Today in History for 17th August 2015
Historical Events
Events 1 - 100 of 188
682 - St Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1180 - Yoritomo Minamoto leads uprising against Kiyomori Taira who installed his grandson,
Emperor Antoku, to the throne
1544 - Imperial/English armies occupy Saint-Dizier France
1563 - King Charles IX of France (13) declared an adult
1577 - Peace of Bergerac: Political rights for Huguenots
1579 - Francois of Anjou visits English Queen Elizabeth I
1585 - Antwerp surrenders after 8 months siege by Duke of Parma
1590 - John White returns to Roanoke, NC to find no trace of colonists he had left there 3 years
earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1648 - -20] Battle at Preston, Lancashire: Henry Ireton beats Scottish
1717 - France, Russia & Prussia sign agreement
1743 - Sweden & Russia sign peace treaty
1787 - Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups
1788 - Losantville, OH (now Cincinnati) founded
1795 - Slave revolt at Knip plantation, Curacao
1796 - British beat Batavian navy in Saldanha Bay, South Africa
1807 - Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins 1st trip up Hudson River
French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte
1808 - Napoleon asks King Louis for Holland brigade towards Spain
1819 - The Church Missionary Society establishes New Zealand's second mission station at Kerikeri
1827 - Dutch King Willem I/Pope Leo XII sign concord
1834 - Charles Darwin reaches top of Campana Chile during his Voyage on the Beagle
1835 - Solymon Merrick patents wrench
1836 - British parliament accept registration of birth/marriage/death
1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leave South-America for last time
1846 - Commodore Robert F Stockton, US Navy, annexes California
1858 - 1st bank in Hawaii opens
1859 - 1st air mail (in a balloon) took off from Lafayette, Indiana
1862 - Confederate troops under Kirby Smith enter Kentucky
1863 - Federal batteries & ships attacked Fort Sumter in SC
Naturalist Charles Darwin
1863 - Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek (Sparta), Tennessee
1869 - 1st international boat race (River Thames, Oxford beats Harvard)
1870 - 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington
1870 - Mrs Esther Morris becomes 1st US woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming)
1876 - Wagner's opera "Götterdämmerung" premieres in Bayreuth
1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos
1879 - Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company
1883 - The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
1891 - 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath)
1891 - Electric self-starter for automobile patented
1892 - Russian/French generals Obruchev/Boisdeffre signs Double Alliance
1894 - Phils get 36 hits, Sam Thompson hits for cycle beating Louisville 29-4
1897 - W B Purvis patents electric railway switch
1901 - The Royal Titles Act adds the words 'and the British Dominions beyond the Seas' to the
monarch's style
1903 - Joe Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia University & begins Pulitzer Prizes
1904 - Boston's Jesse Tannehell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 6-0
1904 - George H Reid succeeds John Watson as Prime Minister of Australia
1905 - Dutch government of De Master begins
1907 - Bishop forbids Christian membership in Dutch Textile Union
1908 - B Tarkington & HL Wilson's "Man from Home" premieres in NYC
1908 - Bank of Italy opens new HQ at Clay & Montgomery
1908 - Projection in Paris of the very first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl.
1914 - French troops under gen de Castelnau occupy Chateau Salins
1914 - Lithuiana surrenders to Germans
1915 - German troops over run Kovno, Lithuiana
1915 - Hurricane strikes Galveston, Texas (275 killed)
1915 - Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia, after death sentence
for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life
1916 - Bulgarian offensive in Macedonia
1917 - Italy declares war on Turkey
1918 - British troops attack Baku, Azerbaijan
1918 - Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000
1918 - Turkish troops overthrow Caukasus
1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated
1920 - Yanks cancel game with Indians in memory of Ray Chapman (died Aug 16)
1924 - French-German trade agreement signed
1926 - Greek-Serbian/Croatian/Slavs peace treaty signed
Baseball Player Lou Gehrig
1933 - Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game
1933 - Soviet Union test GIRD-R1 rocket ("Object 09")
1938 - 1st aircraft owned by US Forest Service in service (Oakland)
1938 - Henry Armstrong won his 3rd concurrent boxing championship
1939 - "Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY
1940 - FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission
1940 - Greece mobilizes
1940 - Hitler orders total blockade of Great Britain
1941 - German raider attacks Dutch SS Kota Nopan
1942 - Task Force 17 leaves Pearl Harbor under Admiral George Murray on USS Hornet
1942 - Transport nr 20 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1942 - US 8th Air Force bombers stage first independent raid on Europe, attack Rouen, France
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler
1943 - 498 British bombers attack Peenemunde
1943 - Gen Patton enters Messina, completing conquest of Sicily by Allies
1943 - US 8th Air Force loses 60 B-17O at attack on Regensburg/Schweinfurt
1944 - 4th Canadian Armoured division occupiers Trun, Normandy
1944 - Canadian 2nd division conquerors Falaise, Normandy
1944 - German field marshal Model replaces von Kluge in Normandy
1944 - Russian troops arrive at Austria-Prussia border
1944 - US 12 Army Corps occupies Orleans
1944 - US 320th regiment infantry occupies Châteaudun
1944 - Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 consecutive doubles in a game
1945 - Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) independent from the
Netherlands
1945 - Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel
1946 - Arthur Honegger's 3rd Symphony "Liturgique" premieres
Writer George Orwell
1946 - George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm" in the United Kingdom
1947 - The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent
1948 - Phillies commit 8 errors in a game
1948 - Tom Henrich hits his then record tying 4th grand slam of season
1950 - Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands
1950 - Pee Wee Reese (Dodgers) & Sam Calderone (Giants) hit inside park HRs
1951 - 18th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Cleveland 33, All-Stars 0 (92,180)
1951 - Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore, Kingston, Jamaica
1952 - "Fallout" 1st used (NY Times)
1952 - Betty Jameson wins LPGA World Golf Championship
Famous Birthdays
Birthdays 1 - 100 of 231
1473 - Richard, Duke of York (d. 1483?)
