- 274 St Felix I, dies and ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1218 Richard de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, English politician (b. 1162)
- 1460 Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne killed in Battle of Wakefield at 49 (b. 1411)
- 1525 Jacob Fugger, German banker/merchant, dies at 66
- 1572 Galeazzo Alessi, Italian architect (Palazza Marino, Milan), dies at 60
- 1573 Giovanni Battista Giraldi, Italian writer (b. 1504)
- 1591 Pope Innocent IX [Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti], 230th Catholic pope (1591), dies at 72
- 1621 Saint Job of Maniava, Ukrainian Orthodox Saint (b. 1550)
- 1640 John Francis Regis, French saint (b. 1597)
- 1644 Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist (b. 1577)
- 1662 Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria and Regent of the Tyrol, dies at 34
- 1691 Robert Boyle, Irish scientist (b. 1627)
- 1769 Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Austrian soldier (b. 1685)
- 1777 Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bayern (1745-77), dies at 50
- 1788 Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian rococo painter and etcher, dies at 86
- 1832 Abijah Hammond, owned large portion of Greenwich Village, dies
- 1865 Henry Winter Davis, American politician and unionist, dies at 48
- 1870 ... Prim, Spanish general, murdered
- 1886 William Wing "Old Blizzards" Loring, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 68
- 1893 Samuel White Baker, English explorer (Ceylon & Egypt), dies at 72
- 1893 Robert Morris, 1st successful African American lawyer in the US and Abolitionist, dies at 72
- 1894 Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American reformer who campaigned for temperance and women’s rights, dies at 76
- 1895 LP Hartley, British writer, dies
Jose Rizal
1896 Jose Protacio Rizal, Filipino nationalist and novelist ('Noli Me Tángere', 'El Filibusterismo') is executed by firing squad at 35
Jose Rizal
- 1899 James Paget, English surgeon (disease of Paget), dies at 85
- 1906 Angela Burdett-Coutts, English philanthropist extrordinaire and "the richest heiress in England", dies at 92
- 1908 Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian lawyer, journalist and senator (b. 1844)
- 1912 Alfred von Kiderlen-Wächter, German foreign minister, dies at 60
- 1941 El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)
- 1942 Neville Henderson, British diplomat and Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Nazi Germany (1937-39), dies at 60
- 1944 Romain Roland, French writer/pacifist (Nobel 1915), dies at 78
- 1947 Han [Henricus Antonius] van Meegeren, Dutch painter and art forger (Vermeer), dies at 58
- 1952 Ivan Olbracht, writer, dies
- 1955 Rex Ingamells, Australian poet (b. 1913)
- 1959 Maria Baers, Flemish social worker and founder of the Christian Workers' Women's Movement (KAV), dies at 76
- 1964 Andrés Soriano, Spanish Filipino industrialist (San Miguel Brewery, Philippine Airlines), dies of pancreatic cancer at 66
- 1966 Christian Herter, American Republican politician, 59th Governor of Massachusetts (1953-57) and US Secretary of State (1959-61), dies at 71
Vincent Massey
1967 Vincent Massey, Canadian diplomat, 1st Canadian-born Governor General of Canada (1952-59), dies at 80
Vincent Massey
- 1968 Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician and 1st Secretary-General of the United Nations (1946-52), dies at 72
- 1984 Massa, oldest gorilla on record (b. 1930)
- 1986 Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (b. 1905)
- 1988 Yuli Daniel, Russian writer (b. 1925)
- 1988 Isamu Noguchi, Japanese American sculptor (1963 Fine Arts Medal, Noguchi table), dies at 84
- 1989 Lenore Lemmon, wife of George Reeves (b. 1923)
- 1989 Etienne Leroux, Afrikaans author (Een vir Azazel), dies at 67
- 1992 Caesar [Caesar] Domela, painter/son of Ferdinand D Nieuwenhuis, dies
- 1992 Ling-Ling, 1st panda China gave US, dies at 23
- 1993 Irving Paul Lazar, American talent agent, dies of kidney failure at 86
- 1993 Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian physicist (Contribution to the discovery of the pion or pi-meson decay), dies at 86
- 1994 Lloyd James Austin, french Scholar, dies at 79
- 1995 Heiner Muller, dramatist, dies at 66
- 1995 Roger W Suddards, solicitor, dies at 65
- 1996 Robert Grant Ferris, British politician, dies at 89
- 1997 Shinichi Hoshi, Japanese novelist (b. 1926)
- 1999 Fritz Leonhardt, German structural engineer, dies at 90
- 1999 Sarah Knauss, American, once considered the world's oldest living person (b. 1880)
- 2002 Mary Wesley, English novelist (b. 1912)
- 2003 David Bale, South African-born activist (b. 1941)
- 2003 John Gregory Dunne, American writer, dies of heart attack at 71
- 2005 Rona Jaffe, American novelist (Mazes & Monsters), dies at 74
Saddam Hussein
2006 Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (1979-2003), hanged in Baghdad at 69
Saddam Hussein
- 2006 Terry Peck, Falkland Islander (b. 1938) who acted as a scout for 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in the Falklands War
- 2009 Abdurrahman Wahid, 4th President of Indonesia, dies at 69
- 2010 Roger Milliken, American millionaire (CEO of Milliken & Company), dies at 95
- 2011 Eva Zeisel, Hungarian-born ceramic designer, dies at 105
- 2011 Mirko Tremaglia, fiercely nationalist Italian politician, dies at 85
- 2011 Robert Horton, British businessman and CEO (BP), dies at 72
- 2012 Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist (Nobel 1986), dies at 103
- 2015 Donald Barron, Scottish accountant and CEO (Midland Bank), dies at 94
December in History
Business a Rocky Road for Hansom Cab Pioneer
Architect and inventor Joseph Hansom was a man of vision who somehow found it impossible to turn his great ideas into money-making ventures.
December 23, 1834The Day Murdoch Spoilt the Queen's Christmas
Queen Elizabeth II made the first live Christmas Day broadcast of her reign on December 25, 1952. Forty years later a pre-recorded message would be leaked.
December 25, 1952'Hitler Will Have to Break Us or Lose the War'
The German Luftwaffe were hammering the British RAF until a furious and frustrated Hitler changed the plan and possibly the outcome of the war.
December 29, 1940The Taming of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill made an emotional speech to the Canadian Parliament on this day, December 30, 1941. His photograph from that day is just as memorable.
December 30, 1941
