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George III Of The United Kingdom

George III of the United Kingdom

George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and thus Elector (and later King) of Hanover. The Electorate became the Kingdom of Hanover on 12 October 1814. George was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but the first to be born in Britain and use English as his first language. During George III's reign, Britain lost many of its colonies in North America, which became the United States. Also during his reign, the realms of Great Britain and Ireland united to form the United Kingdom. Later in his reign George III suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness. It is thought now that he suffered from mental and nervous disorders as a consequence of the blood disease porphyria, which has struck several British monarchs. Recently, owing to studies showing high levels of the poison arsenic in King George's hair, arsenic is also thought to be a possible cause of King George's insanity and health problems. After a final relapse in 1811, George's eldest son, The Prince George, Prince of Wales governed as Prince Regent. Upon George's death, the Prince of Wales succeeded his father to become George IV. George III has been nicknamed Farmer George, for "his plain, homely, thrifty manners and tastes".

Early life

HRH Prince George of Wales was born prematurely at Norfolk House in London at 07:45 on 4 June 1738. He was the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and therefore the grandson of George II. Prince George's mother was Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. George II and the Prince of Wales had an extremely poor relationship. Prince George of Wales was consequently isolated from court in his early years. In 1751, the Prince of Wales died from a head injury, leaving Prince George the Dukedom of Edinburgh. The new Duke of Edinburgh was Heir Apparent to the Throne, and was subsequently created Prince of Wales. His mother, the then-Dowager Princess of Wales, mistrusted her father-in-law; thus, she kept the Prince of Wales separate from his grandfather. An important influence on the new Prince of Wales' childhood was John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who would later serve as Prime Minister.

Marriage

George, Prince of Wales inherited the Crown when his grandfather, George II, died on 25 October 1760. After his accession, a search throughout Europe ensued for a suitable wife. On 8 September 1761, the King married Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London. A fortnight later, both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. It is said that George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and actually winced when he first saw the homely Charlotte, whom he met on their wedding day. However, he gamely went ahead with his marriage vows, and, remarkably, never took a mistress (in contrast with both his Hanoverian predecessors). They had fifteen children—nine sons and six daughters—more than any other monarch in British history. Two of his sons became Kings of the United Kingdom; another became King of Hanover; a daughter became Queen of Württemberg. George was, falsely, said to have married a Quakeress named Hannah Lightfoot on 17 April 1759, prior to his marriage to Charlotte. If such a marriage had existed, then his marriage to Charlotte would have been bigamous and all of George's successors would have been usurpers. But no legal marriage to Lightfoot could have occurred. Hannah Lightfoot was already married to Isaac Axelford in 1753; she died in 1759, and therefore could not have produced legitimate children from a marriage in April of 1759. George's marriage to Charlotte was therefore clearly not bigamous. The "marriage" to Hannah Lightfoot was mentioned in the 1866 trial of the daughter of impostress Olive Wilmot, who claimed to be "Princess Olive." A forged marriage certificate produced at her trial was impounded in 1866 and studied by the Attorney General. It is now in the Royal Archives in Windsor Castle.

Conflict in North America

The rest of the 1760s was marked by bureaucratic instability, which led to denunciations of George III by the Whigs as an autocrat in the manner of Charles I. The incompetent Lord Bute (who had probably been appointed only because of his favourability to George's views on royal power) resigned in 1763, allowing the Whigs to return to power. Later that year, the British government under George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that placed a boundary upon the westward expansion of the American colonies. The Proclamation's goal was to force colonists to negotiate with the Native Americans for the lawful purchase of the land and, therefore, to reduce the costly frontier warfare that had erupted over land conflicts. The Proclamation Line, as it came to be known, was incredibly unpopular with the Americans and ultimately became another wedge between the colonists and the British government which would eventually lead to war. With the American colonists generally unburdened by British taxes, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the crown to pay for its military excursions and the defense of the American colonies from native uprisings. So, after George Grenville became Prime Minister, he introduced the Stamp Act, which levied a stamp duty on all printed paper in the British colonies in North America. Grenville attempted to reduce George III to a mere puppet. The King requested William Pitt the Elder to accept the office of Prime Minister, but was unsuccessful. George then settled on Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, and dismissed Grenville in 1765. Lord Rockingham repealed Grenville's unpopular Stamp Act. He faced considerable internal dissent, and was replaced in 1766 by William Pitt, whom George created Earl of Chatham. Lord Chatham proved to be pro-American, criticising his colleagues' harsh attitudes towards the American colonists. George III, however, deemed that the chief duty of the colonists was to submit to him and to Great Britain and he resented the Americans' rebellious attitude. Lord Chatham fell ill 1767, allowing Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton to take over government (although he did not formally become Prime Minister until 1768). Political attacks led him to leave office in 1770, once again allowing the Tories to return to power. The government of the new Prime Minister, Frederick North, Lord North, was chiefly concerned with the American Revolution. The Americans grew increasingly hostile to British attempts to levy taxes in the colonies. In the Boston Tea Party in 1773, a Boston mob threw more than 340 crates of tea into Boston Harbour as a political protest. In response, Lord North introduced the Punitive Acts (also known as the Coercive Acts or the Intolerable Acts by the colonists). The Port of Boston was shut down and legislative elections in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay were suspended. Armed conflict broke out in America in 1775. Some delegates to the Second Continental Congress drafted a peace proposal known as the Olive Branch Petition, but fighting had already erupted when the document arrived in England. On July 4 1776 (American Independence Day), the colonies declared their independence from the Crown. The Declaration of Independence made several political charges against the British king, legislature, and populace. Amongst George's other offences, the Declaration charges, "He has abdicated Government here … He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." George III was indignant when he learnt of the opinions of the colonists. Although in the subsequent American Revolutionary War Great Britain fared well to begin with, the tide turned after the surrender of the British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga. In 1778, France signed a treaty of friendship with the new United States. Lord North asked to resign power to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, whom he thought more capable. George III, however, would hear nothing of such suggestions; he suggested that Lord Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in Lord North's administration. Lord Chatham refused to cooperate, and died later in the same year. George III was then at war with France, and in 1779 he was also at war with Spain. George III obstinately tried to keep Great Britain at war with the rebels in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers. Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower and Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth both resigned rather than suffer the indignity of being associated with the war. Lord North advised George III that his opinion matched that of his ministerial colleagues, but stayed in office. In 1781, the news of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis' capitulation reached London; the Tory Lord North subsequently resigned in 1782. George III accepted the defeat in North America, and authorised the negotiation of a peace. The Treaty of Paris and the associated Treaty of Versailles were ratified in 1783. The former treaty provided for the recognition of the new United States by Great Britain. The latter required Great Britain to give up Florida to Spain and to grant access to the waters of Newfoundland to France.

