Deaths in History on May 17

  • May
  • 1189 Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (b. 1159)
  • 1336 Emperor Go-Fushimi, 93rd Emperor of Japan (1298-1301), dies at 48
  • 1365 Louis VI the Roman, Duke of Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg, dies at 37
  • 1395 Constantine Dragas, Serbian ruler of a semi-independent realm
  • 1464 Thomas de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, English politician (executed) (b. 1427)
  • 1510 Sandro Botticelli, Florentine Renaissance painter (Birth of Venus), dies at about 65
  • 1521 Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (b. 1478)
  • 1536 George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, English brother of Anna Boleyn, beheaded after being tried and convicted for high treason and incest at 32
  • 1575 Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury (1559-75), dies at 68
  • 1591 Jost Amman, Swiss cartoonist, graphic artist and illustrator, dies at 51
  • 1606 Forges Dimitri #1, Tsar of Russia (1605-06), murdered
  • 1695 Cornelis de Heem, Dutch painter, dies
  • 1727 Catherine I, Empress of Russia (1725-27), dies at 43
  • 1729 Samuel Clarke, English philosopher and theologian, dies at 53
  • 1737 Claude Buffier, French philosopher and historian, dies at 75
  • 1765 Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician (Clairaut's theorem), dies at 52

  • 1797 Michel-Jean Sedaine, French dramatist (Le Philosophe sans le savoir), dies at 77
  • 1801 William Heberden, English physician (b. 1710)
  • 1807 John Gunby, Maryland Soldier in the American Revolutionary War (b. 1745)
  • 1809 Leopold Auenbrugger von Auenbrugg, physician, dies
  • 1822 Armand-Emmanuel, Duc de Richelieu, Prime Minister of France (1815-18, 1820-21), dies at 55

Person of interestJohn Jay

1829 John Jay, US statesman and 1st US Chief Justice, dies at 83

1st US Chief Justice John Jay
1st US Chief Justice
John Jay

Person of interestTalleyrand

1838 Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French statesman, dies at 84

Politician and Diplomat Talleyrand
Politician and Diplomat
Talleyrand
  • 1838 René Caillé, French explorer and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu, dies at 38
  • 1839 Archibald Alison, Scottish author (b. 1757)
  • 1851 Adriaan van Bevervoorde, Dutch journalist (Treason), dies at 31
  • 1868 Isami Kondo, Shinsengumi Commander (b. 1834)
  • 1875 John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States (b. 1821)
  • 1879 Asa Packer, railroad magnate and founder of Lehigh Valley Railroad (b. 1805)
  • 1883 Lydia Estes Pinklham, patent-medicine manufacturer, dies

Person of interestJohn Deere

1886 John Deere, American blacksmith and manufacturer (founded Deere & Company) dies at 82

Deere & Company Founder John Deere
Deere & Company Founder
John Deere
  • 1888 Giacomo Zanella, Italian poet (b. 1820)
  • 1889 William Roxby Beverly, artist, dies
  • 1889 Marie of Prussia, Queen consort of Bavaria (1848-64), dies at 63
  • 1892 Gyorgy Klapka, Hungarian general/parliament leader, dies at 72
  • 1914 Peter Leyten, Bishop of Breda (1885-1914), dies at 79
  • 1916 Boris Borisovich Galitzine, Russian physicist (b. 1862)

Person of interestCharles Brooke

1917 Charles Brooke, 2nd White Rajah of Sarawak (1868-1917), dies at 87

2nd White Rajah of Sarawak Charles Brooke
2nd White Rajah of Sarawak
Charles Brooke
  • 1917 Belva Ann Lockwood, American attorney (1st lady to argue in Supreme Court), dies at 86
  • 1919 Guido von List, Austrian-German occultist and novelist (Jung Diethers Heimkehr), dies at 70
  • 1927 Harold Geiger, U.S. Army aviation pioneer (b. 1884)

  • 1930 Herbert David Croly, US founder (New Republic), dies at 61
  • 1931 Johan [Eliza J] de Master, art critic/writer, dies
  • 1931 Timothy Cole, American wood engraver, dies at about 71
  • 1936 Panagis Tsaldaris, twice Greek prime minister (b. 1868)
  • 1938 Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and zionist (b. 1877)
  • 1945 Jan van Geenen, resistance fighter, dies
  • 1945 Sasaki Shigetsu Sokei-an, founder 1st Zen Institute of America, dies
  • 1947 George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)
  • 1961 Frans van Cauwelaert, Flemish minister/mayor of Antwerp, dies at 81
  • 1963 John Wilce, physician and former head football coach at the Ohio State University (b. 1888)
  • 1964 Otto V. Kuusinen, Finnish politician (founder of the Finnish Communist Party), dies at 82
  • 1969 Joseph Beran, Czech archbishop of Prague/cardinal, dies at 80
  • 1970 Nigel Balchin, English author (My Executioner), dies at 61
  • 1973 Alexander J. Kropholler, Dutch architect and writer, dies at 91
  • 1974 Ernest Nash, German-American photographer and archaeologist, dies at 75
  • 1978 John Selwyn Brooke Selwyn Lloyd, speaker of house of commons, dies
  • 1981 Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, 1st US woman free balloon pilot, dies
  • 1985 Bobby Ewing, (Patrick Duffy) killed off on Dallas
  • 1987 Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist and economist (Nobel 1974), dies at 88
  • 1994 Willian Noel Moffet, architect, dies at 82
  • 2000 Donald Coggan, 101st Archbishop of Canterbury (1974-80), dies at 90
  • 2001 Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist and physician (b. 1908)
  • 2002 Dave Berg, American cartoonist (The Lighter Side of...), dies at 81
  • 2002 James Chichester-Clark, Irish politician, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1969-71), dies at 79
  • 2003 Frank "Pop" Ivy, American and Canadian football coach (b. 1916)
  • 2004 Jørgen Nash, Danish artist (b. 1920)
  • 2004 Ezzedine Salim, leader of Iraqi Governing Council (b. 1943)
  • 2006 Cy Feuer, American playwright (b. 1911)
  • 2006 Eric Forth, British Member of Parliament (b. 1944)
  • 2006 Captain Nichola Goddard, Canadian soldier (b. 1980)
  • 2007 Lloyd Alexander, author (b. 1924)
  • 2009 Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet, dies from respiratory and intestinal problems at 88
  • 2010 Walasse Ting, Chinese-American painter (b. 1929)
  • 2013 Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinean dictator, dies from complications from a fall at 87
  • 2014 Gerald Edelman, American biologist & Nobel laureate, dies from natural causes at 84
  • 2019 Herman Wouk, American novelist (The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War), dies at 103

May in History