Deaths in History on May 21

Hernando de Soto

1542 Hernando de Soto, dies while searching for gold, near Mississippi River

1607 John Rainolds, English scholar (b. 1549)
1639 Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian, philosopher and poet, dies at 70
1647 Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, poet/playwright (Warenar), dies at about 65
1650 James Graham, Marquis of Montrose "the Great Montrose", Scottish general, hanged at 37
1664 Elizabeth Poole, Puritan businesswoman
1670 Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer, dies at 83
1686 Otto von Guericke, German scientist, inventor, and politician, dies at 83
1690 John Eliot, English missionary in Massachusetts, dies at 85
1703 Roemer Vlacq, Dutch admiral, dies in battle

1719 Pierre Poiret, French mystic (b. 1646)
1725 Robert Haley earl of Oxford, English Whig-premier (1710-4), dies at 63
1742 Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
1771 Christopher Smart, English poet & journalist (Ceremony of Carols), dies at 49
1786 Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish pharmacist and chemist (lemon acid), dies of mercury poisoning at 43
1790 Thomas Warton, English critic and poet (Pleasures of Melancholy) British Poet Laureate (1785-90), dies at 62
1806 Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias, dies at 21
1810 Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont, French spy, dies at 81
1865 Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish Archaeologist, created Stone, Bronze, Iron age system, dies at 76
1879 Arturo Prat, Chilean naval officer (b. 1848)
1894 August A Kundt, German physicist, (test of Kundt), dies at 54
1894 Emile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
1911 Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer (b. 1857)
1915 Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (b. 1875)
1919 Victor A D Segalen, [Max Anely], French ship's doctor/writer, dies
1919 Yevgraf Fyodorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1853)
1920 Venustiano Carranza, Mexican President (1917-1920), executed by army generals after his decision that the next President be a civilian (61)
1924 Bobby Franks, American school boy killed by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, at 14
1926 Ronald Arthur A Firbank, British writer (Prancing Nigger), dies at 40

Archibald Primrose

1929 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister (Liberal: 1894-95), dies at 82

1933 John Henry Mackay, Scottish/German author (Der Schwimmer), dies at 69
1935 Hugo de Vries, botanist Gruppenweise Artbildung, dies at 87

Jane Addams

1935 Jane Addams, a founder of ACLU (Nobel 1973), dies at 65

1949 Klaus Mann, German writer, dies at 42
1964 James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)

1965 Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer, dies at 82
1970 E. L. Grant Watson, Australian biologist (b. 1885)
1973 Carlo E Gadda, Italian engineer/writer (War Diary), dies at 79
1978 Jo Spier [Joseph Spier], Dutch cartoonist and water color painter, dies at 77
1981 Patsy O'Hara, Irish hunger striker (b. 1957)
1981 Raymond Mccreesh, Irish hunger striker (b. 1957)
1983 Kenneth Clark, English art historian (Civilisation), dies at 79
1988 Dino Conte Grandi, Italian delegate to league of nations, dies at 92
1988 Bruno Frei [Benedikt Freistadt], Austrian Marxist journalist, dies at 91
1990 Mary Victor Bruce, who flew around empire state bldg in 1930, dies
1990 Moelvi Mohammed Farouk, Indian spiritual leader, murdered
1991 Bobby Dale, dies at 92
1991 Jean Van Joutte, PM of Belgium (1952-54), dies
1991 Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Prime Minster (1984-89), assassinated at 46
1992 Brendan Nulholland, Daily Mail reporter, dies at 59
1992 Elizabeth David, British cookbook writer, dies
1992 Mrithi, gorilla (Gorilla in the Mist), dies at 24
1993 John Frost, English lt-kol (operation Market Garden 1944), dies at 80
1994 Forsyth Hardy, documentary film pioneer, dies at 84
1994 Giovanni Goria, PM of Italy (1987-88), dies
1994 John Henry Weidner, Dutch/US resistance fighter, dies at 81
1995 Kieron Walsh, academic, dies at 46
1995 Les Aspin, US sec of Defense (1993-95), dies of stroke at 56
1996 Bobby Tulloch, ornithologist, dies at 67
1996 Eric Stuart Woord, archaeologist, dies at 83
1996 Laurence Dowdall, lawyer, dies at 91
1996 Mary Perot Nichols, American journalist, dies at 79
2000 Barbara Cartland, English romance author (Camfield #69), dies at 98
2000 Mark R. Hughes, American entrepreneur (b. 1956)
2002 Niki de Saint Phalle, French artist (b. 1930)
2003 Frank D. White, American politician (b. 1933)
2008 Brian Keenan, Irish Provisional IRA member who played a key role in Northern Ireland's peace process (1998), dies of cancer at 66
2016 Marco Pannella, Italian politician and activist, dies at 86