Anniversaries

Births: Johann Wilhelm Hassler, organist and composer, 1747; Wilhelmina (Wilma) Maria Francisca Norman-Neruda (Lady Halle), violinist, 1839; Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, architect, 1869; Dora de Houghton Carrington, artist, 1893; Sir William Turner Walton, composer, 1902.

Deaths: Thomas Coram, philanthropist, 1751; Emanuel Swedenborg (Svedberg), scientist and philosopher, 1772; Charles Wesley, writer of hymns, 1788; Gustavus III, King of Sweden, after being shot by an assassin on 16 March, 1792; Mrs Maria Anne Fitzherbert, mistress (and "illegal" wife) of George IV, 1837; Auguste-Jules Armand-Marie, Prince de Polignac, statesman, 1847; John Jacob Astor (John Jakob Ashdour), fur trader, 1848; John Keble, theologian, 1866; Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan, composer, 1888; Georges-Pierre Seurat, Impressionist painter, 1891; Robert Falcon Scott, Arctic explorer, 1912; Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, composer, 1924; Joyce Cary (Arthur Joyce Tunel Cary), novelist, 1957; Vera Mary Brittain, writer, 1970; Raymond William Postgate, historian and novelist, 1971; Joseph Arthur, first Baron Rank, cinema magnate, 1972; Annunzio Paolo Mantovani, musician, 1980; Paul Henreid (Paul George Julius von Hernreid), actor, 1992.

On this day: ten cantons of Switzerland formed the Helvetic republic, 1798; Jean-Jacques Dessalines was declared "governor for life" of Haiti following his massacre of white people, 1804; the Punjab was annexed by Britain, 1849; the Ionian Islands were ceded to Greece by Britain, 1864; the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria; the magazine Horse and Hound was first published, 1884; Richmond Park, near London, was opened to the public, 1904; in Germany, it was claimed that in the general election, 99 per cent of voters had voted for the National Socialist (Nazi) party, 1936; Soviet troops entered Austria, 1945; the last US troops left Vietnam, 1973.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Armogastes, Masculas, Achinimus and Saturus, St Berthold, St Cyril of Heliopolis, St Gundleus or Woolo, St Gwladys, Saints Jonas, Barachisius and Others, St Mark of Arethusa and St Rupert of Salzburg.