Constitutional struggle

Newfoundland Several changes were made to the structure of the British government after the loss of the colonies. Since 1660, there had been two chief cabinet officials, known as the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. The former was responsible for Southern England, Ireland, and relations with non-Protestant European nations, and the latter for Northern England, Scotland, and relations with Protestant European nations. The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was formerly responsible for the colonies, but this responsibility was transferred to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1768. All three positions were abolished after the British lost in North America. They were replaced with two new positions, those of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State for the Home Department. In 1782, after twelve years in office, the ministry of Lord North ended. The Whig Lord Rockingham became Prime Minister for the second time, but died within months. The King then chose William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne to replace him. Charles James Fox, however, refused to serve under Lord Shelburne, and demanded the appointment of William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. In 1783, the House of Commons forced Lord Shelburne from office and was replaced by the Fox-North Coalition. The Duke of Portland became Prime Minister; Fox and Lord North, who held the offices of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State for the Home Department, respectively, were the individuals who truly held power, with the Duke of Portland acting as a figurehead. George III was distressed by the attempts to force him to appoint ministers not of his liking. But the Portland ministry quickly built up a majority in the House of Commons, and could not be easily displaced. He was, however, extremely dissatisfied when the government introduced the India Bill. Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George informed the House of Lords that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. On 17 December 1783, the bill was rejected by the Lords; on the next day, the Portland ministry was dismissed, and William Pitt the Younger was appointed Prime Minister. George III dissolved Parliament in March 1784; the subsequent elections gave Pitt a firm mandate.

William Pitt

For George III, Pitt's appointment was a great victory. The King felt that the scenario proved that he still had the power to appoint Prime Ministers without having to rely on any parliamentary group. Throughout Pitt's ministry, George eagerly supported many of his political aims. To aid Pitt, George created new peerage dignities at an unprecedented rate. The new peers flooded the House of Lords and allowed Pitt to maintain a firm majority. During Pitt's ministry, George III was extremely popular. The public supported the exploratory voyages to the Pacific Ocean which he sanctioned. George also aided the Royal Academy with large grants from his private funds. The British people admired their King for remaining faithful to his wife, unlike the two previous Hanoverian monarchs. Great strides were made in science and industry. George III's personal health, however, was in a poor condition. He suffered from a mental illness, now strongly believed to be a symptom of porphyria. (A 2004 study of the King's hair samples revealed extremely high levels of arsenic, a possible trigger of the disease [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3889903.stm] and [http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050722092109990013 2005 publication]). The King had previously suffered a brief episode of the disease in 1765, but a longer episode began in 1788. Though ill during the summer of 1788, George was sufficiently sane to prorogue Parliament from 25 September to 20 November. During the intervening time, however, George became seriously deranged and posed a threat to his own life. When Parliament reconvened in November, the King could not, as was customary, communicate to them the agenda for the upcoming legislative session. According to long-established practice, Parliament could not begin the transaction of business until the King had made the Speech from the Throne. Parliament, however, ignored the custom and began to debate provisions for a regency. Charles James Fox and William Pitt wrangled over which individual was entitled to take over government during the illness of the Sovereign. Although both parties agreed that it would be most reasonable for George III's eldest son and heir-apparent, the Prince of Wales, to act as Regent, they disagreed over the basis of a regency. Fox suggested that it was the Prince of Wales's absolute right to act on his ill father's behalf; Pitt argued that it was for Parliament to nominate a Regent. Proceedings were further delayed as the authority for Parliament to merely meet was questioned, as the session had not been formally opened by the Sovereign. Pitt proposed a remedy based on an obscure legal fiction. As was well-established at the time, the Sovereign could delegate many of his functions to Lords Commissioners by letters patent, which were validated by the attachment of the Great Seal. It was proposed that the custodian of the Great Seal, the Lord Chancellor, affix the Seal without the consent of the Sovereign. Although such an action would be unlawful, it would not be possible to question the validity of the letters patent, as the presence of the Great Seal would be deemed conclusive in court. George III's second son, the Prince Frederick, Duke of York, denounced Pitt's proposal as "unconstitutional and illegal." Nonetheless, the Lords Commissioners were appointed and then opened Parliament. In February 1789, a Regency Bill, authorising the Prince of Wales to act as Prince Regent, was introduced and passed in the House of Commons. But before the House of Lords could pass the bill, George III recovered from his illness under the care of Dr. Francis Willis. He confirmed the actions of the Lords Commissioners as valid, but resumed full control of government.

