On This Day

Deaths in History on August 11

  • 480 BC Leonidas, King of Sparta (b. circa 540 BC)
  • 353 Magnentius, Roman usurper (b. 303)
  • 449 Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople
  • 897 Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona
  • 1171 Louis I, Earl of Wage/Rieneck, dies
  • 1180 Guillaume de/Willem van Sens, Fren master builder (Canterbury), dies
  • 1183 Christian I, archbishop of Mainz, dies
  • 1204 King Guttorm of Norway (b. 1199)
  • 1253 Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi and founder of the Order of Poor Ladies (the Poor Clares), dies at 59
  • 1394 Jan III, mister of Polanen, dies
  • 1456 Janos Hunyadi, Hungarian general strategist, dies at about 49
  • 1464 Nicholas van Cusa, philosopher/bishop of Brixen, dies
  • 1490 Frans van Brederode, Dutch rebel (Hook faction), dies in prison at about 25
  • 1494 Hans Memling [John Memlinc], Flemish painter (Passietaferelen), dies
  • 1519 Johann Tetzel, Dominican monk, dies at about 79
  • 1522 Martin Siebenborger, mayor of Vienna, beheaded
  • 1578 Pedro Nunes [Nonius], Port mathematician/astronomer (nonius), dies
  • 1589 Maarten Schenck van Nideggen, lt col (80 year war), dies at about 49
  • 1596 Hamnet Shakespeare, son of William Shakespeare (b. 1585)
  • 1614 Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter, dies at 61
  • 1656 Prince Ottavio Piccolomini, Italian nobleman, Duke of Amalfi, and field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire, dies at 56
  • 1774 Tiphaigne de la Roche, French writer (b. 1722)
  • 1813 Henry James Pye, English poet, British Poet Laureate (1790-1813), dies at 68
  • 1844 Jernej Kopitar, Slovene philologist and linguist (Slavic Grammatica), dies at 63
  • 1851 Lorenz Oken, German naturalist, dies at 72
  • 1852 Nicolaas Plomp, Dutch architect (Strugle), dies at 70
  • 1854 Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist (radiant light), dies at 56
  • 1860 James Wilson, politician
  • 1868 Thaddeus Stevens, US Radical Republican congressional leader (Rep-R-Pennsylvania 1849-53 1859-68), dies at 76
  • 1886 Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (b. 1843)
  • 1890 John Henry Newman, British thologian (Tract 90), educator, poet (Dream of Gerontius), Anglican priest, Catholic priest, cardinal and saint, dies of pneumonia at 89
  • 1892 Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician (b. 1813)
  • 1901 Francesco Crispi, Italian statesman, dies at 82
  • 1903 Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist, dies at 64
  • 1908 Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)

Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

Scottish-American industrialist, steel tycoon, philanthropist and one of the richest Americans ever, dies of bronchial pneumonia at 83

Andrew Carnegie
  • 1935 William Watson, British poet (Purple East), dies at 77
  • 1936 Blas Infante, Spanish writer and politician (b. 1885)
  • 1937 Bakr Sidqi, Iraqi general and dictator, assassinated at 47

Edith WhartonEdith Wharton (1862-1937)

American Pulitzer prize-winning novelist (Ethan Frome, House of Mirth), dies at 75

Edith Wharton
  • 1937 George Morrison, American entrepreneur (owner of Mammoth Caves), commits suicide at 71 [1]
  • 1939 Jean Bugatti, Italian automobile designer (b. 1909)
  • 1953 Ludwig Strauss, German-Israeli writer (Heimliche Gegenwart), dies at 60
  • 1954 Santo Trafficante, Sr., Sicilian-American mobster, dies at 68

Jackson PollockJackson Pollock (1912-1956)

American expressionist painter (Lavender Mist), dies at 44 in a car accident in East Hampton

Jackson Pollock
  • 1966 Frank Nelson, English politician and civil servant (head of the Special Operations Executive, 1940-42), dies at 83
  • 1968 Lucien Cerfaux, Belgian New Testament scholar, dies at 85
  • 1972 Max Theiler, South African-American virologist who developed vaccine for Yellow Fever (Nobel Prize 1951), dies at 73
  • 1972 Rose Schneiderman, American socialist, feminist, trade union leader and secretary of labor for New York State (1937-44), dies at 90
  • 1975 Anthony McAuliffe, American general and commander of the 101st Airborne Division celebrated for his reply of "Nuts!" to a German surrender ultimatum, dies at 77
  • 1976 Robert L. May, American advertising copy writer and creator of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, dies at 71
  • 1977 John Howard Lawson, American scriptwriter and playwright (Blockade, Algiers, Sahara), dies at 82
  • 1980 Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910)
  • 1984 Alfred A Knopf, American publisher (1966 Alexander Hamilton Medal), dies at 91
  • 1987 Clara Peller, Russian-American manicurist and commercial spokesperson (Wendy's - "Where's the beef?"), dies of congestive heart failure at 85
  • 1988 Pauline Lafont, daughter of Bernadette, dies in hiking accident at 25
  • 1991 Jef Contryn, Flemish pioneer puppet theatre, dies at 89
  • 1994 Gordon Cullen, architect, dies at 80
  • 1995 Alonzo Church, American mathematician whose work provided foundation for computer science, dies at 92
  • 1995 Douglas John Gorman, British businessman (Chairman of CMG (Computer Management Group)), dies at 58
  • 1996 Sigmund Koch, psychologist/philosopher, dies at 79
  • 2002 Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountain climber (b. 1940)
  • 2003 Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
  • 2003 Diana Mitford, English biographer, famous beauty, wife of Oswald Mosley and one of the Mitford sisters, dies at 93
  • 2010 Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (Rep-D-Il, 1959-94), convicted of mail fraud, dies at 82
  • 2010 Geoffrey Johnson Smith, Scottish Conservative politician (1959-2001), dies at 86
  • 2015 Serge Collot, French violist (Paris Opera, 1957-86; Le Trio à Cordes Français, 1960-92), and music educator (Conservatoire de Paris, 1969-89), dies at 91

V. S. NaipaulV. S. Naipaul (1932-2018)

Trinidadian-British writer (In a Free State, Middle Passage), dies at 85

V. S. Naipaul



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