Historical Events
- Jul 1 1st of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Beach Haven when Charles Vansant (25) bled to death, challenging previous scientific belief that sharks never hurt humans, and sparking popular fear over sharks which persists today
- Jul 1 Battle of the Somme: The British launch their planned offensive in the Somme valley, but the Germans have quietly been preparing for weeks.
- Jul 1 British court martial for the Easter uprising
- Jul 1 Coca-Cola brings current coke formula to the market
Five Miles of Mud Costs a Million Casualties
Jul 1 First day of the Battle of the Somme: the British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)
Wagner's Record Home Run
Jul 1 Pittsburgh shortstop Honus Wagner, at 42 and 4 months, connects at Cincinnati to become the oldest to hit an inside-the-park HR; Pirates beat Reds, 2-1
- Jul 2 Russian offensive in Armenia
- Jul 6 2nd of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Spring Lake when Charles Bruder (27) bled to death, 5 days after the 1st
- Jul 7 The New Zealand Labour party is formed
- Jul 9 1st cargo submarine to cross Atlantic arrives in US from Germany
- Jul 11 Battle of Verdun: Germany launches an offensive on Fort Souville in France but are defeated by artillery and machine gunners
- Jul 11 US Congress passes Federal Aid Road Act
- Jul 12 3rd and 4th of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occurs at Matawan Creek when epileptic Lester Stilwell (11) is dragged into a creek and Watson Fisher (24), believing Silwell had a seizure, is bitten while retrieving the body and subsequently bleeds to death
- Jul 12 Joseph Dunn (14) is attacked by a shark, suffering non-fatal wounds in New Jersey, the final episode in a spate of shark attacks along the Jersey coast where 4 people died over 12 days
- Jul 14 13.2 inches (33.6 cm) rainfall at Effingham, South Carolina (state record until 1999)
- Jul 14 St Louis Brown Ernie Koob pitches all 17 innings for 14 hits in a 0-0 tie vs Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park
- Jul 15 22.22" (56.4 cm) of rain falls in Altapass NC (state record)
Event of Interest
Jul 15 Boeing Company (Pacific Aero) formed by William Boeing in Seattle, Washington
- Jul 20 NY Giants trade future Baseball HOF pitcher Christy Mathewson to Cincinnati Reds
- Jul 22 A bomb explodes during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco killing 10
- Jul 25 Explosion at Lake Erie and Cleveland Waterworks
- Jul 26 The US Protests the 'Blacklist' issued by the British forbidding trade with some 30 US firms
- Jul 29 Cochrane and Matheson forest fire 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) in size in Ontario takes about 223 lives. Leads to improved techniques and legislation for prevention and control of forest fires. [1]
- Jul 30 German saboteurs blow up a munitions plant on Black Tom Island, New Jersey
Famous Birthdays
- Jul 1 Bob Prince, American sportscaster (Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1985)
Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)
Jul 1 British-American Academy Award-winning actress (All the King's Men; The Adventures of Robin Hood; Gone With The Wind; The Heiress), born in Tokyo, Japan
- Jul 2 Barry Gray [Bernard Yaroslaw], American radio personality and interviewer (started call-in radio), born in Red Lion, New Jersey (d. 1996)
- Jul 2 Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German Combat pilot and highest-decorated German soldier of WWII, born in Konradswaldau, German Empire (d. 1982)
- Jul 2 Ken Curtis, American actor (Ripcord, Festus - Gunsmoke), born in Lamar, Colorado (d. 1991)
- Jul 4 Fernand Leduc, Canadian abstract expressionist painter (Les Automatistes), and teacher, born in Viauville, Montreal, Quebec (d. 2014)
- Jul 4 Tokyo Rose [Iva Toguri D'Aquino], American-born Japanese propagandist (WWII), born in Los Angeles (d. 2006)
- Jul 6 Unica Zürn, German writer and artist, born in Berlin (d. 1970)
- Jul 7 Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes, American jazz and R&B guitarist (Art Tatum), born in Newport News, Virginia (d. 1989)
- Jul 7 Luc Peire, Belgian painter and graphic artist, born in Bruges, Belgium (d. 1994)
- Jul 7 Robert Stevens Baker, American organist, composer, and educator (Union Theological Seminary, 1961-72; Institute of Sacred Music at Yale, 1973-75), born in Pontiac, Illinois (d. 2005)
- Jul 9 Dean Goffin, New Zealand composer, born in Wellington, New Zealand (d. 1984)
Edward Heath (1916-2005)
Jul 9 British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1970-74), born in Broadstairs, England
- Jul 9 Joe Liggins [Theodro Elliott], American jazz, R&B, and jump blues pianist, songwriter, and vocalist ("The Honeydripper"; "Pink Champagne"), born in Seminole, Oklahoma (d. 1987)
- Jul 10 Dick Cary, American jazz musician, born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1994)
- Jul 11 Gough Whitlam, Australian politician (Prime Minister, 1972-1975), born in Kew, Melbourne (d. 2014)
- Jul 11 Howard Brubeck, American composer (Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra), born in Concord, California (d. 1993)
- Jul 11 Reg Varney, English actor (On the Buses), born in London, England (d. 2008)
Lyudmila Pavlichenko (1916-1974)
Jul 12 Soviet sniper during World War II known as 'Lady Death' - the most successful female sniper in history with 309 confirmed kills, born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, Russian Empire
- Jul 14 Claude Harmon, American golfer (US Masters 1948), born in Savannah, Georgia (d. 1989)
- Jul 14 Natalia Ginzburg, Italian author (Family dictionary), born in Palermo, Italy (d. 1991)