Napoleonic Wars

George III's popularity experienced another surge after his recovery. The French Revolution, in which the French monarchy had been overthrown, worried many British landowners. France subsequently declared war on Great Britain in 1793, and George III became the symbol of British resistance. George III allowed Pitt to increase taxes, raise armies, and suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the war attempt. As well-prepared as Great Britain may have been, France was stronger. The First Coalition (which included Austria, Prussia, and Spain) was defeated in 1798. The Second Coalition (which included Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) was defeated in 1800. Only Great Britain was left fighting Napoleon Bonaparte, the military dictator of France. After 1800, a brief lull in hostilities allowed Pitt to concentrate on Ireland, where there had been an uprising in 1798. Parliament then passed the Act of Union 1800, which, effective 1 January 1801, united Great Britain and Ireland into a single nation, known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. George used the opportunity to drop the claim to the Throne of France, which English and British Sovereigns had maintained since the reign of Edward III. It is sometimes suggested that George dropped the claim pursuant to the Treaty of Paris or the Treaty of Amiens. Chronologically, neither would be logical; the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, and the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 (after George actually dropped his claim to the Throne of France.) It was suggested that George adopt the title "Emperor of the British and Hanoverian Dominions," but he refused. (A. G. Stapleton writes that George III "felt that his true dignity consisted in his being known to Europe and the world by the appropriated and undisputed style belonging to the British Crown.") Pitt unpopularly planned to remove certain legal disabilities which applied to Roman Catholics after the Union. George III claimed that to "emancipate" Catholics would be to violate his coronation oath, in which Sovereigns promise to maintain Protestantism. The King famously declared, "Where is the power on Earth to absolve me from the observance of every sentence of that oath, particularly the one requiring me to maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion? … No, no, I had rather beg my bread from door to door throughout Europe, than consent to any such measure. I can give up my crown and retire from power. I can quit my palace and live in a cottage. I can lay my head on a block and lose my life, but I cannot break my oath." Faced with opposition to his religious reform policies, Pitt threatened to resign. At about the same time, the King suffered an attack of insanity, but quickly recovered. On 14 March 1801, Pitt was formally replaced by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Henry Addington. As Addington was his close friend, Pitt remained as a private advisor. Addington's ministry was particularly unremarkable, as almost no reforms were made or new measures passed. In fact, the nation was strongly against the very idea of reform, having just witnessed the bloody French Revolution. Although they called for passive behaviour in the United Kingdom, the public wanted strong action in Europe, but Addington failed to deliver. In October 1801, he made peace with the French, and in 1802, signed the Treaty of Amiens. George III called the peace with the French an "experimental peace." In 1803, the two nations once again declared war on each other. In 1804, George was once again affected by his illness; as soon as he recovered, he discovered that public opinion was strongly against Henry Addington, who was not trusted to lead the nation into war. Instead, the public tended to put more faith in William Pitt the Younger. Pitt sought to appoint Charles James Fox to his ministry, but George III refused. The King disliked Fox, who had encouraged the Prince of Wales to lead an extravagant and expensive life. William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville perceived an injustice to Fox, and refused to join the new ministry. Pitt concentrated on forming a coalition with Austria, Russia, and Sweden. The Third Coalition, however, met the same fate as the First and Second Coalitions, collapsing in 1805. An invasion by Napoleon seemed imminent, but the possibility was extinguished after Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson's famous victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. The setbacks in Europe took a toll on William Pitt's health. Pitt died in 1806, once again reopening the question of who should serve in the ministry. Lord Grenville became Prime Minister, and his "Ministry of All the Talents" included Charles James Fox. The King was extremely distressed that he was forced to capitulate over the appointment. After Fox's death in September 1806, the King and ministry were in open conflict. The ministry had proposed a measure whereby Roman Catholics would be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces. George not only instructed them to drop the measure, but also to make a written agreement not to introduce any similar measure in the future. The ministers agreed to drop the measure then pending, but refused to bind themselves in the future. In 1807, they were dismissed and replaced by the Duke of Portland as the nominal Prime Minister, with actual power being held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Spencer Perceval. Parliament was dissolved; the subsequent election gave the ministry a strong majority in the House of Commons. George III made no further major political decisions during his reign; the replacement of the Duke of Portland by Perceval was of little actual significance.

