ON THIS DAY

Pope Alexander III canonises Thomas Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury.

The settlement and stronghold in Crimea called Akhtiar gains the name Sevastopol, which it bears today. The name in Greek means ‘magnificent’.

1797 Britain is invaded for the last time. 1803 Britain returns the Cape to the Netherlands.

Without declaring war, Russian troops cross the Swedish border, beginning the Finnish War in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (Finland).

Laden with prisoners, the ship Neptune returns to England from Simon’s Bay, where it had been anchored from September 1849. The 288 prisoners shackled aboard couldn’t go ashore because the burghers opposed the establishment of a penal settlement in the Cape Colony, such as in Australia.

Walter Benson Rubusana, an ANC founder member, is born near Somerset East.

The Battle of Verdun, one of WWI’s bloodiest battles, begins with a colossal German artillery barrage.

The troopship SS Mendi collides with the RMS Darro near the Isle of Wight and sinks, taking with her 616 black South Africans who were on their way to France to fight for the Allies. “Be quiet and calm, my countrymen. What is happening now is what you came to do… you are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers… Swazis, Pondos, Basotho… so let us die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war-cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies,” were reputed to be the last words of Reverend Wauchope Dyobha, who, was among those who went down with the ship.

Australians chase Turkish troops out of Jericho, Dutch Palestine.

Activist Malcolm X is shot dead by Nation of Islam followers in New York City.

The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.

Israeli fighter jets down a Libyan passenger plane over the Sinai, killing 108.

“Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe, the murderer of 13 women, is captured.

Steve Fossett lands in Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

The Queen of England, Elizabeth II, makes a surprise appearance at London fashion week. | THE HISTORIAN