On This Day

Deaths in History on March 22

  • 1322 Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b. 1278)
  • 1408 Nicolas Flamel, French scribe and alchemist (believed to have created the Philosopher's Stone), dies at 87
  • 1418 Dietrich of Nieheim, German historian
  • 1421 Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV of England (killed in battle) (b. 1388)
  • 1471 George van Podiebrad, king of Bohemia (1458-71), dies
  • 1544 Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1488)
  • 1589 Lodovico Guicciardini, Italian historian (Descrittione di Tutti), dies at 67
  • 1602 Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (Communion of St. Jerome), dies at 44
  • 1627 Cornelis van Aerssen, Flemish Clerk of the House, dies at about 81
  • 1639 Thomas Carew, English poet and diplomat (The Rapture), dies
  • 1661 Hendrick Uylenburgh, Dutch art dealer who launched Rembrandt and others, buried at about 73
  • 1685 Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)

Jonathan EdwardsJonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

American Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian (Original Sin), dies at 54

Jonathan Edwards
  • 1771 Gottlieb Rabener, German author (Vom Misbrauch of the Satire), dies at 56
  • 1772 John Canton, English physicist, dies at 53
  • 1820 American military hero Commodore Stephen Decatur, killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron at 41

Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

German writer and social philosopher (Faust), dies at 82

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • 1838 Hendrik Fagel, Dutch/English baron, dies at 73
  • 1840 Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician, dies at 41
  • 1852 Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel, queen consort of Denmark and Norway, dies at 84
  • 1890 Désiré de Haerne, Belgian Catholic priest and Congressional leader, dies at 85
  • 1896 Thomas Hughes, English politician and author (Tom Brown's School days), dies at 73
  • 1912 Henry Harrison Walker, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 79
  • 1913 Song Jiaoran, Chinese Nationalist and revolutionary (Leader of Kuomintang party 1912-13), assassinated at 30
  • 1922 Louis-Antoine Ranvier, French anatomist and historian, dies at 86
  • 1923 Theophile Delcasse, French statesman, dies at 71
  • 1924 Robert Nivelle, French military officer, dies at 67
  • 1934 Theophilos Hatzimihail, Greek painter (b. 1870)
  • 1937 Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, English aviator and ornithologist, dies at 71
  • 1944 Pierre Pucheu, French Internal minister to Vichy government, executed by firing squad at 44
  • 1945 J Postuma, Dutch resistance fighter, dies
  • 1946 Clemens A. von Galen, Dutch bishop of Munster and anti fascist, dies at 68
  • 1952 (Don Stephen) "D.S." Senanayake, Ceylonese politician and leader of Sri Lankan independence movement (1st Prime Minister of Ceylon, 1947-52), dies after falling from a horse, possibly from a stroke, at 67
  • 1955 Ivan Šubašić, Kingdom of Yugoslavia prime minister and last ban of Croatia (b. 1892)
  • 1956 George Al Sarton, Belgian-American chemist and historian, dies at 71
  • 1958 Michael "Mike" Todd [Avrom Goldbogen], American producer (Around the World in 80 Days) and 3rd husband of Elizabeth Taylor, dies in a plane crash at 48
  • 1960 José Antonio Aguirre, Basque politician (b. 1904)
  • 1971 Martin Bodmer, Swiss Bibliophile and scholar (Bodmer Papyri), dies at 71
  • 1977 A.K. Gopalan, Indian Communist leader (b. 1904)
  • 1979 Richard Sykes, British ambassador to the Netherlands, assassinated at 58 by the IRA in The Hague
  • 1981 James "Jumbo" Elliott, American track coach (b. 1915)
  • 1990 Gerald Bull, Canadian long range artillery designer and engineer, dies at 62
  • 1991 Léon Balcer, French Canadian politician (b. 1917)
  • 1991 Paul Engle, American poet and writer (Worm Earth, American Song), dies at 82
  • 1994 Igor Aleinikov, Russian director (tractors, air crash), dies at 32
  • 1994 Luther Diamond, American radio Personality, dies at 89
  • 1994 Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (Woody Woodpecker's creator), dies at 93
  • 1995 Peter Woods, British journalist and newsreader, dies at 64
  • 1996 Claude Mauriac, French writer (Le Temps immobile), dies at 81
  • 1996 Robert Franklin Overmyer, astronaut (STS 5, STS 51-B), dies at 59
  • 1996 Ron Hayward, English politician, General Secretary of the Labour Party, dies at 78
  • 1998 Robert F Overmyer, American USMC Colonel, and NASA astronaut (STS-5; STS- 51-B), dies in plane crash while test flying an aircraft at 59
  • 2003 Terry Lloyd, English reporter (b. 1952)
  • 2004 Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas (b. ca. 1937)
  • 2005 Kenzo Tange, Japanese architect (Kagawa Prefectural Government Office Building, 1987 Pritzker Prize), dies at 91
  • 2006 Kurt von Trojan, Australian sci-fi author (b. 1937)
  • 2006 Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (b. 1921)
  • 2007 Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (b. 1918)
  • 2010 James Black, Scottish pharmacologist, developer of treatments for heart disease (propranolol) and stomach ulcers (cimetidine) (Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1988), dies at 85
  • 2010 James W. Black, Scottish Nobel Prize-winning doctor and medical research scientist (b. 1924)
  • 2012 Haydn Tudor Evans, British high court judge, dies at 91
  • 2013 Aya Zikken, Dutch author (Atlasvlinder, Rameh), dies at 93
  • 2014 Patrice Wymore, American actress (The Big Tree), dies from natural causes at 87
  • 2016 Rob Ford, Canadian politician (Toronto mayor caught with cocaine), dies at 46
  • 2017 Francine Hughes Wilson, American domestic abuse victim "The Burning Bed" who changed pubic perceptions, dies at 69
  • 2018 Johan van Hulst, Dutch teacher who helped save 600 children from the Nazis, dies at 107
  • 2019 Frans Andriessen, Dutch politician (KVP/CDA; European Commissioner, 1981-93), dies at 89
  • 2019 Jim Moody, American economist and politician (Rep-D-WI, 1983-93), dies at 83


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