1578 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter
(d. 1660)
1586 - Johann V Andreae, German
vicar/writer (Christenburg)
1607 - Pierre de Fermat, mathematician
who needed wider margins (Fermat's
Last Theorem) [or 1608]
1629 - King John [Jan] III Sobieski of
Poland. Victor over the Turks in 1683 (d.
1696)
1686 - Nicola Antonio Porpora, composer
1720 - Charles D J Eisen, French engraver/painter (Contes de La Fontaine)
1753 - Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
1768 - Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
1775 - Philippe Libon, composer
1779 - Franz de Paula Roser, composer
Frontiersman/Soldier Davy Crockett (1786)
1786 - Davy Crockett, Greene County, Tennessee, frontiersman/adventurer/politician (Alamo), (d.
1836)
1786 - Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (d. 1861)
1794 - Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
1811 - Johannes H Scholten, Dutch theologist (Free Will)
1817 - Joseph baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, Belgian Internal minister (1870-71)
1819 - James Henry Van Alen, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), (d. 1886)
1828 - George William Warren, composer
1828 - Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
1834 - Peter Benoit, Flemish composer/conductor (Leie/Rubens Cantata)
1839 - Hubert Platt Main, composer
1839 - Thijs [Matthijs] Maris, Dutch painter/etcher
1840 - Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, England, writer (Irish Land League)
1841 - Luis NF Varela, Brazilian romantic poet
1844 - Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913)
1851 - Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist/evangelist
1856 - Violet Paget, [Vernon Lee], British author (Satan the master)
1863 - Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)
1866 - Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
1866 - Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
1870 - Frederick Russell, developed 1st successful typhoid fever vaccine
1873 - John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
1876 - Eric Drummond, 1st Secretary-General of League of Nations (1919-33)
1876 - Henri G Winkelman, Dutch general/supreme commander/navy 1940
1878 - Reg Duff, cricketer (Australian bat, century on debut 1902)
1880 - Leo Ascher, composer
1880 - Percy Sherwell, cricketer (great South African batsman-keeper-captain)
Hollywood Mogul Samuel Goldwyn (1882)
1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, [Shmuel Gelbfisz], Warsaw Poland, Hollywood movie producer (MGM)
1885 - Clara [G Meijer-]Wichmann, German anarchists/feminist (Wife & society)
1885 - Kurt Hiller, writer
1887 - Charles I, last emperor of Austria-Hungary (1916-18)
1887 - Marcus Garvey, began back-to-Africa movement among US African Americans
1888 - Monty Wooley, actor (Pied Piper, Man Who Came to Dinner), born in NYC, New York
1890 - Harry L Hopkins, US politician (Loan & Lease law)
1890 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
1893 - Mae West, New York, film and stage actress and singer (She Done him Wrong), (d. 1980)
1894 - Erik A Blomberg, Swedish art historian/poet/author (Jorden)
1894 - Johan Polet, Dutch sculptor
Actress Mae West (1893)
1896 - Henry P de Vries, Dutch painter/poet (Laws of the Americas)
1896 - Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
1898 - Gerard Schmook, Flemish librarian/historian/custodian
1900 - Quincy Howe, newscaster (CBS Weekend News), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1903 - Abram Chasins, composer
1904 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
1904 - Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
1905 - John Hay Whitney, publisher (NY Herald Trib 1961-67)
1906 - Hazel Bishop, chemist/cosmetics manufacturer
1906 - Marcello J das Neves Alves Caetano, premier of Portugal (1968-74)
1907 - Marian Viktorovich Koval, composer
1908 - Kurt Hessenberg, composer
1909 - Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
1910 - Eric Aaltonen, composer
1910 - J A Manusama, Moluccan politician
1910 - R Peyrefitte, writer
1911 - Frederik de Merode, Belgian prince
1911 - Jan Lode Cantens, Flemish dramatist (God's Murderer)
1912 - Edgar Fernhout, Dutch painter/son of Charley Toorop
1913 - W. Mark Felt, American FBI official and Watergate secret informant known as "Deep Throat"
1913 - Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
1913 - Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
1914 - Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr, son of FDR/(Rep-D-NY, 1949-55)
1916 - John de Young, resistance fighter
1917 - P Roger Peyrefitte, French writer (Singular Love)
1917 - Safa Khulusi, writer
