On this day in hitory

On this day in 1694,William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton died

William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, KG, PC (24 December 1634 – 18 April 1694), was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was not a Hamilton by birth. The son of William Douglas, 1st Marquis of Douglas, he fought in the royalist army in the mid-1650s and in 1656 married Anne, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton in her own right. At her request, Charles II made him Duke of Hamilton.

Lord William Douglas was created 1st Earl of Selkirk in 1646, at the age of 11. He supported the Royalist cause in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and was fined £1000, under the terms of the English Commonwealth's Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland.

Anne Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton was from a staunchly Royalist dynasty. Her estates had been declared forfeit by Oliver Cromwell after the activities of her father and uncle in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Her father, James, 1st Duke of Hamilton, was executed by the English in 1649 at the end of the Second English Civil War, and her uncle, William, 2nd Duke of Hamilton, died following the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

In parliament, William, 3rd Duke of Hamilton led the opposition to John, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, later serving twice as Lord High Commissioner. President of the Scottish Privy Council in the 1680s, he occupied other high offices including that of Lord High Admiral and was an extraordinary Lord of Session.

Duke of Hamilton

Marjory Stoneman married Kenneth Douglas

Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998), writer and conservationist, married Kenneth Douglas, a reporter for the Newark Evening News on 18th April 1914. But Douglas soon became embroiled in scandal. He had been married twice before under a different name and it remains unclear if a divorce from his second wife was ever final. He was charged with passing bad cheques, and jailed. The marriage ended.

Paul Revere warns of the British advance

Paul Revere was a silversmith and ardent colonialist. He took part in the Boston Tea Party and was principal rider for Boston's Committee of Safety. In that role, he devised a system of lanterns to warn the minutemen of a British invasion, setting up his famous ride on April 18, 1775..

Titanic survivors arrive in New York

Mahala Douglas was the very first survivor to board the RMS Carpathia in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912 and arrived in New York on 18th April. She had boarded the Titanic as a 1st Class passenger at Cherbourg on Wednesday 10th April with her husband Walter and maid, Miss Berthe Leroy, both of whom drowned. Walter was a board member of the Quaker Oats Company.

Births

1703 - Douglas, Nathaniel
1818 - Douglas, Archibald William (8th Marquis of Queensbury)
1829 - Douglas, Jilson Berryman
1838 - Douglas, Isabella
1864 - Douglas, Eugene Farr
1865 - Douglas, John
1920 - Douglas, Kenneth Lindsay
1961 - Douglas, Tamera
1986 - Douglas, Braden
1996 - Douglas, Kelly Brendon

Births on this day

Deaths

1694 - Douglas-Hamilton, William (Duke of Hamilton)
1810 - Douglas, Archibald
1929 - Douglas, Clyde Everett

Deaths on this day

Events

796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms.
1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
1847 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.
1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
1915 – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
1930 – The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that "there is no news" in their evening report.
1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into effect.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President.
1983 – A suicide bomber in Lebanon destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.
1992 – General Abdul Rashid Dostum revolts against President Mohammad Najibullah of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and allies with Ahmad Shah Massoud to capture Kabul.
1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the United Nations compound at Quana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.

Events on this day