On this day: April 19

Events on April 19

• 1042 Following the attempt of Byzantine Emperor Michael V Kalaphates to depose his wife and empress Zoe Porphyrogenita, a popular uprising in Constantinople breaks out with the intention to restore her. Wikipedia
• 1506 In Lisbon, Portugal, a crowd began a massacre of Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity. Wikipedia
• 1713 With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issued the Pragmatic Sanction, allowing the Habsburg hereditary possessions to be inherited by a daughter. Wikipedia
• 1770 Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia. Wikipedia
• 1773 The Polish Partition Sejm met to discuss the First Partition of Poland, carried out the previous year by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Wikipedia
• 1775 The American Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in the British colony of Massachusetts. Wikipedia
• 1782 The States General of the Dutch Republic received John Adams, and the house he had purchased in The Hague became the first United States embassy. Wikipedia
• 1809 War of the Fifth Coalition: French general Louis-Nicolas Davout defeated an Austrian force in Lower Bavaria, allowing him to rejoin the main French army. Wikipedia
• 1861 The first bloodshed of the American Civil War took place when Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore, Maryland, attacked members of the Massachusetts militia en route to Washington, D.C. Wikipedia
• 1875 The Minute Man was unveiled as part of the centennial celebration of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Wikipedia
• 1903 Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia Governorate, causing the death of nearly 50 Jews and focusing worldwide attention on the persecution of Jews in Russia. Wikipedia
• 1927 American actress Mae West was sentenced to ten days in jail for "corrupting the morals of youth" with her play Sex. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews. Wikipedia
• 1956 American actress Grace Kelly became the princess consort of Monaco upon her marriage to Rainier III. Wikipedia
• 1971 Salyut 1, the first space station, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam in the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1971 The Doors released L.A. Woman, their final album during their lead vocalist Jim Morrison's lifetime. Wikipedia
• 1975 Aryabhata, India's first satellite, was launched from Kapustin Yar in the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1984 "Advance Australia Fair", written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick, officially replaced "God Save the Queen" as Australia's national anthem. Wikipedia
• 1987 The fictional Simpson family made their first appearance in the short "Good Night", aired in a segment of the The Tracey Ullman Show. Wikipedia
• 1989 A gun turret exploded on board the United States Navy battleship Iowa, killing 47 sailors. Wikipedia
• 1995 A truck bombing destroyed much of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 680 others. Wikipedia
• 2000 Air Philippines Flight 541 crashed in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2005 Joseph Alois Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the papal conclave. Wikipedia
• 2013 Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown. Wikipedia
• 2015 Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American, died of injuries sustained while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department. Wikipedia
• 2020 A series of attacks in Nova Scotia, Canada, ended when the perpetrator was killed by police, leaving 22 victims dead. Wikipedia

Born on April 19

• 1793 Ferdinand I of Austria (died 1875) Wikipedia
• 1832 José Echegaray, Spanish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1882 Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (died 1954) Wikipedia
• 1912 Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1922 Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1932 Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1933 Jayne Mansfield, American model and actress (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1935 Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian, and pianist (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1937 Joseph Estrada, Filipino politician, 13th President of the Philippines Wikipedia
• 1939 Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1944 James Heckman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1946 Tim Curry, English actor and singer (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1957 Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance Industries Wikipedia
• 1960 Gustavo Petro, Colombian politician, 34th and current President of Colombia Wikipedia
• 1968 Mswati III, King (Ngwenyama) of Eswatini (Swaziland) Wikipedia
• 1968 Ashley Judd, American actress Wikipedia
• 1972 Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1978 James Franco, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1979 Kate Hudson, American actress Wikipedia
• 1981 Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor Wikipedia
• 1987 Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1987 Joe Hart, English footballer Wikipedia

Died on April 19

• 1054 Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1002) Wikipedia
• 1560 Philip Melanchthon, German theologian and reformer (born 1497) Wikipedia
• 1588 Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (born 1528) Wikipedia
• 1689 Christina, queen of Sweden (born 1626) Wikipedia
• 1768 Canaletto, Italian painter and etcher (born 1697) Wikipedia
• 1824 Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (born 1788) Wikipedia
• 1881 Benjamin Disraeli, English journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1804) Wikipedia
• 1882 Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1906 Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1914 Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician and philosopher (born 1839) Wikipedia
• 1967 Konrad Adenauer, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1989 Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 1998 Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, philosopher, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2021 Walter Mondale, American politician, 42nd Vice President of the United States (born 1928) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ælfheah of Canterbury (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Conrad of Ascoli Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emma of Lesum Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Expeditus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: George of Antioch Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Olaus and Laurentius Petri (Lutheran) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Leo IX Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ursmar Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “April 19” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/April 19” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 19” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for April 19 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.