Died on Monday, 13th October – Famous Deaths

On 13th October, 100 remarkable people passed away — from 54 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

The date of 13 October brings to mind several notable figures from history whose contributions shaped their respective fields. Among the deaths recorded on this day is Dario Fo, the Italian playwright, actor, director and composer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997. Fo’s career spanned decades and his experimental theatre challenged conventional narratives through satirical works and politically charged performances. He left an indelible mark on European theatre and remains celebrated for his commitment to socially conscious art.

Another significant loss on this date involves Mayra Gómez Kemp, a Cuban-Spanish television host and actress whose career bridged two cultures. Gómez Kemp became a prominent figure in Spanish television, bringing Caribbean warmth and charisma to European screens during the latter part of the twentieth century. Her legacy extends through numerous television programmes and acting roles that entertained audiences across Spain and the wider Spanish-speaking world. The breadth of these individuals’ impact demonstrates how a single date can mark the departure of influential cultural figures across different continents and disciplines.

On Monday, 13 October 2025, a waning gibbous moon phase dominates the night sky whilst the sun resides in Libra. Across the Northern Hemisphere, temperatures begin to reflect the transition towards winter, with autumn weather patterns establishing themselves more firmly. The location and conditions of any particular area on this date will influence local atmospheric conditions, though the general seasonal shift remains consistent across temperate regions.

DayAtlas provides comprehensive information about significant historical events, notable deaths and births for any date and location. The platform enables users to explore what occurred on their chosen date whilst accounting for local geographical context and current astronomical conditions.

See who passed away today 19th April.

13/10/2024

Mayra Gómez Kemp, Cuban-Spanish television host and actress (born 1948)

Mayra Cristina Gómez Martínez, better known as Mayra Gómez Kemp, was a Cuban-Spanish television host, actress and singer. She was the host of Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez from 1982 to 1988.


Donal Murray, Irish Catholic bishop (born 1940)

Donal Brendan Murray was an Irish Roman Catholic prelate, who served as Bishop of Limerick from 1996 to 2009. He had previously served as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Dublin diocese


13/10/2023

Louise Glück, American poet and essayist (born 1943)

Louise Elisabeth Glück was an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal". Her other awards include the Pulitzer Prize, National Humanities Medal, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Bollingen Prize. From 2003 to 2004, she was Poet Laureate of the United States.


13/10/2018

Annapurna Devi, Indian surbahar (bass sitar) player (born 1927)

Annapurna Devi was an Indian surbahar player of Hindustani classical music. She was given the name 'Annapurna' by Maharaja Brijnath Singh of the former Maihar Estate, and it was by this name that she was popularly known. She was the daughter and disciple of Ustad Allauddin Khan, and the sister of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Pandit Ravi Shankar was her first husband, with whom she had a son, Shubhendra Shankar, who was an artist and a sitarist.


13/10/2017

Albert Zafy, Malagasy politician (born 1927)

Albert Zafy was a Malagasy politician and educator who served as the fourth president of Madagascar from 1993 to 1996. In 1988, he founded the National Union for Democracy and Development (UNDD).


13/10/2016

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), King of Thailand (born 1927)

Bhumibol Adulyadej, titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 9 June 1946 until his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any Thai monarch, the longest on record of any independent Asian sovereign, and the third-longest of any sovereign state.


Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926)

Dario Luigi Angelo Fo was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. In his time he was "arguably the most widely performed contemporary playwright in world theatre". Much of his dramatic work depends on improvisation and comprises the recovery of "illegitimate" forms of theatre, such as those performed by giullari and, more famously, the ancient Italian style of commedia dell'arte.


Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (born 1956)

Peter Eric James Prentice was a Canadian politician who served as the 16th premier of Alberta from 2014 to 2015. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election and appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Prentice was appointed Minister of Industry on August 14, 2007, and after the 2008 election became Minister of Environment on October 30, 2008. On November 4, 2010, Prentice announced his resignation from cabinet and as MP for Calgary Centre-North. After retiring from federal politics he entered the private sector as vice-chairman of CIBC.


13/10/2015

Rosalyn Baxandall, American historian, author, and academic (born 1939)

Rosalyn Baxandall was an American historian of women's activism and feminist activist.


Bruce Hyde, American academic and actor (born 1941)

Bruce Hyde was an American educator and actor. He was professor of communication studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. His academic work mainly focused on ontology, specifically ontological approach to education, Martin Heidegger's contribution to communication studies, and the study of ontological rhetoric.


