July 26



Events

Up to 1900 
 615  K'inich Janaab' Pakal I, aged 12, is crowned ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque.
 1309  Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor is recognised as King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
 1469  Wars of the Roses: Forces of Edward IV of England defeat those of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick in the Battle of Edgecote Moor.
 1533  Atahualpa dies at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Conquistadors, marking the end of the Inca Empire.
 1581  The northern Low Countries declare independence from King Philip II of Spain.
 1745  The first recorded women's cricket match takes place in Guildford, Surrey, England.
 1758  French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
 1775  Benjamin Franklin is named Postmaster-General by the United States Congress.
 1788  New York ratifies the United States Constitution, becoming the 11th State.
 1803  The Surrey Iron Railway opens in South London.
 1805  An earthquake in central Italy kills an estimated 26,000 people.
 1822  José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, present-day Ecuador, to meet with Simon Bolivar.
 1822  First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia between the Ottoman Empire, led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha, and a Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.
 1847  Liberia becomes independent, with Joseph Jenkins Roberts being its first President.
 1861  American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes control of the Army of the Potomac, following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Bull Run.
 1882  Boer settlers found the Republic of Stellaland in present-day South Africa.
 1882  Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal is first performed in Bayreuth, Bavaria.
 1887  Unua Libro, the 'First book of Esperanto', is published.
 1891  France takes control of Tahiti.

1901  1950 
 1908  The FBI is founded.
 1910  The Rail Tunnel under the Detroit River linking Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan is opened.
 1914  Serbia and Bulgaria interrupt their diplomatic relationship.
 1936  The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
 1936  Edward VIII of the United Kingdom unveils the Canadian Vimy Memorial.
 1937  Spanish Civil War: End of the Battle of Brunete.
 1944  World War II: The Soviet army enters German-occupied Lviv, in present-day Ukraine.
 1944  The first German V-2 rocket hits the United Kingdom.
 1945  The British Conservative Party under Winston Churchill loses the General Election to the Labour Party, led by Clement Attlee.
 1945  The Potsdam Declaration is signed.
 1946  Aloha Airlines begins service.
 1947  The National Security Act of 1947 is signed by US President Harry S. Truman.
 1948  Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the United States Military.

1951  2000 
 1951  Walt Disney movie Alice in Wonderland has its first showing in London.
 1952  Argentina's First Lady Eva Perón dies aged 33.
 1953  Begin of the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro later helps to found the 26th July Movement.
 1956  The Suez Crisis begins, after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal.
 1957  President Carlos Castillo Armas of Guatemala is assassinated.
 1958  The Explorer 4 space probe is launched.
 1963  A earthquake strikes Skopje in the present-day Republic of Macedonia, killing around 1,100 people.
 1965  The Maldives gain full independence from the United Kingdom.
 1971  Apollo 15 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, with David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden on board, to the Moon.
 1974  Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the Greek Government.
 1977  The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as an official language of the Provincial Government.
 1990  The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by US President George H. W. Bush.
 1994  Boris Yeltsin orders the removal of Russian troops from Estonia.
 1994  A bomb explodes outside the Israeli Embassy in London.
 1998  Cambodia holds its first election since regaining full independence.

