On this day: May 19

Events on May 19

• 715 Gregory II began his pontificate; his conflict with Byzantine emperor Leo III eventually led to the establishment of the temporal power of the pope. Wikipedia
• 1051 Henry I of France marries the Rus' princess, Anne of Kiev. Wikipedia
• 1536 Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest. Wikipedia
• 1643 Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power. Wikipedia
• 1655 Anglo-Spanish War: English forces invaded Jamaica, then administered by Spain as the Colony of Santiago, and captured it a week later. Wikipedia
• 1674 John III Sobieski was elected by the szlachta as the monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1743 French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin published the design of a mercury thermometer using the centigrade scale, with 0 representing the melting point of water and 100 its boiling point. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison west of Montreal surrendered to British troops at the Battle of the Cedars. Wikipedia
• 1780 A combination of thick smoke, fog, and heavy cloud cover caused darkness to fall on parts of Canada and the New England area of the United States by noon. Wikipedia
• 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour. Wikipedia
• 1828 The United States Congress passed the largest tariff in the nation's history, which resulted in severe economic hardship in the American South. Wikipedia
• 1845 Captain John Franklin departed Greenhithe, England, on an expedition to the Canadian Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage; all 129 men were later lost when their ships became icebound in Victoria Strait. Wikipedia
• 1915 First World War: Australian and New Zealand troops repelled the third attack on Anzac Cove, inflicting heavy casualties on the attacking Ottoman forces. Wikipedia
• 1917 The Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK is founded. Wikipedia
• 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence. Wikipedia
• 1961 Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). Wikipedia
• 1962 Actress Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" during a televised celebration for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Wikipedia
• 1971 Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1991 Breakup of Yugoslavia: With the local Serb population boycotting the referendum, Croatians voted in favour of independence from Yugoslavia. Wikipedia
• 1997 The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, which encompasses the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, was established as a result of grassroots efforts. Wikipedia
• 2000 Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-101 to resupply the International Space Station. Wikipedia
• 2010 In Bangkok, the Thai military concluded a week-long crackdown on widespread protests by forcing the surrender of opposition leaders. Wikipedia
• 2015 A corroded pipeline near Refugio State Beach, California, spilled 142,800 gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto the Gaviota Coast. Wikipedia
• 2016 EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board. Wikipedia
• 2018 The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took place at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, England. Wikipedia
• 2024 In Iran, a helicopter crash killed eight people, including President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Wikipedia

Born on May 19

• 1744 Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German-born Queen to George III of the United Kingdom (died 1818) Wikipedia
• 1762 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (died 1814) Wikipedia
• 1881 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (official birthday), Turkish field marshal and statesman, 1st President of Turkey (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1890 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese politician, 1st President of Vietnam (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1898 Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and painter (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1909 Nicholas Winton, English banker and humanitarian (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1913 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th President of India (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1914 Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1925 Malcolm X, American minister and activist (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1925 Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1941 Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1944 Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1945 Pete Townshend, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 1948 Grace Jones, Jamaican-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1955 James Gosling, Canadian-American computer scientist, created Java Wikipedia
• 1976 Kevin Garnett, American basketball player Wikipedia
• 1977 Natalia Oreiro, Uruguayan singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia
• 1977 Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Sam Smith, English singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1992 Marshmello, American electronic music producer and DJ Wikipedia

Died on May 19

• 804 Alcuin, English monk and scholar (born 735) Wikipedia
• 1296 Pope Celestine V (born 1215) Wikipedia
• 1389 Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Muscovy (born 1350) Wikipedia
• 1536 Anne Boleyn, Queen Consort of England (1533–1536); second wife of Henry VIII Wikipedia
• 1825 Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, French philosopher and theorist (born 1760) Wikipedia
• 1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (born 1804) Wikipedia
• 1895 José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and philosopher (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1898 William Ewart Gladstone, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1904 Jamsetji Tata, Indian businessman, founded Tata Group (born 1839) Wikipedia
• 1912 Bolesław Prus, Polish journalist and author (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1935 T. E. Lawrence, British colonel and archaeologist (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1994 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist, 37th First Lady of the United States (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2014 Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2024 Victims in the 2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash: Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Calocerus (Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Crispin of Viterbo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dunstan (Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church; commemoration, Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ivo of Kermartin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joaquina Vedruna de Mas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maria Bernarda Bütler Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Celestine Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pudentiana (Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Umiliana de' Cerchi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day (Greece) Wikipedia
• Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day (Turkey, Northern Cyprus) Wikipedia
• Remembrance Day (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia
• Hồ Chí Minh's Birthday (Vietnam) Wikipedia
• Malcolm X Day (United States of America) Wikipedia
• National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Hepatitis Testing Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Mother's Day (Kyrgyzstan) Wikipedia

Sources

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