April 18th - 24th
“A week of new things - a new museum, a new war, a new city, a new king, and a new Republic...”
On 18th April…
1881 - The Natural History Museum opened its doors for the first time in South Kensington, London.
On 19th April…
1775 - In Lexington, Massachusetts USA, the American War of Independence against Britain began. Despite the last major battles being fought in 1781, the war was not formally ended until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 when Britain officially recognised America’s independence.
On 20th April…
1534 - Elizabeth Barton, known as the ‘Holy Maid’ or ‘Mad Maid of Kent’ was executed at Tyburn, London. Elizabeth became famous for her trances in which she would utter prophecies about King Henry VIII. She said that he would suffer dire consequences if he did not stop his divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. When her prophecies became more and more treasonous, she was arrested. Upon examination she confessed to making up her trances and prophecies and was condemned to death by Parliament. Elizabeth Barton was hanged to death, then her head was chopped off and placed on a spike at London Bridge as a warning to others. She is the only woman to suffer this dishonour.
On 21st April…
753BCE - According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by brothers Romulus and Remus on this day.
King Henry VII
1509 - King Henry VII of England died. He was the first Tudor king and ended the War of the Roses when he won the Battle of Bosworth Field. On his death, his 17-year-old son Henry become King Henry VIII.
1816 - Charlotte Bronte the novelist and author was born. She became a famous writer along with two of her sisters, Emily and Anne. Charlotte’s most famous novel is Jane Eyre which was published in 1847.
Queen Elizabeth II
1926 - Queen Elizabeth II was born in London.
On 22nd April…
1500 - Pedro Alvares Cabral became the first European to discover Brazil. He claimed it for his home country, Portugal.
1915 - In World War I the German army used poison chlorine gas as a weapon against the Allied troops at Ypres in Belgium.
1970 - Earth Day was first celebrated in the USA. Millions of people participated in rallies and marches to increase public awareness of the world’s environmental problems. Today Earth Day is recognised in over 190 countries around the world with people taking part in local clean-ups, climate strikes, and measuring of air quality and plastic pollution near their homes, amongst many other activities.
On 23rd April…
303 - St George is believed to have died on this day. He is the patron saint of England and legend has it that he killed a dragon to save a princess although this story was added a long time after his death. Did you know that Saint George was not English and never set foot on English soil? He was born in Cappadocia in Turkey and is also the patron saint of Ethiopia, Portugal, Venice, Catalonia, and Genoa.
1014 - King Brian of Ireland was murdered. King Brian Boru had just defeated the Vikings in a battle at Clontarf near Dublin, but a small retreating group came upon the King’s tent by chance. They overcame his bodyguards and murdered the King.
1124 - David I became King of all Scotland on the death of his older brother, King Alexander I. He was already in control of the lands south of the Forth and Clyde which had been bequeathed to him by another brother King Edgar, who had split the land on his deathbed between his younger brothers, David and Alexander. It was under David’s rule that Scotland forged its strongest bonds with England.
1445 - King Henry VI of England married Margaret of Anjou. Henry VI was only nine months old when his father died and he became King of England. His reign was dominated by the War of the Roses which was a civil war between the House of York and the House of Lancaster over the throne of England. Henry VI was from House Lancaster and reigned from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471.
William Shakespeare
1564 - William Shakespeare, the famous playwright from Tudor England was born. His plays are as popular now as they were in Elizabethan England with many of his stories being used as a basis for films and stories today, such as Disney’s The Lion King (Hamlet).
Shakespeare also died on this day in 1616.
Can you work out how old he was when he died?
1775 - J.M.W. Turner, the famous British landscape painter, was born in Covent Garden London.
On 24th April…
1479 BCE - Thutmose III became Pharaoh of Egypt.
1184 BCE - The Greeks entered the ancient city of Troy during the Trojan wars using the Trojan Horse. The Trojan horse was a gift of a huge hollow wooden horse that hid Greek soldiers inside. They emerged from the horse at night and opened the city’s gates allowing the Greek army to enter and win the war.