Anniversaries

Births: William Cecil, first Baron Burghley, statesman, 1520; Oliver Evans, inventor, 1755; William Henry West Betty, the Young Roscius, actor, 1791; Jean-Ignace Isidore Gerard, caricaturist, 1803; Clara Josephine Schumann (Wieck), pianist, 1819; Dr Walter Reed, bacteriologist, 1851; Ernst Gillet, cellist and composer, 1856; Milton Snavely Hershey, chocolate company founder, 1857; Charles William Gordon (Ralph Connor), clergyman and novelist, 1860; John Joseph Pershing, commander of the US expeditionary force during the First World War, 1860; Arthur Henderson, politician and Nobel Prize-winner, 1863; Arnold Schoenberg, composer, 1874; Sherwood Anderson, playwright, 1876; John Boynton Priestley, writer, 1894; Claudette Colbert (Lily Claudette Chauchoin), actress, 1903; John Smith, Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, 1938.

Deaths: Andrea Mantegna, painter, 1506; Sir John Cheke, classical scholar, 1557; Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, essayist, 1592; Philip II, King of Spain, 1598; Ciro Ferri, painter, 1689; General James Wolfe, British soldier, killed in action 1759; Charles James Fox, statesman, 1806; Ludwig Feuerbach, philosopher and economist, 1872; Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araujo, poet, historian and politician, 1877; Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier, composer, 1894; Samuel Alexander, philosopher, 1938; Arthur George Walker, sculptor, 1939; William Heath Robinson, artist and illustrator, 1944; Schack August Steenberg Krogh, physiologist, 1949; Leopold Antonin Stanislaw Boleslawowicz Stokowski, conductor, 1977; Dane Rudhyar (Daniel Chenneviere), composer, occultist and astrologer, 1985; Joe Pasternak, film producer, 1991.

On this day: the Battle of Marignano between the French and Swiss started, 1515; Montrose was defeated by the Covenanters at Philiphaugh, 1645; John Bunyan was released from Bedford jail after 12 years, 1672; the Battle of Quebec was fought, when the British defeated the French, 1759; New York became the capital of the new United States of America, 1788; the British fleet began an unsuccessful bombardment of Fort McHenry near Baltimore, 1814; Wolseley was victorious at the Battle of Tel el Kebir, Egypt, 1882; the Battle of the Aisne began, 1914; the German attack on Stalingrad began, 1942; General Chiang Kai-shek was re-elected president of the Republic of China, 1943.

Today is the Feast Day of St Amatus or Ame, abbot, St Amatus or Ame, bishop, St Eulogius of Alexandria, St John Chrysostom and St Mauritius.