- 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 French van Brederode, leader of Hoeksen, dies 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 Octavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, Austrian field marshal (b. 1599)
- 1774 Tiphaigne de la Roche, French writer (b. 1722)
- 1778 Augustus Montague Toplady, hymn writer (Rock of Ages), dies
- 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), dies at 76
- 1886 Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (b. 1843)
- 1890 John Henry Newman, English cardinal, dies 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 (b. 1839)
- 1908 Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)
Andrew Carnegie
1919 Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist, steel tycoon, philanthropist and one of the richest Americans ever, dies of bronchial pneumonia at 83
Andrew Carnegie
Edith Wharton
1937 Edith Wharton [-Jones], US Pulitzer prize-winning author (House of Mirth), dies at 75
Edith Wharton
Jackson Pollock
1956 Jackson Pollock, abstract artist, dies in auto accident (East Hampton)
Jackson Pollock
- 1968 Lucien Cerfaux, Belgian biblical scholar, dies
- 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 C McAuliffe, US gen/commandant 101st div (Nuts!), dies at 77
- 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, commercial spokesperson (Wendy's), dies at 86
- 1988 Pauline Lafont, daughter of Bernadette, dies in hiking accident at 25
- 1991 Jef Contryn, Flemish pioneer puppet theatre, dies at 89
- 1992 Alonzo Church, American Mathematician whose work provided foundation for computer science, dies at 92
- 1994 Gordon Cullen, architect, dies at 80
- 1995 Douglas John Gorman, businessman, dies at 58
- 1995 Kenneth Lo, cookery writer and restaurateur, dies at 81
- 1996 Sigmund Koch, psychologist/philosopher, dies at 79
- 2002 Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountain climber (b. 1940)
- 2003 Diana Mitford, English biographer, famous beauty, wife of Oswald Mosley and one of the Mitford sisters, dies at 93
- 2003 Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
- 2010 Geoffrey Johnson Smith, Scottish Conservative politician (1959-2001), dies at 86
V. S. Naipaul
2018 V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-British writer (Middle Passage), dies at 85
V. S. Naipaul
August in History
Ship Of Gold Sails Into Oblivion
A frigate with more than 150 souls on board, as well as nearly three tons of gold, sailed out of Melbourne on this day – never to be seen again.
August 12, 1853
America's Last Public Hanging
The last man to be publicly hanged in the United States met his fate on this day in history. It was a squalid affair watched by about 10,000 people.
August 14, 1936
First Faltering Steps of Jane Eyre
With hope, pride – and some subterfuge – Charlotte Brontë sent her hefty manuscript of Jane Eyre to publishers in London on this day, then crossed her fingers.
August 15, 1847
A Kiss For Adolf Hitler
A woman spectator leaned over and kissed Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympic Games on this day. Hitler pretended to be amused, but his guards were to suffer.
August 15, 1936