On this day: May 24

Events on May 24

• 1218 The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1607 Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, is founded. Wikipedia
• 1667 Led by King Louis XIV, the French army invaded the Spanish Netherlands, beginning the War of Devolution. Wikipedia
• 1689 The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting dissenting Protestants but excluding Roman Catholics. Wikipedia
• 1813 South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator"). Wikipedia
• 1844 Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia, with Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth becoming the first Union officer to be killed during the war. Wikipedia
• 1883 The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction. Wikipedia
• 1930 Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight). Wikipedia
• 1940 Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico. Wikipedia
• 1941 Second World War: The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser Hood at the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: In the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the German battleship Bismarck sinks the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen. Wikipedia
• 1944 Congress of Përmet occurs which establishes a provisional government in Albania in areas under partisan control, the first independent Albanian government since 1939. In honor of this the national emblem of Albania inscribed this date from 1946 until 1992. Wikipedia
• 1944 Börse Berlin building burns down after being hit in an air raid during World War II. Wikipedia
• 1967 Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Red Sea coast of Israel. Wikipedia
• 1976 The Judgment of Paris takes place in France, launching California as a worldwide force in the production of quality wine. Wikipedia
• 1982 Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War. Wikipedia
• 1988 Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act of 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, was enacted. Wikipedia
• 1988 Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted. Wikipedia
• 1991 Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Wikipedia
• 1992 The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests. Wikipedia
• 1993 Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia. Wikipedia
• 1995 While attempting to return to Leeds Bradford Airport in the United Kingdom, Knight Air Flight 816 crashes in Dunkeswick, North Yorkshire, killing all 12 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo. Wikipedia
• 2014 A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, injuring 324 people. Wikipedia
• 2019 Twenty-two students die in a fire in Surat (India). Wikipedia

Born on May 24

• 15 BC Germanicus, Roman general (died 19) Wikipedia
• 1494 Pontormo, Italian painter (died 1557) Wikipedia
• 1544 William Gilbert, English physician, physicist, and astronomer (died 1603) Wikipedia
• 1686 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Polish-German physicist and engineer, developed the Fahrenheit scale (died 1736) Wikipedia
• 1743 Jean-Paul Marat, Swiss-French physician, journalist, and politician (died 1793) Wikipedia
• 1819 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (died 1901) Wikipedia
• 1870 Jan Smuts, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1893 Walter Baade, German astronomer (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1899 Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1905 Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1940 Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1941 Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, and producer; Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1945 Terry Callier, American soul, folk and jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1945 Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman Wikipedia
• 1946 Tansu Çiller, Turkish politician, Prime Minister of Turkey Wikipedia
• 1949 Jim Broadbent, English actor Wikipedia
• 1953 Alfred Molina, English actor Wikipedia
• 1960 Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress Wikipedia
• 1965 John C. Reilly, American actor Wikipedia
• 1966 Eric Cantona, French footballer and actor Wikipedia
• 1974 Magnus Manske, German biochemist and computer programmer, developed MediaWiki Wikipedia
• 1994 Rodrigo De Paul, Argentine footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 24

• 1153 David I of Scotland (born 1083) Wikipedia
• 1408 Taejo of Joseon (born 1335) Wikipedia
• 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (born 1473) Wikipedia
• 1627 Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet and cleric (born 1561) Wikipedia
• 1665 Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Spanish Franciscan abbess and mystic (born 1602) Wikipedia
• 1949 Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect, designed Lenin's Mausoleum and Moscow Kazanskaya railway station (born 1873) Wikipedia
• 1950 Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English field marshal and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1959 John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1974 Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1984 Vince McMahon Sr., American wrestling promoter and businessman, founded WWE (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 1995 Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2012 Klaas Carel Faber, Dutch-German SS officer (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2018 Gudrun Burwitz, daughter of Margarete Himmler and Heinrich Himmler (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2023 Tina Turner, American-Swiss rock and pop singer, dancer, actress and author (born 1939) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Aldersgate Day/Wesley Day (Methodism) Wikipedia
• Battle of Pichincha Day (Ecuador) Wikipedia
• Bermuda Day (Bermuda), celebrated on the nearest weekday if May 24 falls on the weekend. Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anna Pak Agi (one of The Korean Martyrs) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Donatian and Rogatian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jackson Kemper (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joanna Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Juan de Prado Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Louis-Zéphirin Moreau Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mary, Help of Christians Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sarah (celebrated by the Romani people of Camargue) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Simeon Stylites the Younger Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vincent of Lérins Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Commonwealth Day (Belize) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Eritrea), celebrates the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993. Wikipedia
• Lubiri Memorial Day (Buganda) Wikipedia
• Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian Calendar) and its related observance: Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day (Bulgaria) Wikipedia
• Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian Calendar) and its related observance: Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners' Day (North Macedonia) Wikipedia
• Victoria Day; celebrated on Monday on or before May 24. (Canada), and its related observance: National Patriots' Day or Journée nationale des patriotes (Quebec) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 24” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.