Death Anniversaries - w/e April 15, 2000 (Part One)
A D Evans
APRIL 9
1483 - Edward IV of England, King 1461-70 & 1471-83, from pneumonia in
Westminster, London aged 40.
1553 (probable date) - Francois Rabelais, French monk and satirist, in
Paris, France aged about 59.
1626 - Francis Bacon (Viscount St Albans), English philosopher and
statesman, from bronchitis after catching a chill while stuffing a hen
with snow to observe the effect of cold on putrefaction, at the Earl of
Arundel's house near Highgate, London aged 65.
1747 - Simon Fraser (11th Lord Lovat), Scottish chief, beheaded (the
last person to be executed by beheading in England) at Tower Hill,
London aged about 80.
1882 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter, in Birchington-
on-Sea, Kent aged 53.
1904 - Isabella II of Spain, Queen 1833-70, in Paris, France aged 73.
1909 - F Marion Crawford, Italian-born US novelist, in Sorrento, Italy
aged 54.
1917 - Edward Thomas, English poet of Welsh parentage, killed in action
at Arras aged 39.
1940 - Mrs Patrick Campbell, English actress, aged 75.
1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and opponent of Nazism, hanged
at Flossenburg, Germany aged 39.
1959 - Frank Lloyd Wright, US architect, in Phoenix, Arizona aged 89.
1961 - Zog I of Albania, King 1928-39, at Foch Hospital, Suresnes,
Paris, France aged 65.
1988 - Brook Benton, US singer, in hospital in New York City aged 56.
1996 - Richard Condon, US thriller writer, in Dallas, Texas aged 81.
1997 - Mae Axton, US songwriter (co-author of "Heartbreak Hotel"), at
her home in Hendersonville, Tennessee aged 82.
1997 - Helene Hanff, US author, at De Witt Nursing Home, Manhattan, New
York City aged 80.
And ...
1912 - The Titanic was moored in Berth 44 of Southampton harbour
awaiting its maiden voyage.
APRIL 10
1585 - Gregory XIII, Italian pope 1572-85, in Rome, Italy aged 83.
1909 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, in Putney, London aged
72.
1919 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary leader, shot dead at the
Chinameca hacienda, Morelos, Mexico aged 39.
1931 - Khalil Gibran, Lebanese/US poet, in New York City aged 48.
1954 - August Lumiere, French pioneer of cinematography, in Lyons,
France aged 91.
1955 - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian, in New York City
aged 73.
1962 - Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born film director, from cancer in Los
Angeles, California aged 73.
1962 - Stuart Sutcliffe, English bass guitarist with The Beatles, from
cerebral paralysis caused by a brain haemorrhage, in an ambulance en
route to hospital in Hamburg, Germany aged 21.
1965 (2.25pm) - Linda Darnell, US actress, from burns at the Burn
Treatment Center of Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Illinois aged 43.
The burns were suffered in a fire at the Glenview home of her ex-
secretary Jane Curtis.
1966 - Evelyn Waugh, English author, from a heart attack in Combe
Florey, Somerset aged 62.
1975 - Walker Evans, US photographer, in New Haven, Connecticut aged 71.
1975 - Marjorie Main, US actress, from cancer in Los Angeles, California
aged 85.
1992 - Peter Mitchell, English biochemist (Nobel chemistry 1978), in
Bodmin, Cornwall aged 71.
1995 - Morarji Ranchhadji Desai, Indian Prime Minister 1977-79, in
Bombay, India aged 99.
And ...
1912 - After the Titanic had passed its Board of Trade final inspection
on the morning of the 10th, the ship sailed from Southampton at 12.15pm.
It arrived at Cherbourg at 5.30pm and, after taking passengers, left at
8.30pm bound for Queenstown, Ireland.
APRIL 11
1240 - Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Welsh prince, at a monastery in Aberconwy,
Wales aged about 66.
1839 - John Galt, Scottish novelist, in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
aged 59.
1890 (1.30pm) - Joseph Carey Merrick, "the Elephant Man", from
asphyxiation as a symptom of possibly Proteus syndrome in the Bedstead
Square grounds of the Royal London Hospital, London aged 29.
1906 - James Anthony Bailey, US showman (with Phineas T Barnum), at his
home The Knolls, near Mount Vernon, New York aged 58.
1916 - Richard Harding Davis, US novelist and newspaper correspondent,
in Mount Kisco, New York aged 51.
1926 - Luther Burbank, US horticulturalist after whom the city is named,
in Santa Rosa, California aged 77.
1970 - John O'Hara, US novelist and short story writer, in Princeton,
New Jersey aged 65.
1977 - Jacques Prevert, French poet and screenwriter, in Normandy,
France aged 77.
1985 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian political leader, from a heart attack in
Tirana, Albania aged 76.
1987 - Erskine Caldwell, US writer, in Paradise Valley, Arizona aged 83.
1987 - Primo Levi, Italian writer, in Turin, Italy aged 67.
1996 - Jessica Dubroff, US child pilot, killed when her Cessna aircraft
crashed in rain and snow near Cheyenne, Wyoming aged 7.
1998 - Francis Durbridge, English thriller writer, at his home in London
aged 85.
And ...
1912 - The Titanic reached Queenstown at 11.30am. After taking on her
final passengers, the Titanic sailed for New York at 1.30pm. At the
time of her departure from Queenstown, she had approximately 2227
passengers and crew aboard and 3800 sacks of mail.