1918 - Mort Marshall, actor (Cully-Dumplings), born in NYC, New York
1920 - Georgia Gibbs, Worcester Mass, singer (Ballin the Jack, Kiss of Fire)
1921 - Geoffery Rudolph Elton, historiographer
1921 - Maureen O'Hara [Fitzsimmons], Ranelagh, County Dublin, Irish actress and singer (Miracle
on 34th St, The Quiet Man)
1922 - Paul Wiens, writer
1922 - Ralph Roberts, Salisbury NC, actor (Tradition, Gone are the Days)
1922 - Roy Tattersall, cricketer (brilliant England off-spinner early 50's)
1923 - Anton Kersjes, violinist/conductor (Amsterdam Philharmonic Orch)
1923 - Larry Rivers, [Grossberg], painter (Wash crossing Delaware-1953), born in NYC, New York
1923 - Chaleo Yoovidhya, Phichit, Thailand, co-creator of Red Bull, (d. 2012)
1924 - Evan S Connell, US writer
1924 - Helen Wallis, cartographer/librarian
1924 - John A Emmens, art historian/poet (Kunst & Vliegwerk)
1924 - Laurence Richard Deniz, jazz guitarist
1924 - Evan Connell, Kansas City, Missouri, author (The Patriot), (d. 2013)
1925 - John Hawkes, US writer (2nd Skin)
1925 - John Howard Purnell, scientist
1926 - Haakon Barfod, Norway, yachting (Olympic-gold-1948, 52), (d. 2013)
1926 - Jean Poiret, French actor/writer (Le Dernier Metro)
1926 - Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
1926 - George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
1927 - Bernard "Bernie" Cornfeld, Romanian/US financier (Fund of Funds)
1927 - Robert Moore, actor (Marshall-Diana), born in Detroit, Michigan
1928 - Jean R Adams, entomologist
1928 - Thomas Jefferson Anderson, composer
1928 - Willem Duys, Dutch radio/TV host
Famous Weddings
Weddings 1 - 7 of 7
1498 - Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander IV, 1st man to resign the cardinalate marries Charlotte
d'Albret of Navarre
Short Story Writer Dorothy Parker (1950)
1950 - Short story writer Dorothy Parker (57) weds screenwriter Alan Campbell (46)
1962 - Actor Jack Lemmon (37) weds actress/model Felicia Farr (29) in Paris, France
1964 - Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee (23) weds teacher Linda Emery (19)
1989 - Director Kathryn Bigelow (26) weds fellow director James Cameron (24)
1996 - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (72) weds Grace Marufu (31) at Kutama College in
Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe
1997 - Lead vocalist James Hetfield (34) weds Francesca Tomasi
Famous Divorces
Divorces 1 - 1 of 1
2008 - Genesis drummer and vocalist Phil Collins (57) divorces Swiss-born Orianne Cevey (35) after
six years of marriage
Famous Deaths
Deaths 1 - 100 of 117
754 - Karloman, abbot of Monte Cassino, dies at 39
1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)
1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
1464 - Nikolaus von Cusa, German theologist/mathematician/philosopher, dies
1510 - Edmund Dudley, English treasurer, beheaded
1510 - Richard Empson, English treasurer, beheaded
1536 - Pietersz, book publisher (Kersten Knight - on Index), dies
1553 - Charles III, Duke of Savoy, dies
1635 - Francisco de Moncada, Spanish earl of Osuna, dies at 48
1673 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist, dies of possible suicide at 32 (b. 1641)
1676 - Grimmelshausen, writer, dies
1681 - Nikon, [Nikita Minin], patriarch of Rus-orthodox church, dies at 76
1720 - Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
1723 - Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
1730 - Mauritius Vogt, composer, dies at 61
1731 - Johann Augustin Kobelius, composer, dies at 57
1768 - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
1777 - Giuseppe Scarlotti, composer, dies at 54
1785 - Jonathan Trumbull, US patriot, dies
King of Prussia Frederick the Great (1786)
1786 - Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia (1740-86)/composer, dies at 74
1792 - Jan Jachym Kopriva, composer, dies at 38
1804 - Barbara Hec, organized 1st methodist church in US, dies
1834 - Husein Grada??evi?, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
1850 - Jose de San Martin, South American revolutionary hero and general, dies at 72
1861 - Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806)
1865 - Johann Nepomuk Poissl, composer, dies at 82
1865 - Mosby Munroe Parsons, US Confederate gen-maj, dies in battle
1875 - Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
1878 - Richard Upjohn, US architect, died
1880 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (b. 1810)
1887 - Franz Commer, composer, dies at 74
1888 - James Jameson, British nature investigator (Congo), dies
Revolutionary Leader José de San Martín (1850)
1889 - Ernst Franck, German composer/conductor, dies at 42
1893 - Aleksei N Apuchtin, Russian poet (Stichotvorenia), dies at 52[NS=8/29]
