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Notable Deaths on February 29
64 people
468 – 2024
February 29 has seen 64 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 468 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1868 — Ludwig I of Bavaria (born 1786)
Ludwig I of Bavaria (born 1786)
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After the July Revolution of 1830 in France, Ludwig's previous liberal policy became increasingly repressive; in 1844, he was confronted during the Beer riots in Bavaria
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Ludwig I or Louis I was King of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states
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On 20 March 1848, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Maximilian.
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During the revolutions of 1848, he faced increasing protests and demonstrations by students and the middle classes
468
Anglo-Saxon archbishop and saint (born 925)
Oswald of Worcester was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, Oda of Canterbury, who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a…
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992
Duke of Bavaria-Munich (born 1401)
Albert III the Pious of Bavaria-Munich, was Duke of Bavaria-Munich from 1438 to 1460. He was the son of Ernest, Duke of Bavaria and Elisabetta Visconti, daughter of Bernabò Visconti.
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1460
Scottish Protestant reformer and martyr (born 1504)
Patrick Hamilton was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest and an early Protestant Reformer in Scotland. He travelled to Europe, where he met several of the leading reformed thinkers, before returning to Scotland to preach…
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1528
Italian composer and diplomat (born 1536/1537)
Alessandro Striggio was an Italian composer, instrumentalist and diplomat of the Renaissance. He composed numerous madrigals as well as dramatic music, and by combining the two, became the inventor of madrigal comedy.…
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1592
German pastor, historian and cartographer (born 1529)
Caspar Hennenberger was a German Lutheran pastor, historian and cartographer.
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1600
English archbishop and academic (born 1530)
John Whitgift was an English clergyman and academic who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 until his death in 1604. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting…
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1604
Swiss anatomist (born 1653)
Johann Conrad Peyer was a Swiss anatomist who was a native of Schaffhausen.
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1712
French-English physicist and philosopher (born 1683)
John Theophilus Desaguliers was a French-born British natural philosopher, clergyman, engineer and freemason who was elected to the Royal Society in 1714 as experimental assistant to Isaac Newton. He had studied at…
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1744
German piano builder (born 1728)
Johann (Georg) Andreas Stein was an outstanding German maker of keyboard instruments, a central figure in the history of the piano.
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1792
German historian and critic (born 1743)
Johann Joachim Eschenburg was a German critic and literary historian.
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1820
French general, painter and lithographer (born 1775)
Brigade-General Louis-François, Baron Lejeune was a French Army officer, painter, lithographer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His memoirs have frequently been republished and…
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1848
French Christian missionary (born 1814)
Auguste Chapdelaine, Chinese name Mǎ Lài was a French Christian missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. France used his death—Chapdelaine was executed by Chinese officials—as a casus belli for its…
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1856
Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (born 1812)
Sir James Milne Wilson was a colonial Australian politician who served as premier of Tasmania from 1869 to 1872.
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1880
Irish-Australian politician (born 1818)
Patrick O'Sullivan was an Australian politician who served as a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
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1904
French astronomer (born 1845)
Henri Joseph Anastase Perrotin was a French astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets. Some sources give his middle name as Athanase.
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1904
American sheriff (born 1850)
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent known for killing Billy the Kid. He was the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, as well as Doña Ana County, New Mexico.…
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1908
1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish-Australian politician, 1st Governor-General of Australia (born 1860)
John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 7th Earl of Hopetoun was a British aristocrat and statesman who served as the first governor-general of Australia, in office from 1900 to 1902. He was previously the…
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1908
English-Australian journalist and politician (born 1863)
John Leighton Nanson was a journalist and politician in Western Australia. A former writer and sub-editor with The West Australian, he served in the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1901 to 1905 and again…
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1916
American baseball player (born 1875)
Edward Ernest Courtney was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Beaneaters (1902), Baltimore Orioles (1902), New York Highlanders (1903), Detroit Tigers (1903) and Philadelphia…
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1920
Australian educator (born 1845)
Frederic Chapple was the headmaster of Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1876 to 1914.
