992 Eric Sevareid, American reporter (b. 1912)
• 1993 Cut Meijer, [Saul Messel], historian and rabbi to Paramaribo, dies at 80
• 1995 Jacques Molicard, translator/Navigator, dies at 62
• 1995 James Cameron Tudor, politician, dies at 66
• 1995 John Eric Tieman, production Manager (Guardian), dies at 67
• 1995 W Fenton Morley, preacher, dies at 83
• 1996 Douglas G Chapman, biomathematical statistician, dies at 76
• 1996 Peter Martini, British journalist, dies at 31
• 1996 Susan Cowdy, British ornithologist, dies at 81
• 1999 Robert de Cotret, Canadian politician (b. 1944)
• 2002 Laurence Janifer, American writer (b. 1933)
• 2004 Chuck Cadman, Canadian politician (b. 1948)
• 2004 Paul Klebnikov, American journalist (b. 1963)
• 2008 Séamus Brennan, Irish politicain (b. 1948)
• 2010 Jessica Anderson, Australian novelist (b. 1916)
• 2010 Vonetta McGee, American actress, dies from cardiac arrest at 65
• 2012 Terepai Maoate, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, dies from prostate cancer at 78
• 2016 Robert Nye, British novelist and poet (Falstaff), dies at 77

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