On this day: September 19

Events on September 19

• 96 Nerva, suspected of complicity of the death of Domitian, is declared emperor by Senate. The Senate then annuls laws passed by Domitian and orders his statues to be destroyed. Wikipedia
• 1356 Hundred Years' War: English forces led by Edward the Black Prince decisively won the Battle of Poitiers and captured John II of France. Wikipedia
• 1692 Salem witch trials: Giles Corey was crushed to death for refusing to enter a plea to charges of witchcraft, reportedly asking the sheriff for "more weight" during his execution. Wikipedia
• 1777 American Revolutionary War: British forces win a tactically expensive victory over the Continental Army in the First Battle of Saratoga. Wikipedia
• 1846 Near La Salette-Fallavaux in southeastern France, shepherd children Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud reported a Marian apparition, now known as Our Lady of La Salette. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga began in northwestern Georgia and would end in the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater. Wikipedia
• 1868 La Gloriosa begins in Spain. Wikipedia
• 1893 New Zealand became the first country to introduce universal suffrage following the women's suffrage movement led by Kate Sheppard. Wikipedia
• 1926 Football stadium San Siro is inaugurated in Milan, Italy Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Polish resistance leader Witold Pilecki allowed himself to be captured by German forces and sent to Auschwitz to gather intelligence. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Finland, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Moscow Armistice to end the Continuation War. Wikipedia
• 1946 The Council of Europe is founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. Wikipedia
• 1950 Korean War: A North Korean attack was repelled by Allied forces at the Battle of Nam River. Wikipedia
• 1970 The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, England. Wikipedia
• 1970 Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself on fire in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the military junta of Georgios Papadopoulos. Wikipedia
• 1976 An unidentified flying object over Tehran in Iran was observed by multiple civilians and military personnel, which has been described as one of the most credible cases in ufology. Wikipedia
• 1985 An earthquake registering Mw 8.0 struck Mexico City, killing at least 9,000 people and leaving up to 100,000 homeless. Wikipedia
• 1989 UTA Flight 772 was bombed up over Niger by the Libyan government while flying from Chad to France, killing all 170 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1991 Ötzi, a well-preserved natural mummy of a man dating from about 3300 BC, was discovered by two German tourists in the Alps. Wikipedia
• 1995 Industrial Society and Its Future, the manifesto of American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, was published in The Washington Post almost three months after it was submitted. Wikipedia
• 2006 The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared. Wikipedia
• 2010 The leaking oil well in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is sealed. Wikipedia
• 2011 Mariano Rivera surpassed Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all-time career leader in saves. Wikipedia
• 2017 An earthquake struck central Mexico, killing 370 people and injuring more than 6,000, exactly 32 years after the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed at least 9,000 people. Wikipedia
• 2023 Chinese authorities cancelled a run of performances of The Mongol Khan, the first Mongolian play to be performed internationally, forty minutes before its planned premiere in Hohhot. Wikipedia
• 2023 Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this leads to the flight of the Armenian population. Wikipedia

Born on September 19

• 86 Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor (died 161) Wikipedia
• 866 Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor (died 912) Wikipedia
• 1551 Henry III of France (died 1589) Wikipedia
• 1802 Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian journalist, lawyer, and politician, Governor-President of Hungary (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1898 Giuseppe Saragat, Italian lawyer and politician, 5th President of Italy (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1921 Paulo Freire, Brazilian philosopher, theorist, and academic (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1922 Emil Zátopek, Czech runner (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1926 Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1934 Brian Epstein, English businessman, The Beatles manager (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1936 Al Oerter, American discus thrower (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1941 Cass Elliot, American singer-songwriter, actress, comedian, and television personality (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1941 Umberto Bossi, Italian politician (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1948 Jeremy Irons, English actor, winner of multiple accolades (Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe) Wikipedia
• 1963 David Seaman, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1967 Aleksandr Karelin, Russian wrestler and politician Wikipedia
• 1972 N. K. Jemisin, American science fiction and fantasy writer Wikipedia
• 1974 Jimmy Fallon, American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1977 Ryan Dusick, American musician and record producer Wikipedia
• 1982 Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Song Joong-ki, South Korean actor Wikipedia
• 1986 Sally Pearson, Australian athlete and hurdler Wikipedia
• 1990 Kieran Trippier, English footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 19

• 1710 Ole Rømer, Danish astronomer and instrument maker (born 1644) Wikipedia
• 1812 Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker (born 1744) Wikipedia
• 1843 Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, French mathematician, physicist, and engineer (born 1792) Wikipedia
• 1881 James A. Garfield, American general, lawyer, and politician, and the 20th President of the United States (born 1831) Wikipedia
• 1902 Masaoka Shiki, Japanese poet, author, and critic (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1935 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist and engineer (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 1967 Zinaida Serebriakova, Russian-French painter (born 1884) Wikipedia
• 1978 Étienne Gilson, French historian and philosopher (born 1884) Wikipedia
• 1985 Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 1987 Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian civil servant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Norway (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 2019 Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisian soldier, politician, 2nd President of Tunisia (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2020 John Turner, Canadian politician, 17th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2021 Jimmy Greaves, English footballer (born 1940) Wikipedia
• 2026 Sandro Mazzola, Italian footballer and sportscaster (born 1942) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Alonso de Orozco Mena Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emilie de Rodat Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Francisca Cualladó Baixauli Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Goeric of Metz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Januarius (Western Christianity) Feast of San Gennaro Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maria de Cervelló Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of La Salette Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theodore of Tarsus (Anglican Communion, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Trophimus, Sabbatius, and Dorymedon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Armed Forces Day (Chile) Wikipedia
• Day of the First Public Appearance of the Slovak National Council Wikipedia
• Second day of Fiestas Patrias (Chile) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Kitts and Nevis from the United Kingdom in 1983. Wikipedia
• International Talk Like a Pirate Day Wikipedia

Sources

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