This Day in History for 1st May

Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 318

305 - Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome resigns
305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
1006 - Supernova observed by Chinese & Egyptians in constellation Lupus
1048 - Bishop Bernold flees St Pieterskerk for Utrecht Neth
1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton - the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
1394 - Ekiho, exorcised the Zen temple & it's surroundings from an old badger
1523 - Danish king Christian III arrives in Veere
1528 - Pánfilo the Narváez begins exploration to with 350 men to Florida
1544 - Turkish troops occupy Hungary
1551 - Council of Trente resumes
1576 - Stefan Batory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become the co-rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1598 - Jacob van Necks merchant fleet departs for Java
1625 - Portuguese & Spanish expedition recaptures Salvador (Bahia)
1625 - Prince Frederik Henry appointed viceroy of Holland
1682 - Louis XIV & his court inaugurates Paris Observatory
1703 - Battle at Rultusk: Swedish army beats Russians
1704 - Boston Newsletter publishes 1st newspaper ad
1707 - England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain
1711 - Arch duke Karel of Austria/Hungarian rebellion sign Peace of Szatmar
1715 - Prussia declares war on Sweden
1725 - Spain & Austria sign trade treaty
1751 - 1st American cricket match is played
1753 - Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1756 - France & Austria sign alliance
1757 - Austria & France divide Prussia
1759 - British fleet occupies Guadeloupe, West-Indies, on France
1776 - Adam Weishaupt founds secret society of Illuminati
1777 - RB Sheridans "School for Scandal," premieres in London
1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1781 - Emperor Jozef II decrees protection of population
1785 - Kamehameha, the king of Hawaiʻi defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
1786 - Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Wien (Vienna)
1822 - John Phillips becomes 1st mayor of Boston
1834 - Belgian parliament accept railway laws
1840 - 1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued
1841 - 1st emigrant wagon train leaves Independence, Missouri for Calif
1844 - Samuel Morse sends 1st telegraphic message
1844 - Whig convention nominates Henry Clay as presidential candidate
1846 - Ida Pfeiffer (48) begins trip around world
1848 - The Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
1850 - John Geary becomes 1st SF mayor
1851 - Great Exhibition opens in Chrystal Palace London
1852 - The Philippine peso is introduced into circulation.
1853 - Argentina adopts it's constitution
1854 - Amsterdam begins transferring drinking water out of the dunes
1857 - William Walker, conqueror of Nicaragua, surrenders to US Navy
1861 - Lee orders Confederate troops under T J Jackson to Harper's Ferry
1862 - Union captain David Farragut conquers New Orleans
1863 - Battle of Chancellorsville, VA (29,000 injured or died)
1863 - Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi
1863 - Confederate "National Flag" replaces "Stars & Bars"
1863 - Confederate congress passed resolution to kill black soldiers
1864 - -8] Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana (Red River Campaign)
1864 - Atlanta campaign, GA
1864 - Wilderness campaign
1866 - American Equal Rights Association forms
1867 - Howard University chartered
1867 - Reconstruction of South begins, black voter registration
1869 - Folies Bergere opens in Paris
1873 - 1st US postal card issued
1873 - Emperor Franz Jozef opens 5th World's Fair in Vienna
1873 - International Exhibition opens in Vienna
1875 - 238 members of "Whiskey Ring" accused of anti-US activities
1875 - Alexandra Palace reopens after the 1873 fire burnt it down.
1883 - "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show
1883 - Amsterdam World's Fair opens
1883 - Baseball returns to Phila, 1st NL game since 1876
1883 - NY Athletic Club hires Bob Rogers as 1st American pro sports trainer
1884 - Construction begins on Chicago 1st skyscraper (10 stories)
1884 - Moses Walker became 1st black player in major league
1884 - Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
1885 - Maria "Goeie Mie" Swanenburg sentence to life for killing 27 in Neth
1886 - US general strike for 8 hour day, begins
1889 - 1st International Workers Day, according to 2nd International
1889 - Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany)
1891 - Cy Young pitches 1st game played in Cleveland's League Park Cleveland Spiders 12, Cincinnati Redlegs 3
1892 - US Quarantine Station opens on Angel Island, SF Bay
1893 - World Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago
1898 - George Dewey commands, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley" as US route Spanish fleet at Manila
1900 - Premature blast collapses mine tunnel killing 200 at Scofield, Utah
1900 - Roermond soccer team forms in Roermond
1901 - Detroit Tigers commit 12 errors against Chicago White Sox
1901 - Herb McFarland hit 1st grand slam in American League
1901 - Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo
1906 - Phillie's John Lush no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 6-0
1907 - Belgium govt of De Trooz forms
1907 - Indian Mine Laws passes (concessions from Neth-Indies)
1908 - World's most intense shower (2.47" in 3 minutes) at Portobelo Panama
1909 - Netherlands begins unity with Belgium
1912 - Amsterdam-North soccer team DWV forms
1912 - Beverly Hills Hotel opens
1913 - Longacre Theater opens at 220 W 48th St NYC
1914 - China's 1st president Yuan Shikai wins dictatorial qualification
1915 - British Lusitania leaves NY, for Liverpool
1915 - German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight
1919 - Mount Kelud (Indonesia) erupts, boiling crater lake which broke through crater wall killing 5,000 people in 104 small villages
1920 - Babe Ruth's 1st Yankee HR & 50th of career, out of Polo Grounds
1920 - Belgian-Luxembourg toll tunnel opens
1920 - Brooklyn Dodgers tie Boston Braves, 1-1, in 26 innings
1921 - Drusian sultan Pasja al-Atrasj elected governor of Suwayda

