On This Day

Deaths in History on January 18

  • 52 BC Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman politician known for his involvement in various scandals, murdered by a rival's bodyguards (b. 93 BC)
  • 474 Leo I, Thracian born Byzantine Emperor (457-474), dies of dysentery at 73
  • 1213 Tamar of Georgia, Queen of Georgia (1184-1213) presided over Gerogia's Golden Age, dies
  • 1367 Pedro I, King of Portugal (also called "the Just" or "the Cruel"), King of Portugal and of the Algarves (1357-67), dies at 46
  • 1425 Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician, dies at 33
  • 1471 Emperor Go-Hanazono, 102nd Emperor of Japan, dies at 51
  • 1479 Louis IX, the Rich, Duke of Bayern (U of Ingolstadt), dies at 61
  • 1586 Margaret of Austria, regent of The Netherlands (b. 1522)
  • 1664 Moses Amyraut, French theologian (b. 1596)
  • 1677 Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Colony (Cape Town), dies at 57
  • 1769 Hakuin Ekaku, Japanese Zen teacher (reformer of Rinzai school), dies in Japan at 82
  • 1803 Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian author and poet (Dushenka), dies at 59
  • 1854 Judah Touro, American philanthropist (Mount Sinai Hospital in NY), dies at 78
  • 1859 Alfred Vail, American inventor and early telegraph pioneer, dies at 51
  • 1861 John Heathcoat, English inventor of lace-making machinery, dies at 77

John TylerJohn Tyler (1790-1862)

American politician, 10th US President (1841-45), dies in Richmond, at 71

John Tyler
  • 1873 Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)
  • 1878 Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist who pioneered the study of electric and luminescent phenomena, dies at 89
  • 1886 Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (b. 1819)
  • 1890 Amadeus/Amadeo I, duke of Aosta and King of Spain (1870-73), dies at 44
  • 1892 Anton Anderledy, Swiss Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1819)
  • 1896 Charles Floquet, French statesman and 44th Prime Minister of France, dies at 67
  • 1913 Edmond Robert Hubert Regout, Dutch industrialist and politician, dies at 49
  • 1919 Prince John of the United Kingdom, youngest son of English king George V, dies at 13
  • 1921 Adolf von Hildebrand, German sculptor, dies at 73

Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

English author (Jungle Book, Gunga Din-Nobel 1907), dies at 70

Rudyard Kipling
  • 1940 Kazimierz P. Tetmajer, Polish writer and poet (Young Poland), dies at 74
  • 1949 Charles Ponzi [Carlo], Italian con-man (Ponzi scheme in the US), dies at 66
  • 1951 Robert Mark, US chairman (Caste World Congress), dies at 41
  • 1956 Konstantin Päts, Estonian Prime Minister (1921-23, 1932-33) and dictator (1933-40), dies at 81
  • 1963 Hugh Gaitskell, British politician (Leader of the Labour Party), dies at 56
  • 1966 Kathleen Norris, American novelist and newspaper columnist, dies at 85
  • 1967 Simon FHJ Berkelbach van der Sprenkel, vicar/theologist, dies at 84
  • 1969 Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher, dies at 81
  • 1970 David O. McKay, 9th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, dies at 96
  • 1977 Carl Zuckmayer, German-Swiss-American playwright (Second Wind), dies at 80
  • 1978 Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher, critic and writer, dies at 58
  • 1978 Walter H. Thompson, English Scotland Yard detective, bodyguard of Winston Churchill, dies of cancer at 77
  • 1980 Cecil Beaton, British photographer, dies at 76
  • 1984 Malcolm H. Kerr, 9th President of American University of Beirut, shot dead at 52
  • 1985 Mahmoud Taha, Sudanese Muslim leader, hanged at 76
  • 1987 Renato Guttuso, Italian painter (Flight From Etna; Crucifixion), theater set designer, and politician, dies at 75
  • 1989 Bruce Chatwin, British travel writer and novelist (In Patagonia, On a Black Hill), dies of AIDS at 49
  • 1991 Hamilton Fish III, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York), dies at 102
  • 1993 Eleanor Hibbert, British author (b. 1906)
  • 1993 M Eleonore Lippits, 1st Dutch female missionary doctor, dies at 85
  • 1993 Mike Templeton, American, 2nd person to receive a heart pump, dies at 34
  • 1995 Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1939 for sex hormones work), dies at 91
  • 1995 Joseph Kagan, Lithuanian-British businessman, and inventor (Gannex raincoats), dies at 79
  • 1996 Leonor Fini, Argentine artist, dies at 87
  • 1996 Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, also known as NTR, Indian film star (Patala Bhairavi; Mayabazar), and politician (Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (1983-89 & 1994-95), dies at of a heart attack at 72
  • 1997 Paul Tsongas, American politician (Sen-D-Mass), dies of complications from pneumonia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 55
  • 2000 Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
  • 2001 Reg Prentice, British government minister, dies at 77
  • 2003 Gavin Lyall, British author (Conduct of Major Maxim, The Secret Servant), dies of cancer at 70
  • 2006 Jan Twardowski, Polish poet (b. 1915)
  • 2008 John Stroger, first African-American Cook County Board President (b. 1929)
  • 2009 Grigore Vieru, Romanian poet (b. 1935)
  • 2011 Sargent Shriver, American politician and activist (Peace Corps), dies at 95
  • 2015 Piet van der Sanden, Dutch journalist and politician (CDA), dies at 90
  • 2016 Michel Tournier, French writer (Friday, or, The Other Island), dies at 91
  • 2018 John Barton, British theatre director and co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, dies at 89
  • 2018 Lucas M Mangope, 1st president of Bophuthatswana (1977-94), dies at 94


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