- Jul 15 George Maduro, Dutch Antillian resistance fighter (Willemsorde/Madurodam), born in Willemstad, Curaçao (d. 1945)
- Jul 18 Isaäc Arend Diepenhorst, Dutch lawyer and Minister of Education, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2004)
- Jul 18 Johnny Hopp, American baseball outfielder, first baseman (MLB All-Star 1946; World Series 1942, 44, 50, 51; St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Hastings, Nebraska (d. 2003)
- Jul 18 Kenneth Armitage, English sculptor, born in Leeds, England (d. 2002)
- Jul 18 L. Patrick Gray III, American lawyer and bureaucrat (Acting FBI Director, 1972-73), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2005)
- Jul 19 James D. Ramage, American Naval Aviator in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, born in Waterloo, Iowa (d. 2012)
- Jul 19 Phil Cavarretta, American baseball utility (MLB All-Star 1944, 45, 46, 47; NL MVP 1945; Chicago Cubs), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2010)
- Jul 21 Kirby Laing, English Construction head (John Laing & Son), born in Carlisle, England (d. 2009)
- Jul 22 Gino Bianco, Brazilian racing driver (d. 1984)
- Jul 22 Hipolito Ocalia, Curacao landscape painter, born in Curaçao (d. 1984)
- Jul 22 Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (NBA, NYSAC, The Ring middleweight titles 1948-49), born in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria (d. 1949)
- Jul 23 (William Jennings Bryan) "Ben" Weber, American composer (Thorne Music Award, 1965), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1979)
- Jul 23 Ronald Ridout, English school textbook author (English Today), born in Farnham, Surrey (d. 1994)
- Jul 24 Bob Eberly [Eberle], American big band singer (Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra), born in Mechanicville, New York (d. 1981) [1]
- Jul 24 John D. MacDonald, American novelist (Deep Blue Goodbye), born in Sharon, Pennsylvania (d. 1986)
- Jul 25 Lucien Saulnier, Canadian politician, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1989)
- Jul 27 (Elbert) "Skippy" Williams, American jazz tenor saxophonist and musical arranger, born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (d. 1994)
- Jul 27 Amha Selassie, Crown prince of Ethiopia and son of emperor Haile Selassi, born in Harar, Ethiopian Empire (d. 1997)
- Jul 27 Keenan Wynn, American actor (Dr Strangelove, Absent Minded Professor), born in New York City (d. 1986)
- Jul 27 Siegfried Reda, German church musician and composer, born in Bochum, Germany (d. 1968)
- Jul 28 David Brown, American film producer ("The Sting", "Jaws", "Cocoon"), born in New York City (d. 2010)
- Jul 28 Laird Cregar, American actor (Charley's Aunt, Hangover Square), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1944)
- Jul 29 Budd Boetticher, American film director (d. 2001)
- Jul 29 Charlie Christian, American jazz and swing guitarist (Benny Goodman Sextet), born in Bonham, Texas (d. 1942) [1]
- Jul 30 Dick Wilson, British-American actor, born in Preston, Lancashire, England (d. 2007)
- Jul 30 Robert van Spaendonck, Dutch resistance fighter, born in Tilburg, Netherlands (d. 1944)
- Jul 31 Billy Hitchcock, American baseball infielder, manager, official (Detroit Tigers; president Double-A Southern League 1971–80), born in Inverness, Alabama (d. 2006)
- Jul 31 Ignacio Trelles, Mexican soccer midfielder (Mexican Primera División: 1935, 37, 38; Club Necaxa) and coach (Mexico 1960-69), born in Guadalajara, Mexico (d. 2020)
- Jul 31 Louise Smith, American auto racer (tied for 2nd woman to race in top level NASCAR), born in Barnesville, Georgia (d. 2006)
- Jul 31 Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist, journalist and writer, born in Ambari Azamgarh Uttar Pradesh, India (d. 1986)
- Jul 31 Sydney Tafler, English actor (Too Many Crooks), born in London (d. 1979)
- Jul 31 Verdun Scott, New Zealand cricket batsman (10 Tests, 3 x 50; Auckland) and rugby league utility back (1 Test; Auckland Pakehā), born in Devonport, Auckland (d. 1980)
Famous Weddings
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Jul 1 Dwight Eisenhower marries Mary `Mamie' Geneva Doud in Denver, Colorado
Famous Deaths
- Jul 1 William Booth, English Test cricket batsman (WWI 2 Tests), dies at the Somme at 39
Hetty Green (1834-1916)
Jul 3 American businesswoman and financier whose wealth and miserliness saw her known as the "Witch of Wall Street", dies of a stroke at 81
- Jul 4 Alan Seeger, American war poet (b. 1888)
- Jul 6 Odilon Redon [Bertrand-Jean Redon], French symbolist painter (b. 1840)
- Jul 11 Rik Wouters, Belgian painter (Lady in Blue), and sculptor (The Nymph), dies of cancer at 33
- Jul 15 Ilya Mechnikov, Russian zoologist and bacteriologist known as the "father of natural immunity" (Nobel 1908), dies of heart failure at 71
- Jul 16 Victor Horsley, English physician and neuroscientist, dies while serving in Iraq in WWI at 59
- Jul 18 Benjamin C. Truman, American journalist and author
- Jul 22 James Whitcomb Riley, American author and poet (The Raggedy Man), dies after a stroke at 66
William Ramsay (1852-1916)
Jul 23 Scottish chemist who discovered noble gases (Nobel 1904), dies at 63
- Jul 26 Gellio Benevenuto Coronaro, Italian pianist and composer, dies at 52
- Jul 26 Sally Louisa Tompkins, American nurse and philanthrophist, only commissioned woman in US Confederate Army, dies at 82
- Jul 27 Charles Fryatt, British captain of SS Brussels, executed by Germans, dies
- Jul 30 Albert Neisser, German physician who discovered the bacteria that cause gonorrhea and leprosy, dies of septicemia at 61
