1844 - The Great Anticipation: Millerites, followers of William Miller, anticipated the end of the world in conjunction with the Second Advent of Christ. The following day became known as the Great Disappointment.
1877 - The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners. Those widows and orphans who were unable to support themselves were evicted by the mine owners and likely sent to the Poor House.
1878 - The first rugby match under floodlights takes place in Salford, between Broughton and Swinton.
1895 - In Paris an express train overruns a buffer stop and crosses more than 30 metres of concourse before plummeting through a window at Gare Montparnasse.
1941 - French hero of the resistance Guy Môquet is executed by the Germans, along with 29 other hostages as a retaliation for a killed German officer.
1943 - World War II: Kassel: RAF conducts an air raid on the city of 236,000 people, killing 10,000, rendering 150,000 homeless. Second firestorm raid in Germany
1944 - World War II: Battle of Aachen: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.
1946 - Forty four British sailors die when two British warships hit mines off the coast of Albania.