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Keir Hardie

Keir Hardie

James Keir Hardie (August 15, 1856 - September 26, 1915) was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and one of the first two Labour MPs elected to the UK Parliament after the establishment of the Labour Party. Labour Party

Early life

Keir Hardie was born in 1856, the illegitimate son of Mary Keir, a servant from Legbrannock, near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Mary Keir later married David Hardie, a carpenter and the family moved to the industrial city of Glasgow. Hardie grew up in poverty and, from the age of eight, was a delivery boy for a baker. At the time he was the only wage-earner in his family. He was fired from this job because he arrived late to work, after looking after his dying brother. With no family income, the Hardies had to move back to Lanarkshire. From the age of 11, Hardie was working down the pits of Lanarkshire. He never went to school and he could not write until the age of 17. Hardie married Lillie Wilson on 3 August 1879.

Union leader

About this time, Hardie began to read newspapers and learn about trade unions. He set one up at the colliery where he worked and in 1880 led the first ever strike by Lanarkshire miners. As a result, Hardie was blacklisted by coal mine owners and became unable to find work. He subsequently moved to Cumnock in Ayrshire to become a journalist. Although raised an atheist, Hardie was converted to Christianity, and became a lay preacher at the Evangelical Union Church. Christianity was to become an important influence on his political career. In 1886 he became the organising secretary of the Ayrshire Miners Union and later the Scottish Miners Federation and he began to edit a paper called The Miner.

The Scottish Labour Party, MP for West Ham and the ILP

Originally a supporter of the Liberal Party, Hardie became disillusioned by William Gladstone's economic policies and began to feel that the Liberals neither would nor could ever adequately represent the working classes. Hardie believed the Liberal Party merely wanted the votes of the workers but that it would not in return offer radical reform for workers - he became a socialist and decided to run for Parliament. In April 1888 Hardie stood as an independent labour candidate in Mid Lanark. He finished last but he was not deterred and believed he would enjoy more success in the future. At a public meeting in Glasgow on 25 August 1888 the Scottish Labour Party (1888-1893) (not the same party as the modern Scottish Labour Party) was formed, with Hardie becoming the party's first secretary. The party's president was Robert Cunninghame-Graham, the UK's first socialist MP, and later founder of the National Party of Scotland, forerunner to the Scottish National Party. Hardie was invited to stand in West Ham in 1892 (a working class seat in the East End of London). The Liberals decided not to field a candidate, but at the same time not to offer Hardie any assistance. Competing against the Conservative Party candidate, Hardie won by 5,268 votes to 4,036. On taking his seat on 3 August 1892 Hardie refused to wear the 'parliamentary uniform' of black frock coat, black silk top hat and starched wing collar that other working class MPs wore. Instead, Hardie wore a plain tweed suit, a red tie and a deerstalker hat. In Parliament he advocated a graduated income tax, free schooling, pensions, the abolition of the House of Lords and the women's right to vote. In 1893 Hardie and others formed the Independent Labour Party, an action that worried the Liberals, who were afraid that the ILP might, at some point in the future, win the working-class votes that they traditionally received. Hardie hit the headlines in 1894 when after an explosion at a colliery in Pontypridd which killed 251 miners, he asked that a message of condolence to the relatives of the victims be added to an address of congratulations on the birth of a royal heir (the future Edward VIII). The request was refused and Hardie made a speech attacking the monarchy, which resulted in uproar in the House of Commons and, in 1895, he lost his seat. Hardie spent the next five years of his life building up the Labour movement and speaking at various public meetings; he was arrested at a woman's suffrage meeting in London, but the Home Secretary, concerned about arresting the leader of the ILP, ordered his release.

The Labour Party

In 1900 Hardie organised a meeting of various trade unions and socialist groups and they agreed to form a Labour Representation Committee, and so the Labour Party was born. In 1900 Hardie was elected Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil in the South Wales Valleys, which he would represent for the remainder of his life. Only one other Labour MP was elected that year, but from these small beginnings, Labour would grow and grow, eventually displacing the Liberals as the major force for reform. Meanwhile the Conservative Unionist government became deeply unpopular, and Liberal leader Campbell-Bannerman was worried about possible vote-splitting across the Labour and Liberal parties in the next election. Labour and the Liberals struck a deal: the Liberals would not stand against Labour in 30 constituencies in the next election. In 1906 the LRC changed its name to the Labour Party and Campbell-Bannerman, who had been caretaker Prime Minister since the resignation of Arthur Balfour in December 1905, called a General Election. The election result was the biggest landslide victory in UK history: the Liberals swept the Conservatives (and their Liberal Unionist allies) out of previously safe seats. Balfour himself lost his seat, Manchester East, on a swing of over 20 percent. However, what would later turn out to be even more significant was the election of 29 Labour MPs.