1896 - Bridget Driscoll, 1st Brit to die in an auto-accident
1898 - Carl Johann Adam Zeller, composer, dies at 56
1901 - Edmond Audran, composer, dies at 61
1909 - Richard Hoffman, composer, dies at 78
1914 - James Grierson, British general
1915 - Leo Frank, American convict, hanged in 1915 by a lynch mob in Georgia
1920 - Ray Chapman, hit in the head by Yanks' Carl Mays pitch, dies
1920 - Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
1924 - Pavel S "Paul" Urysohn, Russian mathematician, drowns at 26
1924 - Tom Kendall, cricketer (14 wickets in Australia's 1st two Tests), dies
1925 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin (b. 1848)
1927 - Horace Alderman, US, murderer, hanged
1935 - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist, writer and lecturer for social reform, dies at 75
1936 - Pierre-Octave Ferroud, French composer (Surgery & Foules), dies at 36
1944 - John Trumble, cricketer (brother of Hugh 7 Tests 1885-86), dies
1945 - Gino Marinuzzi, composer, dies at 61
1945 - Pater Bleijs, [Louis], resistance fighter, dies in car accident
1948 - Nico J Polak, Dutch economist, dies at 60
1949 - Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist & politician (b. 1891)
1953 - Johannes B Tielrooy, literature (French Living Lesson), dies at 66
1954 - Billy Murray, singer (Denver Nightengale), dies at 77
1958 - Florent Schmitt, French composer/critic (Jardin Secret), dies at 87
1961 - Carlos Leon Salzedo, composer, dies at 76
1962 - Peter Fechter trying to cross the Berlin Wall (b. 1944)
1963 - Richard Barthelmess, actor (Heroes for Sales), dies of cancer at 68
1966 - Archibald Palm, cricketer (Test South Africa v England 1927-28), dies
1966 - Michael Garrison, producer (Crowded Sky), dies after a fall at 43
1969 - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect (November Group), dies at 83
1969 - Philip Blaiberg, after 19 days with artificial heart, dies
1970 - Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (b. 1908)
1971 - Horace McMahon, actor (Martin Kane Private Eye), dies at 64
1971 - Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
1972 - Raymond Brulez, Flemish author (Schoone slaapster), dies at 76
1972 - Wampilow, writer, dies
1973 - Conrad Aiken, US poet (Pulitzer), dies at 74
1973 - Paul Williams, American musician (The Temptations), commits suicide at 32
1973 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
1974 - Aldo Palazzeschi, [Giurlani], Italian writer, dies at 89
1974 - Edgar Dearing, actor (Free & Easy, Abraham Lincoln), dies at 81
1975 - Sig Arno, Hamburg Germany, actor (My Friend Irma), dies at 80
1975 - Vladimir Kutz, Russian distance runner (Olympic-gold-56) dies at 48
1976 - Murvyn Vye, actor (Road to Bali, Escape to Burma), dies at 63
1976 - William Redfield, actor (Jimmy Hughes Rookie Cop), dies at 48
1979 - Vivian Vance, actress (Ethel Mertz-I Love Lucy), dies of cancer at 67
1981 - Robert Russell Bennett, US composer/arranger (Oklahoma!), dies at 87
1982 - Barney Phillips, actor (Dragnet, Felony Squad), dies at 68
1982 - Ruth Voorst, South African (A World Apart), killed by letter bomb
1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist, dies in Beverly Hills at 86
1984 - Holly Roffey, youngest heart transplant, dies at 4 weeks
1987 - Charles Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet, dies at 84
1987 - Rudolph Hess, Nazi (46 years in Spandau Prison), commits suicide at 93
1987 - Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929)
1988 - Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr, (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55), dies on 74th birthday
1988 - Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, pres of Pakistan (1978-88), dies in plane crash at 64
1988 - Victoria Shaw, actress (Alvarez Kelly, Westworld), dies
1990 - Pearl Bailey, actress (Landlord)/singer, dies of heart attack at 72
1990 - Roderick Cook, actor (Rockabye), dies of apparent heart attack at 58
1991 - Don Dubbins, actor (Enchanted Island, DI), dies at 63
1991 - Leo Geerts, [Marcel van der Linden], Belgian writer/critic, dies
1991 - Mervyn Nelson, director (Some of My Best Friends Are...), dies at 76
1992 - Andre de Villiers, South African, murdered
1992 - Barbara Morgan, photographer (Martha Graham), dies at 92
1992 - Tommy Nutter, fashion designer (bell bottom pants), dies of AIDs at 49
1993 - Max de Metz, Dutch publisher/translator, dies at 72
1993 - Robert C Maynard, CEO (Oakland Tribune), dies at 56
1993 - Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
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Today in History for 17th August 2015

  • 1.
