December 19 facts for kids

December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 12 days remain until the end of the year.

December 19th is a day filled with many important events throughout history. From the crowning of kings to major scientific discoveries and space missions, this date has seen significant moments that shaped our world. Many famous people, including leaders, artists, and scientists, were also born or passed away on this day.

Historical Events

Early History (Before 1600)

• 1154 – Henry II of England was crowned king at Westminster Abbey. This was a big moment for England.
• 1187 – Pope Clement III was chosen as the new Pope.
• 1490 – Anne, Duchess of Brittany, got married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. This was a special kind of wedding called a proxy marriage, where someone stood in for the groom.
• 1562 – The Battle of Dreux happened during the French Wars of Religion.

Important Moments (1601–1900)

• 1606 – Three ships, the  Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, left England. They carried settlers who would later start the first of the thirteen colonies in America at Jamestown, Virginia.
• 1675 – The Great Swamp Fight took place during King Philip's War. It was a tough battle for the English settlers, but they won.
• 1776 – Thomas Paine published a famous series of writings called "The American Crisis" in The Pennsylvania Journal. These writings helped inspire the American Revolution.
• 1777 – During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington's Continental Army set up their winter camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. It was a very difficult winter for the soldiers.
• 1783 – William Pitt the Younger became the youngest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at just 24 years old.
• 1793 – The War of the First Coalition saw the end of the Siege of Toulon. Napoleon's French army forced the British to leave the city. This helped protect southern France.
• 1796 – In the French Revolutionary Wars, two British ships led by Commodore Horatio Nelson fought two Spanish ships off the coast of Murcia.
• 1828 – Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun wrote a paper called the South Carolina Exposition and Protest. This paper protested a tax law and led to the Nullification Crisis.
• 1900 – The first Governor-General of Australia, John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, tried to appoint Sir William Lyne as premier. But Lyne couldn't form a government and had to step down. This event was known as the Hopetoun Blunder.
• 1900 – The French parliament voted to forgive everyone involved in the Dreyfus affair. This was a big and controversial army trial.

Modern Times (1901–Present)

• 1907 – A terrible accident happened at the Darr Mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania. Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners lost their lives.
• 1912 – William Van Schaick, the captain of the General Slocum steamship, was pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft. His ship had caught fire, killing over a thousand people.
• 1920 – King Constantine I became King of the Hellenes again. This happened after his son Alexander of Greece died and people voted for Constantine to return.
• 1924 – The very last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost car was sold in London, England.
• 1927 – Three Indian freedom fighters, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, and Ashfaqulla Khan, were executed by the British Raj. They had taken part in the Kakori conspiracy.
• 1929 – The Indian National Congress announced the Purna Swaraj. This was a declaration for the complete independence of India.
• 1932 – The BBC World Service began broadcasting. It was first known as the BBC Empire Service.
• 1940 – Risto Ryti, who was the Prime Minister of Finland, was chosen as President of the Republic of Finland.
• 1941 – During World War II, Adolf Hitler took over as the head of the German army's high command.
• 1941 – In World War II, Italian divers used special mines to heavily damage two British warships, HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth. This happened in Alexandria harbour.
• 1945 – John Amery, a British supporter of Fascism, was executed by the British Government for treason.
• 1946 – The First Indochina War began.
• 1956 – An Irish doctor named John Bodkin Adams was arrested. He was suspected in the deaths of many patients, but was only convicted of minor charges.
• 1961 – India took control of Daman and Diu, which were parts of Portuguese India. This was known as the Indian annexation of Goa.
• 1967 – Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, was officially declared missing and presumed dead.
• 1972 – The last mission to the Moon with astronauts, Apollo 17, returned to Earth. The crew included Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt.
• 1974 – Nelson Rockefeller became Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford. This was done using the rules of the 25th Amendment.
• 1977 – A strong earthquake, the 1977 Bob–Tangol earthquake, hit Kerman Province in Iran. It destroyed villages and caused the deaths of 665 people.
• 1981 – Sixteen lives were lost in the Penlee lifeboat disaster. A lifeboat went to help a ship in rough seas, but both were lost.
• 1983 – The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, was stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.
• 1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in Beijing. This agreement stated that China would take back control of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997.
• 1985 – Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked to China by one of its pilots.
• 1986 – Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, allowed Andrei Sakharov and his wife to return home from exile in Gorky.
• 1995 – The United States Government officially recognized the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe again.
• 1997 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River in Indonesia, killing 104 people.
• 1998 – President Bill Clinton was impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He became the second U.S. president to face this process.
• 2001 – A record high air pressure was measured in Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.
• 2001 – Riots broke out in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during an economic crisis.
• 2012 – Park Geun-hye was chosen as the first female president of South Korea.
• 2013 – The Gaia spacecraft was launched by the European Space Agency. It is designed to map the Milky Way galaxy.
• 2016 – The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was killed at an art show in Ankara.
• 2016 – A truck attack happened at a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany. Many people were killed and injured.

Famous Birthdays

Born Before 1900

• 1498 – Andreas Osiander, a German religious thinker.
• 1554 – Philip William, Prince of Orange.
• 1683 – Philip V of Spain, a king of Spain.
• 1714 – John Winthrop, an American astronomer and teacher.
• 1778 – Marie Thérèse of France, a French princess.
• 1820 – Mary Livermore, an American journalist and activist.
• 1831 – Bernice Pauahi Bishop, an American helper of good causes.
• 1849 – Henry Clay Frick, an American businessman.
• 1852 – Albert Abraham Michelson, a Prussian-American physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1861 – Italo Svevo, an Italian writer.
• 1865 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, an American actress.
• 1875 – Mileva Marić, a Serbian physicist.
• 1875 – Carter G. Woodson, an American historian who started Black History Month.
• 1884 – Antonín Zápotocký, a Czech politician and President of Czechoslovakia.
• 1891 – Edward Bernard Raczyński, a Polish politician and diplomat.
• 1899 – Martin Luther King Sr., an American pastor and activist.