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 239

1218 - John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)
1218 - Rudolph I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1291)
1238 - Magnus VI Lagabuter, King of Norway (1263-80)
1285 - Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1326)
1493 - Phillippus Paracelsus, Switzerland, physician/alchemist (or 11/10)
1545 - Franciscus Junius, [Francois du Jon], French/Neth calvinist theologist
1567 - Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, Dutch royal painter
1577 - Francois van Kinschot, Dutch treasurer
1582 - Marco da Gagliano, Italian opera composer
1592 - Johann A Schall von Bell, German missionaries/astronomer
1594 - John Haynes, Massachusetts colonial magistrate
1672 - Joseph Addison, England, essayist (Spectator)
1735 - John H van Kinsbergen, Dutch lt-admiral/founder of Dutch Marines Corp
1738 - King Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (d. 1819)
1759 - Jacob Albright, [Albrecht], German/US predictor
1764 - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, engineer/architect (built Capitol)
1764 - Gottfried Rieger, composer
1769 - Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, British PM (C) (1828-30)
1771 - George Guest, composer
1775 - Jacob-Joseph-Balthasar Martinn, composer
1800 - Ret Thomas Aloysius Dornin, Comm (Union Navy), died in 1874
1804 - Aleksey Khomyakov, Russian poet (d. 1860)
1807 - John Bankhead "Prince John" Magruder, Major General (Confederate Army)
1818 - Jose Amador de los Rios, Spanish historian/poet
1819 - William Steele, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1885
1825 - George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap)
1829 - Jose M de Alencar, Brazilian writer/minister of Justice
1830 - Mother (Mary Harris) Jones, US reformer and labor organizer
1831 - Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (d. 1903)
1835 - Alfred Napoleon Alexander "Natti" Duffie, Brig Gen (Union volunteers)
1839 - Chardonnet, inventor (rayon)
1850 - Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada (d. 1942)
1851 - Laza Lazarević, Serbian writer and psychiatrist (d. 1891)
1852 - Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], frontier adventurer/indian fighter
1852 - Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1934)
1858 - Anthony Johnson Showalter, composer
1859 - Bohuslav Jeremias, composer
1859 - Willem J Leyds, Dutch/South Africa lawyer/politician/diplomat
1872 - Sidónio Pais, Portuguese military and politician (d. 1918)
1880 - Conrad Weiss, German writer/poet (Tantum dic verbo)
1881 - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, France, philosopher/paleontologist
1884 - Felipe Boero, composer
1884 - Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, British politician, naval officer and racing driver (d. 1964)
1887 - Alan Gordon Cunningham, Irish/Brit gen/director of Palestine (1945-48)
1892 - Howard Barlow, Plain City Ohio, conductor (Voice of Firestone)
1895 - Leo Sowerby, Grand Rapids Michigan, composer (Pulitzer 1946)
1896 - Herbert Backe, German Nazi politician (d. 1947)
