July 3

July 3 in recent years

2025 (Thursday)

2024 (Wednesday)

2023 (Monday)

2022 (Sunday)

2021 (Saturday)

2020 (Friday)

2019 (Wednesday)

2018 (Tuesday)

2017 (Monday)

2016 (Sunday)

July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 181 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
• 987 - Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty which ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
• 1250 - Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army at the Battle of Fariskur while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade; he later has to ransom himself.
• 1608 - Québec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1754 - French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
• 1767 - Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
• 1767 - Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date).
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1778 - American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 men, women and children in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
• 1819 - The first savings bank in the United States (The Bank of Savings in New York City) opens.
• 1839 - The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
• 1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
• 1848 - Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten.
• 1849 - The French entered Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
• 1852 - Congress establishes the United States's 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
• 1863 - U.S. Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
• 1866 - Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
• 1884 - Dow Jones published its 1st stock average.
• 1886 - Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen - the first purpose-built automobile.
• 1886 - The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
• 1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba.
• 1913 - Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
• 1938 - World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 126 mph.(203 km/h)
• 1938 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
• 1944 - World War II: Minsk was liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
• 1952 - Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.
• 1962 - The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.
• 1969 - The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
• 1970 - A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 113 people.
• 1977 - The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded.
• 1979 - US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
• 1986 - US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
• 1988 - United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
• 1988 - The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.
• 1994 - The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty six people were killed in crashes.
• 1996 - Stone of Scone returned to Scotland.
• 2001 - A Vladivostok Avia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.
• 2004 - Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.
• 2005 - The national law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect in Spain.
• 2006 - Asteroid labeled as 2004 XP14 flies 432,308 km (268,624 miles) by Earth.

Births

• 1423 - King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
• 1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
• 1530 - Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)
• 1676 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1747)
• 1683 - Edward Young, English poet (d. 1765)
• 1685 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
• 1728 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)
• 1738 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
• 1743 - Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, queen consort of Sweden (d. 1813)
• 1851 - Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (d. 1930)
• 1854 - Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (d. 1928)
• 1866 - Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter
• 1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
• 1875 - Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
• 1878 - George M. Cohan, American actor, director, singer and dancer (d. 1942)
• 1879 - Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist (d. 1950)
• 1880 - Carl Schuricht, Polish-born German conductor (d. 1967)
• 1883 - Franz Kafka, Czech writer (d. 1924)
• 1900 - Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director (d. 1987)
• 1903 - Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
• 1906 - George Sanders, British actor (d. 1972)
• 1906 - Jack Earle, American actor and sideshow performer (d. 1952)
• 1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
• 1908 - Robert B. Meyner, American politician (d. 1990)
• 1913 - Dorothy Kilgallen, American columnist (d. 1965)
• 1917 - João Saldanha, Brazilian journalist and football manager (d. 1990)
• 1918 - S. V. Ranga Rao, South Indian actor (d. 1974)
• 1920 - Paul O'Dea, American baseball player (d. 1978)
• 1921 - Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)
• 1922 - Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter, called Corneille
• 1924 - S. R. Nathan, 6th president of Singapore
• 1927 - Ken Russell, British director
• 1930 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
• 1930 - Tommy Tedesco, American musician (d. 1997)
• 1930 - Pete Fountain, American clarinetist
• 1933 - Edward Brandt, American doctor and public health official (d. 2007)
• 1935 - Harrison Schmitt, American astronaut and politician
• 1937 - Tom Stoppard, Czech-born, British playwright
• 1938 - Bolo Yeung, Hong Kong actor
• 1939 - László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat
• 1939 - Brigitte Fassbaender, German mezzo-soprano
• 1940 - César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
• 1940 - Lamar Alexander, American politician
• 1940 - Jerzy Buzek, Prime Minister of Poland
• 1940 - Fontella Bass, American soul singer
• 1942 - Eddy Mitchell, French singer and actor
• 1942 - Paco Stanley, Mexican TV personality (d. 1999)
• 1943 - Kurtwood Smith, American actor
• 1944 - Michel Polnareff, French singer and songwriter
• 1945 - Michael Cole, American TV actor
• 1946 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
• 1947 - Dave Barry, American humorist and author
• 1947 - Betty Buckley, American actress
• 1948 - Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
• 1949 - Jan Smithers, American actress
• 1949 - Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (Heatwave) (d. 2006)
• 1950 - James Hahn, American politician
• 1950 - Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer
• 1951 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
• 1951 - Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician
• 1955 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer
• 1956 - Montel Williams, American talk show host
• 1956 - Don Vito, American Viva La Bam castmember
• 1957 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
• 1958 - Matthew Fraser, Canadian-British journalist
• 1958 - Siân Lloyd, Welsh weather presenter
• 1958 - Aaron Tippin, American singer
• 1958 - Charlie Higson, English author and actor
• 1959 - Julie Burchill, British journalist and author
• 1959 - Stephen Pearcy, American singer (Ratt)
• 1960 - Vince Clarke, British songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
• 1961 - Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese dancer
• 1961 - Tim Smith, English musician (Cardiacs)
• 1962 - Tom Cruise, American actor
• 1962 - Hunter Tylo, American actress
• 1962 - Thomas Gibson, American actor
• 1964 - Joanne Harris, British author
• 1964 - Yeardley Smith, French-born American actress
• 1965 - Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005)
• 1965 - Connie Nielsen, Danish actress
• 1966 - Moisés Alou, Dominican baseball player
• 1967 - Brian Cashman, American major league baseball executive
• 1968 - Aku Louhimies, Finnish film director and screenwriter
• 1969 - Kevin Hearn, Canadian musician (Barenaked Ladies)
• 1970 - Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1970 - Shawnee Smith, American actress
• 1970 - Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist
• 1973 - Johnny Terris, Canadian actor and director
• 1973 - Patrick Wilson, American actor
• 1973 - Emma Cunniffe, British actress
• 1976 - Andrea Barber, American actress
• 1976 - Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 - Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1976 - Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist
• 1976 - Bobby Skinstad, Springbok Rugby player
• 1978 - Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese long-distance runner
• 1979 - Ludivine Sagnier, French actress
• 1979 - Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Greek footballer
• 1979 - David Bacani, American baseball player
• 1980 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
• 1980 - Kevin Boyle, American basketballer
• 1980 - Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer
• 1982 - Kanika, Indian actress
• 1983 - Steph Jones, American singer and model
• 1984 - Syed Rasel, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1984 - Corey Sevier, Canadian actor
• 1984 - Manny Lawson, American Football player
• 1985 - Minami Keisuke, Japanese singer and actor.
• 1987 - Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver
• 1988 - Kanon Wakeshima, Japanese singer/cellist

