Anniversaries

Births: William Dampier, buccaneer and navigator, baptised 1652; John Smeaton, civil engineer, 1724; Eugene-Joseph Verboeckhoven, painter, 1799; Robert Alexander Schumann, composer, 1810; Sir John Everett Millais, pre-Raphaelite painter, 1829; Mary Cholmondeley, novelist, 1859; Frank Lloyd Wright, architect, 1869.

Deaths: the Prophet Mohammed, 632; Hardicanute, King of Denmark and England, 1042; Edward, the Black Prince, 1376; Sophia, Electress of Hanover, mother of George I, 1714; Johann Joachim Winckelmann, historian and archaeologist, 1768; Thomas Paine, radical author, 1809; Andrew Jackson, seventh US President, 1845; Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist, 1857; Sir Joseph Paxton, architect, 1865; George Sand (Amandine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin), writer, 1876; Gerard Manley Hopkins, poet, 1889; Pamela Frankau, novelist, 1967; Katharine Cornell, actress, 1974; Sir Norman Hartnell, royal dressmaker, 1979.

On this day: the suction vacuum-cleaner was patented, 1869; the second Labour Government, with Ramsay MacDonald as prime minster, took office, 1929; in Romania, King Carol resumed the throne, 1930; James Earl Ray was arrested in London and charged with the murder of Martin Luther King, 1968.

Today is the Feast Day of St Cloud of Metz, St Maximinus of Aix, St Medard and St William of York or Thwayt.