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1924
Swiss architect and theorist (born 1862)
Adolphe Appia was a Swiss architect and theorist of stage lighting and décor. He was the son of Red Cross co-founder Louis Appia.
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1928
American poet and librarian (born 1841)
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate…
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1928
1932
Italian mathematician (born 1875)
Giuseppe Vitali was an Italian mathematician who worked in several branches of mathematical analysis. He gives his name to several entities in mathematics, most notably the Vitali set with which he was the first to give…
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1932
English archaeologist and author (born 1867)
Edward Frederic Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer.
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1940
Finnish lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd President of Finland (born 1861)
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad served as the president of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Before 1917, as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Grand Duchy of Finland, Svinhufvud played a major role in the movement for…
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1944
English lawyer and journalist (born 1891)
Robert McGowan Barrington-Ward was an English barrister and journalist who was editor of The Times from 1941 until 1948.
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1948
Australian entrepreneur (born 1865)
Sarah Ann Jenyns (1865–1952) founded the Jenyns Patent Corset Pty Co with her husband Ebenezer Randolphus Jenyns (1865–1958) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1909. The business manufactured surgical instruments and…
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1952
Filipino lawyer and politician, 6th President of the Philippines (born 1890)
Elpidio Rivera Quirino was the sixth president of the Philippines, serving from 1948 to 1953. As the second vice president from 1946 to 1948, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Manuel Roxas in 1948.
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1956
American police officer and FBI agent (born 1903)
Melvin Horace Purvis II was an FBI agent who was instrumental in capturing bank robbers John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd in 1934. In his later military career, he was directly involved with General George Patton,…
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1960
American journalist and author (born 1894)
Walter M. Yust was an American journalist and writer. Yust was the American editor-in-chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1938 to 1960.
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1960
American actor and singer (born 1909)
Francis Healey Albertson was an American actor who had supporting roles in films such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Psycho (1960).
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1964
1968
American football player and coach (born 1896)
Thomas J. Davies was an American football player and coach. He played as a halfback at the University of Pittsburgh and was a consensus All-American in 1918 and 1920. After retiring as a player, Davies worked as a…
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1972
American politician (born 1902)
Florence Price Dwyer was an American Republican Party politician who represented much of Union County, New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1973. From 1967 to 1973, she also represented…
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1976
Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (born 1918)
Yigal Allon was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaAvoda and Israeli Labor parties. He…
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1980
American painter and illustrator (born 1914)
Gillette Alexander Elvgren
was an American painter of pin-up models, advertising and illustration. Best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow, Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He was…
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1980
Polish screenwriter and songwriter (born 1903)
Ludwik Starski was a Polish Jewish lyricist, sound engineer and screenwriter of the twentieth century. He was the father of the set designer Allan Starski, who often worked with movie director Andrzej Wajda and received…
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1984
1992
Czech-American director, producer and screenwriter (born 1926)
František "Frank" Daniel was a Czech-American screenwriter, film director and teacher. He is known for developing the sequence paradigm of screenwriting, in which a classically constructed movie can be broken down into…
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1996
American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1939)
Wesley Donald Farrell was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s.
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1996
American baseball player, coach and manager (born 1924)
Ralph Emanuel Rowe was an American outfielder and manager in minor league baseball, and a coach at the Major League level. A native of Newberry, South Carolina, Rowe threw right-handed, batted left-handed, stood 5 feet…
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1996
American guitarist (born 1961)
Dennis Eric Danell was an American guitarist and a founding member of the Southern California punk rock band Social Distortion.
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2000
Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (born 1923)
Kagamisato Kiyoji was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture. He was the sport's 42nd yokozuna.
