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William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

The Right Honourable William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). He was a notable political reformer, known for his populist speeches, and was for many years the main political rival of Benjamin Disraeli. Gladstone was famously at odds with Queen Victoria for much of his career. She once complained, "He always addresses me as if I were a public meeting." Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as the "Grand Old Man" or "The People's William."

Early life

Born in Liverpool in 1809, William Ewart Gladstone was the fourth son of the merchant Sir John Gladstones and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson. The final "s" was later dropped from the family surname to make it easier to pronounce. Sir John Gladstones Although Gladstone was born and brought up in Liverpool, and always retained a touch of Lancashire accent, he was of Scottish descent on both of his parents' sides. William was educated at Eton College, and in 1828 matriculated at Christ Church College, Oxford where he took classics and mathematics, which he had no great interest in, in order to obtain a double first. In December 1831 he sat his final examinations and found out on the same day that he had achieved a double first. Gladstone was a President of the Oxford Union debating society where he developed a reputation as a fine orator, a reputation that followed him into the House of Commons. At university Gladstone was a Tory and denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform. He was first elected to Parliament in 1832 as Conservative MP for Newark. Initially he was extremely reactionary (High Toryism), opposing the abolition of slavery and factory legislation. In 1838 he published a book The State in its Relations with the Church, which argued that the goal of the state should be to promote and defend the interests of the Church of England. In 1839 he married Catherine Glynne, to whom he remained married for 49 years. In 1840 Gladstone began his rescue and rehabilitation of London prostitutes. He would walk the London streets and try to convince prostitutes to change their ways.

Minister under Peel

Gladstone was re-elected in 1841. In September 1842 he lost the forefinger of his left hand in an accident while reloading a gun, thereafter he wore a glove or finger sheath (stall). In the second ministry of Robert Peel he served as President of the Board of Trade (1843–1844). He resigned in 1845 on a matter of conscience — the Maynooth Seminary issue. In order to improve relations with Irish Catholics Peel's government proposed increasing the annual grant paid to the Maynooth Seminary for training Catholic priests. Gladstone had previously written a book in which he had argued that a Protestant country should not pay money to other churches. Even though Gladstone supported the increase in the Maynooth grant and voted for it in the commons he resigned rather than have opponents accuse him of compromising his principles in order to remain in office. On accepting his resignation Peel declared "I really have great difficulty sometimes in exactly comprehending what he means". Gladstone returned to Peel's government as Colonial Secretary in December. The following year the government fell over Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws and Gladstone followed his leader into detachment from the mainstream bulk of the Conservatives. After Peel's death in 1850, Gladstone would emerge as the leader of the Peelites in the House of Commons. As Chancellor he pushed to extend the free trade liberalisations in the 1840s and worked to reduce public expenditure. He also took his moral and religious ideals into politics, but in a progressive manner later called Gladstonian Liberalism. He was re-elected for the University of Oxford in 1847 and became a constant critic of Lord Palmerston. In 1848 he also founded the Church Penitentiary Association for the Reclamation of Fallen Women. In May 1849 he began his most active "rescue work" with "fallen women" and met prostitutes late at night either on the street, in his house or in their houses. He wrote their names in his notebook. He aided the House of Mercy at Clewer, near Windsor (which exercised extreme in-house discipline) and spent much time arranging employment for ex-prostitutes. His wife supported these activities. There is no evidence he ever actually used their services and in 1927 during a court case over claims in a book that he had improper relationships with some of these women the jury unanimously recorded that the evidence "completely vindicated the high moral character of the late Mr W.E. Gladstone." Gladstone did, from 1849 till 1859 mark his diary a character resembling a whip. It is believed this means he felt tempted, either by the prostitutes he helped or by "marginally salacious material" (as Roy Jenkins described it) and used self-flagellation as a means of repentance. This practice was also followed that time by Cardinal Newman and Edward Pusey.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