Later years

Spencer Perceval In 1810, George III became dangerously ill, the malady possibly having been triggered by the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, the Princess Amelia, from erysipelas or porphyria. Arsenic poisoning is also a possible cause. By 1811, George III had become permanently insane and locked away at Windsor Castle until his death. Sometimes speaking many hours without pause, he claimed to talk to angels and once greeted an oak tree as King Frederick William III of Prussia. His doctors gave him James's Powder (calomel and tartar emetic) and bled him regularly. They also advised him to bathe in the sea (thus encouraging public seaside vacations). Parliament then passed the Regency Act 1811, to which the Royal Assent was granted by the Lords Commissioners (who were appointed under the same irregular procedure as was adopted in 1788). The Prince of Wales acted as Regent for the remainder of George III's life. Spencer Perceval was assassinated in 1812 (he was the only British Prime Minister to have ever suffered such a fate) and was replaced by Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. Lord Liverpool oversaw British victory in the Napoleonic Wars. The subsequent Congress of Vienna led to significant territorial gains for Hanover, which was upgraded from an electorate to a kingdom. Meanwhile, George III's health deteriorated. Over the Christmas of 1819, George suffered a further bout of madness and spoke nonsense for fifty-eight hours, then sank into a coma. On 29 January 1820, George died — blind, deaf and insane at Windsor Castle. By the time of his death, George III had lived for over eighty-one years and had reigned for more than fifty-nine years — in each case, more than any other English or British monarch until that point. This record has been surpassed only once, by George's granddaughter Queen Victoria. In fact, George III's reign was longer than the reigns of all three of his immediate predecessors (Queen Anne, King George I and King George II) combined. George III was buried on 16 February in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. George was followed by his eldest son (who became George IV). Next came another of George III's sons, who became William IV. William IV, too, died without legitimate children, leaving the throne to his niece, Victoria, the last monarch of the House of Hanover.

Legacy

Whilst tremendously popular in Britain, George III was hated by the rebellious American colonists. The United States Declaration of Independence held him personally responsible for the political problems faced by the United States. The Declaration does not blame either Parliament or the ministers. Exposure to the views expressed in the Declaration has led the American public to perceive George III as a tyrant. George III's insanity is the subject of the film The Madness of King George (1994), which was based on the play The Madness of George III by Alan Bennet. The film concerns George's first bouts of insanity. George III was portrayed by Nigel Hawthorne, who received the Laurence Olivier Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role. Statues of George III can be seen today (amongst other locations) in the courtyard of Somerset House in London, and also in Weymouth, Dorset, in England which he popularised as a seaside resort (one of the first in England). A statue of George III was pulled down in New York at the beginning of the War of Independence in 1776 and two engravings of its destruction still exist today.

Style and arms

Academy Award In Great Britain, George III used the official style "George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." In 1801, when Great Britain united with Ireland, George III took the opportunity to drop his claim to the French Throne. He also dispensed with the phrase "etc.," which was added during the reign of Elizabeth I. His style became, "George the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith." Whilst he was King of Great Britain, George III's arms were: Quarterly, I Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England) impaling Or a lion rampant within a double-tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); IV tierced per pale and per chevron (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Westfalen), overall an escutcheon Gules charged with the crown of Charlemagne Or (for the dignity of Archtreasurer of the Holy Roman Empire). When he became King of the United Kingdom, George III's arms were amended, dropping the French quartering. They became: Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); overall an escutcheon tierced per pale and per chevron (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Westfalen), the whole inescutcheon surmounted by an electoral bonnet. In 1816, two years after the Electorate of Hanover became a Kingdom, the electoral bonnet was changed to a crown. His titles from birth to death in chronological order were:
- His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales
- His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
- His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
- His Majesty The King

Issue

See also


- List of British monarchs
- American Revolutionary War
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

References


- Bryant, Mark. (2001). Private Lives. London: Cassell.
- Farnborough, T. E. May, 1st Baron. (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
- "George III." (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
- Hibbert, C. (1998). George III: A Personal History. London: Penguin Books.
- Röhl, J. C. G., Warren, M. & Hunt, D. (1998). Purple Secret: Genes, "Madness" and the Royal Houses of Europe. London: Bantam Press.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page111.asp The Royal Household (2004). "George III." Official website of the British Monarchy] George III of the United Kingdom George III of the United Kingdom Category:Londoners Category:House of Hanover Category:Heirs to the English & British thrones Category:Monarchs of Great Britain Category:Monarchs of the United Kingdom Category:Knights of the Garter Category:English Regency Category:Dukes in the Peerage of Great Britain ko:영국의 조지 3세 ja:ジョージ3世 (イギリス王)

4 June

June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining.