Michael J. H. Walsh, English general (born 1927)

Major-General Michael John Hatley Walsh, was a British Army officer. He was the Scout Association's Chief Scout from 1982 to 1988.


13/10/2014

John Bradfield, English biologist and businessman, founded Cambridge Science Park (born 1925)

Sir John Richard Grenfell Bradfield, was a British biologist and entrepreneur, most famous for his role as the founder of Cambridge Science Park, the first Science Park in Europe.


Antonio Cafiero, Argentinian accountant and politician, Governor of Buenos Aires Province (born 1922)

Antonio Francisco Cafiero was an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Cafiero held a number of important posts throughout his career, including, most notably, the governorship of Buenos Aires Province from 1987 to 1991, the Cabinet Chief's Office under interim president Eduardo Camaño from 2001 to 2002, and a seat in the Senate of the Nation from 1993 to 2005.


Margaret Hillert, American author and poet (born 1920)

Margaret Hillert was an American author, poet and educator. Hillert, a lifelong resident of the state of Michigan, was known for her children's literature, having written over eighty books for beginning readers. She began writing poetry at a young age and published her first verses in 1961.


Mohammad Sarengat, Indonesian sprinter (born 1939)

Mohammad Sarengat was an Indonesian track and field sprinter. Sarengat became the first Indonesian athlete to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. He won gold in the 100-meter sprint at the 1962 Asian Games.


Pontus Segerström, Swedish footballer (born 1981)

Pontus Segerström was a Swedish footballer who played as a defender.


13/10/2013

Martin Drewes, German soldier and pilot (born 1918)

Martin Drewes was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and night fighter ace during World War II. He was credited with 52 victories of which 43 were claimed at night whilst flying variants of the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Western Front in Defence of the Reich missions against the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command.


Joe Meriweather, American basketball player and coach (born 1953)

Joe C. Meriweather was an American professional basketball player.


Tommy Whittle, Scottish-English saxophonist (born 1926)

Tommy Whittle was a British jazz saxophonist.


Takashi Yanase, Japanese poet and illustrator, created Anpanman (born 1919)

Takashi Yanase was a Japanese manga artist and writer, poet, illustrator and lyricist.


13/10/2012

Stuart Bell, English lawyer and politician (born 1938)

Sir Stuart Bell was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough from the 1983 general election until his death in 2012. He was known as the longest serving Second Church Estates Commissioner, serving in this role during the entire period of Labour government from 1997 to 2010.


Gary Collins, American actor (born 1938)

Gary Ennis Collins was an American actor and television host. Throughout his career, he won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1984 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985.


Tomonobu Imamichi, Japanese philosopher and academic (born 1922)

Tomonobu Imamichi was a Japanese philosopher who studied Chinese philosophy.


13/10/2011

Barbara Kent, Canadian-born American actress (born 1907)

Barbara Kent was a Canadian film actress, prominent from the silent film era to the early talkies of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, Barbara Kent won the Miss Hollywood Beauty Pageant.


13/10/2010

Vernon Biever, American photographer (born 1923)

Vernon Joseph Biever was an American photographer, most notably with the Green Bay Packers.


13/10/2009

Stephen Barnett, American scholar and academic (born 1935)

Stephen Roger Barnett was an American law professor and legal scholar who campaigned against the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 and the effects its antitrust exemptions had on newspaper consolidation. He also criticized the California Supreme Court for practices that hid information from the public.


13/10/2008

Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (born 1989)

Alexei Andreyevich Cherepanov was a Russian professional ice hockey player. He was a winger for Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Previously, Cherepanov had played for Avangard's lower-level teams, and then for the senior men's team in the Russian Super League. Cherepanov was selected in the first round of the 2007 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft by the New York Rangers, although he never played professional hockey in North America. Cherepanov represented Russia in international play, and played in several tournaments at the junior level. He won a gold medal at the 2007 World Under-18 Championships. While playing at the Under-20 level, Cherepanov won silver and bronze medals in 2007 and 2008.


13/10/2007

Bob Denard, French soldier and academic (born 1929)

Robert Denard was a French mercenary. He served as the de facto military leader of the Comoros twice with him first serving from 13 May 1978 to 15 December 1989 and again briefly from 28 September to 5 October in 1995. Sometimes known under the aliases Gilbert Bourgeaud and Saïd Mustapha Mhadjou, he was known for having performed various jobs in support of Françafrique—France's sphere of influence in its former colonies in Africa—for Jacques Foccart, co-ordinator of President Charles de Gaulle's African policy.


