Anniversaries

Births: Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, 1767; William Lamb, second Viscount Melbourne, statesman, 1779; Nicola Vaccai, composer, 1790; Charles Dibdin, singer, author and composer, baptised 1745; Toby Edward Rosenthal, painter, 1848; Dame Madge Kendall, actress, 1849; Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory, playwright, and a founder of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1852; Emil von Behring, bacteriologist, 1854; Leslie Stuart, popular composer (of "Lily of Laguna"), 1864; George Brent (George Brendan Nolan), actor, 1904.

Deaths: Gaius Julius Caesar, assassinated 44 BC; Salvator Rosa (Salvatoriello), painter, 1673; Maria Luigi Carlo Cherubini, composer, 1842; Henri Scheffer, painter, 1862; Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, engineer, 1891; James Joseph Sylvester, mathematician, 1897; Sir Henry Bessemer, engineer, 1898; Nevil Vincent Sidgwick, chemist, 1952; Arthur Holly Compton, physicist, 1962; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, composer, 1968; Aristotle Onassis, ship-owner, 1975; Dame Rebecca West (Cicely Isobel Fairfield), author, 1983.

On this day: Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to America, 1493; the American colonists were defeated by Cornwallis at the Battle of Guilford Court House, North Carolina, 1781; Maine became the 23rd of the United States, 1820; an attempt was made by Irish-Americans to blow up the offices of the Times, 1883; the first 11-a-side cricket Test Match was played, Australia v England, at Sydney, 1876; Selfridges, the London department store, opened, 1909; Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, abdicated, 1917; the American Legion for servicemen and women was founded, 1919; the German army invaded Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), 1939.

Today is the Feast Day of St Clement Mary Hofbauer, St Longinus, St Louise de Marillac, St Lucretia or Leocritia, St Matrona and St Zachary, pope.