Scott Allsop's Blog, page 24

23rd October 1642: Battle of Edgehill fought during the early stages of the English Civil War

The battle of Edgehill was fought in Warwickshire between the Royalist forces of King Charles I and the Parliamentarian army under the command of the Duke of Essex, but it ended inconclusively at nightfall with heavy casualties on both ...

22nd October 1910: Dr. Hawley Crippen found guilty of murdering his wife, after being captured with the aid of wireless technology

The trial began on 18 October 1910 and concluded on 22 October with the jury finding Crippen guilty of murder after just twenty-seven minutes of deliberations, having heard a case that relied heavily on forensic evidence including partial human remains discovered at his ...

21st October 1096: Battle of Civetot destroys the People’s Crusade at the start of the First Crusade

The poorly equipped forces of the People's Crusade, who lacked cohesive leadership, were quickly overwhelmed by the experienced Seljuk cavalry with the battle turning into a massacre where tens of thousands of crusaders were ...

20th October 1818: Treaty of 1818 establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and British North America

One of the key features of the Treaty of 1818 was the establishment of the 49th parallel as the boundary between the United States and British North America, from the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the ...

19th October 1864: Confederate soldiers rob three banks in the St. Albans Raid in the northernmost land action of the American Civil War

They robbed three banks in St. Albans with the objective of seizing supplies and forcing the Union Army to divert forces from the ...

18th October 1963: Félicette becomes the first cat in space when she is launched as part of a French mission

Félicette survived the flight after being secured inside a specially designed capsule on top of a Véronique AG1 rocket, which reached an altitude of about 157 ...

17th October 1933: Einstein moves to the USA after Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany

Einstein, who was Jewish, was undertaking a visiting professorship at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January ...

16th October 1793: Marie Antoinette executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris

Having been found guilty of treason, she was instead sentenced to death and transported to the guillotine in an open ...

15th October 1783: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier conducts the first manned hot air balloon flight

The balloon was secured to the ground to limit its altitude and range, but it successfully lifted de Rozier to a height of approximately 25 ...

14th October 1066: The Battle of Hastings fought between Duke William II of Normandy and the Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson

Harold was killed on the battlefield and, although his exact cause of death isn’t known, it signalled the collapse of the ...