Later career

In 1908, Hardie resigned as leader of the Labour Party and was replaced by Arthur Henderson. Hardie spent the rest of his life campaigning for votes for women and developing a closer relationship with Sylvia Pankhurst. He also campaigned for self-rule for India and an end to segregation in South Africa. During a visit to the United States in 1909, his criticism of sectarianism among American radicals caused intensified debate regarding the American Socialist Party possibly joining with the unions in a labor party. A pacifist, Hardie was appalled by the First World War and along with socialists in other countries he tried to organise an international general strike to stop the war. His stance was not popular, even within the Labour Party, but he continued to address anti-war demonstrations across the country and to support conscientious objectors. After a series of strokes Hardie died in hospital in Glasgow on 26 September 1915.

Legacy

Keir Hardie steered the Labour movement away from what he regarded as the damaging influence of Marxism, and towards a moderate, low church and trade unionist version of socialism that was practical, flexible and with time, helped create a socialist party that has been more electorally and politically successful than most socialist parties outside Scandinavia. Hardie has de facto sainthood inside the Labour Party and is highly respected outside it. He also has the unusual distinction for a significant political leader of having rarely been attacked in print after his death.
Preceded by:
--- 		Leader of the British Labour Party
1906-1908 		Followed by:
Arthur Henderson
Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Hardie, Keir Category:UK Liberal Party politicians

References


- Benn, Caroline (1992) 'Keir Hardie' London: Hutchinson ISBN 0091753430

External links


- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRhardie.htm Biography of Hardie with quotes]

August 15

August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining.

Events


- 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, in which Roland is killed
- 927 - The Saracens conquered and destroyed Taranto
- 1057 - King MacBeth of Scotland is killed during the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of King Malcolm III.
- 1185 - The cave city of Vardzia was consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia
- 1309 - The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquartes on the island, and rename themselves as the Knights of Rhodes.
- 1517 - Seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernao Pires de Andrade meet Chinese officials at the Pearl River estuary.
- 1519 - Panama City, Panama is founded
- 1534 - The Society of Jesus is founded by Ignatius of Loyola with Francis Xavier and other students
- 1535 - Asuncion, Paraguay is founded
- 1540 - Arequipa, Peru is founded
- 1549 - Jesuit priest Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: July 22, 1549).
- 1620 - The Mayflower departs Southampton, England.
- 1824 - Freed American slaves form Liberia.
- 1843 - The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
- 1843 - Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 1863 - The Satsuma war begins between the Satsuma clan and Britain (Traditional Japanese date: July 2, 1863).
- 1877 - Thomas Edison makes the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
- 1914 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic
- 1920 - Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw - Poles defeat the Red Army.
- 1942 - World War II: Operation Pedestal - The SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island defenses.
- 1944 - World War II: Operation Anvil - Allied forces land in southern France.
- 1945 - World War II: Victory over Japan Day - Japan surrenders.
- 1945 - World War II: Korean Liberation Day
- 1947 - India gains independence from Britain. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as the first Prime Minister of India
- 1948 - The Republic of Korea is established south of 38th Parallel
- 1960 - Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) declares its independence from France
- 1961 - Construction begins on the Berlin Wall, Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany.
- 1965 - John Coltrane plays in Chicago, Illinois for the Downbeat Jazz Festival with Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner.
- 1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens.
- 1971 - President Richard Nixon ends convertibility of U.S. dollar into gold
- 1973 - Vietnam War: The United States bombing of Cambodia ends
- 1974 - Yook Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea is killed amid an apparent assassination attempt upon President of the South Korea, Park Chung-hee, during the anniversarial ceremony of the Liberation day.
- 1975 - Military coup in Bangladesh
- 1975 - Miki Takeo makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by a sitting prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
- 1977 - The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by The Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" for notation made by a volunteer on the project.
- 1978 - Foundation of Mirapuri - The City of Peace and Future Man
- 1998 - Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, becoming the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles
- 1999 - Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria; some 29 people killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.

