TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Friday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2022. There are 232 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1568 — Mary, Queen of Scots, is defeated at the Battle of Langside, in Glasgow, by her proEnglish halfbrother James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray. Mary went into exile and captivity in England, never to see Scotland again. The battle can be regarded as the start of the Marian civil war.
1607 — Captain John Smith and a party of soldiers land in Virginia at Jamestown and establish the first permanent British settlement in the New World.
1787 — The first fleet of ships carrying convicts to the new penal colony of Australia leaves England. It arrives the following January.
1869 — Matoaka leaves Lyttelton bound for London with 79 passengers and crew and is never seen again. Its disappearance remains a mystery.
1871 — The Law of Guarantees in Italy declares the Pope’s person inviolable and allows him possession of the Vatican.
1912 — The Waihi Miners Union initiates strike action after 40 engine drivers break away to form a new ‘‘scab’’ union. The miners’ action, which is supported by the Federation of Labour, is marred by violence, and ends with the death of one of the miners in November.
1916 — The New Zealand Division occupies trenches on the Western Front near Armentieres in northern France. During this time the soldiers gain the reputation of being good ‘‘diggers’’.
1918 — The first United States airmail stamps, featuring a picture of an aeroplane, are introduced. The plane was printed upside down on some stamps, making them collector’s items.
1936 — The New Zealand National Party is formed from a coalition of the United and Reform parties.
1940 — In his first speech as prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill tells the House of Commons, ‘‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat’’.
1942 — Lieutenantcolonel Edward Love is appointed commander of the Maori Battalion, the first Maori to hold this position.
1943 — In World War 2 the North African campaign officially ends when General Freyberg accepts the surrender of Italian and German forces.
1947 — Mabel Howard (Labour) becomes the first woman in cabinet when she is given the health portfolio. In 1948 she famously visited Waimate to open new hospital buildings and when she saw the old smokehouse (for those who smoked), promptly ordered its demolition. ‘‘Burn it’’, she said. ‘‘There’s no sentiment where health is concerned.’’ Born in Dunedin in 1869, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated artists, Frances Hodgkins, dies in Dorset, England. Her ashes were returned to New Zealand and placed in the family plot in Waikanae cemetery, north of Wellington.
1981 — Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded in Rome by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk.
1992 — Residents of the South Otago township of Benhar look on in amazement as, without warning, demolition work begins on the historic Hoffman kiln; due to a growing black market for wild rabbit meat, calls are made to legalise and sell it commercially.
1995 — Team New Zealand, with the yacht Black Magic (NZL 32), led by Peter Blake and captained by Russell Coutts, wins the America’s Cup at San Diego, defeating Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes 5nil, to take the cup away from the US for only the second time in 144 years.
2014 — 301 miners are killed by an underground explosion and mine fire in Soma Mine, Manisa, Turkey.
Today’s birthdays:
Thomas Buick, New Zealand politician (18651938); Eliza (Ellen) Melville, New Zealand politician (18821946); Harold McCarter Taylor, New Zealandborn British mathematician, theoretical physicist and academic administrator (190795); Whitford James Brown, foundation mayor of Porirua (191086); Harvey Keitel, US actor (1939); Jacqui Dean, New Zealand politician
(1957); Stephen Colbert, US television host (1964); Darius Rucker, US musician
(1966); Gareth Paddison, New Zealand professional golfer (1980); Mika Vukona, New Zealand professional basketball player (1982); Robert Pattinson, English actor (1986); Lena Dunham, American actress, writer, and director (1986); Debby Ryan, US actress (1993).
Quote of the day:
‘‘My mother had a rule, obviously, that I couldn’t go across the street by myself, but I had to find a way of doing it.’’ — Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Morris), US singer/songwriter who was born on this day in 1950.