During his visit to Naples in 1850 he began to support Neapolitan opponents of the Bourbon rulers. In 1852, when Lord Aberdeen became premier, at the head of a coalition of Whigs and Peelites, Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1855 and unsuccessfully tried to abolish the income tax. Instead he ended up raising it because of the Crimean War. Lord Stanley became Prime Minister in 1858 but Gladstone declined a position in his government because he did not want to work with Benjamin Disraeli, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Lord Palmerston formed a new mixed government with Radicals added in 1859 and Gladstone joined again as Chancellor of the Exchequer, left the Conservatives and joined the newly formed Liberal Party. As Chancellor, he made a controversial speech which seemed to support the independence of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. Great Britain was officially neutral at the time, and Gladstone later regretted giving the speech. In 1864 he begun to support a Bill to lower the franchise qualification and angered both Palmerston and Queen Victoria. Because of this, in the general election of 1865 he lost his seat in Oxford, but was narrowly elected for South Lancashire. In 1858 Gladstone took up the hobby of tree felling, mostly of oak trees, which he continued with enthusiasm until 1891 at the age of 81. He became notorious for this activity which prompted Lord Randolph Churchill to comment "The forest laments, in order that Mr Gladstone may perspire."

First ministry, 1868–1874

Lord Russell retired in 1867 and Gladstone became a leader of the Liberal party. In the next general election in 1868 he was defeated in Lancashire but was elected as MP for Greenwich, candidates at that time being allowed to stand in two constituencies simultaneously. He became Prime Minister for the first time, and remained in the office until 1874. Gladstonian Liberalism was characterised, in the 1860s and 1870s, by a number of policies intended to improve individual liberty and loosen political and economic restraints. First was the minimization of public expenditure, on the basis that the economy and society were best helped by allowing people to spend as they saw fit. Secondly, a foreign policy aimed at promoting peace helped reduce expenditure and taxation as well as help trade. Thirdly, there was the reform of government institutions or laws that prevented people from acting freely to improve themselves. Gladstone's first premiership instituted reforms in the Army, Civil Service and local government to cut restrictions on individual advancement. He instituted the abolition of the sale of commissions in the army and court reorganization. In foreign affairs his over-riding aim was peace and understanding, characterized by his settlement of the Alabama Claims in 1872 in favour of the Americans. He transformed the Liberal party during his first premiership (following the enlarged electorate created by Disraeli's Reform Act of 1867). The 1867 Act gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency. Male lodgers paying £10 for (unfurnished) rooms also received the vote. This gave the vote to about 1,500,000 men. The Reform Act also changed the electoral map; constituencies and boroughs with less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs. The forty-five seats left available through the re-organization were distributed by: # giving fifteen to towns which had never had an MP; # giving one extra seat to some larger towns — Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds; # creating a seat for the University of London; # giving twenty-five seats to counties whose population had increased since 1832. The later 1884 Reform Act gave the counties the same franchise as the boroughs — adult male householders and £10 lodgers — and added about six million to the total number who could vote in parliamentary elections. The issue of Irish Church disestablishment was used by Gladstone to unite the liberal party for government in 1868. The Act was passed in 1869 and meant that Irish Catholics did not need to pay their tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland. He also instituted Cardwell's Army reform that made peacetime flogging illegal in 1869, and the Irish Land Act and Forster's Education Act in 1870. In 1871 he instituted the University Test Act. In 1872 he instituted the Ballot Act for secret voting ballots. In 1873 he passed laws restructuring the High Courts.

Out of Office and the Midlothian Campaign

In 1874 the Liberals lost the election. After the success of Benjamin Disraeli he temporarily retired from the political scene and the leadership of the Liberal party, although he retained his seat in the House. In 1876 he published a pamphlet, Bulgarian Horrors and the Questions of the East where he attacked the Disraeli government for its indifference to the violent repression of the Bulgarian rebellion in Ottoman Empire. A well-known excerpt illustrates his formidable rhetorical powers: "Let the Turks now carry away their abuses, in the only possible manner, namely, by carrying off themselves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis and Yuzbachis, their Kaimakans and their Pashas, one and all, bag and baggage, shall, I hope, clear out from the province that they have desolated and profaned. This thorough riddance, this most blessed deliverance, is the only reparation we can make to those heaps and heaps of dead, the violated purity alike of matron and of maiden and of child; to the civilization which has been affronted and shamed; to the laws of God, or, if you like, of Allah; to the moral sense of mankind at large. There is not a criminal in an European jail, there is not a criminal in the South Sea Islands, whose indignation would not rise and over-boil at the recital of that which has been done, which has too late been examined, but which remains unavenged, which has left behind all the foul and all the fierce passions which produced it and which may again spring up in another murderous harvest from the soil soaked and reeking with blood and in the air tainted with every imaginable deed of crime and shame. That such things should be done once is a damning disgrace to the portion of our race which did them; that the door should be left open to the ever so barely possible repetition would spread that shame over the world." During his election campaign (the so-called Midlothian campaign) in 1879 he spoke against Disraeli's foreign policies during the ongoing Second Anglo-Afghan War in Afghanistan. (See Great Game). He saw the war as "great dishonour," and also criticised British conduct in the Zulu War.