Births


- 1001 - King Duncan I of Scotland (d. 1040)
- 1171 - King Alfonso IX of Leon (d. 1230)
- 1195 - Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint (d. 1231)
- 1432 - Luigi Pulci, Italian poet (d. 1484)
- 1613 - Gilles Ménage, French scholar (d. 1692)
- 1717 - Blind Jack, English roadbuilder (d. 1810)
- 1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France (d. 1821)
- 1785 - Thomas De Quincey, English author (d. 1859)
- 1813 - Jules Grévy, President of France (d. 1891)
- 1856 - Ivan Franko, Ukrainian writer (d. 1916)
- 1858 - E. Nesbit, English author (d. 1924)
- 1872 - Sri Aurobindo, Indian writer, nationalist, philosopher, and guru (d. 1950)
- 1875 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English composer (d. 1912)
- 1879 - Ethel Barrymore, American actress (d. 1959)
- 1887 - Edna Ferber, American novelist (d. 1968)
- 1883 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (d. 1962)
- 1890 - Jacques Ibert, French composer (d. 1962)
- 1892 - Louis, 7th duc de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1893 - Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and computing pioneer (d. 1950)
- 1896 - Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1957)
- 1896 - Leon Theremin, Russian inventor (d. 1993)
- 1900 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (d. 1966)
- 1912 - Julia Child, American cook (d. 2004)
- 1912 - Dame Wendy Hiller, English actress (d. 2003)
- 1916 - Aleks Çaçi, Albanian writer
- 1917 - Jack Lynch, fourth President of Ireland (d. 1999)
- 1919 - Huntz Hall, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1922 - Lukas Foss, German-born composer
- 1923 - Rose Marie, American actress
- 1924 - Robert Bolt, English screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1925 - Mike Connors, American actor
- 1925 - Willie Jones, baseball player (d. 1983)
- 1925 - Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist
- 1928 - Nicolas Roeg, English film director
- 1933 - Jim Lange, American game show host
- 1935 - Vernon Jordan Jr., U.S. Presidential advisor
- 1935 - Lionel Taylor, American football player
- 1938 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer
- 1944 - Linda Ellerbee, American journalist
- 1944 - Sylvie Vartan, French pop singer
- 1945 - Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, Indian guru
- 1945 - Begum Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh
- 1946 - Jimmy Webb, American musician and composer
- 1947 - Raakhee Gulzar, Indian actress
- 1948 - Uschi Digard, American actress and model
- 1949 - Richard Deacon, Welsh sculptor
- 1950 - Princess Anne of the United Kingdom
- 1951 - Daba Diawara, Malian politician
- 1958 - Victor Shenderovich, Russian satirist
- 1965 - Rob Thomas, author and screenwriter
- 1968 - Debra Messing, American actress
- 1972 - Ben Affleck, American actor
- 1974 - Natasha Henstridge, Canadian actress
- 1977 - Igor Cassina, Italian gymnast
- 1975 - Kara Wolters, American basketball player
- 1976 - Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
- 1978 - Tim Foreman, American bassist (Switchfoot)
- 1978 - Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukrainian gymnast

Deaths


- 778 - Roland, Frankish commander (killed in battle)
- 1040 - King Duncan I of Scotland (b. 1001)
- 1057 - King Macbeth I of Scotland
- 1118 - Alexius I Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1048)
- 1196 - Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1173)
- 1274 - Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and founder of the Sorbonne (b. 1201)
- 1369 - Philippa of Hainault, queen of Edward III of England
- 1528 - Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, French military leader (b. 1485)
- 1552 - Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (b. 1477)
- 1621 - John Barclay, Scottish writer (b. 1582)
- 1666 - Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)
- 1714 - Constantin Brâncoveanu, Prince of Wallachia (b. 1654)
- 1728 - Marin Marais, French composer and viol player (b. 1656)
- 1799 - Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet (b. 1729)
- 1907 - Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist (b. 1831)
- 1909 - Euclides da Cunha, Brazilian writer and sociologist (b. 1866)
- 1935 - Wiley Post, American pilot (b. 1898)
- 1935 - Will Rogers, American humorist and actor (b. 1879)
- 1936 - Grazia Deledda, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
- 1951 - Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (b. 1882)
- 1953 - Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (b. 1875)
- 1959 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901
- 1962 - Lei Feng, Chinese revolutionary (b. 1940)
- 1967 - René Magritte, Belgian painter (b. 1898)
- 1971 - Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1887)
- 1975 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (b. 1920)
- 1975 - Clay Shaw, John F. Kennedy assassination investigator (b. 1913)
- 1982 - Hugo Theorell, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- 1990 - Viktor Tsoi, Russian musician (b. 1962)
- 1995 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (b. 1906)
- 1999 - Sir Hugh Casson, British architect and artist (b. 1910)
- 2001 - Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (brain tumour) (b. 1972)
- 2003 - Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish songwriter and singer (heart attack) (b. 1957)
- 2004 - Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
- 2004 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician (b. 1941)
- 2005 - James Dougherty, first husband of Marilyn Monroe (leukemia)

Holidays and observances


- Eastern Orthodoxy – Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, the commemoration of the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
- RC Saints – Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Holy Day of Obligation. Public Holiday in: Austria, Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, East Timor, France, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Mauritius, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Slovenia and Spain.
- Acadie – National Day
- Egypt – Flooding of the Nile Day
- Hawaii – Toro Nagashi (Floating Lantern Ceremony) to commemorate the end of the second world war
- India – Independence Day (from Britain, 1947)
- Italy – "Ferragosto", remembrance of an ancient Roman holiday in honor of Augustus (Feriae Augusti)
- Korea – Liberation Day
- Ancient Latvia – Māras
- Liechtenstein – Liechtenstein Day
- Poland – Polish Armed Forces Day
- Jamaica– Jamaican national dance Day(Bianca Day)
- Tuva – Tuva Republic Day, Naadym

