On this day: Duchess of Atholl becomes first female Tory minister

EVENTS, birthdays, anniversaries
On this day in 1924, the Duchess of Atholl became the first female Conservative minister in Britain, becoming parliamentary under-secretary to the Board of Education. Picture: Getty ImagesOn this day in 1924, the Duchess of Atholl became the first female Conservative minister in Britain, becoming parliamentary under-secretary to the Board of Education. Picture: Getty Images
On this day in 1924, the Duchess of Atholl became the first female Conservative minister in Britain, becoming parliamentary under-secretary to the Board of Education. Picture: Getty Images

1429: Henry VI was crowned King of England. Two years later he was also crowned King of France.

1572: The Supernova known as Tycho’s Star was first observed in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

1860: Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th US President.

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1866: The CSS Shenandoah, a merchant raider, fired the final shot of the American Civil War and was the last Confederate combat unit to surrender – in the River Mersey at Liverpool – after circumnavigating the globe during a cruise in which it captured and sank, or bonded, 38 Union merchant vessels.

1869: Blackfriars Bridge opened in London.

1900: The British Mounted Infantry, commanded by Major General Charles Knox, defeated the Boers at the Battle of Bothaville.

1913: Mahatma Gandhi was arrested for leading an Indian miners march in South Africa.

1917: Passchendaele Ridge was captured by British and Canadian troops.

1917: The Bolshevik Revolution began with the storming of the Winter Palace in Petrograd.

1924: The first female Conservative minister in Britain was the Duchess of Atholl. She was appointed parliamentary under-secretary to the Board of Education.

1924: Prime minister Stanley Baldwin appointed Winston Churchill as his chancellor of the Exchequer.

1942: Tidal wave killed 10,000 people in Bengal, India.

1942: The Church of England relaxed its ruling that women should wear hats in church.

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1956: Work began on the Kariba High Dam between Zambia and Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia).

1956: Netherlands and Spain withdrew from the Olympic Games – held in Melbourne, Australia – as a protest at the USSR’s presence following the Soviet Union’s action in crushing the Hungarian Revolution.

1962: United Nations General Assembly called for economic sanctions against South Africa because of its racial policies.

1975: Punk rockers the Sex Pistols played their first gig, at St Martin’s College of Art in London.

1986: Forty-five crew and oil rig workers died when a Chinook helicopter crashed into the sea off Sumburgh Head, Shetland. There were only two survivors. The official report on the accident blamed a failure of the aircraft’s rotor gears.

1991: Nato leaders meeting in Rome formally called a halt to enmity with Soviet Union and its allies and offered them a voice in alliance affairs.

1994: George Foreman, 46, became the oldest boxer to win a world title when he knocked out Michael Moorer to win the IBF and WBA titles in Las Vegas.

1995: The Conservatives suffered a Commons defeat on sleaze when 23 Tory MPs broke ranks and voted in favour of disclosure of outside earnings.

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1999: Australians voted to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum.

2005: Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire, the fourth movie based on the books by JK Rowling, premiered in London. It became the most successful movie of the year, earning almost $900 million.

Suzanne Charlton, weather presenter, 53; Sally Field, actress, 69; Nigel Havers, actor, 64; Ethan Hawke, actor, 45; Thandie Newton, actress, 43; PJ Proby, singer, 77; Emma Stone, actress, 27; Gareth Williams, rugby player, 61; Glenn Frey, musician, singer-songwriter (The Eagles), 67; Maria Shriver, author, 60; Lori Singer, actress and cellist, 58; Conchita Wurst, singer and drag artist, winner of 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, 27; Jim Rosenthal, TV sports presenter, 68; George Young, Glasgow-born musician ( the Easybeats), 69.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1638 James Gregory, Aberdeen-born inventor of the reflecting telescope; 1814 Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone; 1851 Charles Dow, founder of Wall Street Journal and co-founder of Dow Jones Index; 1878 Ernest Irving, composer;1926 Frank Carson, comedian.

Deaths: 1612 Prince Henry, Prince of Wales; 1752 Ralph Erskine, Scots clergyman; 1796 Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia; 1860 Sir Charles Napier, admiral; 1864 Daniel Stow, founder of Glasgow Normal College for training of teachers; 1893 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer; 1958 Francis George Scott, Scottish composer; 2004 Fred Dibnah, steeplejack.

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