Second ministry, 1880–1885

In 1880 the Liberals won again, and the new Liberal leader Lord Hartington retired in Gladstone's favour. Gladstone won his constituency election in Midlothian and also in Leeds, where he had also been adopted as a candidate, only being able to serve as MP for one constituency Leeds was passed to his son Herbert. One of his other sons, Henry, was also elected as an MP. Queen Victoria asked Lord Hartington to form a ministry but he persuaded her to send for Gladstone. His second administration — both as PM and again as Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1882 — lasted from June 1880 to June 1885. He saw the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, first Boer War and British war against the Mahdi in Sudan. He also extended the franchise to agricultural labourers and others. In 1881 he also established the Irish Coercion Act that let the Viceroy detain people for as "long as was thought necessary." Parliamentary reform continued, however, and in 1884 Gladstone instituted the Redistribution of Seats Act. The fall of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan in 1885 was a major blow to Gladstone's popularity. Critics inverted his "G.O.M." nickname (for "Grand Old Man") to "M.O.G." (for "Murderer of Gordon"). Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister in 1885, and declined Victoria's offer of an Earldom.

Third ministry, 1886

Earl In 1886 his party was allied with Irish Nationalists to defeat Lord Salisbury's government; Gladstone regained his position as PM and combined the office with that of Lord Privy Seal. During this administration he introduced his Home Rule Bill for Ireland for the first time. The issue split the Liberal Party and the bill was thrown out on the second reading. The result was the end of his government after a few months and another government headed by Lord Salisbury.

Fourth ministry, 1892–1894

In 1892 Gladstone was re-elected a prime minister for the fourth time. In February 1893 he re-introduced a Home Rule Bill. It was essentially to form a parliament for Ireland, or in modern terminology, a regional assembly of the type Northern Ireland gained from the Good Friday Agreement. The Home Rule Bill did not offer Ireland independence, something which, in any case, was not the demand of the Irish Parliamentary Party. It was passed by the House of Commons and then rejected by the House of Lords, on the grounds that it went too far. On March 1 1894, in his last speech in the House of Commons, he asked his allies to destroy the veto of the House of Lords. He resigned two days later although he retained his seat in the Commons until 1895].

Final years

1895 In 1895 he bequethed 40,000 pounds and much of his library to found St Deiniol's Library, the only residential library in Britain. Despite being over 80 he carried most of the 23,000 books in a wheelbarrow the quarter of a mile to their new home himself. In 1896 he spoke in Liverpool, denouncing Armenian massacres by Ottomans. Gladstone died at Hawarden Castle, in 1898, aged 88, from cancer which had started behind the cheekbone and spread across his body. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. His coffin was transported on the London Underground. A statue of Gladstone, inaugurated in 1905, is situated at Aldwych, London nearby to the Royal Courts of Justice [http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/ee855fb0.html]. There is also a statue of him in Glasgow's George Square, and in other towns around the country. Liverpool's Crest Hotel was renamed The Gladstone Hotel in honour of Gladstone in the early 1990s.

