On This Day in History

May 11

Historical Events

330 Newly built city of Constantinople (Byzantium) dedicated to Emperor Constantine the Great, becomes the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire

1189 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg for the Third Crusade.

1751 Pennsylvania Hospital founded by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia.

British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham, drawing by John Heaviside Clark

1812 British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London. Ironically, descendants of both later stand for the same seat in Parliament at the same time but neither win.

1995 More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

2000 India's population officially reaches 1 billion - Astha Arora named India's billionth baby.

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Famous Birthdays

Harriet Quimby 1875 - 1912 Irving Berlin 1888 - 1989

Salvador Dali 1904 - 1989 Louis Farrakhan 91st Birthday

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Famous Deaths

John D. Rockefeller Jr 1874 - 1960 Bob Marley 1945 - 1981

Also John Herschel and Floyd Patterson.

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Assassination of a British Prime Minister

Only one British Prime Minister has ever been assassinated, a fact that brought the only claim to fame for Spencer Perceval.

Spencer Perceval Assassinated