On this day: July 19

Events on July 19

• 998 Arab–Byzantine wars: After initial Byzantine gains at the Battle of Apamea, a lone Kurdish rider killed Byzantine commander Damian Dalassenos, allowing Fatimid troops to turn the tide of the battle. Wikipedia
• 1333 Second War of Scottish Independence: Scottish forces under Sir Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated by the English at the Battle of Halidon Hill while trying to relieve Berwick-upon-Tweed. Wikipedia
• 1545 The English warship Mary Rose sank outside Portsmouth during the Battle of the Solent; it was raised from the seabed in 1982. Wikipedia
• 1553 Mary I was proclaimed Queen of England, deposing Lady Jane Grey after nine days of de facto rule. Wikipedia
• 1588 Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel. Wikipedia
• 1702 Great Northern War: Polish–Saxon forces were defeated by a Swedish army half their size at the Battle of Kliszów. Wikipedia
• 1817 Georg Anton Schäffer was forced to depart for China after his unsuccessful attempt to seize the Hawaiian Kingdom for the Russian Empire. Wikipedia
• 1821 Coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1843 SS Great Britain, the first ocean-going ship with both an iron hull and a screw propeller, was launched in Bristol, England. Wikipedia
• 1845 A fire in Manhattan, New York City, destroyed 345 buildings, killed 30 people, and caused at least $5 million in damage. Wikipedia
• 1848 The two-day Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's-rights and feminist convention held in the United States, opened in Seneca Falls, New York. Wikipedia
• 1870 Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia. Wikipedia
• 1903 French cyclist Maurice Garin won the first edition of the Tour de France. Wikipedia
• 1916 First World War: The "worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history" occurred when Australian forces unsuccessfully attacked German defences at Fromelles, France. Wikipedia
• 1919 Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of the First World War, English ex-servicemen unhappy with unemployment and other grievances rioted and burned down Luton Town Hall. Wikipedia
• 1936 The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona begins. Wikipedia
• 1952 Opening of the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Wikipedia
• 1957 The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, a largely autobiographical novel by Evelyn Waugh, was published. Wikipedia
• 1976 Environmental activists bombed the port facilities in Bunbury, Western Australia, in an attempt to disrupt the woodchipping industry. Wikipedia
• 1979 The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua. Wikipedia
• 1980 Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow. Wikipedia
• 1992 A car bomb killed the anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino and five policemen in Palermo, Italy, less than two months after the murder of Borsellino's friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone. Wikipedia
• 1997 The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced that it would resume its ceasefire, ending its 28-year campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland. Wikipedia
• 2013 The NASA spacecraft Cassini took a photograph of Saturn with Earth in the distance, for which people were invited to "wave at Saturn". Wikipedia
• 2014 Gunmen ambushed an Egyptian military checkpoint in the Libyan Desert near Farafra, killing 22 soldiers. Wikipedia
• 2024 Neary's, a New York City Irish pub popular with political elites, closed. Wikipedia

Born on July 19

• 810 Muhammad al-Bukhari, Persian scholar (died 870) Wikipedia
• 1223 Baibars, sultan of Egypt (died 1277) Wikipedia
• 1759 Seraphim of Sarov, Russian monk and saint (died 1833) Wikipedia
• 1814 Samuel Colt, American businessman, founded the Colt's Manufacturing Company (died 1862) Wikipedia
• 1819 Gottfried Keller, Swiss author, poet, and playwright (died 1890) Wikipedia
• 1834 Edgar Degas, French painter, sculptor, and illustrator (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1890 George II of Greece (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1893 Vladimir Mayakovsky, Russian actor, playwright, and poet (died 1930) Wikipedia
• 1896 A. J. Cronin, Scottish physician and novelist (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1898 Herbert Marcuse, German-American sociologist and philosopher (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1921 Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1922 George McGovern, American lieutenant, historian, and politician (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1924 Pat Hingle, American actor and producer (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1946 Ilie Năstase, Romanian tennis player and politician Wikipedia
• 1947 Brian May, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and astrophysicist Wikipedia
• 1949 Kgalema Motlanthe, South African politician, 3rd President of South Africa Wikipedia
• 1950 Freddy Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1970 Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish lawyer and politician, First Minister of Scotland Wikipedia
• 1971 Vitali Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer and politician, Mayor of Kyiv Wikipedia
• 1976 Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor Wikipedia
• 1982 Jared Padalecki, American actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Kevin Großkreutz, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on July 19

• 514 Symmachus, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1374 Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (born 1304) Wikipedia
• 1810 Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prussian queen (born 1776) Wikipedia
• 1814 Matthew Flinders, English navigator and cartographer (born 1774) Wikipedia
• 1824 Agustín de Iturbide, Mexican general and emperor (born 1783) Wikipedia
• 1850 Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (born 1810) Wikipedia
• 1947 Aung San, Burmese general and politician (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 1965 Syngman Rhee, South Korean journalist and politician, 1st President of South Korea (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1980 Hans Morgenthau, German-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1984 Faina Ranevskaya, Russian actress (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 2014 James Garner, American actor (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2016 Garry Marshall, American actor, director, and producer (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2019 Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (born 1944) Wikipedia
• 2024 Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnamese politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (born 1944) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Palace Day
• Christian feast day: Aurea of Córdoba Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernold, Bishop of Utrecht Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Plessington Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Justa and Rufina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Kirdjun (or Abakerazum) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Macrina the Younger, Sister of St. Basil the Great Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Symmachus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Myanmar) Wikipedia
• Sandinista Day or Liberation Day (Nicaragua) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “July 19” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/July 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 “July 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 July 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.