Victoria Day commemorates the May 24, 1819, birthday of Britain’s Queen Victoria (who since has had a whole era named for her—the Victorian era). The British have always celebrated the birthday of the ruling monarch. After Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, the people of Canada continued to mark her birthday to show loyalty to the British Empire. In the early 1890s, this day was known as Empire’s Day. In 1947, the name was changed to Commonwealth Day. Today it is again known as Victoria Day, and it is a legal holiday in all Canadian provinces except Quebec.
Daily Calendar for Monday, May 19, 2025
Traditional weather lore has it that St. Dunstan was a great brewer who sold himself to the devil on the condition that the devil would blight the apple trees to stop the production of cider, Dunstan’s rival drink. This is said to be the cause of the wintry blast that usually comes about this time.
Died
- Anne Boleyn (Henry VIII’s second wife) –
- Robert B. Thomas (founder of The Old Farmer’s Almanac) –
- Nathaniel Hawthorne (writer) –
- T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia”“) –
- Ogden Nash (poet) –
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (U.S. First Lady) –
- Walter Lord (author) –
- Charles Grodin (actor, talk show host) –
Born
- Johns Hopkins (philanthropist) –
- Carl Akeley (artist, biologist, & conservationist) –
- Malcolm X (civil rights activist) –
- Lorraine Hansberry (playwright) –
- Francis Richard Scobee (astronaut) –
- Nora Ephron (author & director) –
- Pete Townshend (musician) –
- Andre the Giant (wrestler & actor) –
- Jodi Picoult (author) –
- Kevin Garnett (basketball player) –
- Connor Wong (baseball player) –
Events
- Dark Day in New England –
- Author Oscar Wilde released from jail –
- First Jumping Frog Jubilee in Calaveras County, California –
- 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Imperial Valley, California –
- Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. It was the first major league no-hitter of the season –
- In Kansas, paraplegic Anna Sarol — with the assistance of braces, a walker, and her siblings — took steps across the graduation stage to receive her high school diploma. She had worked towards this moment ever since a gymnastics accident nearly four years before had left her paralyzed from the waist down. –
Weather
- Dark Day: Darkness fell at noon throughout New England due to smoke from western forest fires. –
- 99 degrees F at Central Park, New York City –
- Heavy rain and golf ball-size hail destroyed 80 percent of the crops in northwestern Texas –