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/15 BBC: On This Day] August 14 - August 16 - July 15 - September 15 -- listing of all days ko:8월 15일 ms:15 Ogos ja:8月15日 simple:August 15 th:15 สิงหาคม

1856

1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
- February,1856 - The only month in recorded history to not have a full moon.
- February 18 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
- March 5 – Fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre
- March 9 - National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
- March 20 - Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers
- March 30 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War
- April 7 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
- April 10 - Theta Chi Fraternity founded at Norwich University
- May 16 - the Vigilance Committee founded in San Francisco, California. It lynches two gangsters, arrests most Democratic Party officials and disbands itself in August 18
- May 21 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
- May 22 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for three years while he recovered. Brooks became a hero across the South.
- May 24 - The Pottawatomie Massacre - group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas
- June 9 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
- July 31 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
- August 10 – A hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana - 400 dead. The whole island was broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1856: Democrat James Buchanan defeats former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and John C. Frémont of the fledgling Republican Party to become the 15th President of the United States.
- November 17 - American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
- December 9 - Bushehr surrenders to the British.
- British Country and Borough Police Act extends London police model to all of England and Wales
- Western Union founded
- Kate Warner, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency
- Pre-human remains found in the Neanderthal valley in Germany
- Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.
- National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
- Sale of Land starts suburb of Ashgrove, Queensland.
- The first session concludes at Saint Paul's School, the prestigious New England Prep School in Concord, NH.

Births


- January 11 - Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1941)
- January 12 - John Singer Sargent, American-born artist (d. 1925)
- February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
- February 14 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)
- March 8 - Tom Roberts, Australian artist (d. 1931)
- March 9 - Eddie Foy, American singer, dancer, and vaudeville performer (d. 1928)
- March 20 - Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor and efficiency expert (d. 1915)
- April 5 - Booker T. Washington, African-American educator (d. 1915)
- April 12 - William Martin Conway, British art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)
- April 24 - Henri Philippe Pétain, French soldier and statesman (d. 1951)
- May 6 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
- May 6 - Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (d. 1920)
- May 15 - L. Frank Baum, American author (d. 1919)
- June 14 - Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (d. 1922)
- July 2 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian political activist (d. 1920)
- July 10 - Nikola Tesla, Serbian inventor (d. 1943)
- July 26 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
- August 13 - Alfred Deakin, second Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1919)
- September 18 - Wilhelm von Gloeden, German photographer (d. 1931)
- November 22 - Heber J. Grant, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1945)
- November 24 - Bat Masterson, American lawman (d. 1921)
- December 13 - Svetozar Boroević, Austrian field marshal (d. 1920)
- December 18 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- December 22 - Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1937)
- December 25 - Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
- December 25 - Sir Samuel William Knaggs, British civil servant in the West Indies (d. 1924)
- December 28 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1924)

Deaths


- January 16 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
- February 17 - Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)
- May 3 - Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer (b. 1803)
- July 9 - Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist (b. 1776)
- July 29 - Robert Schumann , German pianist
- August 30 - Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (b. 1811) Category:1856 ko:1856년 ms:1856 simple:1856 th:พ.ศ. 2399

September 26

September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 96 days remaining.

Events


- 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in fulfilment of a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.
- 1580 - Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe.
- 1687 - The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who were besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
- 1777 - British troops occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
- 1789 - Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
- 1810 - A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
- 1907 - New Zealand and Newfoundland each becomes a dominion of the British Empire.
- 1914 - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
- 1918 - World War I: Battle of Meuse.
- 1934 - Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.
- 1944 - World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.
- 1950 - United Nations troops recapture Seoul from the North Koreans.
- 1954 - Japanese rail ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
- 1957 - Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story opens on Broadway
- 1960 - In Chicago, Illinois, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
- 1961 - Bob Dylan makes his public debut.
- 1962 - Yemen Arab Republic is proclaimed
- 1962 - Premiere of The Beverly Hillbillies on CBS.
- 1969 - The Chicago Seven trial begins.
- 1969 - The Beatles album Abbey Road is released in the UK.
- 1973 - Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.
- 1970 - The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
- 1981 - Baseball: Nolan Ryan sets a Major League record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.
- 1983 - Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war.
- 1983 - Australia II, the first non-American winner, wins the Americas Cup.
- 1984 - United Kingdom agrees handover of Hong Kong.
- 1988 - Ben Johnson is stripped of his gold medal in the 100 m sprint at the Seoul Olympics for failing a drug test.
- 1991 - Biosphere 2 opens.
- 1996 - Nintendo 64 went on sale in the United States.
- 1997 - A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234
- 1997 - An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.
- 2001 - Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 20,000 protesters) police turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
- 2001 - Star Trek: Enterprise begins airing in the US.
- 2002 - The overcrowded Senegalese ferry Joola capsizes off the coast of Gambia killing 1,836 people.
- 2002 - Thirty people are killed in a gun attack at a temple in Gandhinagar, India
- 2002 - Five people are shot dead in a botched bank robbery in Norfolk, Nebraska, United States.
- 2005 - The shock elimination of favoured to win, Teresa Bergman, on New Zealand Idol.