Events


- 780 BC - The first historic solar eclipse is recorded in China.
- 1039 - Henry III becomes King of Germany.
- 1615 - Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
- 1760 - Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia Canada taken from the Acadians.
- 1769 - A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in the historical past.
- 1792 - Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Great Britain.
- 1794 - British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
- 1812 - Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the territory previously known by that name was renamed the Missouri Territory.
- 1859 - Italian Independence wars: in the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeats an Austrian army.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
- 1876 - An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.
- 1878 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
- 1896 - Henry Ford test-drives the first automobile he designed – the Quadricycle (it was also the first automobile he ever drove).
- 1913 - Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She is trampled and dies a few days later, never having regained consciousness.
- 1917 - The very first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
  - The Order of the British Empire is introduced.
- 1919 - Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
- 1920 - Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris.
- 1926 - Robert Earl Hughes sets current record for world's heaviest human.
- 1936 - Léon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1939 - Holocaust: The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, United States, after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
- 1940 - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers is published.
  - World War II: Dunkirk evacuation ends; British forces complete evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.
  - The Destroyer War Badge for Kriegsmarine was instituted.
- 1942 - World War II: Reinhard Heydrich dies in Prague due to the assassination of Czechoslovak paratroopers (Operation Anthropoid).
  - World War II: Battle of Midway begins. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island with much of the Imperial Japanese navy.
- 1943 - Military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
- 1944 - World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy capture the German submarine U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
  - World War II: Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis powers capital to fall.
- 1961 - Lake Bodom murders in Finland.
- 1970 - Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1973 - patent for the ATM granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
- 1974 - Baseball: The Cleveland Indians host "Ten Cent Beer Night", but have to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers due to drunken and unruly fans.
- 1986 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
- 1988 -The Canadian Heraldic Authority is founded.
- 1989 - The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing and are covered live on television.
  - Solidarity's victory in the first partly free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe and leads to creation of the so-called Contract Sejm.
  - Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
- 1991 - Britain's Conservative government announces that some British regiments would disappear or be merged into others – the largest armed forces cuts in almost twenty years.
- 1998 - Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2003 - U.S. lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigns as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
- 2005 - First day of Einstein Symposium in Alexandria, Egypt.

Births

470 BC to 1899


- 470 BC - Socrates, Greek philosopher (d. 399 BC)
- 1489 - Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)
- 1665 - Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian soldier (d. 1733)
- 1694 - François Quesnay, French economist (d. 1774)
- 1704 - Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (d. 1776)
- 1738 - King George III of Great Britain (d. 1820)
- 1754 - Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian scientific editor and astronomer (d. 1832)
- 1801 - Sir James Pennethorne, English architect (d. 1871)
- 1821 - Apollon Maykov, Russian poet (d. 1897)
- 1867 - C.G.E. Mannerheim, President of Finland (d. 1951)
- 1877 - Heinrich Wieland, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)

1900 to 1999


- 1907 - Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976)
- 1910 - Christopher Sydney Cockerell, British engineer and inventor (d. 1999)
- 1916 - Robert F. Furchgott, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1919 - Robert Merrill, American baritone (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Dennis Weaver, American actor
- 1926 - Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentine-Spanish footballer
- 1928 - Dr. Ruth Westheimer, German-American sex therapist and author
- 1932 - John Drew Barrymore, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1932 - Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer
- 1936 - Bruce Dern, American actor
- 1937 - Freddy Fender, American musician
- 1937 - Robert Fulghum, American author
- 1944 - Michelle Phillips, American actress, singer
- 1945 - Gordon Waller, Scottish musician (Peter and Gordon)
- 1947 - Viktor Klima, Chancellor of Austria
- 1952 - Parker Stevenson, American actor and director
- 1956 - Keith David, American actor
- 1956 - John Hockenberry, American journalist
- 1965 - Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
- 1966 - Cecilia Bartoli, Italian mezzo-soprano
- 1966 - Tiffany Million, American actress
- 1966 - Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian mathematician
- 1969 - Horatio Sanz, Chilean-born comedian
- 1970 - David Pybus, British musician
- 1971 - Noah Wyle, American actor
- 1972 - Derian Hatcher, American hockey player
- 1974 - Andrew Gwynne, British politician
- 1975 - Angelina Jolie, American actress
- 1977 - Quinten Hann, Australian snooker player
- 1983 - Emmanuel Eboue, Ivory Coast footballer
- 1986 - Shane Kippel, Canadian actor

Deaths

1039 to 1899


- 1039 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1135 - Emperor Huizong of China (b. 1082)
- 1206 - Adèle of Champagne, queen of Louis VII of France
- 1257 - Duke Przemysl I of Poland
- 1394 - Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England
- 1463 - Flavio Biondo, Italian humanist (b. 1392)
- 1585 - Muretus, French humanist (b. 1526)
- 1663 - William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1582)
- 1798 - Giacomo Casanova, Italian lover and writer (b. 1725)
- 1801 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1750)
- 1872 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (d. 1798)
- 1875 - Eduard Mörike, German poet (b. 1804)

1900 to 1999


- 1928 - Chang Tso-lin, Chinese warlord (b. 1873)
- 1939 - Tommy Ladnier, American musician (b. 1900)
- 1941 - Kaiser Wilhelm II, last German emperor (b. 1859)
- 1942 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official (b. 1904)
- 1951 - Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (b. 1874)
- 1964 - Samuil Marshak, Russian poet (b. 1887)
- 1968 - Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898)
- 1971 - Georg Lukács, Hungarian philosopher (b. 1885)
- 1973 - Maurice René Fréchet, French mathematician (b. 1878)
- 1990 - Stiv Bators, American musician (The Dead Boys) (b. 1949)

2000 onwards


- 2001 - King Dipendra of Nepal (b. 1971)
- 2001 - John Hartford, American musician, composer (b. 1937)
- 2002 - Fernando Belaúnde Terry, President of Peru (b. 1912)
- 2004 - Steve Lacy, American saxophonist (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances


- Feast day of St Francis Caracciolo
- Feast day of Saint Petrock of Cornwall
- International Innocent Child Abuse Victim Day
- Tonga - National Day
- Finland - National flag day of the Finnish Defence Forces (on Mannerheim's birthday)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 3 - June 5 - May 4 - July 4 – listing of all days ko:6월 4일 ms:4 Jun ja:6月4日 simple:June 4 th:4 มิถุนายน

29 January

January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 336 days remaining, (337 in leap years).