1896 - Mark Wayne Clark, American general (d. 1984)
1896 - J. Lawton Collins, American general (d. 1987)
1898 - Eugene R Black, US, Pres of World Bank (1953-62)
1900 - Ignazio Silone, Italy, novelist/politician (Bread & Wine)
1901 - Heinz Eric Roemheld, American film composer (d. 1985)
1901 - Antal Szerb, Hungarian author and historian (d. 1945)
1905 - Leila Hyams, NYC, actress (Big House, Ruggles of Red Gap)
1905 - Nikolai Tikhonov, Soviet PM (1980-85)
1905 - Paul Desruisseaux, French Canadian lawyer, businessman and politician (d. 1982)
1906 - Horst Schumann, Nazi physician (d. 1983)
1907 - Jan Pauw, CEO (Aruban Theater Group)
1907 - Oliver Hill, civil rights attorney (d. 2007)
1907 - Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
1908 - Giovanni Guareschi, Italian writer (Don Camillo, Peppone)
1909 - Ethel Jane Cain, original UK Speaking Clock voice
1909 - George Melachrino, composer
1909 - Janis Ritsos, writer
1909 - Yannis Ritsos, Greek poet
1910 - Cliff Battles, Akron Oh, NFL hall of famer (Braves, Redskins)
1912 - Anna Pollak, mezzo-soprano
1912 - Felipe Padilla de Leon, composer
1912 - Otto Kretschmer, German U-Boat commander (d. 1998)
1913 - Walter Susskind, Praha (Prague) Czechoslovakia, conductor
1913 - Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
1915 - Archie Williams, American athlete (d. 1993)
1916 - Glenn Ford, Quebec Canada, actor (Cade's County, Big Heat, Midway)
1916 - Jane Jacobs, Scranton, Pa, urbanologist
1917 - Danielle Darrieux, France, actress (Alexander the Great, Mayerling)
1917 - John Beradino, LA Calif, actor (Steve Hardy-General Hospital)
1917 - Louis G "Lo" van Hensbergen, actor/author (Amsterdam Affair)
1917 - Ahron Soloveichik, Orthodox Jewish rabbi
1918 - Jack Paar, Canton Ohio, American television host of the Jack Paar Show (d. 2004)
1918 - Gersh Budker, Russian physicist (d. 1977)
1919 - Alwyn Farquharson, Scottish clan-captain/large landowner
1919 - Dan O'Herlihy, Ireland, actor (Fail Safe, Last Starfighter, Robocop)
1921 - 12th Lord Middleton, English large landowner/multi-millionaire
1921 - Paul Daels, president (Flemish Iron Pilgrimage committee)
1923 - Joseph Heller, Bkln NY, novelist (Catch-22, 1963 Arts & Letters Award)
1924 - Earl George, composer
1924 - Enrico Josif, composer
1924 - Patricia Roberts Harris, 1st US black woman cabinet member
1924 - Terry Southern, writer
1925 - Chuck Bednarik, Penn, NFL hall of fame center/linebacker (Phila)
1925 - Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Boulder Colo, astronaut (Mercury 7-Aurora 7)
1926 - Peter Lax, Hungarian Mathematician
1927 - Greta Andersen, Denmark, 100m freestyle swimmer (Olympic-gold-1948)
1927 - Harry Belafonte, calypso singer (Banana Boat Song)
1927 - Israr Ali, cricket pace bowler (Pakistani in 4 Tests 1952-59)
1927 - Lord Bathurst, English earl/large landowner/multi-millionaire
1927 - Roland Verhavert, Flemish screen writer (Sea Gulls Die in the Harbor)
1927 - William Mitchell Byers, musician
1928 - Raoul Servais, Belgian cartoonist/pres (l'ASIFA)
1928 - Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racer (d. 2002)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 106

