TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1275, King Edward I of England ordered the cessation of the persecution of French Jews.

In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.

In 1533, the marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.

In 1541, French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed from St. Malo on his third voyage to Canada.

In 1633, by French government edict, only Roman Catholic settlers were permitted permanent residence within New France, present-day Canada, thus ending 30 years of attempted colonization by Huguenots or Protestants.

In 1633, Samuel de Champlain was appointed governor of New France.

In 1701, Captain William Kidd, a Scottish sailor, was hanged in London after he was convicted of piracy and murder.

In 1785, in a letter to a friend, American inventor-statesman Benjamin Franklin revealed his latest invention – bi-focals.

In 1873, Canada’s North West Mounted Police force was established by an act of Parliament. The force merged with the Dominion Police in 1920 to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

In 1887, the first CPR intercontinental passenger train arrived at the new west coast terminal of Vancouver.

In 1903, American Congregational missionary Henry Blodget died at age 78. He served 40 years in China (1854-94), and helped translate the New Testament into the colloquial Mandarin language of Beijing.

In 1915, Germany declared war on Italy during the First World War.

In 1929, the first non-stop Winnipeg-to-Edmonton flight was made in six hours and 48 minutes.

In 1934, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush on a road in Bienville Parish, La.

In 1943, William Aberhart, the inaugural leader of Alberta’s Social Credit party, died in Vancouver.