24th July 1915 (Saturday)

BORN TODAY: In Uelzen, Germany – Günther Schwägermann – nazi Hauptsturmführer and adjutant to doctor Joseph Goebells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Schw%C3%A4germann

Accidents and disasters: at the dockside on the Chicago River, the steamship “Eastland”, which is boarding passengers for a Western Electric works outing across Lake Michigan, rolls over and capsizes. 844 passengers and crew are drowned, over 200 of them Czech immigrants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastland

War!

In the Middle East: In Turkish Mesopotamia (now Iraq)  British forces take the town of Nasiriya from the Turks, and begin to prepare plans for an advance  northward to Baghdad. [Roger Ford: “Eden to Armageddon; World War 1 in the Middle East”]

19th July 1914 (Sunday)

BORN TODAY: in Charleroi, Belgium – René Pedroli, Swiss professional road bicycle racer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Pedroli

World Affairs: In Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian council of ministers approves the final draft of the ultimatum to Serbia, but delays sending it because the French President is currently on a state visit to its ally, Russia.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/timeline/ww1-events-1914.htm

Migration: In Vancouver harbour, Indian migrants who have been detained on the SS Komataga and denied permission to disemabark for nearly two months take control of the engine room to prevent the vessel from leaving.  A battle ensues when armed police arrive on a tugboat and turn the hoses on the migrant ship.

http://pasttensevancouver.tumblr.com/post/23627708172/komagatamaru1914

Extreme Weather: Istanbul is hit by a freak tornado which causes loss of life, destruction of property and crops and is followed by lightning strikes with more casualties including the death of a group sheltering under a tree.

Click to access Onder_Kocaturk-The_Great_Storm_and_Tornado_Incident_in_Istanbul.pdf

4th April 1914 (Saturday)

BORN TODAY: in Litomyšl in Czechoslovakia, Zdeněk Kopal, Cambridge, Harvard and Manchester astronomer after whom asteroid 2628 Kopal is named.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zden%C4%9Bk_Kopal

Disasters: In St John’s, Newfoundland, the sealing vessel, SS Bellaventure arrives in port with a gruesome cargo of 69 sealers from the vessel SS Newfoundland, who perished while stranded in a North Atlantic blizzard.

http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/sealing_disaster_impact_sealers.html

Transportation: in the north of England, the 11 mile railway from Carlisle to Port Carlisle, on the Solway Firth sees the final day of its horse drawn railway service. The route was originally (1823) a canal, replaced by horse drawn railway carriages in 1854. In two days from now a steam train service will open, and will run until 1932, when this branch line will permanently close.

http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/port-carlisle-railway.html

 

4th November 1913 (Tuesday)

BORN TODAY: In Switzerland, Paul Irniger – fraudster, robber and murderer who became, at the age of 25, the second to last person judicially executed in Switzerland – guillotined on the 25th August 1939.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Irniger

Crime and Punishment: In Wolverhampton, England, Josiah Davies murders his landlady, for which crime he will be convicted in December 1913 and executed (hanged) in March 1914.

http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/execution-content.php?key=288

World Affairs:

~ In Constantinople (now Istanbul) in Turkey, representatives of the Ottoman Empire and of Persia sign a protocol defining the boundary between Persia and the Turkish lands (which are now part of Iraq).

http://www.parstimes.com/history/iran_iraq_1913.html

~ The Kingdom of Bavaria, which has been “annexed” by the German Empire since 1871 (when the crown was offered to King William I of Prussia) amends its constitution to include a clause specifying that if a regency for reasons of incapacity lasts for ten years with no expectation that the King will ever be able to reign, the Regent can proclaim the end of the regency and assume the crown himself. Bavaria’s most recent two kings have been Ludwig II (1864-1886) who “bankrupted the country building fairytale castles and hosting Wagner concerts”, before he was mysteriously drowned, and his younger brother and successor King Otto, who was declared insane in 1875. King Otto was “by some accounts not even aware that he had become King” [Colonel J’s Bavaria].

http://www.pickelhauben.net/map/bayern.htm

Natural Disasters: in the Apurimac region of Peru an earthquake kills 155 people.

http://www.limaeasy.com/earthquakes-in-peru/historical-earthquakes/20th-century-earthquakes

A sign of the times?  The pre-dreadnought class steel armoured battleship launched in 1891 – HMS “Empress of India” is ignominiously used for target practice, presumably by her fully dreadnought class successors, and sent to a watery grave.

http://www.the-weatherings.co.uk/pccship0226.htm

25th June 1913 (Wednesday)

BORN TODAY: In Cetinje, Montenegro (later Yugoslavia, then Serbia-Montenegro, now Montenegro again) – Peko Dapcevic, Yugoslav communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War, then joined the Partisan resistance to German  occupation in Yugoslavia, helped liberate Belgrade in 1944 and was appointed Chief of Staff of the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army under Tito in 1953.

Accidents and disasters: Near Ottawa, Canada, a train is derailed and two of its nine carriages plunge into the Ottawa River. Eight people are killed, including Patrick Mulvenna from Country Antrim, Northern Ireland, who has just arrived and is crossing Canada in search of a new life.

