29th of September 1464-Elizabeth Woodville is formally introduced to the royal council and acknowledged as Queen of England at Reading
Elizabeth was formally introduced to the court on Michaelmas Day, when the Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick escorted her into the chapel of Reading Abbey. There she was ‘openly honoured as queen by all the lords and all the people’, although Warwick’s close associate, John Lord Wenlock, probably expressed the feelings of many when he wrote ‘we must be patient despite ourselves’.
The idea of a young, handsome king marrying for love on Mayday may have been borrowed from romantic tradition and Edward, who was constantly attended by courtiers and had virtually no privacy, would have found it difficult to meet his bride secretly over a period of almost five months… But if some of the details of the tradition are speculative, it is clear that there was little time between the proposal and the marriage, and that Elizabeth was surprised by the speed of events… many contemporaries would probably have agreed with Charles Ross that it was the ‘the impulsive love match of an impetuous young man’.
From David Baldwin’s Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower
after being shot two days earlier, Huey Long died in Baton Rogue, Louisiana; a month after he announced his plans to run for the president.
On the day of the shooting, Long was at the State Capitol building, trying to push out Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy with a re-redistricting plan (”House Bill Number One”). It was Long’s top priority sense the passing of the bill would remove Pavy from the bench. The session that would determine whether or not the bill would be passed was going on all day, even until 9 p.m. Throughout the day, Dr. Carl Weiss (Pavy’s son-in-law) was trying to get a moment alone with Long so that they could speak. But Long and his body guards brushed him off each time while passing in the hallway.
At 9:20 p.m., shortly after the house finally passed the bill that Long had wanted so much, Weiss approached the Senator for the final time. The generally accepted version of what happened in the hall of the Old Statue Capitol building is that when Weiss approached Long, he got into four feet from him and then shot him in the abdomen once with a handgun. After the shot was fired, Long’s bodyguards began firing their own guns are Weiss, shooting him a total of 62 times.
Long was rushed to the hospital and died two days later at 4:10 a.m. His last words are reported to be, “God, don’t let me die. I have so much to do.” LSU historian, T. Harry Williams has suggested that Long could have possibly survived with better medical care. but Edgar Hall (who was among those that were called to treat Long’s wound) denies that his death was a result of medical or surgical incompetence.
In a 2014 documentary about the event called 61 Bullets, directed by Louisiana Kreutz and David Modigliani, questions whether or not Dr. Carl Weiss actually murdered Huey Long. While the documentary debates Weiss’ innocence in the case, historians do not accept the theory that Long actually died as a result of accidentally being hit by one of the bullets fired by his own bodyguards. However, a historical plaque adjacent to the Old State Capitol grounds, at the site of Dr. Carl Weiss’ home reads, “alleged assassin.”
On this day in 1739, the Stono slave rebellion - also known as Cato’s conspiracy - occurred in the British colony of South Carolina. The uprising was led by an Angolan slave called Jemmy (or, by some accounts, Cato), who assembled a group of twenty fellow slaves on the banks of the Stono river, just outside Charleston. They stole guns from a local store and marched south towards a promised freedom in Spanish Florida, bearing signs reading “Liberty!”. As they marched, the rebels descended on plantations, killing slaveowners and recruiting more slaves to join their band. The group of slaves, both men and women, ultimately numbered up to one hundred, but their march was halted by a militia of white colonists when they reached the Edisto river. Here, fighting led to the deaths of most of the slaves, with some escaping but eventually being captured and executed, or sent to the West Indies for sale. The Stono rebellion had a significant impact on the system of slavery in colonial South Carolina. While the uprising led to restrictions on slaveowners’ imposition of excessive work and punishments, the murder of over twenty whites during the rebellion prompted a harsh response from the legislature. Oppressive measures were passed to further curtail slave autonomy by banning them from growing their own food, assembling in groups, earning their own money, or learning to read. Of the 250 slave rebellions in American history, the Stono rebellion was the largest before the Revolution, making it an important, if little discussed, instance of enslaved Africans discarding the shackles of bondage and fighting for their freedom.