Gladstone's Governments

- First Gladstone Ministry (December 1868–February 1874)
- Second Gladstone Ministry (April 1880–June 1885)
- Third Gladstone Ministry (February–August 1886)
- Fourth Gladstone Ministry (August 1892–February 1894)

Biographies

- D. W. Bebbington, William Ewart Gladstone
- Eric Brad, William Gladstone
- Osbert Burdett, W. E. Gladstone (1928)
- Philip Magnus, Gladstone: A Biography (1954)
- HC Matthew, Gladstone: 1809-98
- Roy Jenkins, Gladstone (1995) (ISBN 0333662091)

Political offices

External links

- Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart ja:ウィリアム・グラッドストン

The Right Honourable

The Right Honourable (abbreviated "The Rt Hon." or "The Right Hon.") is an honorific prefix which is traditionally applied to certain classes of people in the United Kingdom, Canada, and other Commonwealth Realms.

Entitlement

People entitled to the prefix in a personal capacity are:
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the Privy Council of Northern Ireland
- This includes all current and former members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, which is a committee of the Privy Council;
- Barons, viscounts and earls (marquesses are "The Most Honourable" and dukes are "The Most Noble" or "His Grace", and, if Privy Councillors, retain these higher styles); and
- The holders of certain offices of state in some Commonwealth realms (e.g. in Canada, the Governor General, Prime Minister and Chief Justice). In order to differentiate peers who are Privy Counsellors from those who are not, sometimes the suffix PC is added to the title. In addition some people are entitled to the prefix in an official capacity, i.e. the prefix is added to the name of the office, but not the name of the person:
- The Lord Mayors of London, Dublin, Cardiff, Belfast, York and Bristol; and of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart; and
- The Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow. All other Lord Mayors and Lord Provosts are "The Right Worshipful".

Corporate entities

The prefix is also added to the name of various corporate entities, e.g.:
- The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal (of the United Kingdom &c.) in Parliament Assembled (the House of Lords);
- The Right Honourable the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses (now usually the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom &c.) in Parliament Assembled (the House of Commons); and
- The Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (the Board of Admiralty)
- The Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations (the Board of Trade) See also the corporate use of "Most Honourable," as in "The Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council" (the Privy Council).

Use of the honorific

The honorific is normally only used on the front of envelopes and other written documents: for example, The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP is otherwise referred to simply as "Mr Blair". In the House of Commons, members refer to each other as "the honourable member for ..." or "the right honourable member for ..." depending upon whether or not they are Privy Counsellors. However the title "the honourable member" is only a parliamentary term and is not used outside the House. When a married woman holds this style, she uses her own given name in her style. So, when Mrs. Denis Thatcher was made a Privy Counsellor, she didn't become The Right Honourable Mrs. Denis Thatcher or The Right Honourable Mrs Thatcher, but became The Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher.

Outside the United Kingdom

Generally within the Commonwealth, ministers and judges are The Honourable unless they are appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, in which case they are The Right Honourable. Such persons generally include Prime Ministers and judges of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, and several other Commonwealth prime ministers.

Australia

In Australia some Premiers of the Australian colonies in the 19th century were appointed members of the UK Privy Council and were thus entitled to be called The Right Honourable. After Federation in 1901, the Governor-General, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the Prime Minister and some other senior ministers held the title. There has never been an Australian Privy Council. In 1972 Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam declined appointment to the Privy Council, but the practice was resumed by Malcolm Fraser in 1975. In 1983 Bob Hawke declined the appointment, and the appointment of Australians to the Privy Council was abolished shortly thereafter. The last Governor-General to be entitled to the style was Ninian Stephen. The last politician to be entitled to the style was Ian Sinclair, who retired in 1998. The only living Australians holding the title The Right Honourable for life are:
- Doug Anthony, former Deputy Prime Minister
- Sir Zelman Cowen, former Governor-General
- Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister
- Ian Sinclair, former Leader of the National Party and Speaker of the House of Representatives
- Sir Ninian Stephen, former Governor-General
- Reginald Withers, former Senator, Minister, and Lord Mayor of Perth. The Lord Mayors of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart are styled The Right Honourable, but the style (which has no connection with the Privy Council) attaches to the title of Lord Mayor, and not to their names, and is relinquished upon leaving office.

