today in history

On this date:

In 1485, King Richard III of England was killed at the “Battle of Bosworth,” ending the Wars of the Roses. Henry Tudor succeeded Richard to become King Henry VII.

In 1711, thick fog thwarted an assault by British Admiral Walker on Quebec. Eight of 15 warships were wrecked and almost 900 men drowned.

In 1776, Britain landed 10,000 men on Long Island in a bid to quash the American Revolution.

In 1800, Edward Pusey, English biblical scholar and Tractarian spokesman, was born. He worked to establish religious orders in Anglicanism, founding in 1845 the first Anglican sisterhood.

In 1827, industrialist Ezra Butler Eddy, who became known as the matchmaker of the world, was born in Vermont. E.B. Eddy moved his small friction-match factory from Burlington, Vt., to Hull, Que., in 1851. He expanded, modernized and diversified to produce a variety of wood and paper products. Eddy was also elected mayor of Hull six times and was a member of the Quebec legislature for six years. In 1846, the United States annexed New Mexico. In 1851, the schooner “America” outraced the “Aurora” off the English coast to win a silver trophy that came to be known as the America’s Cup.

In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese colonial rule until 1945.