On this day in 1901, the Boxer Protocol was signed, thus ending the Boxer Rebellion. The rebellion began in 1900, led by a secret Chinese group called the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists (Yihequan). The organisation protested encroaching foreign imperialism with the spread of Western and Japanese influence in the country. These individuals targeted foreigners, symbols of foreign influence like churches and railroad stations, and Chinese people who adopted Western Christianity. The rebels, who were mostly peasants from poor provinces with a large European influence, were termed ‘Boxers’ due to their rigorous practice of martial arts, which they believed would make them impervious to bullets. By June the Boxers, who had the support of the conservative government and Qing dynasty, were besieging the foreign legation district of Peking (now Beijing), where foreigners and Chinese Christians had taken refuge. The Qing empress, sympathetic to the Boxer cause, blocked a small international contingent sent to combat the rebels, and declared war on foreign nations with ties to China, sending the imperial army to join the siege of the legation quarter. While some elements in the Chinese leadership favored conciliation, foreign nations were forced to respond to this declaration, and assembled an international force comprising 20,000 troops from Japan, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Eight-Nation Alliance captured Peking in August 1900, thus successfully subduing the rebellion, which officially ended with the Boxer Protocol in September 1901. This ‘unequal treaty’ ordered the execution of Boxer rebels and some government officials, stationed foreign troops in Peking, forbade China from importing arms for two years, and forced China to pay over $330 million in reparations. The Boxer Rebellion, and the humiliating stipulations of the protocol, severely weakened the Qing dynasty, paving the way for the uprising in 1911 which led to China becoming a republic.
#OnThisDay in 1633, Samuel Pepys was born. He is most well-known for his detailed diary that provides us a fascinating window into 17th century British life. He held many roles throughout his career but as Chief Secretary to the Admiralty he was instrumental in transforming a corrupt and inefficient Royal Navy in to a powerful fighting force that would be Central to the rapid growth of the British Empire.
Painting: ‘Portrait of Samuel Pepys’ (1666) by John Hayls, National Portrait Gallery, London.
Prince Henry the Navigator died on this day in history, 13 November 1460. He was instrumental in the rise of maritime exploration and was a key figure in initiating the Age of Discovery.
In 1987, just shy of her 85th birthday, Baltimore heroine, baseball enthusiast and volunteer “Aunt” Mary Dobkin passed away. Crippled by frostbite at a young age, Aunt Mary was a pioneer in working with children and developing baseball teams around the city to create safe havens for the children to stay out of trouble. Her activism was brought to national attention in 1979 when Jean Stapleton starred in the movie about her life entitled “Aunt Mary.” (Irving H. Phillips Jr., Baltimore Sun photo, 1979)
1762: Ann Franklin became the first female editor of an American newspaper, the Newport, R.I., Mercury.
1787: Inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates of the Continental Congress.
1902: President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. chief executive to ride in an automobile, in Hartford, Conn.
1911: It was announced in Paris that Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” had been stolen from the Louvre Museum the night before. (The painting turned up two years later, in Italy.)
In 1977, Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson officially retired as an active player. Robinson played for the Orioles for 23 seasons – his entire major league career – and 2,896 games. Above, Robinson rounds 3rd after hitting a home run against the A’s in 1971. (Carl D. Harris, Baltimore Sun photo)
1858: Senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held the first of their seven famous debates.
1944: The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened talks in Washington that helped pave the way for establishment of the United Nations.
1959: President Dwight Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state.
1994: On a vote of 235-195, the House approved a $30 billion crime bill that banned certain assault-style firearms.
In 1952, Baltimore’s infamous Grammer murder case began when a black Chrysler careened down Taylor Avenue toward Bel Air Road before flipping on its side. G. Edward Grammer was eventually convicted of first-degree murder for killing his wife and attempting to cover it up with the car accident. Above, Grammer is led out of Towson Court House before being taken to the scene of the crime. (Ellis Malashuk, Baltimore Sun file photo)
1866: The National Labor Union requested that Congress establish an eight-hour work day.