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2004
American playwright and author (born 1915)
Jerome Lawrence was an American playwright and author. After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1937 and the University of California, Los Angeles in 1939, Lawrence partnered with Robert Edwin Lee to help…
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2004
Barbadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (born 1931)
Sir Harold Bernard St. John, KA was a Barbadian politician who served as the third prime minister of Barbados from 1985 to 1986. To date, he is the shortest serving Barbadian prime minister. He was leader of the…
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2004
South African cricketer (born 1943)
Anthony Lorraine "Lorrie" Wilmot was a South African first-class cricketer from Cape Province who played from 1960–61 to 1988–89.
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2004
American author (born 1946)
Janet Kagan was an American author. Her works include two science fiction novels and two science fiction collections, plus numerous science fiction and fantasy short stories that appeared in publications such as Analog…
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2008
Danish painter and illustrator (born 1917)
Erik Ortvad was a painter and a creator of many drawings.
He debuted as a painter in 1935. He is mostly known for colorful surrealistic paintings..
He also created several hundred satiric drawings about the modern way…
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2008
Japanese scholar and philosopher (born 1922)
Akira Yamada was a Japanese scholar and philosopher of the West European Medieval philosophy. Member of the Japan Academy since 1998.
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2008
English singer, guitarist and actor (born 1945)
David Thomas Jones was an English musician and actor. Best known as a member of the American pop rock band the Monkees and a co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968), Jones was considered a teen idol.
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2012
American illustrator (born 1920)
Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff was an American comics artist best known for his early work on the DC Comics characters Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and as one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" on the superhero Batman. He…
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2012
Indian social leader (born 1930)
P. K. Narayana Panicker was the President and General Secretary of the Nair Service Society (NSS), the social service organisation established in 1914. He is the second-longest-serving general secretary of the…
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2012
Filipino director and screenwriter (born 1966)
Edwin Villanes Deramas, more commonly known as Direk Wenn or Wenn V. Deramas, was a Filipino film and TV director and screenwriter.
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2016
2016
Swedish singer (born 1969)
Monica Emma Josefin Nilsson, registered as Monica Emma Josefina Nilsson was a Swedish singer and actress.
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2016
Pakistani assassin, executed (born 1985)
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, better known as Mumtaz Qadri, was a Pakistani Elite Police commando who is known for murdering Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Punjab. Qadri was a commando of the Elite Police and, at the time of…
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2016
English author (born 1951)
Louise Rennison was an English author and comedian who wrote the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series for teenage girls. The series records the exploits of a teenage girl, Georgia Nicolson, and her best friends, the…
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2016
German actor (born 1942)
Klaus Dieter Laser was a German actor. Laser's career spanned over five decades, appearing in both German and English-language productions. He achieved recognition for his lead role in the 2009 film The Human Centipede …
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2020
Hungarian Hall of Fame swimmer and 1952 Olympic champion (born 1927)
Éva Székely was a Hungarian swimmer. She won the gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics, set six world records, and won 44 national titles. She held the first…
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2020
2nd President of Tanzania and 3rd President of Zanzibar (born 1925)
Ali Hassan Mwinyi was a Tanzanian politician who served as the second president of the United Republic of Tanzania from 1985 to 1995. Previous posts included Minister for Home Affairs and Vice President. He also was…
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2024
18th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1939)
Martin Brian Mulroney was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and served as a member of…
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2024
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Notable deaths
Who died on February 29?
Ludwig I of Bavaria (born 1786) — King of Bavaria from 1825 to 1848
FeaturedLudwig I of Bavaria (born 1786)
Death year1868
Known forWhen he was crown prince, he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars
Deaths on this date64 (468 – 2024)
Explore February 29
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on February 29 in History
2024
The Flour Massacre took place in the Gaza Strip: Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid amidst the Gaza war, killing over 100 and wounding 750. Wikipedia →
2020
During a demonstration, pro-government colectivos shoot at disputed President and Speaker of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó and his supporters in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, leaving five injured. Wikipedia →
2020
See all events on February 29
The United States and the Taliban sign the Doha Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan. Wikipedia →
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