13/10/2006

Wang Guangmei, Chinese philanthropist and politician, 2nd Spouse of the President of the People's Republic of China (born 1921)

Wang Guangmei was a Chinese politician, philanthropist and the wife of Liu Shaoqi, who served as the spouse of the President of the People's Republic of China from 1959 to 1968.


13/10/2005

Vivian Malone Jones, American activist (born 1942)

Vivian Juanita Malone Jones was the first black student to graduate from the University of Alabama, in 1965. She and James Hood were the first black students able to enroll at the university since Autherine Lucy and Pollie Myers initially strove to desegregate the school. Malone became famous when George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, attempted to physically block her and Hood from enrolling at the all-white university. Malone faced threats and ostracism at the university but successfully graduated in two years with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management. Throughout her career, Malone continued to work for civil rights causes. She worked for various federal agencies like the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency, and served as executive director of the Voter Education Project.


13/10/2004

Enrique Fernando, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (born 1915)

Enrique Fausto Medina Fernando Sr. was the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. A noted constitutionalist and law professor, he served in the Supreme Court for 18 years, including 6 years as Chief Justice.


Bernice Rubens, Welsh author (born 1928)

Bernice Rubens was a Welsh novelist. She became the first woman to win the Booker Prize in 1970, for The Elected Member.


13/10/2003

Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)

Bertram Neville Brockhouse, was a Canadian physicist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter", in particular "for the development of neutron spectroscopy".


13/10/2002

Stephen Ambrose, American historian and author (born 1936)

Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian, academic, and author, most noted for his books on World War II and his biographies of U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a longtime professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many bestselling volumes of American popular history.


Keene Curtis, American actor (born 1923)

Keene Holbrook Curtis was an American character actor.


13/10/2001

Peter Doyle, Australian singer-songwriter (born 1949)

Peter John Doyle was an Australian pop singer who had success with a number of Top 40 hits in Australia in the 1960s, then success internationally as a member of the New Seekers in the early 1970s, before resuming a solo career in 1973.


13/10/2000

Jean Peters, American actress (born 1926)

Elizabeth Jean Peters was an American film actress. She was known as a star of 20th Century Fox in the late 1940s and early '50s, and as the second wife of Howard Hughes. Although possibly best remembered for her siren role in Pickup on South Street (1953), Peters was known for her resistance to being turned into a sex symbol. She preferred to play unglamorous, down-to-earth women.


13/10/1999

Michael Hartnett, Irish poet (born 1941)

Michael Hartnett was an Irish poet who wrote in both English and Irish. He was one of the most significant voices in late 20th-century Irish writing and has been called "Munster's de facto poet laureate".


13/10/1998

Dmitry Nikolayevich Filippov, Russian businessman and politician (born 1944)

Dmitry Filippov was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. An influential member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Lensovet before 1991, Filippov established Saint Petersburg's tax service in the early 1990s and was one of the city's most prominent businessmen during the 1990s, with significant investments in the Russian petrochemical industry. He was killed in a 1998 bombing; Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly member Yury Shutov was found guilty of his assassination by the Saint Petersburg city court in 2006 after a seven-year trial.


13/10/1996

Beryl Reid, English actress (born 1919)

Beryl Elizabeth Reid was a British actress. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Killing of Sister George, the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens, and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Smiley's People. Her film appearances included The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), and No Sex Please, We're British (1973).


13/10/1993

Otmar Gutmann, German filmmaker (born 1937)

Otmar Gutmann was a German filmmaker who specialised in animation. He co-created the stop-motion television series Pingu alongside Erika Brueggemann.


13/10/1992

James Marshall, American author and illustrator (born 1942)

James Edward Marshall was an American illustrator and writer of children's books, probably best known for the George and Martha series of picture books (1972–1988). He illustrated books exclusively as James Marshall; when he created both text and illustrations he sometimes wrote as Edward Marshall. In 2007, the U.S. professional librarians posthumously awarded Marshall the Children's Literature Legacy Award for "substantial and lasting contribution" to American children's literature.