1964: President Lyndon Johnson signed a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.
1977: The United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.
2012: Phyllis Diller, a pioneering comic whose career spanned nearly 50 years, died; she was 95.
In 1780, Baron de Kalb, a major general in the American Revolutionary War, died from wounds he sustained while leading the Maryland Line in the Battle of Camden in South Carolina. A statue of him, shown above, now sits in front of the Maryland State House.
1848: The New York Herald reported the discovery of gold in California.
1929: The comedy program “Amos ’n’ Andy,” starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, made its coast-to-coast radio debut on NBC.
1977: Comedian Groucho Marx died in Los Angeles; he was 86.
1994: President Bill Clinton abruptly halted the nation’s three-decade-long open-door policy for Cuban refugees.
In 1930, Eastern Air Transport’s inaugural New York-to-Richmond, Va., air service touched down in Baltimore. The drop off was at Logan Field, shown above, which today is the location of a shopping center. The first day of service transported 21 passengers to stops that also included Philadelphia and Washington. (Robert Kniesche, Baltimore Sun photo, 1939)
1587: Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island, N.C.
1920: Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed the right of American women to vote.
1958: The novel “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov was published.
1963: James Meredith became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
In 1946, a Light Street block party was held to celebrate the one-year anniversary of V-J Day, the day after Japan agreed to surrender during World War II. The block was decorated with American flags, multicolored pennants and lights, and featured live music. (Baltimore Sun file photo, 1946)
1914: The Panama Canal was opened to traffic.
1918: The United States and Russia severed diplomatic relations.
1939: The MGM film musical “The Wizard of Oz” premiered at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
1961: East German workers began building the Berlin Wall.
President Kennedy visited Disneyland only once; as a senator in October of 1959. In this picture he greets the President of Guinea, Ahmed Sékou Touré, by the Disneyland Railroad.
Here we have a sign displayed at the park’s front entrance informing guests that Disneyland would be closed in observance of the president’s death. This marked the first time Disneyland had been closed unexpectedly. Since then this has only happened twice, once in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake and then most recently in 2001 following the September 11 attacks.
I am very sorry but I am very mad about the oil spill. It is killing nature. And it is killing the sea otters. It makes me very sad because my class is doing a report on sea otters. And sea otters are cute. Sea otters are an endangered species. Please clean up the oil spill.
Sincerely,
Kelli Middlestead. Mrs. Ashley - 2nd grade Franklin School”
Letter from Kelli Middlestead from the Franklin School, Burlingame, California to Walter Stieglitz the Regional Director of the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 04/13/1989
Twenty-five years ago today the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling over 250,000 barrels of crude oil and causing one of the worst oil spills and natural disasters in U.S. history.
This 2nd grade student’s letter to usfws is possibly our favorite record ever, but it’s especially bittersweet considering the magnitude of the disaster.
What are your memories of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill?
King Edward I died on this day in British history, 7 July 1307. In 1306, the English were taken by surprise when Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne and encouraged the Scots to fight for independence. The English were initially successful in quelling the rebellion, but Bruce emerged again in 1307 and raised more support. In spite of his failing health, Edward assembled English forces to march north and confront Bruce. On the march to Scotland, an already ill Edward developed dysentery, the infection that ultimately claimed his life on 7 July 1307. He was buried in Westminster Abbey and succeeded by his son, Edward II.
Henry Grace à Dieu was launched on this day in history, 13 June 1514. Also known as ‘Great Harry,’ Henry Grace à Dieu was an English carrack of the King’s Fleet in the 16th century. She had the high forecastle, typical of English carracks of the period, and at 50 meters (165 ft) long, weighing 1,000–1,500 tons and having a complement of 700–1,000 men, she was one of the largest warships in medieval Europe.