Events


- 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Pope Christopher.
- 1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed.
- 1676 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1814 - France defeated Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
- 1845 - The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time (New York Evening Mirror).
- 1850 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
- 1856 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.
- 1861 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
- 1863 - Bear River Massacre
- 1886 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
- 1891 - Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch.
- 1900 - The American League is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.
- 1916 - World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins .
- 1929 - The Seeing Eye Dog organization is formed.
- 1933 - President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
- 1936 - The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.
- 1944 - The battleship USS Missouri is launched.
- 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.
- 1944 - World War II: About 300 men, women, and children die in the Massacre in Koniuchy in Poland.
- 1959 - Sleeping Beauty, the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney to be based upon a fairy tale, was first released.
- 1963 - First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.
- 1964 - 1964 Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria.
- 1958 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming.
- 1966 - The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
- 1986 - Yoweri Museveni is sworn in as President of Uganda.
- 1990 - The trial of the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's worst oil spill.
- 1995 - Super Bowl XXIX: The San Francisco 49ers defeat the San Diego Chargers 49-26 and become the first NFL team to win five Super Bowl titles.
- 1996 - President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear testing.
- 1996 - La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire.
- 1996 - First release of Duke Nukem 3D.
- 1998 - In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.
- 2001 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
- 2002 - In his State of the Union Address, United States President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of Evil.
- 2004 - A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing 56-foot long Sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

Births


- 1584 - Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)
- 1632 - Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (d. 1703)
- 1688 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist and philosopher (d. 1772)
- 1711 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)
- 1715 - Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (d. 1777)
- 1717 - Jeffrey Amherst, British military leader (d. 1797)
- 1718 - Paul Rabaut, French Huguenot pastor (d. 1794)
- 1737 - Thomas Paine, American patriot (d. 1809)
- 1749 - King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
- 1754 - Moses Cleaveland, founder of the city of Cleveland (d. 1806)
- 1782 - Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)
- 1843 - William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
- 1860 - Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (d. 1904)
- 1862 - Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)
- 1866 - Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- 1874 - John D. Rockefeller Jr., American entrepreneur (d. 1960)
- 1876 - Havergal Brian, British composer (d. 1972)
- 1880 - W.C. Fields, American actor (d. 1946)
- 1885 - Leadbelly, American musician (d. 1949)
- 1891 - Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina (d. 1975)
- 1905 - Barnett Newman, American painter (d. 1970)
- 1911 - Peter von Siemens, German industrialist (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist and writer (d. 2001)
- 1915 - Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1918 - John Forsythe, American actor
- 1923 - Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (d. 1981)
- 1923 - Ivo Robic, Croatian singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1924 - Luigi Nono, Italian composer (d. 1990)
- 1926 - Franco Cerri, Italian musician
- 1926 - Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1927 - Edward Abbey, American environmentalist (d. 1989)
- 1928 - Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong SAR property developer
- 1929 - Gordon Solie, wrestling announcer (d. 2000)
- 1932 - Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)
- 1939 - Germaine Greer, Australian feminist writer
- 1940 - Katharine Ross, American actress
- 1942 - Claudine Longet, French singer and dancer
- 1945 - Tom Selleck, American actor
- 1947 - Linda B. Buck, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1948 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor
- 1950 - Ann Jillian, American actress
- 1950 - Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver
- 1952 - Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-born musician and record producer (The Ramones)
- 1954 - Richard 'Handsome Dick' Manitoba - American born rock singer, radio dj.
- 1954 - Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show host, producer, and publisher
- 1960 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
- 1960 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
- 1960 - Greg Louganis, American diver
- 1960 - Steve Sax, American baseball player
- 1960 - J. G. Thirlwell, Australian-born musician
- 1962 - Nicholas Turturro, American actor
- 1964 - Andre Reed, American football player
- 1965 - Dominik Hasek, Czech hockey player
- 1966 - Romário, Brazilian footballer
- 1968 - Edward Burns, American actor
- 1969 - Thomas Jane, American actor
- 1970 - Heather Graham, American actress
- 1970 - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian shooter
- 1973 - Jason Schmidt, baseball player
- 1975 - Sara Gilbert, American actress
- 1979 - Sui Feifei, Chinese basketball player
- 1981 - Jonny Lang, American musician

