- 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
- 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, French colonial governor in North America (b. 1698)
- 1795 Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (b. 1711)
- 1821 William Floyd, American soldier and signed 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
- 1895 Marcellus Augustus Stovall, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 76
- 1900 Isaac Levitan, Russian classical painter, dies at 39
- 1914 Jules Lemaître, French critic and dramatist, dies at 61
- 1915 Richard Kiepert, German cartographer (Africa), dies at 68
- 1922 Enver Pasa, Turkish politician, dies at 40
- 1925 Alfons Van de Perre, Flemish physician, dies
- 1927 John Dillon, Irish nationalist and British Lower house leader, dies at 75
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 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 Frantisek Tomasek, archbishop of Prague/cardinal, 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)
- 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 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
August in History
The Strange, Mysterious Story of the Balloon Expedition to the North Pole
The discovery of Swedish engineer S. A. Andrée's tragic, long-lost polar expedition in 1930 led to more questions than answers.
August 5, 1930
A Pill to Cure All Ills
Not well? Take a Beecham’s Pill was often the advice. So popular was it that nobody doubted it’s extravagant claim in the world’s first advertising slogan.
August 6, 1859
Why Mata Hari Was Not the Spy You Thought She Was
The controversial life and death of Mata Hari, the glamorous WWI double agent, executed in 1917, has recently been reassessed in the light of new evidence.
August 7, 1876
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