408 - Arcadius, Eastern Roman emperor (b. 337/338)
1118 - Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England (b. c. 1080)
1171 - Dermot MacMurrough, last Irish King of Leinster, dies
1240 - Jacques de Vitry, Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals
1277 - Stefanus IV Uros I de Great, King of Serbia (1243-76), dies
1308 - Albrecht I van Habsburg, German King (1298-1308), murdered
1447 - Louis VII, Duke of Baveria (1413-43), dies
1456 - Hugues de Lannoy, Flemish viceroy of Holland/Zealand, dies
1471 - Thomas a Kempis, spiritual writer (Navolging of Christ), dies at 91
1539 - Isabella of Portugal, queen of Spain and empress of Germany (b. 1503)
1555 - Marcellus II, [Marcello Cervini], Italian Pope (1555), dies at 53
1572 - Pius V, [Antonio Ghislieri], great-inquisiteur/Pope (1566-72), dies
1679 - Esaias Reusner, composer, dies at 43
1700 - John Dryden, English poet/playwright (Rival Ladies), dies
1703 - Kiva Yoshinaka, Japanese monarch, murdered
1731 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677)
1738 - Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman (b. c. 1669)
1772 - Gottfried Achenwall, German lawyer/statistics/economist, dies at 52
1813 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (b. 1768)
1831 - Antonius van Alphen, apostle vicar of De Bosch, dies at 82
1863 - Edward Dorr Tracy, US Confederate brig-general, dies in battle at 29
1870 - Francisco Solano Lopez, fieldmarshal/president of Paraguay
1872 - Amalia, princess of Weimar/wife of prince Hendrik the Navigator, dies
1873 - David Livingstone, British physician/explorer (Africa), dies at 60
1874 - Vilem Blodek, composer, dies at 39
1886 - Conrad Busken Huet, writer (Country of Rubens)
1886 - Heinrich Franz Daniel Stiehl, composer, dies at 56
1892 - Willem A Scholten, manufacturer (potatoes), dies at 89
1896 - Nasr-ed-Din, shah of Persia (184.-96), murdered at 65
1898 - Alphonse Wauters, Belgian historian, dies at 81
1899 - Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (b. 1824)
1902 - John Glover, English chemist (production sulfuric acid), dies at 85
1903 - Arthur Haygarth, cricketer (compiler of "Scores & Biographies"), dies
1903 - Luigi Arditi, violist/composer, dies at 80
1904 - AntonínDvorak, Czech composer (Slavic Dancing), dies at 62
1904 - Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)
1913 - John Barclay Armstrong, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal (b. 1850)
1917 - Jose E Rodo, Uruguayan writer (Motivos de proteo), dies
1921 - Louis Campbell-Tipton, composer, dies at 43
1924 - August Cuppens, Flemish author (Limburgs Driemanschap), dies at 62
1926 - Nicolaus Adriani, translator (Middle-Celebes Language), dies at 60
1932 - Paul Doumer, Pres France (1931-32), assassin by Russia's Paul Gargalov
1934 - Alexander Alexandrovich Davidenko, composer, dies at 35
1935 - Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (b. 1889)
1937 - Snitz Edwards, actor (Phantom of the Opera, College), dies at 75
1941 - John R Locksmith de Brown, vicar/CHU-politician, dies at 71
1943 - Johan Oscar Smith, Norweigian Christian leader and founder of Smith's Friends (b.1871)
1945 - Desider Antalffy-Zsiross, Hungarian organist/composer, dies at 59
1945 - Paul Josef Goebbels, Nazi minister on propoganda, commits suicide
1946 - Edward Cuthbert Bairstow, composer, dies at 71
1946 - Percy William Whitlock, composer, dies at 42
