May 12th - 18th
On 12th May…
Birth of the Lady with the Lamp
1820 – Florence Nightingale, the British nurse famous for her contribution to nursing, was born in Italy. She was known as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ by the soldiers she cared for during the Crimean War. Did you know she was named after the city where she was born?
Goerge VI crowned King
1937 - The coronation of King George VI took place in Westminster Abbey. George VI is the father of Queen Elizabeth II and only became king when his brother Edward VIII abdicated.
On 13th May…
Battle of Langside
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots was defeated at the Battle of Langside. Mary had been forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James and was trying to reclaim her crown from the Earl of Moray, Lord James Stewart who was the Regent acting on behalf of the young King James VI of Scotland. After the defeat Mary fled to England where she was imprisoned for nineteen years before being executed by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I.
1787 - Captain Arthur Philip set sail from Portsmouth to Australia with a fleet of eleven ships to set up a new penal colony. The fleet of ships which became known as the ‘First Fleet’, contained convicts, supplies and naval personnel and took 252 days to reach Australia. Captain Arthur Philip later became the founding governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
On 14th May…
1796 - Edward Jenner, a British doctor, discovered the vaccine for smallpox which was one of the most deadly and contagious diseases known to man. It is the only disease (to date) to have been totally eradicated by vaccination. Jenner’s vaccine was the first successful vaccine to be developed.
1881 - Mary Jane Seacole died in London. She was born in Jamaica to a Scottish father and a Jamaican mother and began to learn healing skills using local herbs and plants from her mother who looked after injured soldiers. Mary added to her knowledge of traditional medicines when she travelled around the Caribbean and learnt about Western or European medicines. She travelled to England and asked to be sent to the Crimea as an army nurse where there was a shortage of medical facilities. Mary was refused, but undeterred she paid for her own travel and set up a British Hotel to provide a comfortable place for sick and injured soldiers. She became known as ‘Mother Seacole’.
On 15th May…
Two attempts on the King’s life
1800 - There were two assassination attempts on King George III. The first attempt of the day was whilst he was in Hyde Park reviewing a troop of soldiers. The king was shot at and the bullet narrowly missed him.
The second attempt took place the same evening when the king, who was not worried or alarmed by the first attack that morning, visited a theatre. He was shot at again as he entered the Royal Box at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London. As the culprit was caught and detained, the king insisted that the show continue as planned.
Would you have been brave enough to go out the same evening if somebody had tried to kill you earlier in the day?
On 16th May…
1620 - William Adams, the first Englishman to visit Japan died. Adams first arrived in Japan in 1600 on a ship that was originally headed for Indonesia; a group of islands nearly 3,000 miles away from Japan. His ship was battered and blown a very long way off course by storms and he found himself in Japan. Adams was summoned to Osaka where he was detained and questioned by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun which is another name for a military leader. The shogun was so impressed with Adam’s knowledge of ships and navigation that he released him and made him one of his confidantes. Adams was refused permission to ever leave Japan or return to his family in England, so he decided to permanently settle in Japan and raise a new family. He became known as Anjin (Pilot) and oversaw the construction of western style ships. William Adams also officiated between the shogun and European traders who began to visit Japan around this time.
On 17th May…
1590 - Anne of Denmark, the wife of King James VI of Scotland was crowned Queen of Scotland. Anne had married James VI in 1589 when she was just fourteen years old.
On 18th May…
1991 - Helen Sharman became the first British astronaut. She participated in a Soviet mission to the space station Mir which lasted nearly eight days. Whilst in space she conducted medical and agricultural tests.