1553: Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I as Queen of England after having the title for just nine days. Also known as Bloody Mary due to her brutal persecution of Protestants, Mary I was the only child of Catherine of Aragon and Henry III.
1848: The U.S. women’s suffrage movement begun
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On this day in 1848, the women’s suffrage movement in the United States was launched with the opening of the Seneca Falls Convention, which sought to gain certain rights and privileges for women, notably the right to vote.
One of the first women’s rights convention to be held in American history, the two-day convention attracted 300 women and men who protested the social, economic, and political discrimination American women faced.
1870: Franco-Prussian War starts. The war involving France, under Napoleon and the Kingdom of Prussia, began with French declaration of war. The war lasted for 9 months and ended with a German victory.
1923: Insulin was discovered by Frederick G. Banting in 1921. Banting was working with J.J.R. Macleod and Charles Best at the University of Toronto in Canada. Both Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work, while Best was excluded, a decision the Nobel Peace Prize committee subsequently regretted. On 19 July 1923, insulin was introduced to the public. It had taken two years of trials before it was deemed safe enough for the public.
1941: Winston Churchill introduced his ‘V for Victory” campaign which rapidly spread through Europe. The BBC took the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which matched the dot-dot-dash Morse code for the letter V, and played it before news bulletins.
1943: On July 19, 1943, the United States bombs railway yards in Rome in an attempt to break the will of the Italian people to resist—as Hitler lectures their leader, Benito Mussolini, on how to prosecute the war further. On July 16, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill appealed to the Italian civilian population to reject Mussolini and Hitler and “live for Italy and civilization.” As an “incentive,” American bombers raided the city, destroying its railways.
1997: Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor ascended to presidential power in a peaceful election following a seven-year civil war, launched from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire in 1989. He secured more than 70% of the votes. In addition, his National Patriotic Party (NPP) won an overwhelming majority in both houses of the legislature. However, political pandemonium returned to the country until a peace deal, which forced Taylor into exile in Nigeria, was brokered by international brokers led by the United States.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: July 19
Kate Henshaw, 53 years
Kate Henshaw, also known as Kate Henshaw-Nuttall, is a veteran Nigerian actress. In 2008, she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the movie Stronger than Pain.
Samuel Colt (July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862)
Colt founded Colt’s Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company and mass-produced the famous revolvers that carry his name. Most notably the .45-calibre Colt, Single Action Army or Peacemaker model, was the standard issue pistol of the US Army from 1873 until 1892. He died of gout at the age of 47.