Births


- 1406 - Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician (d. 1430)
- 1711 - Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, English politician (d. 1779)
- 1750 - Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, British admiral (d. 1810)
- 1774 - Johnny Appleseed, American environmentalist (d. 1847)
- 1791 - Théodore Géricault, French painter (d. 1824)
- 1869 - Komitas, Armenian composer (d. 1935)
- 1870 - King Christian X of Denmark (d. 1947)
- 1871 - Winsor McCay, American cartoonist (d. 1934)
- 1873 - Aleksey Shchusev, Russian architect (d. 1949)
- 1874 - Lewis Hine, American photographer and social activist (d. 1940)
- 1875 - Edmund Gwenn, Welsh actor (d. 1959)
- 1876 - Edith Abbott, American social worker, educator, and author (d. 1957)
- 1877 - Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist (d. 1963)
- 1877 - Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist (d. 1962)
- 1886 - Archibald Vivian Hill, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1977)
- 1887 - Antonio Moreno, Spanish-born actor (d. 1967)
- 1887 - Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, British scientist, engineer and inventor (d. 1979)
- 1888 - J. Frank Dobie, American folklorist and newspaper columnist (d. 1964)
- 1888 - T. S. Eliot, American writer and editor, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- 1889 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (d. 1976)
- 1891 - Charles Munch, French conductor and violinist (d. 1968)
- 1895 - George Raft, American actor (d. 1980)
- 1897 - Arthur Rhys Davids, English pilot (d. 1917)
- 1897 - Pope Paul VI (d. 1978)
- 1898 - George Gershwin, American composer (d. 1937)
- 1907 - Anthony Blunt, English art historian and Soviet spy (d. 1983)
- 1907 - Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Bill France, Sr., American founder of NASCAR (d. 1992)
- 1914 - Jack LaLanne, American fitness advocate
- 1923 - Dev Anand, Indian actor and film producer
- 1925 - Marty Robbins, American singer (d. 1982)
- 1926 - Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1926 - Julie London, American singer and actress (d. 2000)
- 1930 - Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor (d. 1966)
- 1932 - Richard Herd, American actor
- 1932 - Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
- 1932 - Vladimir Voinovich, Russian writer and dissident
- 1933 - Donna Douglas, American actress
- 1936 - Winnie Mandela, South African anti-apartheid activist
- 1942 - Kent McCord, American actor
- 1943 - Ian Chappell, Australian test cricket player and broadcaster
- 1944 - Anne Robinson, British television host
- 1945 - Bryan Ferry, British singer
- 1946 - Andrea Dworkin, American feminist (d. 2005)
- 1946 - Christine Todd Whitman, American politician
- 1947 - Lynn Anderson, American singer
- 1948 - Olivia Newton-John, Australian singer
- 1949 - Clodoaldo, Brazilian football player
- 1951 - Stuart Tosh, Scottish musician
- 1954 - Kevin Kennedy, baseball manager and television host
- 1956 - Linda Hamilton, American actress
- 1962 - Melissa Sue Anderson, American actress
- 1963 - Lysette Anthony, British actress
- 1967 - Shannon Hoon, American singer (Blind Melon) (d. 1995)
- 1968 - James Caviezel, American actor
- 1973 - Chris Small, Scottish snooker player
- 1974 - Martin Müürsepp, Estonian basketball player
- 1975 - Emma Härdelin, Swedish singer (Garmarna and Triakel)
- 1976 - Michael Ballack, German footballer
- 1976 - Yoshiko Horie, Japanese singer and voice actor.
- 1981 - Christina Milian, American actress and singer
- 1981 - Serena Williams, American tennis player

