Hernán Cortés
1547 Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador (defeated the Aztec Empire and colonized large parts of Mexico), dies of pleurisy at 61 or 62
Hernán Cortés
- 1552 Francis Xavier, Spanish Catholic missionary (b. 1506)
- 1592 Alexander Farnese, land guardian of Neth (1579-92), dies at 46
- 1615 Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, French general
- 1665 Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)
- 1694 Pierre Paul Puget, French artist, dies at 74
- 1719 Pasquier Quesnel, French theologist (La Foi), dies at 85
- 1723 Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Regent of France (1715-23), dies at 49
- 1726 Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian, dies at 61
- 1747 Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)
- 1748 Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician, dies at 86
- 1810 Philipp Otto Runge, German Romantic painter, dies at 33
Marquis de Sade
1814 Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and writer (Justine), dies at 74. The words sadism and sadist are derived from his name.
Marquis de Sade
John Brown
1859 John Brown, American abolitionist and revolutionary (Harpers Ferry), hanged at 59
John Brown
- 1860 Alfred Bunn, British theatrical manager (b. 1796)
- 1863 Jane Pierce, American 1st lady (1853-57) and wife of Franklin Pierce, dies of tuberculosis at 57
- 1864 Archibald Gracie III, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at Siege of Petersburg, Virginia aged 32
- 1888 Namık Kemal, Turkish writer and journalist (Vatan), dies at 47
- 1890 Cadmus M. Wilcox, American Major General (Confederate Army - American Civil War), dies at 66
- 1892 Jay Gould, American railroad developer and speculator, dies at 56
- 1899 Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (killed at Battle of Tirad Pass) (b. 1875)
- 1918 Margit Kaffka, Hungarian writer, dies in the flu pandemic at 38
- 1918 Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (b. 1868)
- 1919 Henry Clay Frick, built largest coke & steel operation, dies at 69
- 1924 Kazimieras Būga, Lithuanian philologist (b. 1879)
- 1935 Albert Kessel, 1st to die in California gas chamber
- 1935 Martha Carey Thomas, American educator, suffragist, linguist and second President of Bryn Mawr College, dies of a coronary occlusion at 78
- 1935 James Henry Breasted, American Egyptologist and anthropologist, dies at 70
- 1936 John Ringling, American circus owner (b. 1866)
- 1943 Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian poet/dramatist/novelist (The Defeat), dies at 41
- 1944 Filippo T Marinetti, Italian writer (father of futurism), dies at 67
- 1944 JW Ummels, Dutch resistance fighter (House of Saxon-Nazi), dies
- 1944 Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian-French prose writer, novelist, poet, and dramatist (Futurism e Futurista), dies of cardiac arrest at 67
- 1953 Francis Picabia, French avante-garde artist, writer and typographist (Amorous Parade), dies at 74
- 1957 Manfred Sakel, Polish neurophysiologist and psychiatrist, dies at 57
- 1966 Luitzen [Bertus] Brouwers, Dutch mathematician, dies at 85
- 1967 Francis J "Cardinal" Spellman, archbishop of NY, dies at 78
- 1967 Francis Spellman, American Bishop and Cardinal of Roman Catholic Church, dies at 78
- 1969 Kliment J Voroshilov, president USSR (1953-60), dies
- 1972 Friedrich Christian Christiansen, German Luftwaffe general, dies
- 1972 Ip Man, Chinese martial artist, and a master teacher of Wing Chun, dies at 79
- 1974 Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor, dies at 77
- 1980 Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)
- 1981 Cola, Debrot, Dutch author and Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, dies at 79
- 1981 Wallace K[irkman] Harrison, US architect (UN), dies at 86
- 1983 Fifi D'Orsay, "French Bombshell" (Dixie Jamboree), dies cancer at 79
- 1985 Philip Larkin, English poet and writer (North Ship, Jill), dies at 63
- 1985 Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (b. 1914)
- 1986 John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist (b. 1912)
- 1987 Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist, dies at 73
- 1992 Gary Mascaro, choreographer, dies at 43
- 1992 Loek Elfferich, Dutch journalist/historian (Treason in Rotterdam), die
Pablo Escobar
1993 Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord, shot to death by Colombian Police at 44
Pablo Escobar
- 1994 Donald John Urquhart, librarian, dies at 85
- 1994 James Norman Dalrymple Anderson, lawyer, dies at 86
- 1995 Francis Joseph Quinn, academic, dies at 90
- 1995 Stanley Devon, British photographer (British press photographer of the year 1948, 50), dies at 88
- 1995 Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist essayist/dramatist, dies at 82
- 1996 Penelope Jessel, politcal activist, dies at 76
- 2002 Ivan Illich, Austrian priest and philosopher (b. 1926)
- 2002 Arno Peters, German historian (b. 1916)
- 2003 Alan Davidson, British author (b. 1924)
- 2004 Mona Van Duyn, American poet (b. 1921)
- 2005 Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (executed) (b. 1948)
- 2005 Nat Mayer Shapiro, American painter (b. 1919)
- 2005 Van Tuong Nguyen, Australian drug smuggler (hanged) (b. 1980)
- 2007 Thomas F. Torrance, Scottish Protestant theologist, dies at 94
- 2008 Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1933)
- 2008 Kathleen Baskin-Ball, American United Methodist Pastor
- 2013 Jean-Claude Beton, Algerian-born French businessman, entrepreneur and soft-drink manufacturer (Orangina), dies at 88
- 2016 Paul de Wispelaere, Flemish writer and critic, dies at 88
December in History
How the First Sherlock Holmes Story was Sold for a Song
How did an English publisher most famous for giving the world Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management come to publish the first Sherlock Holmes story?
December 1, 1887Fish Dish Finishes Off a King
Doctors warned King Henry I against eating lampreys. But he enjoyed the slippery fish and happily devoured a plateful of them leading to his death on this day.
December 1, 1135Mozart, the Incomparable Musical Genius
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a musical genius who composed over 600 works in his short lifetime, died mysteriously on this day and was buried unceremoniously.
December 5, 1791Real-life Tragedy for Theatrical Family
On this day a tragedy engulfed one of Britain’s noted theatrical families of the early 20th century.
December 8, 1926