<-- Do not add people without Wikipedia articles to this list Do not trust "this year in history" websites for accurate date information Do not link multiple occurrences of the same year, just link the first occurrence. -->

Deaths

• 1570 - Aonio Paleario, Italian humanist
• 1642 - Maria de' Medici, wife of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)
• 1672 - Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)
• 1704 - Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (b. 1657)
• 1749 - William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
• 1778 - Anna Maria Pertl Mozart, mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1720)
• 1790 - Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (b. 1736)
• 1795 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (b. 1714)
• 1795 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
• 1809 - Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (b. 1746)
• 1858 - Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b. 1806)
• 1863 - George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
• 1904 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (b. 1860)
• 1904 - Edouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)
• 1914 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)
• 1916 - Hetty Green, American businesswoman (b. 1834)
• 1918 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
• 1933 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)
• 1935 - André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
• 1942 - Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (b. 1856)
• 1954 - Siegfried Handloser, German physician (b. 1895)
• 1957 - Dolf Luque, baseball player (b. 1890)
• 1965 - Trigger, Roy Rogers's horse (b. 1932)
• 1969 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)
• 1971 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)
• 1977 - Alexander M. Volkov, Russian novelist and mathematician (b. 1891)
• 1978 - James Daly, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1979 - Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
• 1981 - Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (b. 1920)
• 1985 - Frank Selke, Canadian ice hockey manager (b. 1893)
• 1986 - Rudy Vallee, American singer (b. 1901)
• 1989 - Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1993 - Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
• 1993 - Don Drysdale, American baseball player (b. 1936)
• 1994 - Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (b. 1934)
• 1995 - Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
• 1995 - Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
• 1998 - Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
• 1999 - Mark Sandman, American musician (b. 1952)
• 2000 - Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor (b. 1944)
• 2001 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (b. 1931)
• 2001 - Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
• 2003 - Gaetano Alibrandi, Papal diplomat (b. 1914)
• 2004 - Andrian Nikolayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1929)
• 2005 - Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (b. 1914)
• 2005 - Gaylord Nelson, American politician (b. 1916)
• 2006 - Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (b. 1941)
• 2006 - Benjamin Hendrickson, American actor (b. 1950)
• 2007 - Alice Timander, Swedish dentist (b. 1915)
• 2007 - Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (b. 1927)
• 2008 - Ernie Cooksey, English Footballer (b. 1980)
• 2008 - Larry Harmon, American entertainer and TV producer (b. 1925)
• 2008 - Clive Hornby, English soap actor - Emmerdale (b. 1944)
• 2008 - Oliver Schroer, Canadian fiddler and composer (b. 1956)

Holidays and observances

• Start of the Dog Days
• Independence Day in Belarus (when German forces lost Belarus to the Red Army in 1944)
• Aaron and Julius
• Saint Leo II (d. 683)
• Saint Heliodorus
• Saint Marinus, bishop, martyr
• Saint Mucian
• Saint Phocas, martyr
• Saint Raymond, confessor at Toulouse
• Translation of Saint Thomas
• Saint Tryphon
• Steven O'Block (inspiration to all)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

---