Deaths


- 1417 - Francesco Zabarella, Italian jurist (b. 1360)
- 1468 - Juan de Torquemada, Spanish Catholic cardinal (b. 1388)
- 1626 - Wakisaka Yasuharu, Japanese warrior (b. 1554)
- 1763 - John Byrom, English poet (b. 1692)
- 1764 - Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro, Spanish scholar (b. 1767)
- 1802 - Baron Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician, physicist, and military officer (b. 1754)
- 1820 - Daniel Boone, American frontiersman (b. 1734)
- 1868 - August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1790)
- 1877 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1809)
- 1904 - John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (b. 1848)
- 1937 - Bessie Smith, American singer (b. 1894)
- 1945 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (b. 1881)
- 1947 - Hugh Lofting, British writer (b. 1886)
- 1952 - George Santayana, Spanish philosopher (b. 1863)
- 1965 - James Fitzmaurice, Irish aviation pioneer (b. 1898)
- 1972 - Charles Correll, American radio actor (b. 1890)
- 1976 - Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- 1978 - Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
- 1984 - John Facenda, American broadcaster and sports announcer (b. 1913)
- 1998 - Betty Carter, American singer (b. 1930)
- 2000 - Richard Mulligan, American actor (b. 1932)
- 2003 - Robert Palmer, British singer (b. 1949)

Holidays and observations


- Calendar of Saints - Sts. Cosmas and Damian Also see September 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Discordianism - Bureflux
- [http://www.ecml.at/edl/ European Day of Languages]

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/26 BBC: On This Day] ---- September 25 - September 27 - August 26 - October 26 - more historical anniversaries ko:9월 26일 ms:26 September ja:9月26日 simple:September 26 th:26 กันยายน

Scotland

Scotland (Alba in Gaelic) is a nation in northwest Europe and a constituent country of the United Kingdom. The name originally meant Land of the Gaels (see below). The country occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England and is bounded by the North Sea on the east and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. Its capital city is Edinburgh. Despite no longer being an independent sovereign state, Scotland is still considered a country in its own right. Scotland existed as an independent Kingdom until 1 May 1707, when the Act of Union 1707 merged Scotland with the Kingdom of England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. The flag of Scotland — the Saltire — is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use. The patron saint of Scotland is Saint Andrew, and Saint Andrew's Day is the 30 November. There are currently attempts to create an additional national holiday on this day.

Etymology

The English language name Scotland could date from at least the first half of the 10th century, when it was used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The word Scot- was borrowed from Latin. We cannot assume Scotland was being used here to mean anything other than Land of the Gaels, just like Latin Scotia. Scottish kings adopted the title Basileus/Rex Scottorum (= High King/King of the Gaels) and Rex Scotiae (King of Gael-Land) some time in the 11th century. The earliest attribution of the latter Latin title was by the Germany-based Irish writer Marianus Scotus, recording the death of King Máel Coluim mac Cináeda as Moelcoluim Rex Scotiae, for the year 1034. In taking this title, they were likely influenced by the style Imperator Scottorum known to have been employed by Brian Bóruma in 1005. In the early 13th century, the Scotto-Norman author of de Situ Albanie protested that Scotia was a corrupt word for what should be called Albania; but by then Scotia was becoming the norm in Latin, French and English; and hence Scotia and its derivitives prevailed in all languages except the Celtic ones. The Kingdom of Scotland has traditionally been regarded as being united in 843, by Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts, the man who is known to the modern English-speaker as King Kenneth I of Scotland.

History

See also the main article: History of Scotland. The written history of Scotland largely began with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a Roman province called Britannia. To the north was territory not governed by the Romans—Caledonia, peopled by the Picts. From a classical historical viewpoint Scotland seemed a peripheral country, slow to gain advances filtering out from the Mediterranean fount of civilisation, but as knowledge of the past increases it has become apparent that some developments were earlier and more advanced than previously thought, and that the seaways were very important to Scottish history. The country's lengthy struggle with England, its more powerful neighbour to the south, was the cause of the Wars of Scottish Independence, forcing Scotland to rely on trade, cultural and often strategic ties with a number of European powers, most notably France. In these, the Scots repudiated the English king's assertions of paramountcy. They fought firstly under the leadership of Sir William Wallace and Andrew de Moray in support of John Balliol, and later under that of Robert the Bruce. Bruce, crowned as King Robert I in 1306, won a decisive victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Battle of Bannockburn From roughly the end of the 14th century, Scotland began to show a split into two cultural areas — the mainly Scots, or English, speaking Lowlands, and the mainly Gaelic-speaking Highlands. Gaelic persisted in remote parts of the southwest, which had formed part of the rival kingdom of Galloway during the early medieval period, probably up until the late 1700s. Historically, the Lowlands were closer to the mainstream European culture, and adopted a variant of the feudal system after the Norman Conquest of England. A number of major families of Norman ancestry, such as the Bruce, Douglas, and Stewart families, provided most of the monarchs after approximately 1100. By comparison, the clan system of the Highlands formed one of the region's more distinctive features, with a number of powerful clans remaining dominant until after the Act of Union. It is worth noting that the Western Isles, along with Orkney and Shetland, were part of Norway until 1266 and 1468 respectively; the culture of these islands, in many ways, remained distinct from the rest of Scotland until the modern period. In 1603, the Scottish King James VI inherited the throne of England, and became James I of England. James moved to London, only returning to Scotland once. Although he subsequently styled himself as the King of Great Britain, this was a personal union: the two nations shared a head of state but remained separate kingdoms, with the exception of a brief period when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the monarchy and Scotland was under English military occupation. In 1707, the Scottish and English Parliaments enacted the Acts of Union, which merged the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Union dissolved both the English and the Scottish Parliaments, and transferred all their powers to a new Parliament sitting in London which then became the Parliament of the United Kingdom. However, most of Scotland's institutions remained separate, notably the country's legal system and its established church; these distinctions remain to the present day. In 1801, Scotland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, when the Kingdom of Great Britain merged with the Kingdom of Ireland. Since 1922, Scotland has been one of the four constituent nations (along with England, Northern Ireland and Wales) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1997 the people of Scotland voted to create a new devolved Scottish Parliament, subsequently established by the UK government under the Scotland Act 1998. Following the Act of Union and the subsequent Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, Scotland became one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Its industrial decline following the Second World War was particularly acute, but in recent decades the country has enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance, fuelled in part by a resurgent financial services sector, the proceeds of North Sea oil and gas, and latterly the devolved parliament.

