August 1903

[August 1], 1903 (Saturday)

• Polish Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko issues a veto against the nomination of the front runner, Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, in the name of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. The veto is refused, but Rampolla loses some of his support.
• Died: Calamity Jane, frontierswoman and professional scout, 51

  [August 2], 1903 (Sunday)

• The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, organized by the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization, breaks out in the Ottoman provinces of Macedonia and Adrianople.
• Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline, Scotland, is gifted to the people of the town by Dunfermline native Andrew Carnegie.
• The US schooner Tennie and Laura capsizes and sinks in Lake Michigan, off Port Washington, Wisconsin. One of the two crew members is killed.
• The final of Sweden's 1903 Svenska Mästerskapet football tournament is won by Göteborgs IF.

  [August 3], 1903 (Monday)

• Born:
• * Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian lawyer and politician, President of Tunisia 1957–1987, in Monastir
• * Fahri Korutürk, Turkish naval officer and politician, President of Turkey 1973–80, in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire

  [August 4], 1903 (Tuesday)

• After five rounds of voting by the papal conclave, Pope Pius X succeeds Pope Leo XIII, becoming the 257th pope.
• Born: Helen Kane, US singer, in New York City

  [August 5], 1903 (Wednesday)

• Born: Prince Nicholas of Romania, second son of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his wife Queen Marie, at Peleş Castle, Sinaia.

  [August 6], 1903 (Thursday)

• The 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, presided over by Lenin, is forced by police action to relocate from Brussels, Belgium, to London, UK.
• The second tropical cyclone of the season is observed east of the Windward Islands.
• King Edward VII of the United Kingdom appoints Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote, as the next Governor-General of Australia with effect from January 1904.

  [August 7], 1903 (Friday)

• Born: Louis Leakey, Kenyan paleoanthropologist and archaeologist, in Kabete, East Africa Protectorate

  [August 8], 1903 (Saturday)

• During a Philadelphia Phillies home match at Baker Bowl a balcony collapses, killing four people and injuring many more. The Phillies temporarily move to Columbia Park pending repairs.
• The British government writes to other parties involved in the Berlin Conference of 1884-5, with details of abuses and atrocities in the Congo for which King Leopold II of Belgium was deemed responsible.

  [August 9], 1903 (Sunday)

• At his coronation ceremony, Pope Pius X shocks his entourage by wearing a simple pectoral cross made of gilded metal, which he says is the only one he owns.
• The tropical storm observed on August 6 strikes Martinique, leaving thousands homeless in Fort-de-France and surrounding villages. Eight people are killed.
• Kerry GAA defeat Cork GAA in the semi-final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship - Munster division at Millstreet.

  [August 10], 1903 (Monday)

• Paris Métro train fire: After several attempts to extinguish a fire on the wooden-bodied Train 43–52, the flames get out of control and 84 people are killed, most at Couronnes station.
• The Oseberg Ship, a 9th-century Viking ship, is discovered in a large burial mound at a farm near Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway.

  [August 11], 1903 (Tuesday)

• A hurricane strikes Jamaica, devastating the island's northern shore and wrecking several ships. Between 65 and 90 people are killed.
• Two people are killed when an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 strikes Kythera, Greece
• Died: Eugenio María de Hostos, 64, Puerto Rican lawyer, philosopher and campaigner

  [August 12], 1903 (Wednesday)

• The hurricane that struck Jamaica on August 11 reaches the Cayman Islands, destroying 200 homes and seven churches on Grand Cayman alone.

  [August 13], 1903 (Thursday)

[August 14], 1903 (Friday)

• The Land Purchase Act is passed in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, encouraging landlords to sell their Irish estates to tenants.

  [August 15], 1903 (Saturday)

• The post of Commanding General of the United States Army is replaced by that of Chief of Staff of the Army; Samuel B. M. Young is the first to take the new title.

  [August 16], 1903 (Sunday)

• The hurricane that has already devastated Jamaica dissipates over San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where it causes significant flooding in the area between Tampico and Cárdenas.

  [August 17], 1903 (Monday)

• The Great Western Railway is the first British railway company to operate its own road motor services when it begins running buses between Helston and The Lizard in Cornwall.

  [August 18], 1903 (Tuesday)

• German inventor Karl Jatho gets his motorized heavier-than-air aircraft up to 200 feet above the ground.

  [August 19], 1903 (Wednesday)

• Born: James Gould Cozzens, US novelist, in Chicago

  [August 20], 1903 (Thursday)

[August 21], 1903 (Friday)

• Captain Robert Falcon Scott, on his first Antarctic expedition, observes that the expedition's second long polar night has ended when he sees the sun's rim above the northern horizon.

  [August 22], 1903 (Saturday)

• Died: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, 73, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

  [August 23], 1903 (Sunday)

• The Australian screw steamer Narara catches fire at her moorings at Sackville, New South Wales, Australia, and is scuttled. The ship was later refloated, repaired, and returned to service.

  [August 24], 1903 (Monday)

• Laurence Doherty defeats William Clothier 6–3, 6–2, 6–3 in the Final of the U.S. Men's National Singles Championship, which took place a day late because of rain the previous day.
• Born: Graham Sutherland, English artist, in Streatham

  [August 25], 1903 (Tuesday)

• The Judiciary Act is passed in the Australian parliament, regulating the structure of Australia's judicial system and conferring jurisdiction on Australian federal courts.
• Teresa Urrea's home in Los Angeles, United States, where she had been supporting Mexican workers, is destroyed by fire.

  [August 26], 1903 (Wednesday)

[August 27], 1903 (Thursday)

• Lord Northcote, Governor of Bombay, informs Lord George Hamilton that he and his wife are leaving India.

  [August 28], 1903 (Friday)

• A reception is held at Poona, India, for the outgoing Governor of Bombay, Lord Northcote, with an estimated 7,000 people in attendance.

  [August 29], 1903 (Saturday)

• George Ade's play, The County Chairman, is performed for the first time, at the Auditorium in South Bend, Indiana, United States.

  [August 30], 1903 (Sunday)

[August 31], 1903 (Monday)

• Born: Arthur Godfrey, US broadcaster, in Manhattan