1947 - Sanner, leader of Norger blood bath, executed
1948 - Christos Ladas, Greek minister of Justice, murdered
1952 - William Fox, [Fried], US film pioneer (Nickelodeon), dies at 73
1954 - Tom Tyler, actor (Lost Ranch, Coyote Trails), dies at 50
1957 - Grant Mitchell, actor (Great Lie, Laura, Cairo, Conflict), dies at 82
1959 - Oscar Torp, Norwegian premier, dies
1963 - Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer, Father of the Philippine National Language and Grammar (b. 1879)
1965 - Leo Spies, composer, dies at 65
1965 - Spike Jones, composer (Spike Jones Show), dies at 53
1968 - Harold G Nicolson, English author (English sense of humor), dies at 71
1968 - Jack Adams, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and general manager (b.1895)
1969 - Ella Logan, actress (52nd Street, Woman Chases Man), dies at 56
1969 - George Parker, cricketer (2 Tests for S Afr 1924), dies
1970 - Crown Prince Euimin, Crown Prince Korea (b. 1897)
1971 - Edith Day, actress (Romance of Air), dies at 75
1971 - Glenda Farrell, actress (Grand Slam, Exposed), dies at 66
1972 - Fernand Ansseau, Belgian operator (Orfeo), dies at 82
1976 - Rex O'Malley, actor (Camille, Zara, Midnight, Thief), dies at 75
1976 - Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet who fought the military junta in Greece (b. 1939)
1976 - T.R.M. Howard, civil rights leader, entrepreneur, surgeon (b. 1908)
1978 - Aram Katchaturian, Russian composer (The Earth), dies at 74
1979 - Berkeley Bertram McGarrell Gaskin, cricketer (2 Tests for WI), dies
1981 - Clarence A Bacote, historian/political scientist, dies at 75
1981 - Peter Huchel, writer, dies at 78
1982 - Gene Sheldon, actor (Bernardo-Zorro), dies at 72
1982 - William Primrose, Scottish violist (b. 1903)
1983 - V N Swamy, Indian cricket pace bowler (without distinction), dies
1984 - Gordon Jenkins, orch leader (NBC Comedy Hour), dies at 73
1986 - Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (b. 1905)
1986 - Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and record producer (b. 1916)
1988 - Carroll Righter, astrologer, dies at 88 of postrate cancer
1988 - Paolo Stoppa, actor (Garibaldi, Visit, Freedom Fighters), dies
1989 - David Webster, South African white anti-apartheids activist, murdered
1989 - Douglass Watson, actor (Mac Cory-Another World), dies at 68
1989 - Marion Mack, actress (General), dies
1989 - Sally Kirkland, fashion editor at LIFE (b. 1912)
1990 - Sunset Carson, cowboy actor (El Paso Kid, Oregon Trail), dies at 62
1991 - Richard Thorpe, director (Jailhouse Rock, Night Must Fall), dies
1992 - Sharon Redd, American house music and urban contemporary singer (b. 1945)
1993 - Hans [Henri EA] Tuynman, provo (Full-time Provo), dies at 50
1993 - Ranasinghe Premadasa, pres (Sri Lanka, 1989-93), assassinated at 68
1994 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Grand prix driver, dies in crash at 34
1996 - Asher Wallfish, journalist, dies at 67
1996 - Ivo Rudolph Jarosy, film scholar/exhibitor, dies at 74
1996 - William Mitchell Byers, musician, dies on 79th birthday
1997 - Bebe, AKA Flipper, dolphin, dies at 40
1998 - Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)
2000 - Steve Reeves, American actor (b. 1926)
2003 - Miss Elizabeth, American wrestler (b. 1960)

<< 30th April

2nd May >>


Search our Today in History Archives

Day  Month  Year  Type

Keyword(s)