On 23 January 1909, RMS Republic issued the first recorded CQD distress signal after its collision with the Lloyd Italiano liner SS Florida.Republic was navigating through a thick fog off Nantucket when it collided with the Florida, resulting in the death of six passengers. Republic began to take on water and gradually sink, but she was equipped with the new Marconi wireless telegraph system, and became the first ship in history to issue a CQD distress signal, sent by Jack R. Binns.
At the time of Republic’s sinking, ocean liners were not required to have a full capacity of lifeboats for their passengers, officers and crew, so the distress signal probably saved many lives. The Florida was able to take many of the passengers from the stricken ship, but the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service cutter Gresham responded to the distress signal as well and was able to take on several hundred passengers that couldn’t fit on the Florida.
RMSRepublic would founder for 39 hours before sinking to the ocean floor. Thanks to the CQD signal over 1200 passengers were saved, but there are many rumours that Republic was carrying gold and/or other valuables when she went down.
The British Museum was first opened to the public on this day in British history, 15 January 1759. What began as the personal collection of Sir Hans Sloane has expanded to what is today one of the largest museums in the world. And though it was iniitally housed in Montagu House, a re-purposed 17th century mansion, the British Museum now covers a space of over 92,000 m2 (990,000 sq. ft).
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I – 15 January 1559
Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Queen Elizabeth I on this day in British history, 15 January 1559. She became queen at age 25 following the death of her sister, Mary I. Elizabeth would be the fifth and last Tudor monarch.
English author Lewis Carroll died in Guildford, England, at the age of 65 on this day in British history, 14 January 1898. Carroll’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He is most remembered for his pair of ‘Alice’ stories, Alice’s Adventures in WonderlandandThrough the Looking-Glass, What Alice Found There. Carroll spent most of his life as a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, and as a gentleman-photographer in some of England’s upper social circles.
It was on this day in British history, 13 January 1599, that English poet Edmund Spenser died in London. Spenser is best known for his epic poem ‘The Faerie Queene,’ an allegory that praises the Tudor dynasty and Queen Elizabeth I. Spenser is considered one of the greatest English poets and though ‘The Faerie Queene’ was left incomplete at his death, it is still the longest epic poem in the English language.
The last surviving troops of the 1842 retreat from Kabul made a final stand near the village of Gandamak on this day in British history, 13 January 1842. Following an uprising in Kabul, Major General Elphinstone negotiated an agreement with Akbar Khan by which his army was to withdraw to the British garrison at Jalalabad, more than 90 miles away. During the retreat, Afghan tribes continually attacked the army. In the end, out of more than 16,000 people from the column commanded by Elphinstone, only one European (Assistant Surgeon William Brydon) and a few Indian sepoys reached Jalalabad. A few dozen British prisoners and civilian hostages were later released. The painting above is a depiction of Brydon’s arrival at Jalalabad and is entitled ‘Remnants of an Army.’
Read more about ‘The Massacre of Elphinstone’s Army’ here…
The first auction of Assam tea in Britain took place on this day in British history, 10 January 1839. The auction generated enormous excitement among the growing tea-drinking population of England. The Assam Company was formed later that year and within a decade had become a successful producer of Assam tea. Within 40 years, the volume of Britain’s Assam tea import surpassed that of China tea. Today, the Assam Company produces over 15 million pounds of tea annually.
Read more about the historic auction and history of Assam tea here…
On this day in 1645 the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud was executed for treason at the Tower of London. He was appointed to the archbishopric in 1633, during the reign of King Charles I. Laud worked closely with the King, and his tenure was marked by conflict with Puritans. The latter felt so threatened that many set sail for the North American colonies to be free from persecution. His focus on ceremony led to rumours that he held ‘popish’ (Catholic) sympathies and his overbearing dominance of religious policy made him a target of popular hostility. Charles had to call Parliament in 1640, and on 18th December Laud was impeached for high treason by the Commons. By the time of his execution in 1645, the English Civil War was in full swing. Laud was buried in a London church, but after the Restoration his remains were moved to the chapel of St John’s College, Oxford.