Deaths


- 1119 - Pope Gelasius II
- 1342 - Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)
- 1597 - Elias Ammerbach, German organist (b. 1530)
- 1608 - Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
- 1647 - Francis Meres, English writer (b. 1565)
- 1676 - Tsar Alexis I of Russia (b. 1629)
- 1678 - Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
- 1706 - Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)
- 1730 - Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
- 1737 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (b. 1666)
- 1743 - Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus, chief minister under Louis XV of France (b. 1653)
- 1763 - Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)
- 1820 - King George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
- 1829 - Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras, French politician (b. 1755)
- 1870 - Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)
- 1906 - King Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
- 1928 - Douglas Haig, British soldier (b. 1861)
- 1933 - Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)
- 1934 - Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
- 1946 - Harry Hopkins, American politician (b. 1890)
- 1951 - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (b. 1880)
- 1956 - H. L. Mencken, American journalist (b. 1880)
- 1962 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (b. 1875)
- 1963 - Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)
- 1964 - Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1969 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1893)
- 1970 - Basil Liddell Hart, British military historian (b. 1895)
- 1977 - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (b. 1902)
- 1977 - Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (b. 1954)
- 1980 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1893)
- 1986 - Leif Erickson, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1989 - Halina Konopacka Polish athlete (b. 1900)
- 1991 - Yasushi Inoue, Japanese historian (b. 1907)
- 1992 - Willie Dixon, American composer and musician (b. 1915)
- 1998 - Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1916)
- 1999 - Lili St. Cyr, American dancer (b. 1918)
- 2002 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
- 2002 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Frank Moss, U.S. Senator from Utah (b. 1911)
- 2004 - M. M. Kaye, British writer (b. 1908)
- 2004 - Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2005 - Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist (The Quarrymen) (b. 1940)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050129.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- January 28 - January 30 - December 29 - February 29 — listing of all days ko:1월 29일 ms:29 Januari ja:1月29日 simple:January 29 th:29 มกราคม

1820

1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 1 - Constitutionalist military insurrection at Cádiz leads to summoning of Spanish parliament (March 7) and restoration of 1812 Constitution (March 8) by king Ferdinand VII. (See Mid-nineteenth century Spain.)
- January 28 - Russian expedition lead by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev approaches the Antarctic coast. (See History of Antarctica.)
- January 29 - George IV of the United Kingdom ascends the Throne, ending the period known as the English Regency.
- January 30 - Edward Bransfield lands on the Antarctic mainland. (See History of Antarctica.)
- February 6 - 86 free African American colonists sail from New York City to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
- February 23 - The Cato Street conspiracy is exposed. The principals are executed on May 1
- March 3 & 6 - Slavery in the United States: The Missouri Compromise becomes law.
- March 15 - Maine is admitted as the 23rd U.S. state.
- April - Radical War in Scotland
- May 1 - Last hanging drawing and quartering in Britain – Cato Street conspirators for treason (only hanged and beheaded) (See Capital punishment in the United Kingdom.)
- Spring - Joseph Smith, Jr. at age 14 claims to be visited in a vision by God and Jesus (Tradition holds that this occurred on April 6)
- July - Constitutionalist revolution in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
- August 24 - Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal; revolution in Lisbon, September 15 (See Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.)
- October 9 - Guayaquil declare independence from Spain. (See also History of Ecuador).
- October 25-November 20 - Congress of Troppau (Opava) between rulers of Russia, Austria and Prussia
- November - U.S. presidential election: James Monroe is re-elected, virtually unopposed.
- November 17 - Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica (the Palmer Peninsula was later named after him).

Unknown date


- The 6th Edition of Encyclopædia Britannica begins appearing.
- Republic of Buenos Aires (Argentina) establishes a penal colony in Falkland Islands.
- Venus de Milo found on the island of Melos.
- Hans Christian Ørsted discovers the relationship between electricity and magnetism.

Births


- January 17 - Anne Brontë, English author (d. 1849)
- February 8 - William Tecumseh Sherman, American Civil War general (d. 1891)
- February 15 - Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist (d. 1906)
- February 17 - Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (d. 1881)
- February 28 - John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
- March 3 - Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist and temperance movement pioneer (d. ?).
- March 14 - Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (d. 1878)
- May 12 - Florence Nightingale, English nurse (d. 1910)
- May 27 - Mathilde Bonaparte, Italian princess (d. 1904)
- July 23 - Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
- September 17 - Émile Augier, French dramatist (d. 1889)
- September 27 - Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel, German classical scholar (d. 1878)
- September 29 - Comte de Chambord, claimant to the French throne (d. 1883)
- October 6 - Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (d. 1887)
- November 23 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (d. 1884)
- November 28 - Friedrich Engels, German social philosopher (d. 1895)
- Harriet Tubman, American abolitionist activist (d. 1913)

Deaths


- January 29 - King George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
- February 14 - Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (stabbed) (b. 1778)
- March 22 - Stephen Decatur, American sailor (b. 1779)
- June 19 - Sir Joseph Banks, British naturalist and botanist (b. 1743)
- September 3 - Benjamin Latrobe, English architect (b. 1764)
- October 15 - Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (b. 1771)
- December 25 - Joseph Fouché, French statesman (b. 1763) Category:1820 ko:1820년 ms:1820 simple:1820

