This Day in History on 19 October

The historical events hold a lot of value for aspirants who are sitting for UPSC competitive exams including the IAS Exam.

On this page, we will list all historical events that occurred on 19 October. The students can refer to them while preparing for all competitive exams and banking exams.

Important Days

Important Events

1216: King John of England died and his 9-year-old son Henry ascended the throne.

1689: Sambhaji’s queen Yesubai and her child surrendered the Raigarh Fort to the Mughals.

1774: Members of the Council and the Judge of Supreme Court of England came to improve the management in India.

1812: Napoleon Bonaparte withdrew from Moscow.

1875: The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment was opened to traffic.

1900: ‘Planck’s law’ was proposed by the German scientist Max Planck. It is also called the ‘Black Body Emission’ rule.

1913: At a meeting of the Natal Indian Congress in Durban, NIC secretaries, M. C. Anglia and Dada Osman, severely criticised Mahatma Gandhi and tender their resignations.

1933: Germany withdrew from the League of Nations.

1935: The League of Nations imposed economic sanctions on Italy over its invasion of Ethiopia.

1950: Iran became the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program. 

1950: Mother Teresa founded the Missionary of Charities in Calcutta.

1953: Sriramulu Potti started a fast-unto-death for the Andhra state.

1954: Nehru and Mao meet in Peking.

1967: Dr. C. V. Raman elucidated his new theory on wave motion in respect to vision and dim light.

1970: Delivery of the first Indian-made MiG fighter jet to the Air Force. The Indian Air Force incorporated its first indigenously built MiG-21 aircraft into the Army. Privy purses and privileges of former Indian rulers were abolished.

1983: Prof. Subramanyam Chandrasekhar shares the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with fellow American Prof. William Fowler.

1983: Union Government takes over the management of 13 textile undertakings in Bombay; marathon strike in cotton textile industry ends.

1987: A steep decline in the share price was recorded in New York’s Wall Street amid heavy selling pressure and its impact on the stock markets around the world.

1990: The Government of India under an ordinance puts forward a three-point formula for Ayodhya issue: (i) to acquire the land (ii) other land may be given for building temple except the disputed one (iii) the issue may referred to Supreme Court for speedy solution.

1994: The government of Madhya Pradesh announced the Tansen Award to Rudraveena player Ustad Asad Ali Khan.

2000: The Government creates an electronic database of all the principal Central Acts from 1834 to 1996 of all India application.

2005: Saddam Hussein was tried for crimes against humanity.

Birth/Birth Anniversary

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American astrophysicist
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American astrophysicist

1870: Matangini Hazra, also known as Gandhi buri, was a revolutionary who stood strong for the Indian independence until she was shot dead

1888: Namakkal Kavignar, Gandhian poet and painter, was born at Mohanur in Salem.

1907: Sulochana Modi, first lady Mayor of Mumbai Mahanagar Palika, was born.

Sharadchandra Shankar Shrikhande, Indian mathematician
Sharadchandra Shankar Shrikhande, Indian mathematician

1910: Subrahamanyam Chandrasekhar was born in Lahore. He was one of the world’s leading astrophysicists. For his contributions to the study of stars, Chandrasekhar had received the highest award in Science, the Noble Prize in Physics in 1983.

1911: Majaz, Indian Urdu poet and writer.

1920: Pandurang Shastri Athavale was an activist, philosopher, spiritual leader, social revolutionary, and a religion reformist who founded the Swadhyaya Parivar in 1954.

Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian activist
Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian activi

1920: Prakashchandra Sethi, former central minister, was born.

1929: Nirmala Deshpande was a social activist who embraced the Gandhian philosophy.

1929: Balbir Singh, India field hockey player (Olympic gold 1948-56), was born.

1947: Kundan Shah was a director and writer.

Sunny Deol, Indian actor and producer
Sunny Deol, Indian actor and producer

1954: Priya Tendulkar was an actress, writer, and social activist, who is known for her television series Rajani.

1954: Jatinder Pannu, journalist and a social activist from Punjab, India

1956: Ajay Singh Deol/ Sunny Deol is an actor, director, producer, and now also politician.

1979: T. R. Baalu was born in Thalikottai, Distt. Thiruvarur (Tamil Nadu).

1982: Nauheed Cyrusi is a model, actress, and Video Jockey.

1987: Jamie Janumala is a stand-up comedian.

Death/ Death Anniversary

1216: King John of England.

1745: Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and cleric.

1875: Sir Charles Wheatstone, an English scientist, and inventor.

1934: Vishwanath Kar, Indian-Oriya writer, editor, and social reformer.

1937: Ernest Rutherford, Nobel Prize-winning British physicist.

1974: T. S. Rajamanikkam Pillai, famous Tamil stage artist, died.

1983: Mareez, born as Abbas Abdul Ali Vasi, was a Gujarati poet who is popular for his Ghazals. He is also popularly known as Ghalib of Gujarat.

1986: Samora Mahal, Mozambique’s first president.

1995: Baby Naz, Indian Child artist, and actress.

2000: Sharad Vaidya was a surgeon who specialized in cancer surgery. He came from the Vaidya family which has been practicing medicine for over 350 years.

2003: Alija Izetbegovic, the first president of Botswana and Herzegovina.

Kakkanadan, Indian author
Kakkanadan, Indian author

2005: Mohan Segal was a director and producer.

2006: Srividya, also known as Sreevidya, was a film actress known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil for 40 years. She has acted in over 800 films in her entire career.

2009: Sushila Kerketta was a member of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha from 1985 to 2000 and also in Lok sabha from Khunti. She also held several important portfolios in the Bihar government and was the minister of state for irrigation from 1985 to 1988.

2011: George Varghese Kakkanadan, popularly called Kakkanadan, was an Indian short story writer and novelist in the Malayalam language.

2011: Kakkanadan, Indian author (b. 1935)

2013: K. Raghavan was a Malayalam music composer.

Further Reading

Month-wise This Day in History