Geography

Clan Grant Main article: Geography of Scotland. Scotland comprises the northern part of the island of Great Britain; it is bordered on the south by England. Scotland's territorial extent is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and England and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway. Exceptions include the Isle of Man, which is now a crown dependency outside the United Kingdom, Orkney and Shetland, which are Scottish rather than Norwegian, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, which was defined as subject to the laws of England by the 1746 Wales and Berwick Act. The country consists of a mainland area plus several island groups, including Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. Three main geographical and geological areas make up the mainland: from north to south, the generally mountainous Highlands containing Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, the low-lying Central Belt, and the hilly Southern Uplands. The majority of the Scottish population resides in the Central Belt, which contains three of the country's six largest cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stirling) and many large towns. Most of the remaining population lives in the North-East Lowlands, where two of the remaining three cities (Aberdeen and Dundee) are situated. The final city, Inverness, is situated where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth, on the Great Glen Fault between the North-West Highlands and the Cairngorms. Highest maximum temperature: 32.9°C (91.2°F) at Greycrook, near Newtown St. Boswells, Borders on 9 August 2003. Lowest minimum temperature: -27.2°C (-17.0°F) at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 and at Altnaharra, Highland on 30 December 1995. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/scotland/#temperature]

Major cities

The six designated cities in descending order of population size:
- Glasgow
- Edinburgh, the capital
- Aberdeen
- Dundee
- Inverness
- Stirling Scottish towns:
- List of burghs in Scotland

Waterways


- Major Rivers:
  - The Clyde, The Dee, The Don, The Forth, The Tay, The Tweed, The Spey, ...
- Firths:
  - Solway, Clyde, Cromarty, Dornoch, Forth, Lorne, Moray, Tay
- Sea Lochs (fjords):
  - Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, Loch Long, Loch Etive, Loch Sunart, Loch Nevis, Loch Hourn, Loch Broom, Loch Eil
- Freshwater Lochs (lakes) include:
  - Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Loch Morar, Loch Tay, Loch Rannoch, Loch Awe, Loch Shiel, Loch Maree, The Lake of Menteith
- Artificial & Enhanced waterways include:
  - Caledonian Canal, Crinan Canal, Forth and Clyde Canal, Union Canal
    - See Also Falkirk Wheel

Geology

When vulcanism actively occurred in East Lothian, 350 million years ago, the rocks which now comprise Scotland lay close to the equator, and formed part of the newly amalgamated supercontinent of Pangaea. The continental plates making up Pangaea continued to converge, and a major collision occurred with the continent of Gondwana. The northern and southern parts of the island of Great Britain became adjoined only 75 million years before the onset of vulcanism in East Lothian. Before then, Scotland lay on the margin of the Laurentian continent, which included North America and Greenland. England and Wales lay some 40° of latitude further south, adjacent to Africa and South America in the Gondwanan continent. In the Early Ordovician, approximately 475 million years ago, England and Wales, on the Avalonian plate, rifted away from Gondwana and drifted northward towards Laurentia. The Iapetus Ocean, which separated the two land masses, began to close. By the mid-Silurian, about 420 million years ago, its margins had become attached along the Iapetus Suture, which roughly follows a line running West to East from the Solway Firth to Northumberland. When the later episode of vulcanism occurred, approximately 270 million years ago, Scotland still comprised part of Pangaea, but had drifted northward. East Lothian stood at about 8°North. Consolidation of Pangaea had continued so that the nearest ocean, the Tethys seaway, lay between Eurasia and Africa. Siccar Point in Berwickshire, Scotland, is where James Hutton (the "father" of modern geology) first observed this classic unconformity and recognized the meaning of stratigraphy.

