Anniversaries

Births: Count Johann von Struensee, physician and politician, 1737; Friedrich August Kummer, composer, 1797; John Wrottesley, second Baron, astronomer, 1798; Niels Henrik Abel, mathematician, 1802; Alexander William Kinglake, historian and traveller, 1809; Charles-Louis-Ambroise Thomas, composer, 1811; Edward John Eyre, administrator and explorer of Australia, 1815; Henri-Rene-Albert-Guy de Maupassant, author, 1850; Conrad Potter Aiken, novelist and poet, 1889; Harold Holt, Australian prime minister, 1908; Robert Taylor (Spangler Arlington Brugh), actor, 1911.

Deaths: Louis III, King of France, 882; Thomas Newcomen, inventor and engineer, 1729; James Gibbs, architect, 1754; Frederick, eighth Lord North and second Earl of Guilford, statesman, 1792; Richard ('Black Dick'), Earl Howe, naval officer, 1799; Ferdinand von Hebra, dermatologist, 1880; Alexis-Benoit Soyer, master cook and writer, 1858; William Henry Giles Kingston, author of boys' books, 1880; Thomas Henry Wyatt, architect, 1880; Henry Charles Litolff, composer, 1891; Friedrich Engels, writer, 1895; Philip William 'Phil' May, caricaturist, 1903; Joseph Holbrooke, composer, 1958; Arthur Meighen, statesman, 1960; Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson), actress, 1962; Richard Burton (Richard Walter Jenkins), actor, 1984.

On this day: the English captured Sir William Wallace, leader of the Scots, 1305; Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland for England, 1583; the Federal forces overcame the Confederate navy in the Battle of Mobile Bay, 1864; the Anglo-French Convention declared a British protectorate in Zanzibar and a French protectorate in Madagascar, 1890; the first electrical traffic signals were installed, Cleveland, Ohio 1914; German forces entered Warsaw, 1915; polygamy was abolished in Turkey, 1924; the British transatlantic airmail service was started, 1939; the musical show Salad Days was first produced, London 1954; the European Monetary Agreement was signed, 1955; the French Southern and Antarctic Territories were created, 1955; the French colony of Upper Volta became independent, 1960; a nuclear test ban treaty was signed by Britain, the USA and the USSR, 1963.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Addai and Mari, St Afra, St Nonna.