July 19
1545 – The Tudor warship
Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is
salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
1553 –
Lady Jane Grey is replaced by
Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days on the throne.
1701 – Representatives of the
Iroquois Confederacy sign the
Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.
1821 – Coronation of
George IV of the United Kingdom.
1843 –
Brunel's steamship the
SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull and
screw propeller, becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.
1845 –
Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. The fire killed 4 firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed
345 buildings.
1900 – The
first line of the Paris Métro opens for operation.
1903 –
Maurice Garin wins the
first Tour de France.
1916 – World War I:
Battle of Fromelles: British and Australian troops attack German trenches as part of the
Battle of the Somme. "The worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history."
1919 – Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen riot and burn down
Luton Town Hall.
1940 – World War II: Army order 112 forms the
Intelligence Corps of the British Army.
1943 – World War II:
Rome is heavily bombed by more than 500 Allied aircraft, inflicting thousands of casualties.
1963 –
Joe Walker flies a
North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 meters (347,800 feet) on
X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.
1979 – The
Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the
Somoza family in Nicaragua.
1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French Prime Minister François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the
Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing that the Soviets had been stealing American technological research and development.
1983 – The first
three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a
CT scan is published.
1985 – The
Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.
1989 –
United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa (<---video link) killing 111. It is a miracle that 185 people survived this crash.
Births
1814 – Samuel Colt ("God created all men, Sam Colt made 'em equal."); 1834 – Edgar Degas; 1860 – Lizzie Borden; 1865 – Charles Horace Mayo (
Mayo Clinic); 1883 – Max Fleischer; 1894 – Percy Spencer (inventor of the microwave oven); 1919 – Dallas McKennon; 1922 – George McGovern; 1924 – Pat Hingle; 1924 – Arthur Rankin Jr.; 1929 – Gaston Glock; 1937 – George Hamilton IV (not the tan one, there was another one); 1938 – Richard Jordan; 1940 –
Dennis Cole; 1944 – Tim McIntire (sang
Jeremiah Johnson in the movie of the same name); 1945 – George Dzundza; 1946 – Stephen Coonts; 1947 – Bernie Leadon
, Brian May
; 1948 – Keith Godchaux; 1952 – Allen Collins
; 1961 – Lisa Lampanelli; 1962 – Anthony Edwards; 1968 – Jim Norton
; 1976 – Benedict Cumberbatch; 1987 – Jon Jones (MMA fighter)
Deaths
1374 – Petrarch; 1692 – Sarah Good; 1742 – William Somervile; 1965 – Syngman Rhee; 1975 – Lefty Frizzell; 2002 – Alan Lomax; 2006 – Jack Warden; 2009 – Frank McCourt; 2012 – Tom Davis ('Franken & Davis' from
SNL); 2014 – James Garner