    Today in Historyfor 17th August 2015 Historical Events Events 1 - 100 of 188 682 - St Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope 1180 - Yoritomo Minamoto leads uprising against Kiyomori Taira who installed his grandson, Emperor Antoku, to the throne 1544 - Imperial/English armies occupy Saint-Dizier France 1563 - King Charles IX of France (13) declared an adult 1577 - Peace of Bergerac: Political rights for Huguenots 1579 - Francois of Anjou visits English Queen Elizabeth I 1585 - Antwerp surrenders after 8 months siege by Duke of Parma 1590 - John White returns to Roanoke, NC to find no trace of colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591] 1648 - -20] Battle at Preston, Lancashire: Henry Ireton beats Scottish 1717 - France, Russia & Prussia sign agreement 1743 - Sweden & Russia sign peace treaty 1787 - Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups 1788 - Losantville, OH (now Cincinnati) founded 1795 - Slave revolt at Knip plantation, Curacao 1796 - British beat Batavian navy in Saldanha Bay, South Africa 1807 - Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins 1st trip up Hudson River
  • 2.
    French Emperor NapoléonBonaparte 1808 - Napoleon asks King Louis for Holland brigade towards Spain 1819 - The Church Missionary Society establishes New Zealand's second mission station at Kerikeri 1827 - Dutch King Willem I/Pope Leo XII sign concord 1834 - Charles Darwin reaches top of Campana Chile during his Voyage on the Beagle 1835 - Solymon Merrick patents wrench 1836 - British parliament accept registration of birth/marriage/death 1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leave South-America for last time 1846 - Commodore Robert F Stockton, US Navy, annexes California 1858 - 1st bank in Hawaii opens 1859 - 1st air mail (in a balloon) took off from Lafayette, Indiana 1862 - Confederate troops under Kirby Smith enter Kentucky 1863 - Federal batteries & ships attacked Fort Sumter in SC Naturalist Charles Darwin 1863 - Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek (Sparta), Tennessee
  • 3.
    1869 - 1stinternational boat race (River Thames, Oxford beats Harvard) 1870 - 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington 1870 - Mrs Esther Morris becomes 1st US woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming) 1876 - Wagner's opera "Götterdämmerung" premieres in Bayreuth 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos 1879 - Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company 1883 - The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional. 1891 - 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath) 1891 - Electric self-starter for automobile patented 1892 - Russian/French generals Obruchev/Boisdeffre signs Double Alliance 1894 - Phils get 36 hits, Sam Thompson hits for cycle beating Louisville 29-4 1897 - W B Purvis patents electric railway switch 1901 - The Royal Titles Act adds the words 'and the British Dominions beyond the Seas' to the monarch's style 1903 - Joe Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia University & begins Pulitzer Prizes 1904 - Boston's Jesse Tannehell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 6-0 1904 - George H Reid succeeds John Watson as Prime Minister of Australia 1905 - Dutch government of De Master begins 1907 - Bishop forbids Christian membership in Dutch Textile Union 1908 - B Tarkington & HL Wilson's "Man from Home" premieres in NYC 1908 - Bank of Italy opens new HQ at Clay & Montgomery 1908 - Projection in Paris of the very first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl. 1914 - French troops under gen de Castelnau occupy Chateau Salins 1914 - Lithuiana surrenders to Germans 1915 - German troops over run Kovno, Lithuiana 1915 - Hurricane strikes Galveston, Texas (275 killed)
  • 4.
    1915 - Moblynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia, after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life 1916 - Bulgarian offensive in Macedonia 1917 - Italy declares war on Turkey 1918 - British troops attack Baku, Azerbaijan 1918 - Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000 1918 - Turkish troops overthrow Caukasus 1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated 1920 - Yanks cancel game with Indians in memory of Ray Chapman (died Aug 16) 1924 - French-German trade agreement signed 1926 - Greek-Serbian/Croatian/Slavs peace treaty signed Baseball Player Lou Gehrig 1933 - Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game 1933 - Soviet Union test GIRD-R1 rocket ("Object 09") 1938 - 1st aircraft owned by US Forest Service in service (Oakland) 1938 - Henry Armstrong won his 3rd concurrent boxing championship 1939 - "Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY 1940 - FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission 1940 - Greece mobilizes 1940 - Hitler orders total blockade of Great Britain 1941 - German raider attacks Dutch SS Kota Nopan
  • 5.
    1942 - TaskForce 17 leaves Pearl Harbor under Admiral George Murray on USS Hornet 1942 - Transport nr 20 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany 1942 - US 8th Air Force bombers stage first independent raid on Europe, attack Rouen, France Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1943 - 498 British bombers attack Peenemunde 1943 - Gen Patton enters Messina, completing conquest of Sicily by Allies 1943 - US 8th Air Force loses 60 B-17O at attack on Regensburg/Schweinfurt 1944 - 4th Canadian Armoured division occupiers Trun, Normandy 1944 - Canadian 2nd division conquerors Falaise, Normandy 1944 - German field marshal Model replaces von Kluge in Normandy 1944 - Russian troops arrive at Austria-Prussia border 1944 - US 12 Army Corps occupies Orleans 1944 - US 320th regiment infantry occupies Châteaudun 1944 - Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 consecutive doubles in a game 1945 - Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) independent from the Netherlands 1945 - Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel 1946 - Arthur Honegger's 3rd Symphony "Liturgique" premieres
  • 6.