Government and politics

Government

As one of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom, Scotland is represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh has the power to govern the country on Scotland-specific matters and has a limited power to vary income tax. The United Kingdom Parliament retains responsibility for Scotland's defence, international relations and certain other areas. The Scottish Parliament is not a sovereign authority, and the UK Parliament could, in theory, overrule or even abolish it at any time. For the purposes of local government, Scotland is divided into 32 unitary authority districts. Popular folk-memory continues to divide Scotland into 33 traditional counties.

Head of state

traditional counties]] Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom, is descended from King James VI, King of Scots, the first Scottish monarch to also be King of England (James I, King of England from 1603). While great controversy has simmered amongst the Scottish public over her official title since her coronation (many believe that, being the first Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, she should use the regnal name "Elizabeth I"), the courts of Scotland have confirmed "Elizabeth II" as her official title. She has said that in the future monarchs will follow the international ordinal tradition that, where a monarch reigns in a number of non-independent territories (or independent territories that agree to share a monarch) that each have a differing number of previous monarchs of the same name, the highest ordinal used in any of the territories is the one used across all (see List of regnal numerals of future British monarchs). Monarchs between 1603 and 1707, such as James VI and I and James VII and II, reigned over separate states and hence used a dual ordinal (see Personal union). Properly, the Scottish monarch was known as King of Scots or Queen of Scots, and referred to as "your Grace", rather than "your Majesty".

Scots Law

Scotland retains its own unique legal system, based on Roman law, which combines features of both civil law and common law. The terms of union with England specified the retention of separate systems. The barristers being called advocates, and the judges of the high court for civil cases are also the judges for the high court for criminal cases. Scots Law differs from England's common law system. Formerly, there were several regional law systems in Scotland, one of which was Udal Law (also called allodail or odal law) in Shetland and Orkney. This was a direct descendant of Old Norse Law, but was abolished in 1611. Despite this, Scottish courts have acknowledged the supremacy of udal law in some property cases as recently as the 1990s. There is a movement to restore udal law[http://www.udallaw.com/] to the islands as part of a devolution of power from Edinburgh to Shetland and Orkney. The laws regarding the nobility are also different in Scotland. Lords known as "Barons" in England are known as "Lords of Parliament." Gentlemen known as "Barons" in Scotland are not members of the House of Lords, as their titles (although still legitimate) are based on the old system of feudal baronies. Various systems based on common Celtic or Brehon Laws also survived in the Highlands until the 1800s.

Politics

See main article: Politics of Scotland, also Politics of the United Kingdom Politics of the United Kingdom Historically the politics of Scotland have reflected those of the UK as a whole, although with some differences. For example, besides the main UK-wide political parties (Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) a number of Scottish-specific parties operate. These include the Scottish National Party (SNP) which is Scotland's second largest party and forms the main opposition in Parliament to the Labour-Liberal Democrats coalition, as well as the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Scottish Green Party. These parties became more of a force in Scottish politics after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1998. Unlike England, which has a more of a left/right split politically, the political right in Scotland is actually amongst the smallest political groupings with the four main Parties all coming from a mix of far-left to moderate-left philosophies. The traditional political divides of left and right have also intersected with arguments over devolution, which all the UK-wide parties have supported to some degree throughout their history (although both Labour and the Conservatives have swithered a number of times between supporting and opposing it). However, now that devolution has occurred, the main argument about Scotland's constitutional status remains between those who support Scottish independence and those who oppose it. Recent trends indicate, according to the Joseph Rowntree [http://www.jrrt.org.uk/FINDINGS.pdf Reform Trust "State of the Nation Poll"] 2004, that 66% of Scots would like the Scottish Parliament to have more powers, while only 2% would like to see the powers returned to the House of Commons and Whitehall, with 21% happy with the status quo.

Language

Scotland has three distinct languages: English, Gaelic, and Scots. Almost all Scots speak Scottish Standard English. It is estimated by the General Register Office for Scotland that 30% of the population are also fluent in Scots, a West Germanic language sister to the English language. Slightly more than 1% of the population are native Gaelic speakers, a Celtic language similar to Irish. Eilean Siar is the only unitary council region of Scotland where Gaelic is spoken by a majority of the population and that fact is reflected in the use of Gaelic in its official name. Almost all Gaelic speakers also speak fluent English. By the time of James VI's accession to the English throne, the old Scottish Court and Parliament spoke and wrote in Scots, also known as Lowland Scots or Lallans (although strictly speaking Lallans is a literary dialect of the Scots language). Scots is widely believed to have developed from the Northumbrian form of Anglo-S