June 16th - 22nd
On 16th June…
Mary Queen of Scots imprisoned
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle on an island in the middle of Loch Leven in Scotland. She was accused of adultery and murder and forced to abdicate the throne in favour of her 11-month-old son, King James VI.
1963 - Russian Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6. She spent three days in space, orbiting the earth 48 times, before returning to Earth.
On 17th June…
Battle of Deptford Bridge
1497 - King Henry VII defeated Cornish rebels at the Battle of Deptford Bridge. The Cornish rebels were fed up and angry that their Stannary Parliament (independent parliament) had been closed by the king and that they were being heavily taxed to pay for a war against Scotland that had nothing to do with them. Led by Michael Joseph An Gof and Thomas Flamank, the Cornish army of miners, farmers and workers were outnumbered by the English soldiers and easily defeated. Both Michael and Thomas were executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Sir Francis Drake claimed land in America for Queen Elizabeth I
1579 - Sir Francis Drake landed in California just north of present-day San Francisco to repair his ship. He claimed the area for Queen Elizabeth I by nailing a notice to a tree.
1631 - Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Shah Jahan I, the Mughal emperor then spent 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal in northern India.
On 18th June…
1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium, the English forces led by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian forces led by Gebhard Leberecht von Bulcher defeated Napoleon Bonaparte and the French army. This battle brought an end to Napoleon’s reign. (Prussia was an empire in Europe now covered by parts of Russia, Poland and Germany)
On 19th June…
Birth of King James I & VI
1566 - King James I (of England and Ireland) and VI (of Scotland) was born in Edinburgh. He became king before he was even a year old when his mother Mary Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate.
The Metropolitan Police Act 1829
1829 - Robert Peel introduced the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 to Parliament to establish a unified police force for London. The first policemen were called ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ after their founder Robert Peel.
On 20th June…
Baltimore raided by Barbary pirates
1631 - The Irish village of Baltimore was attacked during the night by Algerian pirates from the Barbary coast. In what has become known as The Sack of Baltimore, nearly all of the villagers, including women and children, were captured by the pirates and taken back to Algiers to be sold into slavery. This was the largest attack on mainland Ireland wiping out an entire village. In the 17th century raids by the Barbary pirates were carried out almost daily on the coasts of Cornwall and Devon.
Death of King William IV
1837 - King William IV of England died. As he had no surviving children his niece, Alexandrina Victoria, became Queen Victoria.
On 21st June…
Death of King Edward III
1377 - King Edward III died. He was crowned king of England at the age of fourteen, and ruled for fifty years before his death. The children of his seven sons and five daughters would be fighting for the throne in the Wars of the Roses nearly eighty years later.
1982 - Prince William was born in London. He was the first child born to Prince Charles and Diana. Princess of Wales and is first in line to the British throne.
On 22nd June…
Richard II became King of England
1377 - Richard II became king of England at the age of ten, following the death of his grandfather Edward III.
1535 - Cardinal John Fisher was executed at the Tower of London for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England.