24th June 1913 (Tuesday)

BORN TODAY: In “Royal Berkshire” in the UK, John Banks, the son of a blacksmith, who finding demand for blacksmiths declining, moved to Wyld Court in Hampstead Norreys (still in Berkshire), where for forty years he looked after the orchids of Sir William Cooke and his daughter, Betty Garton. The orchid Zygopetalum John Banks is named in his honour.

Disasters and accidents: In Buffalo, New York, a grain elevator explodes, killing 17 men.

Law and Order: In Dorchester, Dorset, UK – William Walter Burton is hanged by the famous professional hangman Thomas Pierrepoint for the crime of murder.

8th June 1913 (Sunday)

BORN TODAY: in United Province (now Uttar Pradesh), India – Shamim Karhani  – Urdu  (Indian) nationalist and revolutionary poet.

Arms Race: On board the British submarine, HMS E5, there is an engine room explosion which kills 13 sailors. HMS E5 will strike a mine and sink in March 1916 while rescuing the survivors from a stricken trawler in the North Sea.

Women’s Suffrage: Emily Wilding Davison dies from the serious injuries sustained four days ago when she threw herself in front of the King’s Horse at the Epsom Derby.

Sport: Thirty thousand German athletes attend a ceremony of dedication for a new stadium near Berlin which has been built to host the 1916 Olympics.

27th May 1913 (Tuesday)

BORN TODAY: In Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now just in Hungary) – Enver Colakovic, Bosnian novelist, poet and translator.

Arms Race: At Horten, on the Oslofjord in Norway, the Norwegian Royal Navy launches the destroyer Garm. Destroyed by the Luftwaffe on 26th April 1940 during the German invasion of Norway.

Women’s Suffrage: Sylvia Pankhurst establishes the East London Federation of Suffragettes. It is considered by many – including her own family – to be too democratic and working class, and six months later is excluded from the Women’s Social and Political Union.

Science and technology: At Montrose Scotland, Desmond Arthur becomes the first fatality from an aircrash in Scotland when the right wing of his aircraft snaps off at 2500 feet. He is killed instantly on impact and buried in Sleepyhillock Cemetery in Montrose. Later he participated in the one of the most famous ghost stories from World War I  after multiple sightings of the ‘Irish Apparition’ or the ‘Montrose Ghost’, starting in 1916 and recurring as recently as 2012.

“On 27 May 1963, Sir Peter Maselfield, was flying his Chipmunk monoplane close to Montrose while en route from Dalcross to Shoreham, when he saw what he believed was a 70 horsepower B.E.2 biplane; the pilot was wearing a leather flying helmet, goggles and a flying scarf. Masefield landed when he believed he had seen it crashing, but on reaching the ground discovered that there was no plane or crash site”. [Wikipedia].

24th May 1913 (Saturday)

BORN TODAY: in Langnau im Emmenthal in Switzerland – Hans Schwarzenbach, Swiss equestrian who won silver in the eventing event (?) at the Rome Olympics in 1960.

Arms Race: In Kiel, Germany the Germaniawerft shipyard launches the submarine “U24”. She will sink 34 ships before surrendering in November 1918.

Accidents and disasters: in Long Beach, California, the municipal pier collapses while 10,000 weekenders are crowded on to the pier. Thirty six people die.

In Smyrna (now Izmir) on the Turkish coast, the steamship Nevada strays into a mined part of the harbour, strikes three mines, and sinks with the loss of forty lives.

Empire: The British Empire celebrates “Empire Day”.

Each Empire Day, millions of school children from all walks of life across the length and breadth of the British Empire would typically salute the union flag and sing patriotic songs like Jerusalem and God Save the Queen. They would hear inspirational speeches and listen to tales of ‘daring do’ from across the Empire, stories that included such heroes as Clive of India, Wolfe of Québec and ‘Chinese Gordon’ of Khartoum. But of course the real highlight of the day for the children was that they were let of (sic) school early in order to take part in the thousands of marches, maypole dances, concerts and parties that celebrated the event. [“Historic UK” website – http://www.historic-uk.com/]

In Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) – The British South Africa Police Regimental Association is formed. The UK Branch is planning centenary celebrations in various locations across the UK this month.

25th April 1913 (Friday)

BORN TODAY, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA – Earl Bostic, American Jazz and Rhythm and Blues alto-saxophonist.

Also, in Los Angeles, Kenneth Spencer, bass-baritone opera singer killed in an air crash in 1964.

Arms Race: The Italian Regia Marina launches the submarine “Nautilus”.

Britain’s first “Defensively Armed Merchant Ship” (DAMS), RMS Aragon (later HMT Aragon) leaves Southampton. After serving as a troop carrier at Gallipoli (1915), she will eventually (1917) be sunk in the Mediterranean by a german submarine, with the loss of 610 lives.

Women’s suffrage: in the UK, Royal Assent is given for the notorious “Cat and Mouse Act” whereby a suffragette hunger striker in prison can be released on health grounds and re-incarcerated as soon as feasible to complete her original term of sentence.

Crime and punishment: Ivory Frazer is hanged in New Mexico for the murder of a Deputy Sheriff.

Society and culture: the US Marine Corps Association is founded at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.