26 May: On this day in history
What events happened on 26 May in history? We round up the events, births and deaths…
26 May 1650
Birth at Ashe House in Devon of John Churchill, future first Duke of Marlborough and victor at the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.
26 May 1651
Jeanne Gardiner was executed for witchcraft at St George, Bermuda. During her trial she was subjected to ordeal by water, being twice thrown into the sea. According to a contemporary account "she did swyme like a corke and could not sinke".
26 May 1868
The 27-year-old Fenian Michael Barrett becomes the last man to be publicly hanged in Britain as he is executed outside Newgate Prison for his alleged part in the Clerkenwell bombing which left 13 dead and 50 injured.
26 May 1907
Marion Morrison, better known as the actor John Wayne, is born in Winterset, Iowa.
26 May 1909
Matt Busby is born in the Scottish mining village of Orbiston. An ex-Manchester City and Liverpool player, he becomes manager of Man United. After surviving the 1958 Munich air crash, he leads United to victory in the 1968 European Cup Final.
26 May 1942
British foreign secretary Anthony Eden and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed the Anglo-Soviet Treaty, a mutual assistance agreement between the two countries.
Get exclusive access to Ruth Goodman’s six-week Academy course on Victorian Life, featuring two live Q&As + a book of your choice when you subscribe to BBC History Magazine