APRIL 12
1912 - Clara Barton, US founder of the US Red Cross, in Glen Echo,
Maryland aged 80.
1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian singer, from a kidney ailment in Paris,
France aged 65.
1945 (3.35pm) - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, US president 1933-45, from a
cerebral haemorrhage in the bedroom of his residence in Warm Springs,
Georgia aged 63.
1960 - Sir Archibald Macindoe, New Zealand pioneering plastic surgeon,
aged 59.
1962 - Antoine Pevsner, French sculptor and painter, in Paris, France
aged 76.
1971 - Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm, Russian physicist (Nobel physics 1958),
in Moscow, Russia aged 75.
1973 - Arthur Freed, US film producer, from a heart attack in Bel Air,
California aged 78.
1975 - Josephine Baker, US-born French entertainer, in Paris, France
aged 68.
1981 - Joe Louis, US boxer, following a heart attack, in Las Vegas,
Nevada aged 66.
1988 - Alan Paton, South African writer, near Durban, South Africa aged
85.
1989 - Abbie Hoffman, US revolutionary activist and writer, committed
suicide by taking a drugs overdose in New Hope, Pennsylvania aged 52.
1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, US boxer, in Culver City, California aged 67.
1997 - George Wald, US biochemist (Nobel phys/med 1906), at his home in
Cambridge, Massachusetts aged 90.
1999 - Boxcar Willie, US country singer, from leukaemia at his home in
Branson, Missouri aged 67.
And ...
1912 - The Titanic was sailing at an average of 21 knots through the
waters of the Atlantic. The liner received many messages of
congratulations as well as some reports of ice (though this was not
abnormal for April sailings).
APRIL 13
1910 - Sir William Orchardson, Scottish painter, in London aged 78.
1944 - 5th Earl of Lonsdale (Hugh Lowther), English sportsman and
founder of the Lonsdale Belts for boxing, aged 87.
1966 - Georges Duhamel, French novelist and poet, in Valmondois, near
Paris, France aged 81.
1975 - Larry Parks, US actor, from a heart attack in Studio City,
California aged 60.
1998 - Sir Ian MacGregor, Scottish-born US/British business executive
and National Coal Board leader, aged 85.
And ...
1912 - Between noon on the 12th and noon on the 13th, the Titanic
covered 519 miles. It would cover 546 miles in the following 24 hours.
APRIL 14
1471 - Earl of Warwick (Richard Neville, the "Kingmaker"), English
soldier and statesman, slain at the battle of Barnet, near London aged
42.
1578 - 4th Earl of Bothwell (James Hepburn), Scottish nobleman and a
husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, in Draxholm, Denmark aged about 42.
1759 - George Frideric Handel, German-born British composer, in London
aged 74.
1785 - William Whitehead, English poet (Poet Laureate 1757-85), aged
about 69.
1895 - James Dwight Dana, US mineralogist, in New Haven, Connecticut
aged 82.
1917 - Lazarus Zamenhof, Polish inventor of Esperanto, in Warsaw, Poland
aged 57.
1924 - Louis Henry Sullivan, US architect, in Chicago, Illinois aged 67.
1930 - Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian-born Russian poet, committed
suicide aged 36.
1951 - Ernest Bevin, English Labour politician, in London aged 70.
1964 - Rachel Carson, US naturalist and writer, in Silver Spring,
Maryland aged 56.
1975 - Michael Flanders, English entertainer and writer, in a house
overlooking the Fairy Glen, Betws-y-Coed, Wales aged 53.
1975 - Fredric March, US actor, from cancer in Los Angeles, California
aged 77.
1983 - Elizabeth Lutyens, English composer, in London aged 76.
1985 - Noele Gordon, English actress, from cancer in Birmingham,
Warwickshire aged 61.
1986 - Simone de Beauvoir, French socialist and writer, in Paris, France
aged 78.
1988 - John Stonehouse, English politician and fraudster, aged 62.
1995 - Burl Ives, US actor and singer, of complications from cancer of
the mouth in Anacortes, Washington aged 85.
1998 - Dorothy Squires, British singer, from cancer in Llwynpia, Wales
aged 83.
1999 - Anthony Newley, English actor and singer, from cancer at his home
in Jensen Beach, Florida aged 67.
1999 - Ellen Corby, US actress, at the Motion Picture & Television
Hospital, Woodland Hills, California aged 87.
And ...
1912 - Persuaded by several messages of ice, Captain Smith ordered an
iceberg watch to operate that night. At 10.00am, Frederick Fleet and
Reginald Lee replaced Archie Jewell and George Symons as lookouts in the
crow's nest. At shortly after 11.30pm, Fleet saw an iceberg directly
ahead. He immediately contacted Sixth Officer Moody who relayed the
message to First Officer Murdoch. He gave the order "Hard-a-starboard'
and telegraphed the engine room to reverse the engines. The iceberg
passed on the starboard side of the liner but, as it did so, tore a thin
gash of approximately 300 feet along the side of the Titanic penetrating
the forepeak tank, holds numbers 1,2 &3, and the forward boiler room.
Captain Smith, roused by the collision, consulted the ship's designer
Thomas Andrews to assess the damage - Andrews advised Smith that the
ship had little more than two hours to survive.
--
Andrew Evans