{"id":15170,"date":"2022-06-20T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T06:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=210010"},"modified":"2022-06-20T08:26:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T06:26:10","slug":"20-june-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/20-june-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"20 June: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Elinor Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 20 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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20 June 451<\/h3>\n

At the battle of Ch\u00e2lons, in what is now France, Roman general Aetius inflicts the first defeat on Attila the Hun<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

20 June 1631: Algerian pirates sack an Irish village<\/h3>\n

Corsairs attack Baltimore, on Ireland\u2019s south-west coast, and kidnap 100 people<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

The corsairs struck at two o\u2019clock in the morning. Armed with muskets and iron bars, they descended on the Irish village of Baltimore like a ravaging horde, tearing through the houses in search of booty.<\/p>\n

By the time the residents had realised what was happening, it was already too late. Even as one resident, William Harris, began firing a musket to warn his neighbours, the corsairs had captured at least 100 people from the village. Most of them were English settlers who worked in the fishing industry. Some 20 of the captives were men; the rest were women and children, carried off into slavery.<\/p>\n

The Sack of Baltimore, which took place in the early hours of 20 June 1631, has gone down in Irish folklore. For years afterwards, the village was virtually deserted, as residents fled for fear that the corsairs would return. Contrary to legend, though, many of\nthe corsairs were not north African. Even their leader, the dreaded Murat Reis, who ruled his own tiny state in modern-day Morocco, was actually a Dutch privateer, Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, who had originally been taken to north Africa as a prisoner before becoming a corsair.<\/p>\n

Few of Murat\u2019s prisoners ever saw Baltimore again. Most of the men were destined for lives as galley slaves, working at the oars of pirate ships and toiling miserably in horrendous conditions. The women and children were better treated, but only because they were headed for the slave markets of Algiers. Baltimore\u2019s women and girls were bound for the harem; the boys, however, were destined to become Ottoman slave soldiers. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

20 June 1756: Prisoners perish in Calcutta\u2019s \u2018Black Hole\u2019<\/h3>\n

Survivors of Fort William capture are jammed into cell<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Originally founded to protect the East India Company<\/a>\u2019s interests in Bengal, Fort William in Calcutta surrendered to Bengali ruler Sir\u00e3j al-Dawlah on 20 June 1756. After years of rising tension, the aggressive young Sir\u00e3j had decided to reassert his authority. Now he found himself with perhaps 70 prisoners of war, as well around 80 hangers-on who had been sheltering in the fort.<\/p>\n

The man in charge of the fort had been John Zephaniah Holwell, a Dublin-born surgeon who now worked for the Company as Calcutta\u2019s chief magistrate. When Holwell surrendered, Sir\u00e3j promised that no harm would come to his men. But that night, Sir\u00e3j\u2019s men decided to put the prisoners in the fort\u2019s small dungeon, which measured roughly 14 by 18 feet.<\/p>\n

By Holwell\u2019s account, conditions in the so-called Black Hole of Calcutta were like something from the bowels of hell. There were no windows, only two small grilles high in the wall. Even at night the temperature approached a punishing 38\u00b0C, and with fires raging else- where in the fort, the atmosphere was stifling. Within hours, some prisoners had become delirious. Some fainted but remained upright, their bodies propped up in the crush. When one managed to lift his tricorn hat to fan himself, others copied his example, and soon the darkness was full of wearily clashing hats.<\/p>\n

Even before midnight, some prisoners were dead. In desperation, Holwell tried to suck the moisture from his sweat-sodden sleeve, only for a giant Dutchman to start sucking like a baby at his other sleeve. As one account puts it, \u201cself-control was soon lost\u201d. With prisoners struggling to get closer to the tiny grilles, \u201ca fearful tumult ensued, in which the weakest were trampled or pressed to death. They raved, fought, prayed, blasphemed and many then fell exhausted on the floor, where suffocation put an end to their torments.\u201d According to Holwell, when Sir\u00e3j ordered his men to open the prison early the next morning, only 23 were still alive.\u00a0| Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

20 June 1760\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Birth in Ireland of Richard Wellesley, the elder brother of the future Duke of Wellington. An influential politician and governor- general of India from 1798 to 1805, he did much to help his younger brother establish his military career.<\/p>\n

20 June 1763\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Birth in Dublin of Irish nationalist and political writer Theobald Wolfe Tone. Captured during the 1798 Irish rebellion, Tone was sentenced to death for treason but cut his own throat before he could be executed.<\/p>\n

20 June 1789\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Excluded from their normal meeting place by Louis XVI, representatives of the Third Estate, calling themselves the National Assembly, meet in an indoor tennis court at Versailles<\/a>, swearing not to disperse until they have established a constitution.<\/p>\n

20 June 1912\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Birth in London of children\u2019s author Anthony Malcolm Buckeridge. He is best known for his Jennings novels, a wizard series of books set in Linbury Court, a prep school in Sussex.<\/p>\n

20 June 1837: Victoria<\/a> becomes queen<\/h3>\n

The young princess awakes to the news that she has inherited the throne from her uncle<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

The first weeks of June 1837 found the 18-year-old Princess Victoria waiting patiently for her uncle to die. King William IV was aged 71 and was in poor health; shaken by the death of his daughter Sophia, he had sunk into a terminal decline.<\/p>\n

On the 19th, the young Princess Victoria dashed off a letter to another uncle, the Belgian king Leopold. \u201cI look forward to the event which it seems is likely to occur soon with calmness and quietness,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI am not alarmed at it and yet I do not suppose myself quite equal to all; I trust however that with good will, honesty and courage, I shall not, at all events, fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, when Victoria retired to bed in Kensington Palace, she could hardly have known how swiftly the climax would come.<\/p>\n

At six the following morning, she was woken by her German- born mother, who brought the news that, as Victoria recorded in her diary: \u201cThe archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquaint- ed me that my poor uncle, the king, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past two this morning, and consequently that I am queen.\u201d\nIn 1837, Britain was not used to having such a youthful monarch \u2013 let alone a woman. That morning, Victoria\u2019s governess was poised with smelling salts in case it all proved too much for the young queen. But throughout all her meetings with her ministers and the Privy Council, she remained utterly composed. \u201cSince it has pleased Providence to place me in this station,\u201d she wrote in her diary, \u201cI shall do my utmost to fulfill my duty towards my country.\u201d | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Browse more\u00a0On this day in history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n