Canada

In Canada, members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada receive the honorific The Honourable, with only the occupants of the most senior public offices being made The Right Honourable, as they used to be appointed to the British Privy Council. L'Honorable and le Très Honorable are used in French by the federal government, but the Office québécois de la langue française (the Quebec government body setting standards for the French language) considers them improper loan expressions and advises the use of Monsieur and Madame (Mr. and Ms.) instead. Although appointments of Canadians to the British Privy Council have ceased, the following public servants are domestically awarded the style The Right Honourable for life:
- the Governor General of Canada
- the Prime Minister of Canada
- the Chief Justice of Canada. (Governors General also use the style His/Her Excellency during their term of office.) Several prominent Canadians (mostly politicians) have become members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and have thus been entitled to use the title Right Honourable, either because of their services in Britain (e.g. serving as envoys to London) or as members of the Imperial War Cabinet, or due to their prominence in the Canadian Cabinet. These include:
- Sir John A. Macdonald (1879)1
- Sir John Rose (1886)
- Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (1894)1
- Sir Samuel Henry Strong (1897)4
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1897)1
- Sir Richard John Cartwright (1902)
- Sir Henri Elzéar Taschereau (1904)4
- Sir Charles Tupper (1907)1
- Sir Charles Fitzpatrick (1908)4
- Sir Robert Laird Borden (1912)1
- Sir George Eulas Foster (1916)
- Sir Louis Henry Davies (1919)4
- Lyman Poore Duff (1919)6
- Arthur Lewis Sifton (1920)
- Arthur Meighen (1920)1
- Charles Doherty (1920)
- Sir William Thomas White (1920)
- William Lyon Mackenzie King (1922)1
- William Stevens Fielding (1923)
- Francis Alexander Anglin (1925)4
- Sir William Mulock (1925)
- George Perry Graham (1925)
- R.B. Bennett (1930)1
- Sir George Halsey Perley (1931)
- Ernest Lapointe (1937)
- Vincent Massey (1941)3
- Raoul Dandurand (1941)
- Louis St. Laurent (1946)2
- James Lorimer Ilsley (1946)
- Clarence Decatur Howe (1946)
- Ian Alistair Mackenzie (1947)
- James Garfield Gardiner (1947)
- Thibaudeau Rinfret (1947)4
- John George Diefenbaker (1957)1
- Georges-Philéas Vanier (1963)5
- Lester Bowles Pearson (1963)1 1 - As Prime Minister. 2 - Tupper was appointed when he was no longer Prime Minister and St. Laurent was appointed when he was a cabinet minister under Mackenzie King. 3 - Massey became Governor General over a decade later. He was made "Right Honourable" while serving as Canada's High Commissioner to London. 4 - As Chief Justice of Canada 5 - As Governor General of Canada. 6 - Duff did not become Chief Justice until 1933. Canadian appointments to the British Privy Council were ended by the government of Lester Pearson. Since then, the style may only be granted for life by the Governor General to eminent Canadians who have not held any of the offices that would otherwise entitle them to the style. It has been granted to the following individuals:
- Paul Joseph James Martin (1992)
- Martial Asselin (1992)
- Ellen Fairclough (1992)
- Jean-Luc Pépin (1992)
- Alvin Hamilton (1992)
- Don Mazankowski (1992)
- Jack Pickersgill (1992)
- Robert Stanfield (1992)
- Herb Gray (2002)

Ireland

The Irish Privy Council was abolished with the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922; nevertheless the Lord Mayor of Dublin, like his counterparts in the United Kingdom, retains the usage of the honorific; the Lord Mayor of Cork has never been entitled to the title. The remaining members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland are entitled to be styled The Right Honourable.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the Prime Minister is customarily appointed to the British Privy Council and is styled The Right Honourable. However, the current Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has not recommended any new Privy Counsellors. The Governor-General is also usually a Privy Counsellor, but the current Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, is not. In any case the Governor-General as a plenipotentiary representative is entitled to the style "Excellency". At present there are only two Privy Counsellors in the New Zealand Parliament, both appointed by previous Prime Ministers: Helen Clark (appointed by Jim Bolger upon becoming Leader of the Opposition in 1993) and Winston Peters, leader of New Zealand First (appointed by Jim Bolger upon becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer in 1996). Privy Counsellors recently retired include the former Speaker of the House, Jonathan Hunt (appointed by Geoffrey Palmer in recognition of long service in 1989), who retired from Parliament in 2005 to become New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley (appointed upon becoming Prime Minister in 1997), who stepped down from Parliament at the 2002 election.