King of Ireland

The designation King of Ireland has been used during three periods of Irish history. In the centuries prior to 1169 Ireland had coalesced into a national kingdom under a High King of Ireland. In the aftermath of an Anglo-Norman incursion into Ireland in 1169 Henry II and his successors became "Lord of Ireland". The Treaty of Windsor (1175) in 1175 recognised the last native king as overlord of all Ireland outside Anglo-Norman control but further Anglo-Norman incursions weakened his authority and after his abdication the office fell dormant. After Henry VIII made himself head of the Church of England, he also requested and got legislation through the Irish Parliament, in 1541 (effective 1542), naming him King of Ireland and head of the Church of Ireland (which today, both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, remains a member of the Anglican communion but is no longer an established church like the Church of England or the Church of Scotland). The title "King of Ireland" was then used until 1 January 1801, the effective date of the second Act of Union, which merged Ireland and Great Britain to create the United Kingdom. After creation of the Irish Free State as a dominion of the British Empire in 1922, the question whether the King reigned in Ireland as "King of the United Kingdom" or as "King of Ireland' took on important constitutional significance that would have later ramifications for the entire British Empire as it was transformed into the Commonwealth of Nations. King George V continued to reign in Northern Ireland as King of the United Kingdom, because Northern Ireland had opted to remain within U.K.; but this provided no answer for the Free State. The question was solved in that regard in 1927, when the old Anglo-Irish title "King of Ireland" was revived. So the question began to arise in the other dominions of the British Empire — especially after the Statute of Westminster 1931 made them fully independent of Britain — whether the King-Emperor was king of Canada, Australia, etc., because he was head of the British Empire, or because he was head of state of each individual country. At the centre of the issue was the notion of the indivisibility of the Crown, with constitutional experts across the Empire, but especially in London, pondering the question of how the Crown could be indivisible on the head of one sovereign if that person were separately king (or queen regnant) of each division of the one Empire. This grand question was finally put to bed in 1952, when Elizabeth II was proclaimed Queen separately by the parliaments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa(since 1961 the Republic of South Africa), Pakistan (became a republic in 1954), and Ceylon (since 1971, the Republic of Sri Lanka). Revival of the title King of Ireland in 1927 thus turned out to be a catalyst for reforming the concept of the indivisibility of the Crown, by elevating the concept of "The Crown" from concrete physicality (the literal crown, as presentation) to abstract principle (the crown as representation). This followed upon the other important development by which the British Empire became the Commonwealth of Nations, namely the provision to allow India to become a republic in 1950 and still remain in the Commonwealth; thus paving the way for then-Princess Elizabeth to become, in 1952, the first "Head of the Commonwealth." Meanwhile, in 1949, the last link with the monarch was severed in Dublin when Ireland (Eire) (as the Irish Free State had been renamed in 1937) became the Republic of Ireland, thereby leaving the Commonwealth and laying the title "King of Ireland" well and truly to rest.

History

Kingdom of Ireland (1542-1801)

The title "King of Ireland" was created by an act of the Irish Parliament in 1541, to replace the Lordship of Ireland which had existed since 1171 with the Kingdom of Ireland. The Crown of Ireland Act established a personal union between the English and Irish crowns, providing that whoever was king of England was to be king of Ireland as well, and so its first holder was King Henry VIII of England. For a brief period in the seventeenth century, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, from the impeachment and execution of Charles I in 1649 to the Restoration of the monarch in England in 1660, there was no 'King of Ireland' in effect — only in name. After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Irish Catholics, organised in Confederate Ireland recognised Charles I and then Charles II as legitimate monarchs in opposition to the claims of the English Parliament. They signed a formal treaty with Charles I shortly before his execution in 1649. However England had become a republic, or "Commonwealth" when the Rump Parliament, victorious in the English Civil War, executed Charles I, and the Parliamentarian general, Oliver Cromwell, came across the Irish sea, to put an end to any plans to restore the new king to the English throne by temporarily — albeit illegally — uniting England, Scotland and Ireland under one government. See Also Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Cromwell subsequently made himself "Lord Protector" of the Three Kingdoms. After Cromwell's death in 1658, however, his son, Richard, was the only person to emerge as a leader of this pan-British Isles republic, and he was not sufficiently competent to maintain any of it. Parliament at London voted to restore the monarch, an Charles II returned from exile in France, as King of England, Scotland and Ireland. When the first Act of Union took effect in 1707, merging England and Scotland into the semi-federal Kingdom of Great Britain, the person union between the Irish, Scottish, and English crowns became a personal union between the Irish and British crowns. The Kingdom of Ireland was then merged to Great Britain on 1 January 1801 when the second Act of Union took effecting, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (since 1922, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Irish Free State (1927-1936)

Main article: Monarchy in the Irish Free State Monarchy in the Irish Free State and Queen Mary in 1911.
Within a decade it was the seat of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State.]] Twenty-six of Ireland's thirty-two counties left the United Kingdom in 1922 (the six northeastern counties of Ireland opted to remain British), as the Irish Free State (renamed Éire in 1937), a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. As a dominion, the Free State was a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch as its head of state. However, until 1927, King George V was still formally styled "King of the United Kingdom". It was five years before the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 revived the title "King of Ireland" as a separate position to the British crown. As before 1801, the two crowns existed in a personal union. In conjunction with the change, the Free State achieved greater autonomy within the British Empire. For example, the British cabinet could no longer advise the King on matters perti