From witch trials to the launch of Facebook, over the years February has been witness to a range of exciting and game-changing historic events.
With stories from ancient Greece all the way through to recent living day memories, here are 24 historic events that happened in February.
24 historic events that happened in February
1st February, 1901
The royal yacht ‘Alberta’ brought the body of Queen Victoria into Portsmouth harbour en route to her funeral, which would take place in London the next day.
The Queen had died a week earlier (January 22) at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. She was 82.
1st February, 1960
The Greensboro sit-in civil rights protest started when fourmale African American students sat at the lunch counter in a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro North Carolina. The store’s official policy was to refuse service to non-white people, but the four men refused to give up their seats.
The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed and returned the next day with more students from local colleges. The sit-in movement soon spread to other college towns throughout the South and had a lasting impact – forcing Woolworth’s and other establishments to change their segregationist policies.
2nd February, 1665
British forces captured New Amsterdam, which was the centre of the Dutch colony in Manhattan, North America.
After its capture, New Amsterdam was renamed ‘New York’ in honour of the Duke of York who was its new governor.
6th February, 1952
King George VI of England died, meaning his daughter Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II.
Though, her actual coronation took place on June 2, 1953.
4th February, 2004
Mark Zuckerberg created the Facebook social media platform whilst he was a sophomore at Harvard. Zuckerberg had built Facebook to connect Harvard students with one another.
By the next day, over a thousand people had registered, which was only the beginning. Today, Facebook has roughly 2.91 billion monthly users.
7th February, 1301
King Edward I of England gave his son Edward (later King Edward II) the title of Prince of Wales. This followed the King’s conquest of Wales in 1283 and the execution of David III – the last native Prince of Wales.
The title ‘Prince of Wales’ remains to this day and is reserved exclusively for the heir apparent to the British throne.
8th February, 1587
Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for treason at Fotheringhay Castle. Before her execution, she had spent 19 years in prison for her role in the Babington Plot (a plan to murder her cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England).
Supported by Catholics across the country, Mary Queen of Scots was a threat to Protestant Queen Elizabeth who – since Henry VIII had annulled his marriage to her mother Anne Boleyn – many believed had no real claim to the throne.
9th February, 1964
Seventy-three million Americans tuned into the Ed Sullivan Show to watch four young men from Liverpool appear for the very first time – The Beatles.
The musical group had grown out of a shared enthusiasm for American rock and roll. Some of The Beatles most famous hits include ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘A Day in the Life’, and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.
11th February, 1975
Margaret Thatcher became the first female leader of a major political party in the UK, as leader of the British Conservative Party.
A few years later in 1979, Thatcher also became the first female prime minister of Britain, serving until 1990. Due to her uncompromising politics and leadership style, Thatcher became known as the ‘Iron Lady’.
11th February, 1990
Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster prison after being jailed for 27 years, aged 71. He was imprisoned for attempting to overthrow South Africa’s apartheid rule.
Four years after his release, he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected president.
Mandela served one term as president before focusing on his work for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the Nelson Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
Nelson Mandela died in 2013 and is remembered for his relentless fight for equality, and his work to combat poverty, AIDS, and HIV.
13th February, 1688
In an event known as the Glorious Revolution, Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary (daughter of James II) ascended to the English throne after Catholic King James II fled to France.
The Glorious Revolution changed how England was governed – giving Parliament more power over the monarchy – which planted the seeds for the beginning of political democracy.
12th February, 1554
At just 16 years old, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded at the Tower of London. Ruling for just nine days, Jane Grey is remembered in British history as the monarch with the shortest reign.
Despite being fifth in line to the throne after the death of her cousin King Edward VI, Lady Jane was proclaimed Queen in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the accession of Catholic Mary Tudor. The plot ultimately led to her death.
14th February, 1946
Scientists J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly demonstrated the first general purpose electronic digital computer – called the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer – at the University of Pennsylvania.
15th February, 399 B.C
Philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death in Athens after being accused of corrupting the minds of the youth in the city. Socrates is one of the most famous classical philosophers from Ancient Greece, known for tutoring figures like Plato and Xenophon.
Socrates accepted his death sentence without resistance. It was custom at the time for those sentenced to death to be given an opportunity to flee into exile, but Socrates refused.
15th February, 1965
Legendary singer and pianist Nat King Cole died in his sleep at St. John’s hospital in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 45-years-old. He’s thought to have suffered from lung cancer.
Nat King Cole was best known for his legendary music – including hits like ‘Unforgettable’, ‘I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons)’, and ‘(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66’. Cole also made history in 1956 when he became the first black host of a variety series; The Nat King Cole Show.
15th February, 1971
Pennies, bobs, and half-crowns all disappeared as the first decimal coins were introduced in Britain.
This huge change took the Decimal Currency Board five years to plan.
16th February, 600
The Black Plague was sweeping through Europe and Pope Gregory the Great declared that the proper response to someone sneezing should be ‘God Bless You’.
Heissued a papal edict that ordered everyone within earshot of a sneeze to immediately say the short, three word prayer asking God for his blessing upon the unfortunate person.
18th February, 1478
George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, died in the Tower of London. He was sentenced to death after being accused of slandering his brother King Edward IV and readying a rebellion against him.
Supposedly drowned in a butt of his favourite malmsey wine, George Plantagenet’s death has gone down as one of the strangest in history.
18th February, 1979
Snow fell in low altitude areas of the Sahara desert for the first time in living memory during a 30 minute snow storm.
Following this, the Sahara didn’t see snowfall again until 2016 (37 years later).
21st February, 1804
British engineer Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive.
The Penydarren made three journeys between the Penydarren ironworks near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal. However, the seven ton locomotive was so heavy that it broke the rails on every trip and the project was abandoned.
24th February, 1981
Prince Charles announced his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer after he had proposed three weeks earlier at Buckingham Palace.
The couple married later that year on 29 July.
26th February, 1797
The Bank of England issued the first ever one pound note.
The one pound note continued to be printed until 1984, before it was withdrawn in 1988 in favour of the one pound coin.
26th February, 1848
The Communist Manifesto pamphlet was published by two young socialists, Karl Marx and Friedrick Engels. The pamphlet advocated the abolition of all private property and a system in which workers owned all means of production, factories, land, and machinery.
The Communist Manifesto predicted revolution throughout Europe, and in the 20th century the world began witnessing the rise of dictators like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. By 1950 nearly half of the world’s population lived under Marxist governments.
29th February, 1692
Three women – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba – were accused of witchcraft, marking the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials in Salem Village, colonial Massachusetts.
The Salem witch trials led to the execution of 20 ‘witches’, with more dying in prison before and after the trial.
Final thoughts…
For more history related articles, head over the art and culture section of our website. Here you’ll find everything from historic sites and stately homes to visit across the UK, to unmissable history films and book recommendations.
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