Born After 1900

• 1901 – Rudolf Hell, a German engineer who invented the Hellschreiber.
• 1902 – Ralph Richardson, an English actor.
• 1903 – George Davis Snell, an American geneticist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1906 – Leonid Brezhnev, a Ukrainian-Russian leader of the Soviet Union.
• 1915 – Édith Piaf, a famous French singer.
• 1918 – Professor Longhair, an American singer and pianist.
• 1920 – Little Jimmy Dickens, an American country singer.
• 1922 – Eamonn Andrews, an Irish TV host.
• 1924 – Cicely Tyson, a celebrated American actress.
• 1925 – Robert B. Sherman, an American songwriter.
• 1926 – Bobby Layne, an American football player.
• 1928 – Eve Bunting, an Irish-American author.
• 1929 – David Douglas, 12th Marquess of Queensberry, a Scottish potter.
• 1934 – Al Kaline, an American baseball player.
• 1934 – Pratibha Patil, an Indian lawyer and former President of India.
• 1940 – Phil Ochs, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1941 – Lee Myung-bak, a South Korean businessman and former President of South Korea.
• 1941 – Maurice White, an American singer and producer.
• 1942 – Gene Okerlund, an American sports announcer.
• 1944 – Richard Leakey, a Kenyan paleontologist.
• 1944 – Alvin Lee, an English singer and guitarist.
• 1946 – Robert Urich, an American actor.
• 1947 – Jimmy Bain, a Scottish bass player.
• 1949 – Alyssa Milano, an American actress and activist.
• 1956 – Merzbow, a Japanese noise musician.
• 1957 – Kevin McHale, an American basketball player and coach.
• 1958 – Steven Isserlis, an English cellist.
• 1958 – Limahl, an English pop singer.
• 1959 – Lisa Wilkinson, an Australian TV host.
• 1961 – Eric Allin Cornell, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1961 – Reggie White, an American football player.
• 1963 – Jennifer Beals, an American actress.
• 1963 – Til Schweiger, a German actor and director.
• 1964 – Arvydas Sabonis, a Lithuanian basketball player.
• 1966 – Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier.
• 1967 – Criss Angel, an American magician.
• 1969 – Richard Hammond, an English journalist and TV presenter.
• 1969 – Kristy Swanson, an American actress.
• 1970 – Tyson Beckford, an American model and actor.
• 1972 – Alyssa Milano, an American actress.
• 1972 – Warren Sapp, an American football player.
• 1974 – Ricky Ponting, an Australian cricketer.
• 1975 – Brandon Sanderson, an American author.
• 1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal, an American actor.
• 1985 – Gary Cahill, an English footballer.
• 1985 – Lady Sovereign, an English rapper.
• 1987 – Karim Benzema, a French footballer.
• 1987 – Ronan Farrow, an American journalist and activist.
• 1988 – Alexis Sánchez, a Chilean footballer.
• 1991 – Keiynan Lonsdale, an Australian actor and singer.
• 1998 – King Princess, an American singer-songwriter.

Notable Deaths

Passed Away Before 1900

• 401 – Pope Anastasius I.
• 966 – Sancho I, a king of León.
• 1111 – Al-Ghazali, a Persian thinker and writer.
• 1123 – Saint Berardo, an Italian bishop.
• 1370 – Pope Urban V.
• 1442 – Elizabeth of Luxembourg, a queen.
• 1741 – Vitus Bering, a Dutch explorer.
• 1745 – Jean-Baptiste van Loo, a French painter.
• 1813 – James McGill, a Scottish-Canadian businessman who started McGill University.
• 1848 – Emily Brontë, a famous English novelist and poet.
• 1851 – Joseph Mallord William Turner, a well-known English painter.
• 1899 – Henry Ware Lawton, an American general.

Passed Away After 1900

• 1915 – Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor who studied the brain.
• 1927 – Ashfaqulla Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activists.
• 1933 – George Jackson Churchward, an English engineer.
• 1940 – Kyösti Kallio, the 4th President of Finland.
• 1946 – Paul Langevin, a French physicist.
• 1953 – Robert Andrews Millikan, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1968 – Norman Thomas, an American minister and politician.
• 1984 – Joy Ridderhof, an American missionary.
• 1986 – V. C. Andrews, an American author.
• 1989 – Stella Gibbons, an English writer.
• 1996 – Marcello Mastroianni, an Italian actor.
• 1997 – Masaru Ibuka, a Japanese businessman who helped start Sony.
• 1999 – Desmond Llewelyn, a Welsh actor.
• 2000 – John Lindsay, a former Mayor of New York City.
• 2004 – Herbert C. Brown, an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 2004 – Renata Tebaldi, an Italian opera singer.
• 2009 – Kim Peek, an American megasavant with amazing memory.
• 2012 – Robert Bork, an American lawyer and judge.
• 2015 – Jimmy Hill, an English football player and manager.
• 2016 – Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey.
• 2021 – Sally Ann Howes, an English-American singer and actress.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Lillian Trasher (Episcopal Church)
  • O Radix
  • Pope Anastasius I
  • Pope Urban V
  • December 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Saint Nicholas Day
• Goa Liberation Day (Goa, India)
• National Heroes and Heroines Day (Anguilla)

See also

In Spanish: 19 de diciembre para niños