Today in history

On this date:

In 1109, Anselm, founder of Scholasticism and the archbishop of Canterbury, died. His treatise “Why Did God Become Man” is recognized by scholars as the greatest medieval treatise on the atonement.

In 1741, English agriculturalist Jethro Tull died. He invented the seed drill and pioneered the planting of seeds in rows.

In 1801, Cardinal John Henry Newman was born in London. While a student at Oxford University, he became a leader of the Oxford Movement, which attempted to reform the Church of England. He later left the Anglican church and joined the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1824, 18-year-old Patrick Bergen of Saint John, N.B., was hanged for stealing 25 cents.

In 1838, Samuel Morse gave the first public demonstration of the telegraph.

In 1878, the first telephone directory was issued, in New Haven, Conn. It listed 58 names.

In 1891, an explosion in a coal mine at Springhill killed 125 miners. Coal gas was suspected as the cause of the blast. The accident was the first of several that occurred over the years in Springhill. The mines were shut forever after a rock surge on Oct. 23, 1958, in which 74 miners died.

In 1915, Sgt.-Major Fred Hall won the Victoria Cross during the First World War battle of Ypres in Belgium. He died trying to rescue a wounded comrade. Hall was one of three V.C. winners from the war who lived on the same Winnipeg street. After the war, Pine Street was renamed Valour Road in honour of Hall, Cpl. Leo Clarke and Lt. Robert Shankland. Only Shankland survived the war.

In 1916, a bloody First World War battle began as German guns opened fire on 40 kilometres of French lines around Verdun. An estimated 420,000 men were killed at Verdun and 800,000 wounded in 1916-17.

In 1921, Quebec passed legislation making it the first Canadian province to establish government control of liquor.

In 1947, American inventor Edwin Land demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which produced a black-and-white picture in 60 seconds. A colour process hit the market in 1963.