    Writer George Orwell 1946- George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm" in the United Kingdom 1947 - The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed. 1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent 1948 - Phillies commit 8 errors in a game 1948 - Tom Henrich hits his then record tying 4th grand slam of season 1950 - Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands 1950 - Pee Wee Reese (Dodgers) & Sam Calderone (Giants) hit inside park HRs 1951 - 18th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Cleveland 33, All-Stars 0 (92,180) 1951 - Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore, Kingston, Jamaica 1952 - "Fallout" 1st used (NY Times) 1952 - Betty Jameson wins LPGA World Golf Championship Famous Birthdays
  • 7.
    Birthdays 1 -100 of 231 1473 - Richard, Duke of York (d. 1483?) 1578 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660) 1586 - Johann V Andreae, German vicar/writer (Christenburg) 1607 - Pierre de Fermat, mathematician who needed wider margins (Fermat's Last Theorem) [or 1608] 1629 - King John [Jan] III Sobieski of Poland. Victor over the Turks in 1683 (d. 1696) 1686 - Nicola Antonio Porpora, composer 1720 - Charles D J Eisen, French engraver/painter (Contes de La Fontaine) 1753 - Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828) 1768 - Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800) 1775 - Philippe Libon, composer 1779 - Franz de Paula Roser, composer Frontiersman/Soldier Davy Crockett (1786)
  • 8.
    1786 - DavyCrockett, Greene County, Tennessee, frontiersman/adventurer/politician (Alamo), (d. 1836) 1786 - Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (d. 1861) 1794 - Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849) 1811 - Johannes H Scholten, Dutch theologist (Free Will) 1817 - Joseph baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, Belgian Internal minister (1870-71) 1819 - James Henry Van Alen, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), (d. 1886) 1828 - George William Warren, composer 1828 - Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897) 1834 - Peter Benoit, Flemish composer/conductor (Leie/Rubens Cantata) 1839 - Hubert Platt Main, composer 1839 - Thijs [Matthijs] Maris, Dutch painter/etcher 1840 - Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, England, writer (Irish Land League) 1841 - Luis NF Varela, Brazilian romantic poet 1844 - Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913) 1851 - Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist/evangelist 1856 - Violet Paget, [Vernon Lee], British author (Satan the master) 1863 - Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924) 1866 - Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911) 1866 - Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
  • 9.
    1870 - FrederickRussell, developed 1st successful typhoid fever vaccine 1873 - John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946) 1876 - Eric Drummond, 1st Secretary-General of League of Nations (1919-33) 1876 - Henri G Winkelman, Dutch general/supreme commander/navy 1940 1878 - Reg Duff, cricketer (Australian bat, century on debut 1902) 1880 - Leo Ascher, composer 1880 - Percy Sherwell, cricketer (great South African batsman-keeper-captain) Hollywood Mogul Samuel Goldwyn (1882) 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, [Shmuel Gelbfisz], Warsaw Poland, Hollywood movie producer (MGM) 1885 - Clara [G Meijer-]Wichmann, German anarchists/feminist (Wife & society) 1885 - Kurt Hiller, writer 1887 - Charles I, last emperor of Austria-Hungary (1916-18) 1887 - Marcus Garvey, began back-to-Africa movement among US African Americans 1888 - Monty Wooley, actor (Pied Piper, Man Who Came to Dinner), born in NYC, New York 1890 - Harry L Hopkins, US politician (Loan & Lease law) 1890 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920) 1893 - Mae West, New York, film and stage actress and singer (She Done him Wrong), (d. 1980) 1894 - Erik A Blomberg, Swedish art historian/poet/author (Jorden) 1894 - Johan Polet, Dutch sculptor
  • 10.
    Actress Mae West(1893) 1896 - Henry P de Vries, Dutch painter/poet (Laws of the Americas) 1896 - Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970) 1898 - Gerard Schmook, Flemish librarian/historian/custodian 1900 - Quincy Howe, newscaster (CBS Weekend News), born in Boston, Massachusetts 1903 - Abram Chasins, composer 1904 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991) 1904 - Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984) 1905 - John Hay Whitney, publisher (NY Herald Trib 1961-67) 1906 - Hazel Bishop, chemist/cosmetics manufacturer 1906 - Marcello J das Neves Alves Caetano, premier of Portugal (1968-74) 1907 - Marian Viktorovich Koval, composer 1908 - Kurt Hessenberg, composer 1909 - Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985) 1910 - Eric Aaltonen, composer 1910 - J A Manusama, Moluccan politician 1910 - R Peyrefitte, writer 1911 - Frederik de Merode, Belgian prince 1911 - Jan Lode Cantens, Flemish dramatist (God's Murderer) 1912 - Edgar Fernhout, Dutch painter/son of Charley Toorop
  • 11.
