August through history

What happened this month in years gone by? Take a look at these historic events that took place during the month of August.

Events

• 1^st August 1740
  Rule Britannia was sung in public for the first time at Cliveden House, Maidenhead, during a masque about Alfred the Great, one of the first British kings.
• 3^rd August 1926
  The first set of electric traffic lights in Britain were installed in London.
• 4^th August 1914
  Britain declared war on Germany and Turkey, signalling the start of the first world war.
• 7^th August 1840
  Britain issues a ban on the employment of climbing boys as chimney sweeps.
• 8^th August 1963
  The Great Train Robbery – one of the most daring crimes in British history, took place with £2.6 million being stolen from Royal Mail.
• 10^th August 1675
  The foundation stone of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich was laid by King Charles II.
• 13^th August 1964
  The last hangings in Britain take place.
• 16^th August 1819
  The Peterloo Massacre takes place.
• 22^nd August 1485
  The end of the Battle of Bosworth
• 23^rd August 1940
  The first night of the Blitz in London
• 24^th August 1875
  The first person swims the English Channel. Captain Matthew Webb started his attempt from Dover and reached Calais after 22 hours.
• 25^th August 1919
  The world’s first daily international air service begins between London and Paris
• 26^th August 1346
  The Battle of Crecy is ended by Edward III defeating the French.
• 27^th August 1900
  The first long distance bus service in Britain is launched. The journey linked London and Leeds and took 2 days to complete.
• 28^th August 1207
  King John creates the Borough of Liverpool
• 29^th August 1842
  Great Britain signs the Treaty of Nanking with China, taking control of Hong Kong
• 30^th August 1860
  The first tramway in Britain opens in Birkenhead.
• 31^st August 1900
  Coca Cola becomes available in Britain

Births

• 2^nd August 1891 – Sir Arthur Bliss, composer and Master of the Queen’s Music
• 3^rd August 1867 – Stanley Bladwin, Conservative Prime Minister (served 3 times)
• 4^th August 1792 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poet
• 5^th August 1853 – Edward John Eyre, explorer and Governor of Jamaica
• 6^th August 1881 – Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin.
• 9^th August 1757 – Thomas Telford, the engineer credited with opening up Northern Scotland by creating roads, bridges and waterways.
• 11^th August 1897 – Enid Blyton, novelist
• 12^th August 1762 – King George IV
• 13^th August 1888 – John Baird, inventor of the television
• 13^th August 1899 – Sir Alfred Hitchcock, film maker
• 14^th August 1867 – John Galsworthy, Nobel Prize winner and playwright
• 15^th August 1888 – Thomas Edward Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia), soldier and writer
• 16^th August 1902 – Georgette Heyer, writer
• 19^th August 1646 – John Flamsteed, Britain’s first Astronomer Royal
• 20^th August 1906 – Bunny Austen, tennis plater
• 21^st August 1765 – King William IV
• 22^nd August 1957 - Steve Davis, snooker world champion
• 23^rd August 1947 - Willy Russell, playwright
• 24^th August 1724 – George Stubbs, painter
• 25^th August 1819 – Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency
• 26^th August 1676 – Sir Robert Walpole, considered to be the first Prime Minister
• 29^th August 1632 – John Locke, philosopher
• 30^th August 1797 – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, writer
• 31st August 1913 – Sir Bernard Lovell, astronomer

Deaths

• 2^nd August 1100 – King William II (aka William Rufus)
• 12^th August 1822 – Lord Castlereagh, Foreign Secretary
• 17^th August 1896 – Bridget Driscoll, the first pedestrian to be hit by a car
• 22^nd August 1485 – King Richard III