May 19
is the 139th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). There are 226 days remaining.
*
1535 -
French explorer
Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to
North America with three ships, 110 men, and
Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom
Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage).
*
1536 -
Anne Boleyn, the second wife of
Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for
adultery.
*
1568 - Queen
Elizabeth I of England has
Mary Queen of Scots arrested.
*
1604 - The town of
Montreal is founded.
*
1643 -
Thirty Years' War:
French forces under the
duc d'Enghien decisively defeat
Spanish forces at the
Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of
Spain as a dominant land power.
*
1649 - An
Act declaring
England a
Commonwealth is passed by the
Long Parliament.
England would be a
republic for the next eleven years.
*
1749 - King
George II of Great Britain grants the
Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the
Ohio River.
*
1780 - Never-explained
complete darkness falls on
Eastern Canada and the
New England area of the
United States at 2 pm.
*
1802 - The
Légion d'Honneur is founded by
Napoleon Bonaparte.
*
1828 -
U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the
Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting
wool manufacturers in the
United States.
*
1848 -
Mexican-American War:
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo –
Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding
California,
Nevada,
Utah and parts of five other modern-day
U.S. states to the
USA for
USD $15 million.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
*
1897 -
Oscar Wilde is released from
Reading Gaol.
*
1919 - In
Turkey,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moves to
Samsun from
Istanbul with a few followers, to oppose the
Ottoman government, which eventually leads to the
Turkish War of Independence.
*
1921 - The
Emergency Quota Act passes the
U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on
immigration*
1922 -
Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.
*
1943 -
World War II:
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set
Monday,
May 1,
1944 as the date for the cross-
English Channel landing (
D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather).
*
1961 -
Venera program:
Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing
Venus (the probe had lost contact with
Earth a month earlier and did not send back data).
*
1962 - A birthday salute to
U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at
Madison Square Garden,
New York. The highlight is
Marilyn Monroe's infamous rendition of
Happy Birthday.
*
1971 -
Mars probe program:
Mars 2 is launched by the
Soviet Union.
*
1593 -
Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (d.
1678)
*
1700 -
José de Escandón, Spanish colonial governor (d.
1770)
*
1724 -
Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (d.
1779)
*
1744 -
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d.
1818)
*
1762 -
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (d.
1814)
*
1773 -
Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer (d.
1854)
*
1795 -
Johns Hopkins, American philanthropist (d.
1873)
*
1827 -
Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (d.
1896)
*
1861 -
Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer (d.
1931)
*
1862 -
Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d.
1942)
*
1870 -
Albert Fish, American serial killer and cannibal (d.
1936)
*
1874 -
Gilbert Jessop; English cricketer (d.
1955)
*
1879 -
Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (d.
1964)
*
1880 - Sir
Albert Richardson, English architect (d.
1964)
*
1882 -
Mohammed Mossadegh,
Prime Minister of Iran (d.
1967)
*
1890 -
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader (d.
1969)
*
1891 -
Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d.
1916)
*
1897 -
Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d.
1918)
*
1898 -
Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (d.
1974)
*
1908 -
Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d.
1982)
*
1909 -
Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor
*
1914 -
Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d.
2002)
* 1914 -
Go Seigen, Japanese Go player
*
1921 -
Yuri Kochiyama, American civil rights activist
* 1921 -
Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d.
1999)
*
1924 -
Sandy Wilson, British composer
*
1925 -
Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (d.
1965)
* 1925 -
Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator and mass murderer (d.
1998)
* 1925 -
Guy Provost, French Canadian actor (d.
2004)
*
1926 -
Swami Kriyananda, spiritual teacher and author
*
1928 -
Colin Chapman, British automobile founder of
Lotus Cars (d.
1982)
* 1928 -
Dolph Schayes, NBA Player and Coach
*
1929 -
John H. Stroger, Jr. Chicago politician
*
1930 -
Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright (d.
1965)
*
1931 -
Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
*
1932 -
Alma Cogan, English singer (d.
1966)
*
1934 -
Jim Lehrer, American television journalist
*
1939 -
Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
* 1939 -
Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong actress
* 1939 -
Dick Scobee, astronaut (d.
1986)
*
1940 -
Mickey Newbury, American musician
* 1940 -
Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
*
1941 -
Nora Ephron, American screenwriter
*
1942 -
Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (d.
1994)
*
1944 -
Peter Mayhew, British-American actor
*
1945 -
Pete Townshend, English guitarist and lyricist
*
1946 -
André the Giant, French professional wrestler (d.
1993)
* 1946 -
Claude Lelièvre, Belgian Commissioner for Children's Rights
*
1947 -
Paul Brady, Northern Ireland singer/songwriter
* 1947 -
David Helfgott, Australian pianist
*
1948 -
Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
*
1949 -
Archie Manning, American football player
* 1949 -
Dusty Hill, American blues rock singer/bassist (
ZZ Top)
*
1951 -
Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (
The Ramones) (d.
2001)
*
1952 -
Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
*
1953 -
Victoria Wood, British comic actress
* 1953 -
Dawud M. Mu'Min, American convicted murderer (d.