From 2001 
 2005  Space Shuttle Discovery launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is the first Space Shuttle mission since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of February 1, 2003.
 2005  Nearly a meter of rain falls in one day in Mumbai, causing flooding.
 2006  A conference begins in Rome, Italy to discuss a solution to the Israel-Lebanon War, though without the participation of Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria.
 2008  56 people are killed in a bombing in Ahmedabad, India.
 2013  2013 Cleveland, Ohio, missing trio: Ariel Castro pleads guilty to all charges in order to avoid the death penalty. He commits suicide in prison on September 3.
 2016  Mass murder with knife is carried out in an institution of Sagamihara in Japan for persons with disabilities out of disability hate crime; 19 people are killed.
 2016  Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to complete a flight around the world.
 2016  Roman Catholic priest Jacques Hamel is murdered at his church in Normandy, France, by an attacker linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
 2016  Hillary Clinton is officially nominated by the Democratic Party for President of the United States, becoming the first woman to be nominated for this position by a major US political party.
 2017  US President Donald Trump announces via Twitter that he intends to ban Transgender people from serving in the United States Military.
 2019  The 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, begin.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1030  Stanislaus of Szczepanow, Polish bishop and martyr (d. 1074)
 1575  Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1612)
 1678  Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1711)
 1721  Samuel von Brukenthal, Governor of Transylvania (d. 1803)
 1739  George Clinton, 4th Vice President of the United States and 1st State Governor of New York (d. 1812)
 1756  Maria Fitzherbert, first wife of King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
 1782  John Field, Irish composer (d. 1837)
 1787  Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck, German botanist and pharmacologist (d. 1837)
 1791  Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1844)
 1796  George Catlin, American painter (d. 1872)
 1801  Maria Röhl, Swedish artist (d. 1875)
 1802  Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (d. 1855)
 1829  Auguste Beernaert, Belgian statesman and 14th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1912)
 1842  Alfred Marshall, British economist (d. 1924)
 1844  Stefan Drzewiecki, Polish scientist and inventor (d. 1938)
 1846  Texas Jack Omohundro, American scout, cowboy and actor (d. 1880)
 1855  Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1936)
 1856  George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1950)
 1858  Tom Garrett, Australian cricketer (d. 1943)
 1862  George P. Cortelyou, American politician (d. 1940)
 1865  Philipp Scheidemann, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1939)
 1866  Princess Milica of Montenegro (d. 1951)
 1874  Serge Koussevitzky, Russian conductor (d. 1961)
 1875  Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
 1875  Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
 1878  Ernst Hoppenberg, German swimmer and water polo player (d. 1937)
 1880  Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1951)
 1882  Dixie Bibb Graves, American politician and United States Senator for Alabama (d. 1965)
 1893  E. R. Dodds, Irish classical scholar (d. 1979)
 1893  George Grosz, German painter (d. 1959)
 1894  Aldous Huxley, British writer (d. 1963)
 1895  Jane Bunford, UK's tallest woman (d. 1922)
 1895  Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne (d. 1964)
 1896  Tom Birkin, English racing driver (d. 1933)
 1897  Paul Gallico, American novelist (d. 1976)

1901  1950 
 1901  Umberto Caligaris, Italian footballer (d. 1940)
 1903  Estes Kefauver, American politician (d. 1963)
 1904  Edwin Albert Link, American inventor of the flight simulator (d. 1981)
 1906  Irena Illakowicz, Polish intelligence agent (d. 1943)
 1907  Donal McLaughlin, American architect and graphic artist (d. 2009)
 1908  Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourg sculptor (d. 2000)
 1909  Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, British politician (d. 1994)
 1909  Vivian Vance, American actress (d. 1979)
 1910  Yann Fouéré, Breton political activist (d. 2011)
 1914  Erskine Hawkins, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1993)
 1914  C. Farris Bryant, 34th Governor of Florida (d. 2002)
 1916  Dean Brooks, American physician and actor (d. 2013)
 1917  Alberta Adams, American singer (d. 2014)
 1917  Bertil Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1998)
 1918  Marjorie Lord, American actress (d. 2015)
 1919  James Lovelock, British scientist
 1919  Angelo Felici, Italian cardinal (d. 2007)
 1920  Mario Fasino, Italian politician, President of Sicily (d. 2017)
 1921  Amedeo Amadei, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
 1922  Gilberto Agustoni, Swiss cardinal (d. 2017)
 1922  Blake Edwards, American movie director (d. 2010)
 1922  Jason Robards, American actor (d. 2000)
 1923  Jan Berenstain, American writer (d. 2012)
 1923  Biff Elliot, American actor (d. 2012)
 1925  Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-born Swedish doctor and politician (d. 2000)
 1925  Joseph Engelberger, American physicist, engineer and entrepreneur (d. 2015)
 1925  Gene Gutowski, Polish-American movie producer (d. 2016)
 1925  Ana María Matute, Spanish writer (d. 2014)
 1926  James Best, American actor (d. 2015)
 1928  Joe Jackson, patriarch of the Jackson musical family (d. 2018)
 1928  Stanley Kubrick, American movie director (d. 1999)
 1928  Francesco Cossiga, 8th President of Italy (d. 2010)
 1928  Peter Lougheed, Canadian politician (d. 2012)
 1928  Bernice Rubens, Welsh writer (d. 2004)
 1928  Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani poet (d. 1980)
 1929  Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian pianist (d. 2012)
 1930  Barbara Jefford, English actress
 1932  James Stafford, American cardinal
 1932  Robert Timlin, American judge (d. 2017)
 1933  Edmund Phelps, American economist
 1933  Lance Percival, English actor, comedian and singer (d. 2015)
 1936  Mary Millar, English actress (d. 1998)
 1936  Lawrie McMenemy, English footballer and coach
 1939  John Howard, 25th Prime Minister of Australia
 1940  Brigitte Hamann, German-Austrian writer and historian (d. 2016)
 1940  Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)
 1940  Jürgen Kurbjuhn, German footballer (d. 2014)
 1942  Hannelore Elsner, German actress (d. 2019)
 1942  Vladimir Meciar, former Prime Minister of Slovakia
 1943  Peter Hyams, American director
 1943  Mick Jagger, British musician
 1945  Helen Mirren, British actress
 1945  Panagiotis Pikrammenos, Greek jurist
 1946  Erwin Huber, German politician
 1947  Alejandra Da Passano, Argentine actress (d. 2014)
 1947  Emilio de Villota, Spanish racing driver
 1949  Sharron Angle, American politician
 1949  Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai politician
 1949  Roger Taylor, British musician (Queen)
 1950  Nelinho, Brazilian footballer
 1950  Susan George, English actress