    1913 - W.Mark Felt, American FBI official and Watergate secret informant known as "Deep Throat" 1913 - Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970) 1913 - Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989) 1914 - Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr, son of FDR/(Rep-D-NY, 1949-55) 1916 - John de Young, resistance fighter 1917 - P Roger Peyrefitte, French writer (Singular Love) 1917 - Safa Khulusi, writer 1918 - Mort Marshall, actor (Cully-Dumplings), born in NYC, New York 1920 - Georgia Gibbs, Worcester Mass, singer (Ballin the Jack, Kiss of Fire) 1921 - Geoffery Rudolph Elton, historiographer 1921 - Maureen O'Hara [Fitzsimmons], Ranelagh, County Dublin, Irish actress and singer (Miracle on 34th St, The Quiet Man) 1922 - Paul Wiens, writer 1922 - Ralph Roberts, Salisbury NC, actor (Tradition, Gone are the Days) 1922 - Roy Tattersall, cricketer (brilliant England off-spinner early 50's) 1923 - Anton Kersjes, violinist/conductor (Amsterdam Philharmonic Orch) 1923 - Larry Rivers, [Grossberg], painter (Wash crossing Delaware-1953), born in NYC, New York 1923 - Chaleo Yoovidhya, Phichit, Thailand, co-creator of Red Bull, (d. 2012) 1924 - Evan S Connell, US writer 1924 - Helen Wallis, cartographer/librarian 1924 - John A Emmens, art historian/poet (Kunst & Vliegwerk) 1924 - Laurence Richard Deniz, jazz guitarist 1924 - Evan Connell, Kansas City, Missouri, author (The Patriot), (d. 2013) 1925 - John Hawkes, US writer (2nd Skin) 1925 - John Howard Purnell, scientist 1926 - Haakon Barfod, Norway, yachting (Olympic-gold-1948, 52), (d. 2013)
  • 12.
    1926 - JeanPoiret, French actor/writer (Le Dernier Metro) 1926 - Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician 1926 - George Melly, British singer (d. 2007) 1927 - Bernard "Bernie" Cornfeld, Romanian/US financier (Fund of Funds) 1927 - Robert Moore, actor (Marshall-Diana), born in Detroit, Michigan 1928 - Jean R Adams, entomologist 1928 - Thomas Jefferson Anderson, composer 1928 - Willem Duys, Dutch radio/TV host Famous Weddings Weddings 1 - 7 of 7 1498 - Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander IV, 1st man to resign the cardinalate marries Charlotte d'Albret of Navarre Short Story Writer Dorothy Parker (1950) 1950 - Short story writer Dorothy Parker (57) weds screenwriter Alan Campbell (46) 1962 - Actor Jack Lemmon (37) weds actress/model Felicia Farr (29) in Paris, France 1964 - Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee (23) weds teacher Linda Emery (19) 1989 - Director Kathryn Bigelow (26) weds fellow director James Cameron (24) 1996 - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (72) weds Grace Marufu (31) at Kutama College in Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe 1997 - Lead vocalist James Hetfield (34) weds Francesca Tomasi Famous Divorces
  • 13.
    Divorces 1 -1 of 1 2008 - Genesis drummer and vocalist Phil Collins (57) divorces Swiss-born Orianne Cevey (35) after six years of marriage Famous Deaths Deaths 1 - 100 of 117 754 - Karloman, abbot of Monte Cassino, dies at 39 1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130) 1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243) 1464 - Nikolaus von Cusa, German theologist/mathematician/philosopher, dies 1510 - Edmund Dudley, English treasurer, beheaded 1510 - Richard Empson, English treasurer, beheaded 1536 - Pietersz, book publisher (Kersten Knight - on Index), dies 1553 - Charles III, Duke of Savoy, dies 1635 - Francisco de Moncada, Spanish earl of Osuna, dies at 48 1673 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist, dies of possible suicide at 32 (b. 1641) 1676 - Grimmelshausen, writer, dies 1681 - Nikon, [Nikita Minin], patriarch of Rus-orthodox church, dies at 76 1720 - Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654) 1723 - Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668) 1730 - Mauritius Vogt, composer, dies at 61 1731 - Johann Augustin Kobelius, composer, dies at 57 1768 - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703) 1777 - Giuseppe Scarlotti, composer, dies at 54 1785 - Jonathan Trumbull, US patriot, dies
  • 14.
    King of PrussiaFrederick the Great (1786) 1786 - Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia (1740-86)/composer, dies at 74 1792 - Jan Jachym Kopriva, composer, dies at 38 1804 - Barbara Hec, organized 1st methodist church in US, dies 1834 - Husein Grada??evi?, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802) 1850 - Jose de San Martin, South American revolutionary hero and general, dies at 72 1861 - Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806) 1865 - Johann Nepomuk Poissl, composer, dies at 82 1865 - Mosby Munroe Parsons, US Confederate gen-maj, dies in battle 1875 - Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827) 1878 - Richard Upjohn, US architect, died 1880 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (b. 1810) 1887 - Franz Commer, composer, dies at 74 1888 - James Jameson, British nature investigator (Congo), dies Revolutionary Leader José de San Martín (1850)
  • 15.