External links

- [http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/pe/titre_e.cfm Current list of Canadian notables possessing some form of honorific] (incl. Rt. Hon.) Category:Titles

29 December

December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining.

Events

- 1170 - Thomas Becket is slain in his own cathedral on orders from Henry II of England.
- 1813 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.
- 1845 - Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
- 1851 - The first American-based YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1860 - The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, the HMS Warrior is launched.
- 1862 - American Civil War: End of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.
- 1876 - The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, 64 injured, 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
- 1890 - Wounded Knee Massacre: The United States soldiers massacred over 400 men, women and children of the Great Sioux Nation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
- 1891 - Thomas Edison patents the radio.
- 1911 - Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China
- 1913 - The first serial motion picture, The Unwelcome Throne is released by Seligs Polyscope Company.
- 1921 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada
- 1934 - The first college basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York City is played, between the University of Notre Dame and New York University
- 1934 - Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
- 1937 - The Irish Free State was replaced by a new state called Ireland when a new constitution was adopted.
- 1940 - Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians
- 1949 - KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
- 1972 - An Eastern Airlines Lockheed Tristar crashed on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101
- 1975 - A bomb explodes at New York City's LaGuardia Airport killing 11.
- 1987 - Yuri Romanenko of USSR remained in space for 326 days and came back to Earth on this day that year.
- 1989 - Václav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia
- 1989 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
- 1989 - On the final day of trading for the year and decade, the Japanese Nikkei 225 Average closes at an all-time high of 38,915.87.
- 1992 - Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, resigned.
- 1993 - Construction of the Tian Tan Buddha, the world's tallest outdoor bronze statue of the seated Buddha, was completed.
- 1996 - Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord that ends a 36 year civil war.
- 1997 - Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
- 1998 - Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million in the 1970s.
- 2001 - A massive fire in the historic district of downtown Lima kills at least 274 people.

Births

- 1709 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)
- 1721 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XIV of France (d. 1764)
- 1796 - Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877)
- 1800 - Charles Goodyear, American inventor and businessman (d. 1860)
- 1808 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
- 1809 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1897)
- 1816 - Carl Ludwig, German physician (b. 1895)
- 1840 - Anton Dohrn, German zoologist (d. 1909)
- 1876 - Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (d. 1973)
- 1881 - Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968)
- 1908 - Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)
- 1910 - Ronald Coase, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1914 - Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989)
- 1914 - Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d 1999)
- 1917 - Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles, California (d. 1998)
- 1927 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete d. (1985)
- 1931 - Prince Gu of Korea (d. 2005)
- 1934 - Tom Jarriel, American correspondent
- 1936 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
- 1936 - Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
- 1937 - Barbara Steele, British actress
- 1938 - Jon Voight, American actor
- 1942 - Rick Danko, Canadian musician (The Band) (d. 1999)
- 1946 - Marianne Faithfull, English singer
- 1947 - Ted Danson, American actor
- 1952 - Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
- 1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer
- 1954 - Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter
- 1963 - Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
- 1963 - Dave McKean, English artist and filmmaker
- 1965 - Dexter Holland, American singer and guitarist (The Offspring)
- 1967 - Andy Wachowski, American director
- 1970 - Aled Jones, Welsh singer and television presenter
- 1970 - Kevin Weisman, American actor
- 1972 - Jason Kreis, American soccer player
- 1972 - Jude Law, English actor
- 1973 - Theo Epstein, baseball general manager
- 1974 - Richie Sexson, baseball player
- 1978 - Alexis Amore, Peruvian actress, dancer, and model
- 1978 - Kieron Dyer, English footballer
- 1978 - LaToya London, American singer
- 1981 - Angela Via, American singer

