Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
On 3, Wednesday March 1869, William Lanne, known as “King Billy”, the last “full-blooded” Tasmanian Aboriginal man dies. His body is secretly dismembered and his skull removed while in the morgue, and Dr William Crowther, future Premier of Tasmania, is suspected as the culprit.
On 3, Wednesday March 1869, William Lanne, Tasmanian Aboriginal, died (born 1835)
On 3, Wednesday March 1869, Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal, archbishop, born (d. 1952)
On 3, Wednesday March 1869, Henry Wood, British conductor, born (d. 1944)
On 3, Saturday March 1894, Ned Williamson, American baseball player, died (b. 1857)
On 3, Monday March 1919, The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction of Charles Schenck.
On 3, Monday March 1919, Peter Abrahams, South African-born Jamaican novelist and journalist, born (d. 2017)
On 3, Monday March 1919, Tadahito Mochinaga, Japanese stop-motion animator, born (d. 1999)
On 3, Friday March 1944, WWII: The Order of Nakhimov and the Order of Ushakov are instituted in the USSR.
On 3, Friday March 1944, Paul-Émile Janson, Belgian politician, 30th Prime Minister of Belgium, died (b. 1872)
On 3, Tuesday March 1959, Pioneer 4 becomes first American object to escape dominance by Earth’s gravity.
On 3, Tuesday March 1959, Lou Costello, American actor and comedian, died (b. 1906)
On 3, Monday March 1969, Tony Modra, Australian Rules football player, born
On 3, Monday March 1969, Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 (James McDivitt, David Scott, Rusty Schweickart) to test the lunar module.
On 3, Monday March 1969, In a Los Angeles court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
On 3, Monday March 1969, The United States Navy establishes the Navy Fighter Weapons School (also known as Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar.
On 3, Monday March 1969, Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi, 11th Prime Minister of Iraq, died (b. 1886)
On 3, Monday March 1969, Fred Alexander, American tennis player, died (b. 1880)
On 3, Monday March 1969, Martin Lucas, Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic archbishop, died (b. 1894)
On 3, Saturday March 1979, Jon Bailey, American voice actor, born
On 3, Friday March 1989, Jammu Siltavuori abducts and murders two eight-year-old girls in the Myllypuro suburb of Helsinki, Finland.
On 3, Friday March 1989, Andrea Brooks, Canadian actress, born
On 3, Friday March 1989, Kenneth Hegan, English amateur footballer, professional soldier, died (b. 1901)
On 3, Wednesday March 1999, Walter LaGrand is executed in the gas chamber in Arizona.
On 3, Wednesday March 1999, Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, died (b. 1904)
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch