July 26

July 26 is the 207th day of the year (208th every 4 years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 158 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

615 – K'inich Janaab' Pakal I, aged 12, is crowned ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque.
1309 – Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor is recognised as King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
1469 – Wars of the Roses: Forces of Edward IV of England defeat those of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick in the Battle of Edgecote Moor.
1533 – Atahualpa dies at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Conquistadors, marking the end of the Inca Empire.
1581 – The northern Low Countries declare independence from King Philip II of Spain.
1745 – The first recorded women's cricket match takes place in Guildford, Surrey, England.
1758 – French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
1775 – Benjamin Franklin is named Postmaster–General by the United States Congress.
1788 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution, becoming the 11th State.
1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway opens in South London.
1805 – An earthquake in central Italy kills an estimated 26,000 people.
1822 – José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, present–day Ecuador, to meet with Simon Bolivar.
1822 – First day of the three–day Battle of Dervenakia between the Ottoman Empire, led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha, and a Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.
1847 – Liberia becomes independent, with Joseph Jenkins Roberts being its first President.
1861 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes control of the Army of the Potomac, following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Bull Run.
1882 – Boer settlers found the Republic of Stellaland in present–day South Africa.
1882 – Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal is first performed in Bayreuth, Bavaria.
1887 – Unua Libro, the 'First book of Esperanto', is published.
1891 – France takes control of Tahiti.

1901 – 1950

1908 – The FBI is founded.
1910 – The Rail Tunnel under the Detroit River linking Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan is opened.
1914 – Serbia and Bulgaria interrupt their diplomatic relationship.
1936 – The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
1936 – Edward VIII of the United Kingdom unveils the Canadian Vimy Memorial.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: End of the Battle of Brunete.
1944 – World War II: The Soviet army enters German–occupied Lviv, in present–day Ukraine.
1944 – The first German V–2 rocket hits the United Kingdom.
1945 – The British Conservative Party under Winston Churchill loses the General Election to the Labour Party, led by Clement Attlee.
1945 – The Potsdam Declaration is signed.
1946 – Aloha Airlines begins service.
1947 – The National Security Act of 1947 is signed by US President Harry S. Truman.
1948 – Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the United States Military.

1951 – 2000

1951 – Walt Disney movie Alice in Wonderland has its first showing in London.
1952 – Argentina's First Lady Eva Perón dies aged 33.
1953 – Begin of the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro later helps to found the 26th July Movement.
1956 – The Suez Crisis begins, after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal.
1957 – President Carlos Castillo Armas of Guatemala is assassinated.
1958 – The Explorer 4 space probe is launched.
1963 – A earthquake strikes Skopje in the present–day Republic of Macedonia, killing around 1,100 people.
1965 – The Maldives gain full independence from the United Kingdom.
1971 – Apollo 15 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, with David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden on board, to the Moon.
1974 – Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the Greek Government.
1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as an official language of the Provincial Government.
1990 – The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by US President George H. W. Bush.
1994 – Boris Yeltsin orders the removal of Russian troops from Estonia.
1994 – A bomb explodes outside the Israeli Embassy in London.
1998 – Cambodia holds its first election since regaining full independence.

From 2001

2005 – Space Shuttle Discovery launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is the first Space Shuttle mission since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of February 1, 2003.
2005 – Nearly a meter of rain falls in one day in Mumbai, causing flooding.
2006 – A conference begins in Rome, Italy to discuss a solution to the Israel-Lebanon War, though without the participation of Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria.
2008 – 56 people are killed in a bombing in Ahmedabad, India.
2013 – 2013 Cleveland, Ohio, missing trio: Ariel Castro pleads guilty to all charges in order to avoid the death penalty. He commits suicide in prison on September 3.
2016 – Mass murder with knife is carried out in an institution of Sagamihara in Japan for persons with disabilities out of disability hate crime; 19 people are killed.
2016 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar–powered aircraft to complete a flight around the world.
2016 – Roman Catholic priest Jacques Hamel is murdered at his church in Normandy, France, by an attacker linked to the self–proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
2016 – Hillary Clinton is officially nominated by the Democratic Party for President of the United States, becoming the first woman to be nominated for this position by a major US political party.
2017 – US President Donald Trump announces via Twitter that he intends to ban Transgender people from serving in the United States Military.
2019 – The 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, begin.

Births

Up to 1900

1030 – Stanislaus of Szczepanow, Polish bishop and martyr (d. 1074)
1575 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1612)
1678 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1711)
1721 – Samuel von Brukenthal, Governor of Transylvania (d. 1803)
1739 – George Clinton, 4th Vice President of the United States and 1st State Governor of New York (d. 1812)
1756 – Maria Fitzherbert, first wife of King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
1782 – John Field, Irish composer (d. 1837)
1787 – Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck, German botanist and pharmacologist (d. 1837)
1791 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1844)
1796 – George Catlin, American painter (d. 1872)
1801 – Maria Röhl, Swedish artist (d. 1875)
1802 – Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (d. 1855)
1829 – Auguste Beernaert, Belgian statesman and 14th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1912)
1842 – Alfred Marshall, British economist (d. 1924)
1844 – Stefan Drzewiecki, Polish scientist and inventor (d. 1938)
1846 – Texas Jack Omohundro, American scout, cowboy and actor (d. 1880)
1855 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1936)
1856 – George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1950)
1858 – Tom Garrett, Australian cricketer (d. 1943)
1862 – George P. Cortelyou, American politician (d. 1940)
1865 – Philipp Scheidemann, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1939)
1866 – Princess Milica of Montenegro (d. 1951)
1874 – Serge Koussevitzky, Russian conductor (d. 1961)
1875 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
1875 – Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
1878 – Ernst Hoppenberg, German swimmer and water polo player (d. 1937)
1880 – Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1951)
1882 – Dixie Bibb Graves, American politician and United States Senator for Alabama (d. 1965)
1893 – E. R. Dodds, Irish classical scholar (d. 1979)
1893 – George Grosz, German painter (d. 1959)
1894 – Aldous Huxley, British writer (d. 1963)
1895 – Jane Bunford, UK's tallest woman (d. 1922)
1895 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne (d. 1964)
1896 – Tom Birkin, English racing driver (d. 1933)
1897 – Paul Gallico, American novelist (d. 1976)

1901 – 1950

1901 – Umberto Caligaris, Italian footballer (d. 1940)
1903 – Estes Kefauver, American politician (d. 1963)
1904 – Edwin Albert Link, American inventor of the flight simulator (d. 1981)
1906 – Irena Illakowicz, Polish intelligence agent (d. 1943)
1907 – Donal McLaughlin, American architect and graphic artist (d. 2009)
1908 – Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourg sculptor (d. 2000)
1909 – Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, British politician (d. 1994)
1909 – Vivian Vance, American actress (d. 1979)
1910 – Yann Fouéré, Breton political activist (d. 2011)
1914 – Erskine Hawkins, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1993)
1914 – C. Farris Bryant, 34th Governor of Florida (d. 2002)
1916 – Dean Brooks, American physician and actor (d. 2013)
1917 – Alberta Adams, American singer (d. 2014)
1917 – Bertil Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1998)
1918 – Marjorie Lord, American actress (d. 2015)
1919 – James Lovelock, British scientist
1919 – Angelo Felici, Italian cardinal (d. 2007)
1920 – Mario Fasino, Italian politician, President of Sicily (d. 2017)
1921 – Amedeo Amadei, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
1922 – Gilberto Agustoni, Swiss cardinal (d. 2017)
1922 – Blake Edwards, American movie director (d. 2010)
1922 – Jason Robards, American actor (d. 2000)
1923 – Jan Berenstain, American writer (d. 2012)
1923 – Biff Elliot, American actor (d. 2012)
1925 – Jerzy Einhorn, Polish–born Swedish doctor and politician (d. 2000)
1925 – Joseph Engelberger, American physicist, engineer and entrepreneur (d. 2015)
1925 – Gene Gutowski, Polish–American movie producer (d. 2016)
1925 – Ana María Matute, Spanish writer (d. 2014)
1926 – James Best, American actor (d. 2015)
1928 – Joe Jackson, patriarch of the Jackson musical family (d. 2018)
1928 – Stanley Kubrick, American movie director (d. 1999)
1928 – Francesco Cossiga, 8th President of Italy (d. 2010)
1928 – Peter Lougheed, Canadian politician (d. 2012)
1928 – Bernice Rubens, Welsh writer (d. 2004)
1928 – Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani poet (d. 1980)
1929 – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian pianist (d. 2012)
1930 – Barbara Jefford, English actress
1932 – James Stafford, American cardinal
1932 – Robert Timlin, American judge (d. 2017)
1933 – Edmund Phelps, American economist
1933 – Lance Percival, English actor, comedian and singer (d. 2015)
1936 – Mary Millar, English actress (d. 1998)
1936 – Lawrie McMenemy, English footballer and coach
1939 – John Howard, 25th Prime Minister of Australia
1940 – Brigitte Hamann, German–Austrian writer and historian (d. 2016)
1940 – Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)
1940 – Jürgen Kurbjuhn, German footballer (d. 2014)
1942 – Hannelore Elsner, German actress (d. 2019)
1942 – Vladimir Meciar, former Prime Minister of Slovakia
1943 – Peter Hyams, American director
1943 – Mick Jagger, British musician
1945 – Helen Mirren, British actress
1945 – Panagiotis Pikrammenos, Greek jurist
1946 – Erwin Huber, German politician
1947 – Alejandra Da Passano, Argentine actress (d. 2014)
1947 – Emilio de Villota, Spanish racing driver
1949 – Sharron Angle, American politician
1949 – Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai politician
1949 – Roger Taylor, British musician (Queen)
1950 – Nelinho, Brazilian footballer
1950 – Susan George, English actress