1997)
*
1954 -
Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (
AC/DC)
*
1956 -
James Gosling, Canadian computer programmer
*
1957 -
Bill Laimbeer, NBA Player and Coach
*
1963 -
Yazz, British singer
*
1966 -
Polly Walker, British actress
*
1968 -
Kyle Eastwood, jazz musician, actor and son of
Clint Eastwood*
1971 -
Dionicio Castellanos, Mexican professional wrestler
*
1972 -
Jenny Berggren, Swedish singer (
Ace of Base)
*
1973 -
Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver
*
1975 -
London Fletcher, American football player
*
1976 -
Kevin Garnett and
Ed Cota, American basketball players
*
1977 -
Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer
*
1978 -
Marcus Bent, English footballer
*
1979 -
Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer
* 1979 -
Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer
*
1980 -
Drew Fuller, American actor/model
*
1981 -
Luciano Figueroa, Argentinian footballer
* 1981 -
Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
*
1982 -
Kevin Amankwaah, English footballer
*
1984 -
Marcedes Lewis, American football player
*
1988 -
Lily Cole, English model/actress
*
804 -
Alcuin, English monk (b. c.
735)
*
988 -
Dunstan,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
909)
*
1102 -
Stephen, Count of Blois*
1125 -
Vladimir Monomakh, Russian prince (b.
1053)
*
1296 -
Pope Celestine V (b.
1215)
*
1319 -
Louis d'Évreux, son of
Philip III of France (b.
1276)
*
1389 -
Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b.
1350)
*
1526 -
Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b.
1464)
*
1531 -
Jan Łaski, Polish statesman and diplomat (b.
1456)
*
1536 -
Anne Boleyn, second wife of
Henry VIII of England (executed)
*
1601 -
Costanzo Porta, Italian composer
*
1610 -
Thomas Sanchez, Spanish theologian (b.
1550)
*
1637 -
Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b.
1588)
*
1645 -
Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman
*
1715 -
Charles Montagu,
Chancellor of the Exchequer (b.
1661)
*
1786 -
John Stanley, English composer (b.
1712)
*
1795 -
Josiah Bartlett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b.
1729)
* 1795 -
James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b.
1740)
*
1798 -
William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (b.
1722)
*
1821 -
Camille Jordan, French politician (b.
1771)
*
1825 -
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, French political philosopher (b.
1760)
*
1864 -
Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (b.
1804)
*
1876 -
Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch politician (b.
1801)
*
1885 -
Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b.
1809)
*
1895 -
José Martí, Cuban independence leader (b.
1853)
*
1898 -
William Ewart Gladstone,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1809)
*
1904 -
Auguste Molinier, French historian (b.
1851)
*
1907 -
Benjamin Baker, English engineer (b.
1840)
*
1912 -
Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (b.
1847)
*
1918 -
Raoul Lufbery, French-American World War I fighter pilot and flying ace (b.
1885)
*
1935 -
T. E. Lawrence, English soldier (b.
1888)
*
1943 -
Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (b.
1865)
*
1946 -
Booth Tarkington, American novelist (b.
1869)
*
1954 -
Charles Ives, American composer (b.
1874)
*
1958 -
Ronald Colman, English actor (b.
1891)
*
1965 -
Tui Malila, world's oldest tortoise (b.
1773 or
1777)
*
1969 -
Coleman Hawkins, American musician (b.
1901)
*
1971 -
Ogden Nash, American poet (b.
1902)
*
1983 -
Jean Rey,
President of the European Commission (b.
1902)
*
1984 -
John Betjeman, English poet (b.
1906)
*
1987 -
James Tiptree, Jr, American author (b.
1915)
*
1989 -
CLR James, West Indian writer and journalist (b.
1901)
*
1994 -
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy,
First Lady of the United States (b.
1929)
* 1994 -
Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b.
1945)
*
1998 -
Uno Sosuke, Japanese prime minister (b.
1922)
*
2000 -
Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b.
1933)
*
2002 -
John Gorton, nineteenth
Prime Minister of Australia (b.
1911)
* 2002 -
Walter Lord, American writer (b.
1917)
*
2004 -
Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (b.
1907)
*
2005 -
Henry Corden, American actor and voice artist (b.
1921)
*
2006 -
Alexandrina van Donkelaar-Vink, oldest Dutch citizen (b.
1895)
* 2006 -
Freddie Garrity, English lead singer from the band
Freddie and the Dreamers (b.
1940)
*
Feast day of the following
saints in the
Roman Catholic Church:
**
Dunstan**
Peter Celestine**
Ives**
Emiliana**
Pudentiana**
Theophilus of Corte*Commemoration of
Atatürk,
Youth and
Sports Day in
Turkey (
1919).
*Commemoration of
Pontian Greeks Genocide in
Greece.
*
NASCAR Day
USA.(
2006)
*National Hug-Your-Cat Day
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaMay 18 -
May 20 -
April 19 -
June 19 –
listing of all days
