Historic Birthdates in July

by Ben Johnson

Our selection of historic birthdates in July, including Diana Princess of Wales, Arthur James Balfour and Cecil Rhodes (pictured above).

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1 July.	1961	Diana, Princess of Wales, affectionately remembered as the Queen of Hearts, mother of Princes William and Harry.
2 July.	1489	Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII, burnt at the stake following Mary’s accession to the throne for refusing to return to the old faith.
3 July.	1728	Robert Adam, Edinburgh University educated, architect and interior designer, who together with his brothers, toured Britain redesigning country houses e.g. Syon Park, Harewood, etc., with an ‘Adamite frippery’.
4 July.	1845	Thomas Barnado, Dublin born evangelist who founded homes for the destitute children with financial support from the banker Robert Barclay.
5 July.	1853	Cecil Rhodes, Hertfordshire born colonialist, financier and statesman of Southern Africa, so influential that they named a country after him …Rhodesia, before it was changed to Zimbabwe.
6 July.	1849	Alfred Kemper, London born mathematician and author of the popular ‘How to Draw a Straight Line’.
7 July.	1940	Ringo Starr, drummer with the legendary Liverpool pop group The Beatles, and more significantly, the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine.
8 July.	1851	Sir Arthur John Evans, Oxford educated archaeologist who excavated the Bronze Age city of Knossos in Crete.
9 July.	1901	Barbara Cartland, Birmingham-born romantic writer responsible for over 600 best-selling books, step grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
10 July.	1723	Sir William Blackstone, English jurist – ‘It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’.
11 July.	1274	Robert I, King of Scotland, also known as Robert the Bruce, who seized the throne in 1306 and forced England to recognise Scottish independence in 1328.
12 July.	1730	Josiah Wedgwood, Staffordshire potter and industrialist who, from his Etruria factory transformed pottery design and manufacture.
13 July.	1811	George Gilbert Scott, English architect responsible for the Albert Memorial and St. Pancras Station in London.
14 July.	1858	Emmeline Pankhurst, Manchester born suffragette who was imprisoned in her efforts to gain the vote for British women.
15 July.	1573	Inigo Jones, London architect whose best known buildings are the Queen’s House in Greenwich and the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall.
16 July.	1723	Sir Joshua Reynolds, English portrait painter and first president of the Royal Academy.
17 July.	1827	Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, London born chemist and explosive specialist, co-inventor of cordite, as approved by the British Army.
18 July.	1720	Reverend Gilbert White, English naturalist who wrote The Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne.
19 July.	1896	A J Cronin, graduated in medicine at Glasgow in 1919, went on to use this grounding for writing his Scottish novels Dr Finlay’s Casebook.
20 July.	1889	John Reith, Scottish engineer and first director general of the BBC, architect of public service broadcasting as we know it …’Auntie’.
21 July.	1934	Jonathan Miller, London born multi-talented TV, film and theatre director, author, editor, presenter, Research Fellow, curator, etc..
22 July.	1926	Bryan Forbes, actor, director and producer, founded Beaver Films with Sir Richard Attenborough in 1959.
23 July.	1886	Arthur Whitten Brown, Glasgow born aviator, who as navigator with John Alcock made the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in a Vickers-Vimy biplane on 14 June 1919.
24 July.	1929	Peter Yates, British film director of Summer Holiday, Bullitt and Krull fame.
25 July.	1848	Arthur James Balfour, statesman and Conservative Prime Minister, as Foreign Secretary 1916-18 his Balfour Declaration promised support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
26 July.	1856	George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist who ‘conquered England by his wit’. Nobel prize winner in 1925.
27 July.	1870	Hilaire Belloc, MP, poet and author, born in France he became a British subject in 1902, best remembered for his nonsensical verse for children.
28 July.	1866	Beatrix Potter, author and illustrator, the characters that she created remain classics of children’s literature …Peter Rabbit, Samuel Whiskers, Squirrel Nutkin, and friends.
29 July.	1913	Baron Jo Grimond, St. Andrews born leader of the Liberal Party, thought by some to be ‘The best Prime Minister Britain never had’.
30 July.	1818	Emily Brontë, novelist, one of the three Bronte sisters, her only novel Wuthering Heights tells a tale of love and revenge set in the remote wilds of her native Yorkshire.
31 July.	1929	Lynne Reid Banks, London born author, best known for the L-Shaped Room and the children’s book The Indian in the Cupboard.