On 1st August…

10BCE - The Roman emperor Claudius was born. Claudius is the emperor who succeeded in conquering Britain, although it wasn’t easy; it did take him over 30 years of fighting the local tribes.

1800 - The Act of Union 1800 received royal approval. The Act united Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was voted for by Parliaments in both Britain and Ireland in March 1800 and came into effect on January 1st, 1801.

1820 - The Regent’s Canal in London opened. In its first year 120,000 tonnes of cargo were carried along the canal.

1834 - The Slavery Abolition Act (1833) came into effect abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire. The slave trade had been abolished in 1807 but it took another twenty-six years before slavery was made illegal.

1914 - Germany declared war on Russia. Germany mobilised its troops ready for attack at the beginning of what would become known as The Great War or World War I. France was left with no option but to mobilise its military, ready for action under the terms of its agreement with Russia.

On 2nd August…

338BCE - In Ancient Greece at the Battle of Chaeronea, the Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the joint forces of the city states of Athens and Thebes to unite the central and southern states of Ancient Greece under Macedonian rule.

1914 - Great Britain mobilised its troops in readiness for battle at the beginning of World War I. Parliament agreed to support Belgium’s neutrality. Belgium did not want to be part of the argument and had refused to permit German troops to enter and pass-through Belgian territory in order to reach France.

On 3rd August…

1460 - King James II of Scotland died after being fatally injured by an exploding canon at Kelso in the Scottish borders. He was trying to regain control of Roxburgh Castle which had remained in English hands since the Wars of Independence. James had been king of Scotland since the age of 6 years old when his father, James I, was brutally murdered. James II’s 9-year-old son became King James III upon his death.

1492 - Christopher Columbus set sail on his first voyage with three ships in the expedition: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He set sail heading west hoping to find another route to China and India but instead, a few months later he found America and the Caribbean islands. Believing the islands to be part of India, they were named the West Indies.

1887 - Rupert Brooke the famous World War poet was born in Rugby, England. His most famous poem was ‘The Soldier’ which began, ‘If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.’

On 4th August…

1900 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was born. She was married to King George VI and was mother to Queen Elizabeth II. In the year 2000 she celebrated her 100th birthday.

1914 - Germany demanded free passage across Belgium in its attempt to reach France in the wake of World War I. to allow its Army to cross through Belgium. Germany decided to invade Belgium despite being told not to and declared war on France.

1914 - At 11pm Britain declared war on Germany after Germany had refused to remove its troops from neutral Belgium at the beginning of World War I.

On 5th August…

642 - The Battle of Maserfield took place between the Anglo-Saxon kings Oswald of Northumbria, and Penda of Mercia. King Penda defeated King Oswald and dismembered his body. The body parts are thought to have been offered up to pagan gods to appease them. This was just one of many battles between the warring kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain.

910 - The joint Anglo-Saxon forces of the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia defeated the last major Viking army to invade England at the Battle of Tettenhall. Lady Aethelflaed of Mercia and her brother King Edward of Wessex sandwiched the Danish forces; two Viking kings were killed, and many thousands of men died. Aethelflaed’s and Edward’s combined strength eventually united England under one king.

1962 - Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood film star and icon died from a drug overdose. She was 36 years old.

On 6th August…

1497 - John Cabot returned to Bristol from Newfoundland, North America. He was the first European to do so since the Vikings. He reported that the land he had found was excellent with a temperate climate and a sea full of fish.

On 7th August…