1951  1975 
 1951  Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, German politician
 1952  Heiner Brand, German handball player and coach
 1953  Felix Magath, German footballer
 1954  Mareike Carrière, German actress (d. 2014)
 1954  Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994)
 1955  Asif Ali Zardari, former President of Pakistan
 1955  Aleksandrs Starkovs, Latvian footballer
 1956  Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater
 1957  Yuen Biao, Chinese actor
 1957  Nana Visitor, American actress
 1959  Kevin Spacey, American actor
 1961  Gary Cherone, American singer-songwriter
 1962  Sigga, Icelandic singer
 1964  Sandra Bullock, American actress
 1965  Jimmy Dore, American comedian
 1965  Jeremy Piven, American actor
 1966  Angelo Di Livio, Italian footballer
 1967  Anthony Durante, American wrestler (d. 2003)
 1967  Jason Statham, English actor and producer
 1968  Olivia Williams, English actress
 1969  Tanni Grey-Thompson, British wheelchair athlete
 1971  Khaled Mahmud, Bangladeshi cricketer
 1971  Andrea Fortunato, Italian footballer (d. 1995)
 1971  Kendall Francois, American murderer (d. 2014)
 1973  Kate Beckinsale, British actress
 1975  Elizabeth Truss, British politician

From 1976 
 1976  Pavel Pardo, Mexican footballer
 1977  Martin Laursen, Danish footballer
 1977  Emma Barton, English actress
 1979  Peter Sarno, Canadian ice hockey player
 1980  Jacinda Ardern, 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand
 1980  Madeleine West, Australian actress
 1980  Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist (Sum 41)
 1980  Sonali Shah, English television presenter
 1981  Maicon Douglas Sisenando, Brazilian footballer
 1983  Kelly Clark, American snowboarder
 1983  Stephen Makinwa, Nigerian footballer
 1983  Delonte West, American basketball player
 1985  Zhou Bichang, Chinese singer-songwriter and actress
 1985  Brice Feillu, French road racing cyclist
 1985  Gaël Clichy, French footballer
 1985  Leonardo Ulloa, Argentine footballer
 1987  Fredy Montero, Colombian footballer
 1988  Sayaka Akimoto, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
 1988  Francia Raisa, American actress
 1988  Diego Perotti, Argentine footballer
 1989  Ivian Sarcos, Venezuelan model
 1990  Jesus Herrada, Spanish motorcycle racer
 1990  Bianca Santos, American actress
 1993  Elizabeth Gillies, American actress and singer
 1993  Taylor Momsen, American actress and singer
 1993  Caleb Stanko, American soccer player
 1993  Stormzy, English rapper
 1996  Tatiana Vorobjova, Estonian tennis player
 1998  Maya Sakura, Japanese singer and actress

