Anniversaries

Births: Il Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola), painter, 1503; Adam Frans van der Meulen, painter, 1632; Daniel Dancer, miser, 1716; Alexander Hamilton, statesman, 1755; William Thomas Brande, chemist, 1788; John Payne Collier, Shakespearean critic, 1789; Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, New York, 1807; John Lodge Ellerton, composer, 1807; Sir John Alexander Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada, 1815; Alexander Helwig Wyant, landscape painter, 1836; Otto Dienel, organist and teacher, 1839; William James, philosopher and psychologist, 1842; Christian August Sinding, pianist and composer, 1856; Fred Archer, jockey, 1857; George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India, 1859; Henry Gordon Selfridge, founder of the Selfridge's store, 1864; Reinhold Moritzovich Gliere, composer, 1875; Maurice Durufle, organist and composer, 1902; Manfred Bennington Lee (Lepovsky), author, of the 'Ellery Queen' partnership, 1905; Pierre Mendes-France, politician, 1907.

Deaths: Domenico (de Tommaso Bigordi) Ghirlandaio, painter, 1494; Sir Hans Sloane, physician and naturalist, 1753; Louis-Francois Roubillac (Roubiliac), sculptor, 1762; Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, Cossack rebel leader, 1775; Timothy Dwight, scholar and poet, 1817; Friedrich von Schlegel, poet, 1829; Francois Gerard, Baron, painter, 1837; Francis Scott Key, attorney and poet, author of 'The Star Spangled Banner', 1843; Theodor Schwann, anatomist and physiologist, 1882; Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, rebuilder of Paris, 1891; Thomas Gordon Hake, physician and poet, 1895; Thomas Hardy, poet and novelist, 1928; Galeazzo Ciano, conte di Cortellazzo, diplomat, shot by pro-Mussolini partisans 1944; Caradoc Evans, novelist, 1945; Oscar Straus, composer, 1954; Alberto Giacometti, sculptor and painter, 1966; Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India, 1966; Richmal Crompton (Lamburn), author and creator of 'William', 1969; Padraic Colum, poet and founder of the Irish National Theatre, 1972; Barbara Mary Pym, novelist, 1980; Malcolm John MacDonald, diplomat, 1981; Nikolai Podgorny, Soviet leader, 1983; Jack LaRue (Gaspare Biondolillo), actor, 1984.

On this day: the Dutch surrendered Trincomalee, Ceylon, to the British, 1782; Matthew Flinders and George Bass returned to Port Jackson, having proved that Tasmania was an island, 1799; Joachim Murat deserted Napoleon and joined the Allies, 1814; Benito Juarez returned to Mexico City, 1861; Charing Cross station, London, was formally opened, 1864; Major Esterhazy, on trial for forgery in the Dreyfus case, was acquitted, 1898; the Representation of the People Bill was passed, giving votes to women, 1918; the first women jurors were sworn in at the Old Bailey, 1921; the Ruhr was occupied by French and Belgian troops, following the failure of Germany to pay reparations, 1923; King Zog was dethroned, and Albania was declared a republic, 1946; after a landslide down Huascaran, Peru, 3,000 people were killed, 1962; the Open University awarded its first degrees, 1973; following the journey of Captain Scott in 1912, three Britons made a 883-mile walk to the South Pole, 1986.

Today is the Feast Day of St Theodosius the Cenobiarch and St Salvius or Sauve of Amiens.