    1889 - ErnstFranck, German composer/conductor, dies at 42 1893 - Aleksei N Apuchtin, Russian poet (Stichotvorenia), dies at 52[NS=8/29] 1896 - Bridget Driscoll, 1st Brit to die in an auto-accident 1898 - Carl Johann Adam Zeller, composer, dies at 56 1901 - Edmond Audran, composer, dies at 61 1909 - Richard Hoffman, composer, dies at 78 1914 - James Grierson, British general 1915 - Leo Frank, American convict, hanged in 1915 by a lynch mob in Georgia 1920 - Ray Chapman, hit in the head by Yanks' Carl Mays pitch, dies 1920 - Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891) 1924 - Pavel S "Paul" Urysohn, Russian mathematician, drowns at 26 1924 - Tom Kendall, cricketer (14 wickets in Australia's 1st two Tests), dies 1925 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin (b. 1848) 1927 - Horace Alderman, US, murderer, hanged 1935 - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist, writer and lecturer for social reform, dies at 75 1936 - Pierre-Octave Ferroud, French composer (Surgery & Foules), dies at 36 1944 - John Trumble, cricketer (brother of Hugh 7 Tests 1885-86), dies 1945 - Gino Marinuzzi, composer, dies at 61 1945 - Pater Bleijs, [Louis], resistance fighter, dies in car accident 1948 - Nico J Polak, Dutch economist, dies at 60 1949 - Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist & politician (b. 1891) 1953 - Johannes B Tielrooy, literature (French Living Lesson), dies at 66 1954 - Billy Murray, singer (Denver Nightengale), dies at 77 1958 - Florent Schmitt, French composer/critic (Jardin Secret), dies at 87 1961 - Carlos Leon Salzedo, composer, dies at 76 1962 - Peter Fechter trying to cross the Berlin Wall (b. 1944)
  • 16.
    1963 - RichardBarthelmess, actor (Heroes for Sales), dies of cancer at 68 1966 - Archibald Palm, cricketer (Test South Africa v England 1927-28), dies 1966 - Michael Garrison, producer (Crowded Sky), dies after a fall at 43 1969 - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect (November Group), dies at 83 1969 - Philip Blaiberg, after 19 days with artificial heart, dies 1970 - Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (b. 1908) 1971 - Horace McMahon, actor (Martin Kane Private Eye), dies at 64 1971 - Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880) 1972 - Raymond Brulez, Flemish author (Schoone slaapster), dies at 76 1972 - Wampilow, writer, dies 1973 - Conrad Aiken, US poet (Pulitzer), dies at 74 1973 - Paul Williams, American musician (The Temptations), commits suicide at 32 1973 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928) 1974 - Aldo Palazzeschi, [Giurlani], Italian writer, dies at 89 1974 - Edgar Dearing, actor (Free & Easy, Abraham Lincoln), dies at 81 1975 - Sig Arno, Hamburg Germany, actor (My Friend Irma), dies at 80 1975 - Vladimir Kutz, Russian distance runner (Olympic-gold-56) dies at 48 1976 - Murvyn Vye, actor (Road to Bali, Escape to Burma), dies at 63 1976 - William Redfield, actor (Jimmy Hughes Rookie Cop), dies at 48 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress (Ethel Mertz-I Love Lucy), dies of cancer at 67 1981 - Robert Russell Bennett, US composer/arranger (Oklahoma!), dies at 87 1982 - Barney Phillips, actor (Dragnet, Felony Squad), dies at 68 1982 - Ruth Voorst, South African (A World Apart), killed by letter bomb 1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist, dies in Beverly Hills at 86 1984 - Holly Roffey, youngest heart transplant, dies at 4 weeks 1987 - Charles Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet, dies at 84
  • 17.
    1987 - RudolphHess, Nazi (46 years in Spandau Prison), commits suicide at 93 1987 - Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929) 1988 - Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr, (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55), dies on 74th birthday 1988 - Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, pres of Pakistan (1978-88), dies in plane crash at 64 1988 - Victoria Shaw, actress (Alvarez Kelly, Westworld), dies 1990 - Pearl Bailey, actress (Landlord)/singer, dies of heart attack at 72 1990 - Roderick Cook, actor (Rockabye), dies of apparent heart attack at 58 1991 - Don Dubbins, actor (Enchanted Island, DI), dies at 63 1991 - Leo Geerts, [Marcel van der Linden], Belgian writer/critic, dies 1991 - Mervyn Nelson, director (Some of My Best Friends Are...), dies at 76 1992 - Andre de Villiers, South African, murdered 1992 - Barbara Morgan, photographer (Martha Graham), dies at 92 1992 - Tommy Nutter, fashion designer (bell bottom pants), dies of AIDs at 49 1993 - Max de Metz, Dutch publisher/translator, dies at 72 1993 - Robert C Maynard, CEO (Oakland Tribune), dies at 56 1993 - Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920) Share on Facebook http://www.onthisday.com/day/august/17