1951 – 1975

1951 – Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, German politician
1952 – Heiner Brand, German handball player and coach
1953 – Felix Magath, German footballer
1954 – Mareike Carrière, German actress (d. 2014)
1954 – Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994)
1955 – Asif Ali Zardari, former President of Pakistan
1955 – Aleksandrs Starkovs, Latvian footballer
1956 – Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater
1957 – Yuen Biao, Chinese actor
1957 – Nana Visitor, American actress
1959 – Kevin Spacey, American actor
1961 – Gary Cherone, American singer-songwriter
1962 – Sigga, Icelandic singer
1964 – Sandra Bullock, American actress
1965 – Jimmy Dore, American comedian
1965 – Jeremy Piven, American actor
1966 – Angelo Di Livio, Italian footballer
1967 – Anthony Durante, American wrestler (d. 2003)
1967 – Jason Statham, English actor and producer
1968 – Olivia Williams, English actress
1969 – Tanni Grey-Thompson, British wheelchair athlete
1971 – Khaled Mahmud, Bangladeshi cricketer
1971 – Andrea Fortunato, Italian footballer (d. 1995)
1971 – Kendall Francois, American murderer (d. 2014)
1973 – Kate Beckinsale, British actress
1975 – Elizabeth Truss, British politician

From 1976

1976 – Pavel Pardo, Mexican footballer
1977 – Martin Laursen, Danish footballer
1977 – Emma Barton, English actress
1979 – Peter Sarno, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Jacinda Ardern, 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1980 – Madeleine West, Australian actress
1980 – Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist (Sum 41)
1980 – Sonali Shah, English television presenter
1981 – Maicon Douglas Sisenando, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Kelly Clark, American snowboarder
1983 – Stephen Makinwa, Nigerian footballer
1983 – Delonte West, American basketball player
1985 – Zhou Bichang, Chinese singer-songwriter and actress
1985 – Brice Feillu, French road racing cyclist
1985 – Gaël Clichy, French footballer
1985 – Leonardo Ulloa, Argentine footballer
1987 – Fredy Montero, Colombian footballer
1988 – Sayaka Akimoto, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
1988 – Francia Raisa, American actress
1988 – Diego Perotti, Argentine footballer
1989 – Ivian Sarcos, Venezuelan model
1990 – Jesus Herrada, Spanish motorcycle racer
1990 – Bianca Santos, American actress
1993 – Elizabeth Gillies, American actress and singer
1993 – Taylor Momsen, American actress and singer
1993 – Caleb Stanko, American soccer player
1993 – Stormzy, English rapper
1996 – Tatiana Vorobjova, Estonian tennis player
1998 – Maya Sakura, Japanese singer and actress

Deaths

Up to 1900

342 – Jin Chengdi, Emperor of China (b. 321)
432 – Pope Celestine I
796 – Offa, King of Mercia
811 – Nicephorus I, Byzantine Emperor (killed in battle)
1380 – Emperor Komyo of Japan (b. 1322)
1471 – Pope Paul II (b. 1417)
1506 – Anne of Foix-Candale, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1478)
1533 – Atahualpa, Inca ruler (b. 1502)
1592 – Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)
1605 – Miguel de Benavides, Spanish clergyman and Sinologist (b. 1552)
1611 – Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1542)
1630 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (b. 1562)
1680 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer (b. 1647)
1684 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician (b. 1646)
1712 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (b. 1631)
1723 – Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1660)
1726 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
1801 – Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (b. 1756)
1863 – John J. Crittenden, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1786)
1863 – Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1793)
1867 – King Otto of Greece (b. 1815)