13/10/1990

Hans Namuth, German-American photographer (born 1915)

Hans Namuth was a German-born American photographer. He specialized in portraiture, photographing many artists, including abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock. His photos of Pollock at work in his studio increased Pollock's fame and recognition and led to a greater understanding of his work and techniques. Namuth used his outgoing personality and persistence to photograph many important artistic figures at work in their studios.


Lê Đức Thọ, Vietnamese general and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)

Lê Đức Thọ, born Phan Đình Khải in Nam Dinh Province, was a Vietnamese revolutionary, diplomat, and politician. He was the first Asian to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1973, but refused the award.


13/10/1987

Walter Houser Brattain, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)

Walter Houser Brattain was an American physicist who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Bardeen and William Shockley for their invention of the point-contact transistor. Brattain devoted much of his life to research on surface states.


Kishore Kumar, Indian singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director (born 1929)

Kishore Kumar was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. Kumar was one of the most popular singers in the Indian subcontinent, notable for his yodelling and ability to sing songs in different voices. He used to sing in different genres but some of his rare compositions, considered classics, were lost in time. In 2013, Kumar was voted "The Most Popular Male Playback Singer" in a poll conducted by the Filmfare magazine.


Nilgün Marmara, Turkish poet and author (born 1958)

Nilgün Marmara was a Turkish poet.


13/10/1985

Tage Danielsson, Swedish author, actor, and director (born 1928)

Tage Ivar Roland Danielsson was a Swedish author, actor, comedian, poet and film director. He worked together with Hans Alfredson in the comedy duo Hasse & Tage.


13/10/1981

Antonio Berni, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and engraver (born 1905)

Delesio Antonio Berni was an Argentine figurative artist. He is associated with the movement known as Nuevo Realismo, an Argentine extension of social realism. His work, including a series of Juanito Laguna collages depicting poverty and the effects of industrialization in Buenos Aires, has been exhibited around the world.


13/10/1979

Rebecca Clarke, English viola player and composer (born 1886)

Rebecca Helferich Clarke was a British classical composer and violist. Internationally renowned as a viola virtuoso, she also became one of the first female professional orchestral players in London.


13/10/1974

Otto Binder, American author (born 1911)

Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books. He is best known as the co-creator of Supergirl and for his many scripts for Captain Marvel Adventures and other stories involving the entire superhero Marvel Family. He was prolific in the comic book field and is credited with writing over 4,400 stories across a variety of publishers under his own name, as well as more than 160 stories under the pen-name Eando Binder.


Anatoli Kozhemyakin, Soviet footballer (born 1953)

Anatoli Yevgenyevich Kozhemyakin was a Soviet football player. He died in a freak accident: he was stuck in an elevator, but was able to open the elevator doors; as he tried to climb out, the elevator started moving again and crushed him to death.


Ed Sullivan, American journalist and talk show host (born 1901)

Edward Vincent Sullivan was an American television host, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. He was the creator and host of the television variety program Toast of the Town, which in 1955 was renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast from 1948 to 1971, it set a record as the longest-running variety show in U.S. broadcast history. "It was, by almost any measure, the last great American TV show", said television critic David Hinckley. "It's one of our fondest, dearest pop culture memories."


13/10/1973

Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, Turkish ethnographer and author (born 1886)

Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı was a Cretan Turkish author, essayist, ethnographer and travel writer.


Albert Mandler, Austrian-Israeli general (born 1929)

Avraham Albert Mandler was an Israeli major general. His journey to the then British Mandate of Palestine started from having been expelled at age 10 from his school in Linz, Austria, before fleeing with his mother through multiple borders until reaching Romania and boarding the last illegal boat the British allowed to anchor in Haifa. At age 16, he joined the Haganah, at 19 he fought outside Jerusalem, and in subsequent wars he climbed the ranks until, as a Major-General, he fought in Sinai until his death in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In the 1967 Six-Day War, he was a colonel commanding the 8th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. This brigade pushed "elements of the Shazli Force and the Egyptian 6th Division straight into an ambush laid by Arik Sharon" at Nakhl on June 8, 1967.


13/10/1968

Bea Benaderet, American actress and voice artist (born 1906)

Beatrice Benaderet was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that spanned over three decades. Benaderet first specialized in voice-over work in the golden age of radio, appearing on numerous programs while working with comedians of the era such as Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, and Lucille Ball. Her expertise in dialect and characterization led to her becoming Warner Bros.' leading voice of female characters in their animated cartoons of the early 1940s through the mid-1950s.