Deaths

- 1170 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated)
- 1563 - Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b. 1515)
- 1634 - John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (b. 1612)
- 1661 - Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
- 1689 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
- 1731 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685)
- 1785 - Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
- 1825 - Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
- 1891 - Leopold Kronecker, mathematician (b. 1823)
- 1894 - Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
- 1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
- 1924 - Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1926 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)
- 1937 - Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)
- 1960 - Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
- 1967 - Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)
- 1980 - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
- 1980 - Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
- 1986 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
- 2003 - Earl Hindman, American actor (lung cancer) (b. 1942)
- 2003 - Dinsdale Landen, English actor (cancer) (b. 1932)
- 2003 - Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)
- 2004 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
- 2004 - Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances

- The fourth day of Christmas in Western Christianity

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/29 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/12/29 Today in History: December 29] ---- December 28 - December 30 - November 29 - January 29 -- listing of all days ko:12월 29일 ms:29 Disember ja:12月29日 simple:December 29 th:29 ธันวาคม

19 May

May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). There are 226 days remaining.

Events

- 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.
- 1932 - The gangster film Scarface: The Shame of a Nation opens at the Rialto Theater in Los Angeles, California.
- 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. Thirty-four years later, John F. Kennedy, Jr. had actress Drew Barrymore pose as Monroe for the cover of George magazine with the heading "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in honor of then-President Bill Clinton turning 50.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: The United States Air Force begins Operation Yankee Team.
- 1971 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
- 1987 - The Berillsemann was born.
- 1991 - Willy T. Ribbs becomes the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
- 2005 - Clarence Richard Silva, Bishop-elect of Honolulu, retreats to Kalaupapa to pray at the onset of his episcopal ministry
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is released. Entire Saga estimated to have made over $20 billion US

Births

1593 to 1899

- 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)
- 1870 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (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)

1900 to 1999

- 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 (d. 1998)
- 1926 - Swami Kriyananda, spiritual teacher and author
- 1930 - Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright (d. 1965)
- 1931 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
- 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
- 1941 - Nora Ephron, American screenwriter
- 1942 - Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (d. 1994)
- 1944 - Peter Mayhew, British actor
- 1945 - Pete Townshend, English guitarist and lyricist
- 1946 - André the Giant, French professional wrestler (d. 1993)
- 1946 - Claude Lelièvre, Belgian Commissioner for Children Rights
- 1948 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
- 1949 - Archie Manning, American football player
- 1951 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (d. 2001)
- 1952 - Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
- 1953 - Victoria Wood, British comic actress
- 1954 - Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)
- 1956 - James Gosling, Canadian computer programmer
- 1963 - Yazz, British singer
- 1966 - Polly Walker, British actress
- 1973 - Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver
- 1975 - Sebastien Adjiman, Israeli business man
- 1975 - London Fletcher, American football player
- 1976 - Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
- 1977 - Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer
- 1978 - Marcus Bent, English footballer
- 1980 - Said Arana Gómez,
- 1981 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer

Deaths

804 to 1899

- 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, queen 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)

1900 to 1999

- 1904 - Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)
- 1907 - Benjamin Baker, English engineer (b. 1840)
- 1909 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer (b. 1860)
- 1912 - Boleslaw Prus, Polish writer (b. 1847)
- 1918 - Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot (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)
- 1998 - Uno Sosuke, Japanese prime minister (b. 1922)

2000 onwards

- 2000 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)
- 2002 - John Gorton, nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
- 2001 - Alexei Petrovich Maresiev, Russian flying ace (b. 1916)
- 2002 - Walter Lord, American writer (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (b. 1907)
- 2005 - Henry Corden, Canadian voice actor (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

- 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)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/19 BBC: On This Day] ---- May 18 - May 20 - April 19 - June 19 – listing of all days ko:5월 19일 ms:19 Mei ja:5月19日 simple:May 19 th:19 พฤษภาคม

1898

1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events

January

- January 1 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.
- January 13 - Emile Zola's J'accuse exposes the Dreyfus affair.

February

- February 7 - Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse
- February 12 - Henry Lindfield, dies in England. Lindfield was the first fatality from an automobile accident.
- February 15 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba for then unknown reasons killing more than 260. This event helped lead the United States to declare war on Spain.
- February 23 - Emile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse" which was a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Alfred Dreyfus in jail.

March

- March 24 - Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that was advertised in Scientific American.
- March 26 - The Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa, the first officially designated game reserve

April

- April 22 - Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
- April 25 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain; the U.S. Congress announces that a state of war has existed since April 21 (later backdating one more day to April 20).