The state funeral of Lord Horatio Nelson took place on this day in history, 9 January 1806. Nelson had gained a huge measure of fame in Britain by leading the navy to victory over the Franco-Spanish navy at Trafalgar. Nelson, however, was killed by a sniper’s bullet at the moment of victory. His body was transported back to England where his coffin was fashioned from the mast of ‘L’Orient,’ the French flagship at Nelson’s victory in the Battle of the Nile.
His body lay in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich before it was eventually carried to St. Paul’s Cathedral at the head of an enormous procession. Stands were constructed inside St. Paul’s to accomodate the seating of thousands, and the dome was hung with the flags from captured French and Spanish vessels. After a four-hour service he was interred within a sarcophagus originally carved for Cardinal Wolsey. The sailors charged with folding the flag draping Nelson’s coffin and placing it in the grave instead tore it into fragments, with each taking a piece as a memento of their much beloved leader.
Read more about the funeral and burial of Lord Horatio Nelson here…
James VI of Scotland was crowned King of England and Ireland on this day in British history, 25 July 1603, becoming James I. Although the kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, each with its own parliament, judiciary, and law, James brought about the Union of the Crowns, a union of the states (including Ireland) under the same monarch. James would continue to sit on all three thrones until his death in 1625. England and Scotland were not brought under unified parliamentary rule until the Acts of Union of 1707, with Ireland remaining a separate kingdom that was subordinate to England until 1784.
The Battle of Salamanca took place on this day in British history, 22 July 1812. An action during the Peninsular War, the battle saw an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Duke of Wellington defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont’s French forces among the hills around Arapiles, south of Salamanca, Spain. A Spanish division was also present but took no part in the battle.
The Battle of Falkirk, a major battle in the First War of Scottish Independence, took place on this day in British history, 22 July 1298. King Edward I led the British army against William Wallace and the Scots. Although the Scots had defeated the English on several previous occasions, the English held a large numerical superiority at Falkirk and easily defeated the Scots. Shortly after the battle William Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland.
It was on this day in British history, 21 July 1403, that King Henry IV prevailed at the Battle of Shrewsbury. The Lancastrian army defeated rebel forces led by Henry “Hotspur” Percy of Northumberland. It was the first time that English archers fought one another on English soil, and is seen as a demonstration of the deadly effectiveness of the English longbow.
It was on this day in British history, 20 July 1304, that Stirling Castle surrendered to end the siege that had been brought by King Edward I. The 1304 siege is famous for Edward’s use of siege engines and catapults to bombard the castle for several months. The most famous weapon was called Warwolf, and it is possible that Warwolf was the largest trebuchet ever constructed.
RMSCarpathia sank off the coast of Ireland after being torpedoed by a German U-boat on this day in history, 17 July 1918. Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of RMS Titanic after it struck an iceberg and sank in April 1912. Carpathia was used during World War I to transport American and Canadian troops across the Atlantic.
On the summer morning of 17 July 1918 she was torpedoed in the Celtic Sea by the Imperial German Navy U-boat, U-55. Of three torpedoes fired at the ship, one impacted the port side while another penetrated the engine room, killing two firemen and three trimmers. All 57 passengers and 218 surviving crew members boarded lifeboats as the vessel sank. U-55 surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship and was approaching the lifeboats when the Azalea-class sloop HMS Snowdrop arrived on the scene and drove away the U-boat with gunfire before picking up the survivors from Carpathia.
Today marks the anniversary of the coronation of King Richard II. He was crowned at the age of 10, on this day in British history, 16 July 1377. Richard would remain king until being deposed by Henry of Bolingbroke in 1399.
It was on this day in history, 15 July 1099, that the Crusaders completed their siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. English soldiers played a very small role in the Crusade, with Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, providing the strongest English tie to the First Crusade. The Siege of Jerusalem ended in a massacre of the city’s inhabitants, a historical black mark on the crusade and its participants. Historians have highlighted several motivating factors behind the Crusades including religious rhetoric, racial animus, and the church’s desire to expand its economic control.