13/10/1966

Clifton Webb, American actor and dancer (born 1889)

Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck, known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, including Blithe Spirit, as well as appearances on Broadway in a number of successful musical revues. As a film actor, he was nominated for three Academy Awards — Best Supporting Actor for Laura (1944) and The Razor's Edge (1946), and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sitting Pretty (1948).


13/10/1961

Prince Louis Rwagasore, Burundi politician, Prime Minister of Burundi (born 1932)

Prince Louis Rwagasore was a Burundian prince and politician, who was the second prime minister of Burundi for two weeks, from 28 September 1961 until his assassination on 13 October.


13/10/1956

Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, Turkish poet and author (born 1910)

Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı was a Turkish poet and author from Türkiye. Identified with the poem "Otuz Beş Yaş", Tarancı adhered to the understanding of "art for art's sake". He mostly included the themes of joy of life and death in his poems; He also wrote poems about lost loves, happy loves, loneliness, the bitterness of the bohemian life he lived, and childhood longing. Many of his poems were composed by different composers. In addition to his poetry books Ömrümde Sükût (1933), Otuz Beş Yaş (1946), Düşten Güzel (1952) and after his death "Sonrası"(1957) and Bütün Şiirleri (1983), he wrote various stories, and these stories were published on the 50th anniversary of Tarancı's death. It was published under the title " Gün Eksilmesin Penceremden" (2006). Most of the letters the poet wrote to his family members, friends and close friends, who also translated poems from French literature, were published under the names of Ziya'ya Mektuplar (1957) and Evime ve Nihal'e Mektuplar (1989).


13/10/1955

Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican general and politician, 45th President of Mexico (born 1897)

Manuel Ávila Camacho was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the president of Mexico from 1940 to 1946. Having participated in the Mexican Revolution and achieving a high rank, he came to the presidency of Mexico because of his direct connection to General Lázaro Cárdenas and served him as the Chief of his General Staff during the Mexican Revolution and afterwards. He was called affectionately by Mexicans "The Gentleman President". As president, he pursued "national policies of unity, adjustment, and moderation." His administration completed the transition from military to civilian leadership, ended confrontational anticlericalism, reversed the push for socialist education, and restored a working relationship with the US during World War II.


13/10/1950

Ernest Haycox, American soldier and author (born 1899)

Ernest James Haycox was an American writer of Western fiction.


13/10/1945

Milton S. Hershey, American businessman, founded The Hershey Company (born 1857)

Milton Snavely Hershey was an American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist.


13/10/1938

E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (born 1894)

Elzie Crisler Segar, known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist. He created Popeye in 1929, introducing the character in his comic strip Thimble Theatre.


13/10/1931

Ernst Didring, Swedish author (born 1868)

Ernst Didring was an early 20th-century author who wrote mainly of life in his home country of Sweden.


13/10/1930

T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and educator (born 1853)

Thomas Alexander Harrison, was an American marine painter who spent most of his career in France.


13/10/1926

Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian philologist and author (born 1865)

Hans Ernst Kinck was a Norwegian author and philologist who wrote novels, short stories, dramas, and essays. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.


13/10/1919

Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1857)

Karl Adolph Gjellerup was a Danish poet and novelist who together with his compatriot Henrik Pontoppidan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1917. He is associated with the Modern Breakthrough period of Scandinavian literature. He occasionally used the pseudonym Epigonos.


13/10/1917

Florence La Badie, American actress (born 1888)

Florence La Badie was an American-Canadian actress in the early days of the silent film era. She was a major star between 1911 and 1917. Her career was at its height when she died at age 29 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.


13/10/1911

Sister Nivedita, Irish-Indian social worker, author, and educator (born 1867)

Sister Nivedita was an Irish–Indian philosopher, educator, writer, social activist and disciple of Swami Vivekananda.


13/10/1909

Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, Spanish philosopher and academic (born 1849)

Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, widely known as Francisco Ferrer, was a Spanish radical freethinker, anarchist, and educationist behind a network of secular, private, libertarian schools in and around Barcelona. His execution, following a revolt in Barcelona, propelled Ferrer into martyrdom and grew an international movement of radicals and libertarians, who established schools in his model and promoted his schooling approach.