May

- May 7 - General Bava-Beccaris killed 80 demonstrants in Milan, Italy shooting on a rally; King of Italy Umberto I will be killed two years after to avenge this shooting.

June

Umberto I
- June 1 - The Trans-Mississippi Exposition world's fair opens in Omaha, Nebraska.
- June 12 - Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.
- June 13 - Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
- June 17 - The Navy Hospital Corps is established.

July

- July 3 - Joshua Slocum completes a 3-year solo circumnavigation
- July 7 - The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
- July 17 - Spanish-American War: Battle of Santiago Bay - Troops under United States General William R. Shafter take the city of Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
- July 25 - Spanish-American War: The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins with a landing at Guánica Bay.

August

- August 28- Caleb Bradham starts to use for his soft drink the name Pepsi-Cola.

September

- September 2 - Battle of Omdurman - British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan.
- September 10 - Luigi Lucheni assassinates Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary
- September 21 - Empress Dowager Cixi of China engineered a coup d'etat and it marks the end of Hundred Days' Reform. Guangxu Emperor was arrested.

October

- October 1 - The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.

December

- December 10 - The Treaty of Peace ending the Spanish-American War is signed in Paris.
- December 26 ? Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium
- Fashoda incident -- diplomatic dispute between France and the United Kingdom.
- John Henry Patterson kills the man-eating lions of Tsavo which were delaying the building of the Uganda Railway as described in the book "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo"
- Exploits of Louis de Rougemont begin to appear in the Wide World Magazine
- North Petherton becomes the first town in England to install Acetylene lighting.
- John Jacob Abel isolates epinephrine (adrenaline).
- William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon

Births

January to March

- January 16 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
- January 21 - Ahmad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia (d. 1930)
- January 23 - Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director (d. 1948)
- January 23 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
- February 3 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
- February 10 - Bertolt Brecht, German writer (d. 1956)
- February 14 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
- February 15 - Allen Woodring, American runner (d. 1982)
- February 17 - Thomas Coleman Lowry, New Zealand cricket captains (d. 1976)
- February 18 - Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and automobile manufacturer (d. 1988)
- February 18 - Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician (d. 1980)
- February 24 - Kurt Tank, German aeronautical engineer (d. 1983)
- February 28 - Hugh O'Flaherty, Irish Catholic priest (d. 1963)
- March 11 - Dorothy Gish, American actress (d. 1968)

April to June

- April 1 - William James Sidis, American mathematician (d. 1944)
- April 3 - George Jessel, American comedian (d. 1981)
- April 4 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
- April 6 - Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter (d. 1920)
- April 26 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- April 26 - John Grierson, Scottish documentary filmmaker (d. 1972)
- May 3 - Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
- May 15 - Arletty, French model and actress (d. 1992)
- May 17 - Alfred Joseph Casson, Canadian painter (d. 1992)
- May 21 - Armand Hammer, American entrepreneur and art collector (d. 1990)
- May 23 - Scott O'Dell, American author (d. 1989)
- May 31 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
- June 4 - Harry Crosby, American publisher and poet (d. 1929)
- June 5 - Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet (d. 1936)
- June 17 - M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (d. 1972)
- June 22 - Erich Maria Remarque, German writer (d. 1970)

July to September

- July 2 - Gen Paul, French artist (d. 1975)
- July 3 - Donald Healey, English motor engineer and race car driver (d. 1988)
- July 6 - Hanns Eisler, German composer (d. 1962)
- July 17 - Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
- July 22 - Stephen Vincent Benet, American writer (d. 1943)
- July 22 - Alexander Calder, American artist (d. 1976)
- July 29 - Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- July 30 - Henry Moore, English sculptor (d. 1986)
- August 26 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979)
- August 29 - Preston Sturges, American director and writer (d. 1959)
- September 13 - Roger Désormière, French conductor (d. 1963)
- September 22 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (d. 1981)
- September 24 - Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1968)
- September 25 - Robert Brackman American artist (d. 1980)
- September 26 - George Gershwin, American composer (d. 1937)
- September 30 -