129 things happened on 19 January, from AD 379 to 2025. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1736 · 290 years ago
James Watt was a Scottish inventor and engineer, born on 19 January by the old calendar then used in Britain. While working at the University of Glasgow, he found a way to make steam engines waste much less energy. His improved steam engine made them far more…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
MP and journalist John Wilkes was thrown out of the House of Commons for seditious libel, which means publishing words that attack the government. In issue 45 of his newspaper, The North Briton, he had criticised a speech given by King George III. Many people supported him, chanting 'Wilkes, Liberty and Number 45'. Wilkes later helped win the right for newspapers to report what was said in Parliament.
UK story
A helicopter flying from Aberdeen to an oil platform in the North Sea was struck by lightning, which badly damaged its tail rotor. The pilots made a controlled emergency landing on the rough sea. Floats kept the helicopter up while everyone climbed into a life raft. Despite high waves and bad weather, all 18 people on board were rescued.
UK story
Hundred Years' War: The siege of Rouen ended with English troops capturing the city from Norman French forces.
UK story
The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
UK story
The British East India Company captures Aden.
UK story
British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
General José de San Martín led an army of more than 5,000 soldiers over the Andes mountains from Argentina into Chile. The crossing took 21 days, at heights averaging 3,000 metres. Its aim was to free Chile, and later Peru, from Spanish rule. The feat has been compared with Hannibal's and Napoleon's famous crossings of the Alps.
The first electric lighting system to use overhead wires, built by inventor Thomas Edison, started working in Roselle, New Jersey, in the USA. That year Edison began building lighting systems for small towns across the country. He is famous for his work on the light bulb, the phonograph, which recorded sound, and early films. He registered 1,093 patents in the United States.
Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister of India, the first woman to lead the country. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. She served until 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984, almost 16 years in all. She remains the only woman to have been India's prime minister.
The last Volkswagen Beetle to be built in Germany left the factory in Emden. Factories in Latin America kept making the car until 2003. The Beetle, known for its bug-like shape, was made for 65 years, longer than any other single design of car. More than 21.5 million were built around the world.
A four-man team called N2i reached Antarctica's Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on the continent furthest from the sea. They had travelled 1,093 miles using skis, kites and their own muscle power, and were the first to get there on foot. At an old abandoned Soviet research station, they found a statue of Lenin that had been left there about 48 years earlier.
Japan's SLIM spacecraft, nicknamed the 'Moon Sniper', made a soft landing on the Moon. Japan became the fifth country to do this, after the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India. SLIM's main job was to test landing very precisely, using technology from face-recognition systems to spot craters. It landed safely but ended up on its side, so its solar panels faced away from the Sun.
Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She'er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
John VIII Palaiologos marries Sophia of Montferrat and is then crowned Byzantine co-emperor to his father Manuel II Palaiologos.
War of the League of Cambrai: Troops led by Pope Julius II captured Mirandola (depicted) after a brief siege.
San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
Hämeenlinna (Swedish: Tavastehus) is granted privileges after it separated from the Vanaja parish as its own city in Tavastia.
The Batavian Republic was established the day after William V fled the Dutch Republic as a result of the Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam.
The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, replacing the Dutch Republic.
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
A deed was recorded for David Hanbury to sell Island No. 2 in northern California to his brother John for $10 ($358.33 in .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}2025).
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded by the directors of the National Civil Liberties Bureau.
The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in seven hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
World War II: The Japanese conquest of Burma begins.
General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
Japan and the United States sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty
An earthquake registering 6.8 Ms struck northern Himachal Pradesh in India, causing extensive damage to the region.
Iva Toguri (pictured), convicted of treason for broadcasting Japanese propaganda, was granted a full pardon by U.S. president Gerald Ford.
Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
A tank barge and a tug grounded on a beach in Rhode Island, causing a spill of an estimated 828,000 U.S. gallons (3.13 million litres) of home heating oil.
Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
The Hong Kong–based file-sharing website Megaupload was shut down by the FBI.
Bytedance and sister companies are banned from the United States for "security concerns".
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year was James Watt born?
B: 1736. 1736 — that’s 290 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “John Wilkes is expelled from the House of Commons”?
C: 1764. 1764 — that’s 262 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: John Wilkes is expelled from the House of Commons. 1883: Edison's first electric lighting system with overhead wires begins · 1764: John Wilkes is expelled from the House of Commons · 1995: Everyone is rescued after lightning strikes a North Sea helicopter Find it on the page
“Everyone is rescued after lightning strikes a North Sea helicopter” happened in 1995. How many years ago was that?
B: 31 years. 2026 − 1995 = 31. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 19 January.
UK story
James Watt was a Scottish inventor and engineer, born on 19 January by the old calendar then used in Britain. While working at the University of Glasgow, he found a way to make steam engines waste much less energy. His improved steam engine made them far more powerful and efficient. It was hugely important in the Industrial Revolution, both in Britain and around the world.
UK story
Captain Matthew Webb was an English sailor and swimmer from Dawley, Shropshire. In 1875 he became the first person to swim the English Channel without any artificial aids, swimming from Dover to Cap Gris-Nez in France. He had learned to swim as a child in the River Severn. His achievement made swimming much more popular in England, at a time when few people could swim.
Well-known people who died on 19 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 19 January somewhere in the world.
Timkat is the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, held on 19 January, or 20 January in a leap year. It remembers the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. Priests carry a model of the Ark of the Covenant in colourful processions, and water is blessed and sprinkled on the crowds. In 2019 UNESCO added Timkat to its list of the world's important cultural traditions.
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Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “January 19” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.