Deaths in History on May 15

  • May
  • 392 Valentinianus II, emperor of Rome (375-392), murdered at 21
  • 884 Marinus I, [Martinus II], Pope (882-84), dies
  • 913 Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz
  • 1036 Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan, 68th Emperor of Japan (1016-36), dies at 27
  • 1157 Yury Dolgoruky, Russian prince
  • 1174 Nur ad-Din, King of Syria (1146-1174), dies at 56
  • 1381 Eppelein von Gailingen, German robber baron
  • 1482 Paolo Toscanelli, Italian physician & mapmaker, dies
  • 1585 Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1535)
  • 1591 Dmitry Ivanovitch, youngest son of Russian Tsar Ivan IV, murdered at 8
  • 1621 Henrick de Keyser, Amsterdam's master builder, dies at 56
  • 1622 Peter Plancius, Flemish vicar/cartographer, dies at about 69
  • 1634 Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
  • 1685 Henri Otto, Spanish marquis of Caretto/Savona/Grana, dies
  • 1699 Edward Petre, English Jesuit and privy councilor (b. 1631)
  • 1714 Roger Elliott, British general and Governor of Gibraltar

  • 1740 Ephraim Chambers, English encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
  • 1760 Alaungpaya, King of Burma (b. 1711)
  • 1761 Jacob Mossel, governor-general (Dutch East Indies), dies at 56
  • 1773 Alban Butler, English Catholic priest and writer, dies at 62
  • 1782 Richard Wilson, Welsh landscape painter, dies at 67
  • 1801 Louis C count Barbiano de Belgioioso, Austrian diplomat, dies at 73
  • 1842 Emanuel A D M J count de las Cases, French historian (Napoleon), dies at 76
  • 1845 Samuel I Wiselius, Dutch lawyer/businessman/writer, dies at 76
  • 1852 Louisa Adams, US First Lady (1825-29), dies at 77
  • 1855 Jan Mazereeuw, Frisian farmer/sect leader, dies at 75
  • 1873 Alexander J Cuza, monarch of Moldavia/Romania, dies at 53
  • 1879 Gottfried Semper, German architect (b. 1803)

Person of interestEmily Dickinson

1886 Emily Dickinson, American poet, dies at 55

Poet Emily Dickinson
Poet
Emily Dickinson
  • 1889 Alfred Potocki, premier Austrian/governor/viceroy of Galicia, dies
  • 1892 Arthur Hodister, British ivory seller (Heart of Darkness), murdered
  • 1895 Joseph Whitaker, British publisher (Whitaker's Almanack), dies at 75
  • 1899 Francisque Sarcey, French writer (Le Temps), dies at 70
  • 1924 Paul d'Estornelles de Constant, French diplomat/pacifist, dies at 71
  • 1926 Mohammed VI Vahideddin, last sultan of Turkey (1918-22), dies
  • 1932 Ki Inukai, premier Japan (1931-32), murdered
  • 1935 Kazimir Malevich, Polish/Ukrainian artist (b. 1878)
  • 1937 Phillip Snowden, British politician first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, dies at 72
  • 1940 Joseph Limburg, Dutch lawyer and politician, dies at 73
  • 1940 Willem Adriaan Bonger, Dutch criminologist (Race & Crime), suicide at 63
  • 1945 Major Courtney, US medal of honor marine, dies in battle of Sugar Loaf

  • 1945 Charles Williams, British poet and writer, dies at 58
  • 1948 Edward Flanagan, American priest and founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)
  • 1954 William March, American writer (Company K), dies at 60
  • 1956 Austin Osman Spare, English magician (b. 1886)
  • 1958 Michael G the Boer, historian (Harbor of Amsterdam), dies at 91
  • 1964 Cornelis H Edelman, Dutch geologist, dies at 61
  • 1964 Vladko Maček, Kingdom of Yugoslavia deputy prime minister (b. 1879)
  • 1965 Adrian Schoevers, Dutch director (Schoevers Institution), dies
  • 1967 Edward Hopper, American painter (House by Railroad), dies at 84
  • 1971 Donald F. Duncan Sr., American entrepreneur (Duncan Toys Company), dies at 78
  • 1973 Willem Huibert Rassers, Dutch cultural anthropologist (Pandji), dies at 95
  • 1974 Guy Simonds, Canadian army, youngest General officer, dies at 71
  • 1976 Samuel Eliot Morison, American historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea), dies at 88
  • 1977 Modibo Keïta, 1st President of Mali (1960-68), dies at 61

Person of interestRobert Menzies

1978 Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (1939-41, 1949-66) and its longest-serving, dies of a heart attack at 83

12th Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies
12th Australian Prime Minister
Robert Menzies
  • 1983 James Van Der Zee, African-American photographer, dies at 96
  • 1984 Lionel Charles Robbins, British economist, dies at 85
  • 1984 Francis Schaeffer, American theologian, philosopher, and pastor (b. 1912)
  • 1986 Theodore H. White, American journalist (Making of President, Pulitzer Prize1962), dies at 71
  • 1987 John Baur, museum director, dies at 78
  • 1991 Andreas Floer, German mathematician (Floer homology), dies at 34
  • 1992 Robert Morris Page, US physicist (radar), dies at 88
  • 1993 Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
  • 1994 [Henry] John Baker, resistance fighter/journalist (Slogan), dies at 79
  • 1996 Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
  • 1996 Claus Bremer, German dramatist, dies at 71
  • 2003 George Francis, British gangster (b. 1940)
  • 2005 Alan B. Gold, Quebec Chief Justice (b. 1917)
  • 2007 Jerry Falwell, American evangelist (b. 1933)
  • 2008 Willis Lamb, American physicist (Nobel 1955), dies at 94
  • 2010 Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli Bible scholar, dies at 81
  • 2012 Carlos Fuentes, Mexican author, dies from a haemorrhage at 83
  • 2014 Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian Prime Minister (1992-99), dies from a fall at 73
  • 2017 Ian Brady [Ian Duncan Stewart], British serial killer (Moors Murders), dies in prison at 79

May in History