1901 – 1950

1915 – James Murray, English philologist (b. 1837)
1919 – Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1836)
1922 – Ciro Luis Urriola, 8th President of Panama (b. 1863)
1925 – Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (b. 1888)
1925 – Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (b. 1848)
1925 – William Jennings Bryan, American politician (b. 1860)
1926 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician (b. 1843)
1935 – Winsor McCay, American cartoonist (b. 1871)
1937 – Gerda Taro, German photographer (b. 1910)
1941 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)
1942 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (b. 1900)
1943 – Ruth M. Gardiner, American nurse (b. 1914)
1944 – Reza Shah, ruler of Iran (b. 1878)

1951 – 2000

1952 – Eva Perón, wife of Argentine President Juan Perón (b. 1919)
1953 – Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician (b. 1883)
1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala (b. 1914)
1969 – Frank Loesser, American composer (b. 1910)
1970 – Robert Taschereau, Canadian jurist (b. 1896)
1971 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (suicide) (b. 1923)
1976 – Stefanos Natsinas, Greek politician (b. 1910)
1980 – Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani poet (b. 1928)
1984 – George Gallup, American statistician (b. 1901)
1984 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)
1986 – Averell Harriman, American diplomat (b. 1891)
1988 – Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (b. 1919)
1990 – Brent Mydland, American musician (b. 1952)
1992 – Mary Wells, American singer (b. 1943)
1995 – George Romney, Governor of Michigan and father of Mitt Romney (b. 1907)
1999 – Phaedon Gizikis, President of Greece (b. 1917)

From 2001

2001 – Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)
2002 – Tony Anholt, English actor (b. 1941)
2005 – Mario David, Italian footballer (b. 1934)
2009 – Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (b. 1919)
2011 – Margaret Olley, Australian artist (b. 1923)
2011 – Sakyo Komatsu, Japanese science fiction writer (b. 1931)
2012 – Lupe Ontiveros, American actress (b. 1942)
2012 – Mary Tamm, English actress (b. 1950)
2013 – Sung Jae-ki, South Korean activist (b. 1967)
2013 – JJ Cale, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1938)
2014 – Oleh Babayev, Ukrainian politician (b. 1965)
2014 – Charles R. Larson, American admiral (b. 1936)
2014 – Majid Nizami, Pakistani journalist (b. 1928)
2014 – Roland Verhavert, Belgian movie director (b. 1927)
2015 – Bobbi Kristina Brown, American media personality and singer (b. 1993)
2015 – Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1922)
2015 – Ann Rule, American true crime writer (b. 1931)
2015 – Vic Firth, American musician and instruments manufacturer (b. 1930)
2016 – Jacques Hamel, French priest (b. 1930)
2016 – David A. Katz, American judge (b. 1933)
2016 – Mohamed Khan, Egyptian film director (b. 1942)
2017 – Patti Deutsch, American actress (b. 1943)
2017 – June Foray, American voice actress (b. 1917)
2017 – Giovanni Battista Pichierri, Italian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1943)
2017 – Lawrence Pezzulo, American diplomat (b. 1926)
2017 – Maxlei dos Santos Luzia, Brazilian footballer (b. 1975)
2017 – Joachim Vobbe, German Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1947)
2017 – Leo Kinnunen, Finnish racing driver (b. 1943)
2018 – Adem Demaçi, Albanian politician (b. 1936)
2018 – Aloyzas Kveinys, Lithuanian chess player (b. 1962)
2018 – María Concepción César, Argentine actress and singer (b. 1926)
2018 – Anne Vermeer, Dutch politician (b. 1916)
2019 – Graham Freudenberg, Australian political speechwriter (b. 1934)
2019 – Jaime Lucas y Alamino, Cuban cardinal (b. 1936)
2019 – Kevin Roster, American poker player (b. 1983)
2019 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress (b. 1944)
2023 – Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer–songwriter (b. 1966)

Observances

Independence Day (Liberia and Maldives)