September 8th - 14th
On 8th September…
Richard the Lionheart was born
1157 - King Richard I of England, was born in Oxford, England. He was also known as Richard the Lionheart and spent most of his reign abroad living in his lands in France or fighting in the Crusades (religious battles between Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land now known as Israel, Palestine, and parts of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) His parents were King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1727 - A fire in a barn in the village of Burwell, Cambridgeshire killed seventy-eight people. Fifty-one of those who died were children. Locals had gathered in the barn to watch a puppet show but the doors had been nailed shut to stop too many people entering the barn. When the straw inside the barn caught alight there was no way for the people to escape.
1761 - King George III married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in St James’s Palace in London. Together they had 15 children.
William IV was crowned King
1831 - King William IV was crowned King of Great Britain at Westminster Abbey in London. He insisted on a simple coronation in contrast to his brother’s expensive and lavish coronation which had cost a small fortune. William’s thriftiness pleased Parliament.
1888 - Annie Chapman, the second victim of Jack the Ripper, was found dead in the back yard of a house in Hanbury Street, East London. She was found just eight days after Mary Ann Nichols’ body was discovered in Buck’s Row only a 5 minute walk away.
Death of Queen Elizabeth II
2022 – Queen Elizabeth II died after reigning for 70 years 7 months and 2 days. She is the longest reigning British monarch and at the time of her death was the second longest reigning monarch in world history. Upon her death her eldest child, Prince Charles, became King Charles III.
On 9th September…
William the Conqueror died
1087 - William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England died of injuries after falling from his horse. He is famous for winning the crown of England from King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, for ordering the construction of the Tower of London, and for the Domesday Book which is a book containing the names of all the people living in England at that time including details of their wealth and belongings. He is also famous for a gruesome piece of history - when trying to squeeze him into his coffin, the king’s stomach exploded letting out such a foul smell that the funeral was rushed through so that everyone could leave the chapel as quickly as possible.
1513 - King James IV of Scotland died at the Battle of Flodden (also known as the Battle of Branxton) against the English. The Scots had been called into battle by the French who had been invaded by England. Why were the Scots fighting for the French? Well, the French had invoked the terms of a treaty which stipulated that if either Scotland or France were to be invaded by England the other country would come to their aide and invade England in retaliation. The Battle of Flodden was one of the largest battles to take place on British soil with around 26,000 English soldiers facing about 30-40,000 Scottish. The English won the battle suffering only about 4,000 losses with their opponents losing about 10,000 men including their king.
Mary was crowned Queen of Scots
1543 - Mary Queen of Scots was crowned Queen of Scotland, she was just nine months old. Her father, King James V, had died a week after she was born. Mary’s coronation took place in Stirling Castle and as she was too young to rule a country, her mother Mary of Guise became Regent, ruling in the young queen’s name.
1902 - Harry Jackson became the first man to be convicted of a crime based on his fingerprints. He had left his thumbprint in the wet paint of a windowsill of a house he had burgled.
On 10th September…
1933 - Fred Perry became the first Briton to win the US Open Men’s Singles Tennis Championship. He was also the first man to win all four ‘Grand Slam’ tennis titles although not in the same year.
1939 - Canada declared war on Germany at the beginning of World War II.
Charles III proclaimed King
2022 – King Charles III was officially proclaimed King at St James’s Palace in London. At the age of 73 he is the oldest person to inherit the British throne, the previous holder of this title was King William IV who was 64 years old when he ascended the throne.
On 11th September…
William Wallace victorious at Stirling Bridge
1297 - William Wallace defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The battle was part of the Wars of Independence whereby Scotland tried to reclaim control of their country from King Edward I of England. Edward I had abused his position of power to gain control of Scotland following the death of both its King Alexander III, and his young heir, Queen Margaret, Maid of Norway who was Alexander’s granddaughter.
Cromwell ordered massacre of thousands
1649 - Oliver Cromwell ordered the killing of 3,000 royalists at the Massacre of Drogheda in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell had arrived in Ireland to quash the Royalist rebellion that had broken out there in reaction to the new English Republic. Having breached the Irish defences at the town of Drogheda, the English forces went on to slaughter thousands of Irish Royalists which included priests and monks.
1942 - Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton was first published. It was the first of the Famous Five series of books which tell the tales of a group of four child detectives and their dog; over 100 million copies have been sold worldwide.
On 12th September…
King James VI & I goes under the Thames onboard the first submarine
1624 - The first submarine was demonstrated in London on the River Thames in front of a crowd of about 3,000 spectators. King James VI and I was one of the first passengers invited along for the ride in the submarine. The vessel had been designed by Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutch inventor. It was made of a wooden frame covered in pigskin and capable of carrying 16 passengers.
On 13th September…
1916 - Roald Dahl, the famous children’s author, was born in Cardiff, Wales. Some of his books include, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and The BFG.
1940 - Buckingham Palace was hit by five bombs during a German air raid on London in World War II. The bombs fell on the Royal chapel, the inner quadrangle, the Palace gates, and the Victoria memorial. Four members of the palace staff were injured and one of them died a short while after.
On 14th September…
1752 - The Gregorian Calendar was introduced into Britain. At the time Britain was using the Julian calendar whilst all Roman Catholic countries had adopted the Gregorian calendar back in the 1582; Britain was now eleven days ahead of the countries using the new calendar. This meant that when Britain adopted the new calendar 3rd September became 14th September to bring the nation in line with the new system. People across Britain weren’t happy about this change and some rioted on the streets demanding, “Give us back our 11 days!” Of course, they hadn’t lost any days, but it did seem like that, how would you feel if your birthday was anywhere between the 3rd-13th September that year?
The Julian calendar was put to use by Julius Caesar who decreed that there should be three years of 365 days followed by a year of 366 days, what we call a leap year. How is this different to the calendar we use now? The Gregorian calendar, brought into use by Pope Gregory XIII, has an additional rule to keep the dates in line with the way the world moves around the sun. The extra leap year day is not to be added to any year divisible by 100 but not divisible by 400, e.g., 1900, 1800 and 1700 were not leap years but 1600 and 2000 were.