On This Day

19th July

1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sank off Portsmouth.

1553 – Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after having been Queen for just nine days.

1692 – Five women were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, USA.

1799 – A group of Napoleon Bonaparte's soldiers discovered what is now known as The Rosetta Stone, enabling the translation of hieroglyphics for the first time.

1843 – Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain was launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and also becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.

1870 – France declared war on Prussia.

1947 – Bogyoke Aung San, Prime minister of the shadow Burma government, and 6 of his cabinet along with 2 non-cabinet members were assassinated.

1963 – Joe Walker flew a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet). Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualified as human spaceflight under international convention.

1996 - Bosnian Serb President and wanted war criminal Radovan Karadzic was forced out of office.

1997 - The IRA made a surprise announcement of a ceasefire in Northern Ireland. It was the second in three years.

2009 - Francis "Frank" McCourt died.

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