13/10/1905

Henry Irving, English actor and manager (born 1838)

Sir Henry Irving, né John Henry Brodribb, was an English actor-manager in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He established himself at the West End theatre the Lyceum. His long campaign to have theatre recognised as an art of equal importance with music and painting culminated when he was knighted in 1895, the first actor to be thus honoured.


13/10/1904

Pavlos Melas, French-Greek captain (born 1870)

Pavlos Melas was a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was amongst the first Greek officers to join the Macedonian Struggle.


13/10/1890

Samuel Freeman Miller, American lawyer and jurist (born 1816)

Samuel Freeman Miller was an American lawyer and physician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1862 until his death in 1890 and who authored landmark opinions in United States v. Kagama and The Slaughterhouse Cases.


13/10/1882

Arthur de Gobineau, French philosopher and author (born 1816)

Arthur de Gobineau, Count de Gobineau was a French writer and diplomat who is best known for helping introduce scientific race theory and "racial demography", and for developing the theory of the Aryan master race and Nordicism. He was an elitist who, in the immediate aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848, wrote An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races. In it he argued that aristocrats were superior to commoners and that aristocrats possessed more Aryan genetic traits because of less interbreeding with inferior races.


13/10/1869

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French poet, author, and critic (born 1804)

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a French literary critic.


13/10/1841

Patrick Campbell, Scottish admiral (born 1773)

Vice-Admiral Sir Patrick Campbell, KCB was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who was distinguished by his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During his service in a number of ships in the Mediterranean and English Channel, Campbell saw several small ship actions and was successful in every one, even surviving a double shipwreck in 1805. Following the war, Campbell retired for ten years before returning to service, later commanding at the Cape of Good Hope.


13/10/1825

Maximilian I Joseph, king of Bavaria (born 1756)

Maximilian I Joseph was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria from 1806 to 1825. He was a member of the House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach.


13/10/1822

Antonio Canova, Italian sculptor (born 1757)

Antonio Canova was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists, his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the classical revival, and has been characterised as having avoided the melodramatics of the former, and the cold artificiality of the latter.


13/10/1815

Joachim Murat, French general (born 1767)

Joachim Murat was a French Army officer and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the Empire and Admiral of France. He was the first Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples as Joachim-Napoleon from 1808 to 1815.


13/10/1812

Isaac Brock, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (born 1769)

Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. He is best remembered for his victory at the siege of Detroit and his death at the Battle of Queenston Heights during the War of 1812.


13/10/1796

William B. Whiting, New York politician (born 1731)

William Bradford Whiting was an American politician. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Whiting moved to Canaan, New York, in 1765. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as a colonel commanding the 17th Regiment of the Albany County militia. He participated in the Battles of Saratoga under General Horatio Gates and was present for the surrender of General John Burgoyne. Whiting was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1777–1781 and the New York State Senate from 1781–1785, and a justice of the peace in Columbia County, New York, from 1786–1795.


13/10/1788

Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish poet and politician (born 1702)

Robert Craggs-Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, PC was an Anglo-Irish politician and poet. He was tersely described by Richard Glover as a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left "Popery" for the Protestant religion, money and widows.


13/10/1759

John Henley, English clergyman and author (born 1692)

John Henley, English clergyman, commonly known as 'Orator Henley', was a preacher known for showmanship and eccentricity.


13/10/1715

Nicolas Malebranche, French priest and philosopher (born 1638)

Nicolas Malebranche was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesise the thought of St. Augustine and Descartes, in order to demonstrate the active role of God in every aspect of the world. Malebranche is best known for his doctrines of vision in God, occasionalism and ontologism.


13/10/1706

Iyasu I, emperor of Ethiopia (born 1654)

Iyasu I, throne name Adyam Sagad, also known as Iyasu the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 19 July 1682 until his death in 1706, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty.


13/10/1694

Samuel von Pufendorf, German historian, economist, and jurist (born 1632)

Samuel von Pufendorf was a German jurist, political philosopher, economist and historian. He was born Samuel Pufendorf and ennobled in 1694; he was made a baron by Charles XI of Sweden a few months before his death at age 62. Among his achievements are his commentaries and revisions of the natural law theories of Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius.


13/10/1687

Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer and lens maker (born 1633)

Geminiano Montanari was an Italian astronomer, lens-maker, and proponent of the experimental approach to science. He was a member of various learned academies, notably the Accademia dei Gelati. Montanari's famous students include Domenico Guglielmini, Francesco Bianchini, Gianantonio Davia and Luigi Ferdinando Marsili.