Deaths

Up to 1900 
342  Jin Chengdi, Emperor of China (b. 321)
432  Pope Celestine I 
796  Offa, King of Mercia
811  Nicephorus I, Byzantine Emperor (killed in battle)
1380  Emperor Komyo of Japan (b. 1322)
1471  Pope Paul II (b. 1417)
1506  Anne of Foix-Candale, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1478)
1533  Atahualpa, Inca ruler (b. 1502)
1592  Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)
1605  Miguel de Benavides, Spanish clergyman and Sinologist (b. 1552)
1611  Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1542)
1630  Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (b. 1562)
1680  John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer (b. 1647)
1684  Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician (b. 1646)
1712  Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (b. 1631)
1723  Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1660)
1726  Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
1801  Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (b. 1756)
1863  John J. Crittenden, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1786)
1863  Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1793)
1867  King Otto of Greece (b. 1815)

1901  1950 
1915  James Murray, English philologist (b. 1837)
1919  Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1836)
1922  Ciro Luis Urriola, 8th President of Panama (b. 1863)
1925  Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (b. 1888)
1925  Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (b. 1848)
1925  William Jennings Bryan, American politician (b. 1860)
1926  Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician (b. 1843)
1935  Winsor McCay, American cartoonist (b. 1871)
1937  Gerda Taro, German photographer (b. 1910)
1941  Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)
1942  Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (b. 1900)
1943  Ruth M. Gardiner, American nurse (b. 1914)
1944  Reza Shah, ruler of Iran (b. 1878)

1951  2000 
1952  Eva Perón, wife of Argentine President Juan Perón (b. 1919)
1953  Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician (b. 1883)
1957  Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala (b. 1914)
1969  Frank Loesser, American composer (b. 1910)
1970  Robert Taschereau, Canadian jurist (b. 1896)
1971  Diane Arbus, American photographer (suicide) (b. 1923)
1976  Stefanos Natsinas, Greek politician (b. 1910)
1980  Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani poet (b. 1928)
1984  George Gallup, American statistician (b. 1901)
1984  Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)
1986  Averell Harriman, American diplomat (b. 1891)
1988  Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (b. 1919)
1990  Brent Mydland, American musician (b. 1952)
1992  Mary Wells, American singer (b. 1943)
1995  George Romney, Governor of Michigan and father of Mitt Romney (b. 1907)
1999  Phaedon Gizikis, President of Greece (b. 1917)

From 2001 
2001  Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)
2002  Tony Anholt, English actor (b. 1941)
2005  Mario David, Italian footballer (b. 1934)
2009  Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (b. 1919)
2011  Margaret Olley, Australian artist (b. 1923)
2011  Sakyo Komatsu, Japanese science fiction writer (b. 1931)
2012  Lupe Ontiveros, American actress (b. 1942)
2012  Mary Tamm, English actress (b. 1950)
2013  Sung Jae-ki, South Korean activist (b. 1967)
2013  JJ Cale, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1938)
2014  Oleh Babayev, Ukrainian politician (b. 1965)
2014  Charles R. Larson, American admiral (b. 1936)
2014  Majid Nizami, Pakistani journalist (b. 1928)
2014  Roland Verhavert, Belgian movie director (b. 1927)
2015  Bobbi Kristina Brown, American media personality and singer (b. 1993)
2015  Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1922)
2015  Ann Rule, American true crime writer (b. 1931)
2015  Vic Firth, American musician and instruments manufacturer (b. 1930)
2016  Jacques Hamel, French priest (b. 1930)
2016  David A. Katz, American judge (b. 1933)
2016  Mohamed Khan, Egyptian film director (b. 1942)
2017  Patti Deutsch, American actress (b. 1943)
2017  June Foray, American voice actress (b. 1917)
2017  Giovanni Battista Pichierri, Italian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1943)
2017  Lawrence Pezzulo, American diplomat (b. 1926)
2017  Maxlei dos Santos Luzia, Brazilian footballer (b. 1975)
2017  Joachim Vobbe, German Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1947)
2017  Leo Kinnunen, Finnish racing driver (b. 1943)
2018  Adem Demaçi, Albanian politician (b. 1936)
2018  Aloyzas Kveinys, Lithuanian chess player (b. 1962)
2018  María Concepción César, Argentine actress and singer (b. 1926)
2018  Anne Vermeer, Dutch politician (b. 1916)
2019  Graham Freudenberg, Australian political speechwriter (b. 1934)
2019  Jaime Lucas y Alamino, Cuban cardinal (b. 1936)
2019  Kevin Roster, American poker player (b. 1983)
2019  Russi Taylor, American voice actress (b. 1944)
2023 – Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer-songwriter (b. 1966)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Liberia and Maldives)

Days of the year