3rd February 1915 (Wednesday)

EXECUTED TODAY:

~ in Sarajevo, then in the condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Austria-Hungarian Empire (now the capital of independent Bosnia Herzegovina) – Danilo Ilic, a member of the “black hand” secret society who recruited Gavrillo Princip, is executed (along with two others) for his part in the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand in the summer of 1914.

http://real-life-villains.wikia.com/wiki/Danilo_Ili%C4%87

In Malawi, the Reverend John Chilembwe, “freedom fighter”, is shot dead by colonial police forces while allegedly resisting arrest for his part in a recent attack on, and murder of, several European settlers. “Chilembwe led the uprising in early January fighting for freedom from social injustices faced by his countrymen, and was killed at noon [on] 3rd February 1915” [The Maravi Post].

http://www.maravipost.com/201501107938/Society/malawians-and-mutharika-to-honor-john-chilembwe-centenary-celebrations-from-15th-%E2%80%93-17th-jan-2015.html

 

War!

In the Middle East: British and Egyptian troops, including a British naval contingent, defeat the long expected Turkish attack on the Suez Canal. The German advisers to the Turkish forces begin to realise that their hopes of an Islamic uprising against British power in Egypt and India are misplaced, with evidence before and after the attack that the local Arab forces show no particular loyalty or botherhood with their Turkish masters, and that the Egyptian forces will not easily be turned against their colonial masters  [Scott Anderson: “Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East” ].

http://www.1914-1918.net/suez.htm

 

 

23rd January 1915 (Saturday)

BORN TODAY: in St Lucia, in the British Windward Islands (now a sovereign independent state) – Sir (William) Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize winner for Economics who specialised in the economics of development.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Arthur_Lewis

War at Sea:

The German submarine SM-U21 sinks three British merchant vessels in the Irish Sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_January_1915

Colonial Unrest:

in Magomero in British Nyasaland (now Malawi), John Chilembwe, a US educated Baptist pastor and educator, and supporter of the new creed of “Ethiopianism”, leads an anti-european attack on the estate of William Jervis Livingstone, himself the son of a Baptist Minister.

“William Jervis Livingstone was murdered and beheaded in front of his wife, small daughter Nyasa (5 years old) and infant baby Alastair then only 6 months old; two other European employees were also murdered – Duncan MacCormick from the Isle of Lismore (like William), and Robert Ferguson. Three Africans were also killed by the rebels, and European-run mission was set on fire and a missionary was severely wounded. All the dead and injured were men, as Chilembwe had ordered that women should not be harmed. In wholly unchristian act, on 24 January, a Sunday, Chilembwe conducted a service in the Providence Industrial Mission church next to a pole where Livingstone’s head was impaled – a macabre and gruesome incident in the extreme – especially where a man of the church was instrumental in its implementation” [Wikipedia]

John Chilembwe Day is observed annually on January 15 in Malawi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chilembwe

Rural Unrest:

In Hertford, England – Herbert Wright and Samuel Playle are found guilty of poaching on land belonging to Lord Desborough and each fined 10 shillings. An expensive pheasant.

http://www.hertspastpolicing.org.uk/page/poaching_at_panshanger?path=0p2p100p

11th May 1914 (Monday)

BORN TODAY: in Warsaw, in the Imperial Russian Empire (now in Poland) – Haroun Tazieff, son a Tatar Doctor and a Jewish Chemist, – volcanologist and explorer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haroun_Tazieff

World Affairs: In the East African Nyasaland Protectorate (now Malawi) the people are blessed with a new flag, combining the (new) Coat of Arms of Nyasaland with the Government Ensign of the United Kingdom.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Nyasaland_(1914-1919).svg

Transportation: The city of Riga in the Imperial Russian Empire (now in Latvia) officlally celebrates the opening of a new railway bridge across the river Daugava.

http://www.ldz.lv/?object_id=3258

High Society: The King and Queen of Denmark are visiting the Royal Opera House in London for a state performance of the opera La Boheme, in their honour.

http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/dame-nellie-melba/4716/silk-program-for-opera-excerpts-which-featured-nellie-melba-as-mim%C3%AC-in-la-boh%C3%A8me/