13/10/1673

Christoffer Gabel, German-Danish accountant and politician (born 1617)

Christoffer Gabel was a Danish statesman. He was the father of Vice Governor-general of Norway, Frederik Gabel.


13/10/1605

Theodore Beza, French theologian and scholar (born 1519)

Theodore Beza was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a disciple of John Calvin and lived most of his life in Geneva. Beza succeeded Calvin as the spiritual leader of the Republic of Geneva.


13/10/1562

Claudin de Sermisy, French composer (born 1495)

Claudin de Sermisy was a French composer of the Renaissance. Along with Clément Janequin he was one of the most renowned composers of French chansons in the early 16th century; in addition he was a significant composer of sacred music. His music was both influential on, and influenced by, contemporary Italian styles.


13/10/1435

Hermann II, count of Croatia

Hermann II, Count of Celje, was a Styrian prince and magnate, most notable as the faithful supporter and father-in-law of the Hungarian king and Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. Hermann's loyalty to the King ensured him generous grants of land and privileges that led him to become the greatest landowner in Slavonia. He served as governor of Carniola, and twice as ban of the combined provinces of Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia, and was recognized by a treaty in 1427 as heir presumptive to the Kingdom of Bosnia. The House of Celje's rise to power culminated in achieving the dignity of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. At the peak of his power, he controlled two thirds of the land in Carniola, most of Lower Styria, and exercised power over all of medieval Croatia. Hermann was one of the most important representatives of the House of Celje, having brought the dynasty from regional importance to the foreground of Central European politics.


13/10/1415

Thomas FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel, English politician, Lord High Treasurer of England (born 1381)

Thomas Fitzalan, 5th Earl of Arundel, 10th Earl of Surrey was an English nobleman, one of the principals of the deposition of Richard II, and a major figure during the reign of Henry IV.


13/10/1382

Peter II, king of Cyprus

Peter II, called the Fat, was the eleventh King of Cyprus of the House of Lusignan from 17 January 1369 until his death. He was the son of Peter I of Cyprus and Eleanor of Aragon. He succeeded to the throne while he was still under age, following the assassination of his father in 1369. He was also titular Count of Tripoli and King of Jerusalem.


13/10/1282

Nichiren, Japanese Buddhist priest (born 1222)

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist monk and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the Lotus Sutra.


13/10/1195

Gualdim Pais, Portuguese crusader (born 1118)

Dom Gualdim Pais was a Portuguese crusader, Knight Templar in the service of Afonso Henriques of Portugal. He was the founder of the city of Tomar.


13/10/1100

Guy I, count of Ponthieu

Guy I of Ponthieu was born sometime in the mid-to late 1020s and died 13 October 1100. He succeeded his brother Enguerrand II as Count of Ponthieu.


13/10/1093

Robert I, count of Flanders (born 1035)

Robert I, known as Robert the Frisian, was count of Flanders from 1071 until his death in 1093. He was a son of Count Baldwin V out of his first marriage, He was the older brother of Count Baldwin VI and claimed the countship after defeating his nephew Arnulf III and his allies, which included King Philip I of France, Count Eustace II of Boulogne and the counts of Saint-Pol and Ardres at the Battle of Cassel. He subsequently made peace with Philip, who became his stepson-in-law, but remained hostile to his sister Matilda and her husband William the Conqueror, who was king of England and duke of Normandy.


13/10/0982

Jing Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (born 948)

Emperor Jingzong of Liao, personal name Yelü Xian, courtesy name Xianning, was the fifth emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China. He improved government efficiency and reduced corruption. He was known for going to war with the Northern Song dynasty. He died during a hunting trip and his wife later served as regent over his still 11-year-old son, the later Emperor Shengzong.


13/10/0807

Simpert, bishop of Augsburg

Simpert was an abbot, bishop, and confessor of the late-8th and early-9th centuries, and was supposedly the nephew of Charlemagne. He was educated at Murbach Abbey in Alsace, where he took the Benedictine habit and was elected abbot. In 778, he was appointed bishop of Augsburg by Charlemagne. He consolidated and strengthened the jurisdiction of his bishopric and lived alternately at Neuburg an der Donau, at Staffelsee Abbey, and at Augsburg.


13/10/0054

Claudius, Roman emperor (born 10 BC)

AD 54 (LIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Marcellus. The denomination AD 54 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.