On This Day

Deaths in History on October 21

  • 1125 Cosmas of Prague, Bohemian writer
  • 1204 Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, English nobleman
  • 1221 Alix of Thouars, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1201)
  • 1266 Birger jarl, Swedish statesman (b. 1210)
  • 1422 Charles VI "the Well Beloved", King of France (1380-1422), dies at 54
  • 1439 Ambrose Traversari, Italian theologian and monk, dies at 53
  • 1500 Go-Tsuchimikado, 103rd Emperor of Japan, dies at 58
  • 1505 Paul Scriptoris, German mathematician
  • 1558 Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian-French physician and scholar (On the Subtlety of Things), dies at 74
  • 1561 Johannes Vasaeus, Flemish humanist/historian, dies at about 49
  • 1600 Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord (b. 1557)
  • 1623 William Wade, English statesman and diplomat (b. 1546)
  • 1627 Frederik de Houtman, Dutch navigator (1st Dutch expedition to Java) and colonial governor of Ambon and the Moluccas, dies at 55 or 56
  • 1628 Tumenggung Bahurekso, Matarams/Javanese general, dies in battle
  • 1637 Laurens Reael, Dutch vice-governor of Ambon, poet, and admiral, dies at 54
  • 1650 Pedro de Espinosa, Spanish poet/writer, dies
  • 1687 Edmund Waller, English poet/plotter (Waller's plot), dies
  • 1765 Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect, dies at 73
  • 1773 Johann Conrad Schlaun, German baroque architect, dies at 78
  • 1775 Peyton Randolph, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)

Horatio NelsonHoratio Nelson (1758-1805)

British admiral and war hero, dies in Battle of Trafalgar at 47

Horatio Nelson
  • 1861 Edward Dickinson Baker, British-American attorney, politician (US Senator from Oregon, 1860-61; US Representative from Illinois, 1845-47, 1849-51), and Union Army officer, dies in the US Civil War Battle of Balls Bluff, Virginia at 50
  • 1861 John Breckinridge Grayson, Confederate brigadier general, dies
  • 1863 Lambertus GC Ledeboer, Dutch old-reformed vicar, dies at 55
  • 1872 Jacques Babinet, French physicist/mathematician/astronomer, dies at 78
  • 1873 Johann Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (b. 1807)
  • 1886 Jose Hernandez, Argentine poet (La vuelta the MartinFierro), dies at 51
  • 1891 Alpheus Baker, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 63
  • 1896 James Henry Greathead, British engineer (b. 1844)
  • 1901 James A. Walker, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 69
  • 1904 Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and writer of North Africa, dies in a flash flood at 27
  • 1907 Jules Chevalier, French Roman Catholic priest (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), dies at 83
  • 1916 Karl von Stürgkh, Austrian nobleman and politician (Prime Minister, 1911-16), assassinated at 56
  • 1931 Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian playwright (La Ronde - Reigen), and novelist (Fräulein Else), dies a brain hemorrhage at 69
  • 1940 William G. Conley, Governor of West Virginia (b. 1866)
  • 1943 Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), dies at 66
  • 1944 Alois Kayser, German missionary to Nauru (b. 1877)
  • 1961 Nils Johan Einar Ferlin, Swedish poet (Barfotabarn), dies at 62
  • 1963 George Cressey, American geographer (Crossroads), dies at 66
  • 1963 Józef Franczak, Polish soldier and anti-communist resistance fighter who was the last cursed soldiers, dies in a firefight with 35 functionaries of a ZOMO (paramilitary riot police) at 45
  • 1967 Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish astronomer (Hertzsprung-Russell diagram), dies at 94
  • 1969 Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (Sierpinski triangle), dies at 87

John T. ScopesJohn T. Scopes (1900-1970)

American teacher convicted for teaching evolution (Scopes "monkey trial" 1925), dies of cancer at 70

John T. Scopes
  • 1973 Arabi El Goni, VP/Chad parliament, murdered
  • 1978 Anastas Mikoyan, Armenian revolutionary, politician (First Deputy Premier of Supreme Soviet, 1855-64), diplomat, and cookbook publisher (The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food), dies at 83
  • 1980 Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and eponym of Asperger syndrome, dies at 74
  • 1983 Theodorus Zwartkruis, Dutch Bishop of Haarlem, Netherlands, dies at 73
  • 1984 Francois Truffaut, dir (Fahrenheit 451), dies of brain cancer at 52
  • 1986 Lionel Murphy, Australian politician and judge, dies at 64
  • 1987 Ying-Chin Ho, Taiwan government official, dies at 88
  • 1992 Jackson Weaver, voice of Smokey the Bear, dies of diabetes
  • 1992 Jim Garrison, Louisiana District Attorney who investigated JFK assassination, dies at 70
  • 1993 Assad Saftawi, Palestinian co-founder of al-Fatah, murdered at 58
  • 1993 James Leo Herlihy, American novelist (Midnight Cowboy), commits suicide at 66
  • 1993 Melchior Ndadaye, 1st Hutu President of Burundi (1993), murdered at 40
  • 1993 Sam Zolotow, US theater critic (NY Times), dies at 94
  • 1993 Scott Heiser, US photographer (Interview), dies at 44
  • 1994 Edward Moss Hutchinson, educationalist, dies at 85
  • 1994 Jerome Bert Weisner, military Scientist/Disarmer, dies at 79
  • 1995 Jesús Blasco, Spanish comic book author (Cuto), dies at 75
  • 1995 Jose Ignacio Cabrujas, writer, dies at 58
  • 1995 Linda Goodman, American astrologer and poet, dies from complications of diabetes at 70
  • 1996 Abdelhamid Benhadugah, novelist, dies at 71
  • 1996 Eric Halsall, sheepdog trial commentator, dies at 76
  • 1996 Georgios Zoitakis, leader of Greece (1967-72), dies
  • 1996 Robert O'Neill Crossman, politician, dies at 49
  • 1996 Wang Li, politician, dies at 78
  • 1998 Alan Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury, British business executive, dies at 96
  • 1998 Francis W. Sargent, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1915)
  • 1999 Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Turkish politician, journalist, and educator, assassinated at 60
  • 2003 Louise Day Hicks, American politician (b. 1916)
  • 2003 Luis A. Ferré, Puerto Rican industrialist and politician (Governor of Puerto Rico, 1969-73), dies at 99
  • 2007 Ronald B. Kitaj, American-British painter and graphic artist (pop art), dies at 74
  • 2009 Louise Cooper, British sci-fi author (Nemesis, Inferno, Infanta, Nocturne), dies of a brain hemorrhage at 57
  • 2012 George McGovern, American politician and Presidential candidate (D-1972), dies at 90
  • 2012 Yash Chopra, Indian director (Waqt), dies from dengue fever and multiple organ failure at 80
  • 2013 Major Owens, American politician (Rep-D-NY, 1983-2007), dies at 77

Ben BradleeBen Bradlee (1921-2014)

American editor, journalist and newspaper executive (Washington Post), dies at 93

Ben Bradlee
  • 2014 Gough Whitlam, Australian politician (Prime Minister, 1972-1975), dies at 98
  • 2018 Robert Faurisson, British-born French academic, dies at 89
  • 2020 Marge Champion (née Belcher), American dancer (Marge & Gower Champion Show), dies at 101


Famous People by Cause of Death

Search the largest, most accurate site for today in history.