What Happened in January 1685

Famous Birthdays

  • Jan 7 George Clifford III, Dutch director of East India Company and plant collector (grew 1st banana indoors), born in Amsterdam, Dutch Republic (d. 1760)
  • Jan 7 Jonas Alströmer [Torreson], Swedish industrialist (wool, shipbuilding, potato cultivation, sugar refinery, cutlery, tannery), and co-founder the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1739), born in AlingsÃ¥s, Sweden (d. 1761)
  • Jan 18 Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch Classical professor, baptized (d. 1766)

Famous Deaths

  • Jan 2 Harbottle Grimston, English politician, dies at 82
  • Jan 6 Malachias Siebenhaar, Bohemian-German composer, dies at 68