Did you know
Choules became the oldest man born in the United Kingdom following the death of Stanley Lucas on 21 June 2010
Notable Deaths on May 5
94 people
465 – 2024
May 5 has seen 94 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 465 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2011 — Claude Choules
English-Australian soldier (born 1901)
Did you know
In December 2011, the landing ship HMAS Choules was named after him, only the second Royal Australian Navy vessel named after a sailor.
Did you know
Claude Stanley Choules was a British-born military serviceman from Pershore, Worcestershire, who at the time of his death was the oldest combat veteran of the First World War
Did you know
At the time of his death, he was the third-oldest verified military veteran in the world and the oldest known living man in Australia
Did you know
He served with the Royal Navy from 1915 until 1926
465
Polish son of Bolesław III Wrymouth (born 1138)
Casimir II the Just was Duke of Wiślica in Lesser Poland from 1166 to 1173, and Duke of Sandomierz from 1173 onward. In 1177, he became ruler of the Polish Seniorate Province at Kraków and thereby High Duke of Poland —…
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1194
1st Earl of Kent, English justiciar (born c. 1160)
Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England (1215–1232) and Justiciar of Ireland (1232) during the reigns of King John and his son and successor King Henry III and, as…
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1243
Byzantine general (born 1261)
Constantine Palaiologos or Palaeologus was a Byzantine prince of the Palaiologos dynasty, who also served as a general in the wars against the Serbs and Turks.
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1306
Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame, was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Maine (1285–1290); he also was King of Albania…
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1309
daughter of King Edward I of England (born 1282)
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan was the eighth and youngest daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile and was born in Rhuddlan Castle in Denbighshire. Of all of her siblings, she was closest to her younger brother…
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1316
son of the Japanese Emperor (born 1324)
Prince Tsunenaga was one of the sons of Japanese Emperor Go-Daigo. He became involved in the Nanboku-chō wars between the true Imperial line and the Ashikaga clan.
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1338
1380
Italian adventurer
Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola, was an Italian condottiero.
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1432
Elector of Saxony (born 1463)
Frederick III, also known as Frederick the Wise, was Prince-elector of Saxony from 1486 to 1525, who is mostly remembered for the protection given to his subject Martin Luther, the seminal figure of the Protestant…
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1525
Princess consort of Orange, married to William I of Orange (born 1547)
Charlotte of Bourbon was a princess consort of Orange as the third wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish. She was the fourth daughter of Louis III de…
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1582
Irish politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland (born 1529)
Sir Henry Sidney was an English soldier, politician and Lord Deputy of Ireland. Instrumental in the Tudor conquest of Ireland, his attempts to consolidate English power in Ireland were a major contributing factor to the…
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1586
2nd Earl of Manchester, English general and politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom (born 1602)
Major-General Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, KG, KB, FRS was an English army officer and courtier who commanded Parliamentary forces in the First English Civil War and for a time was Oliver Cromwell's superior.
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1671
English painter and linguist (born 1609)
Samuel Cooper, sometimes spelt Samuel Cowper, was an English miniature painter. He was the younger brother of Alexander Cooper.
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1672
Italian architect (born 1628)
Angelo Italia was an Italian Jesuit and Baroque architect, who was born in Licata and died in Palermo. He designed a number of churches in Sicily, and later worked to reconstruct three cities following the 1693 Sicily…
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1700
1705
English politician (born c. 1627)
Nathaniel Lawrence was an English politician who served as MP for Colchester in 1685.
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1714
4th Earl Ferrers, English politician (born 1720)
Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers was an English nobleman, notable for being the last peer to be hanged, following his conviction for murdering his steward.
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1760
French physician and scholar (born 1684)
Jean Astruc was a professor of medicine in France at Montpellier and Paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously published book, played a fundamental…
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1766
French physiologist and philosopher (born 1757)
Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis was a French physiologist, Freemason, materialist philosopher and leading idéologue.
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1808
1821
Frederick Augustus I of Saxony was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 and as the first King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was also Duke of Warsaw from 1807 to…
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1827
English-Australian painter (born 1777)
Sophia Campbell was an early Australian settler. She was the wife of politician Robert Campbell.
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1833
2nd Baronet, English politician (born 1786)
Sir Robert Harry Inglis, 2nd Baronet, FRS was a British Conservative politician, noted for his staunch high church views.
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1855
German mathematician and academic (born 1805)
Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was a German mathematician. In number theory, he proved special cases of Fermat's Last Theorem and created analytic number theory. In analysis, he advanced the theory of Fourier…
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1859
Canadian bishop (born 1804)
Jean-Charles Prince was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, teacher, seminary administrator, editor, and Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe, Lower Canada from 1852 to 1860.
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1860
Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Victoria (born 1818)
Sir John O'Shanassy, KCMG, was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the 2nd Premier of Victoria. O'Shanassy was born near Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a surveyor, and came to the Port Phillip…
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1883
German chemist and academic (born 1818)
August Wilhelm von Hofmann was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the…
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1892
American lawyer and politician (born 1839)
Silas Adams was an American attorney and politician from Kentucky who served for one term as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky's 11th congressional district.
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1896
Peruvian general, twice President of Peru (born 1825)
Mariano Ignacio Prado Ochoa was a Peruvian army general who served twice as President of Peru.
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1901
American short story writer and poet (born 1836)
Francis Brett Hart, known as Bret Harte, was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career…
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1902
Turkish soldier and painter (born 1841)
Ahmed Ali Pasha, better known as "Şeker" Ahmed Pasha, was an Ottoman painter, soldier and government official. His nickname "Şeker" meant "sugar" in Turkish, which he earned due to his very easy-going nature.
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1907
French painter (born 1856)
Henry Moret was a French Impressionist painter. He was one of the artists who associated with Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven in Brittany. He is best known for his involvement in the Pont-Aven artist colony and his richly…
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1913
executed Irish soldier and rebel (born 1865)
John MacBride was an Irish republican and military leader. He was executed by the British government for his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
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1916
French polo player (born 1866)
Maurice Raoul-Duval was a French polo player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.
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1916
Austrian journalist and publicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1864)
Alfred Hermann Fried was an Austrian Jewish pacifist, publicist, journalist, co-founder of the German peace movement, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911. Fried was also a supporter of Esperanto. He is the…
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1921
Sri Lankan journalist and politician (born 1853)
Arunachalam Sabapathy was a Ceylon Tamil newspaper editor, politician and member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon.
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1924
English pilot and race car driver (born 1899)
George Pearson Glen Kidston was a British motor racing driver and aviator who completed a record-breaking flight from Netheravon, Wiltshire to Cape Town, South Africa, in 1931. He was one of the "Bentley Boys".
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1931
Serbian Orthodox bishop (born 1874)
Platon of Banja Luka was a Serbian Orthodox cleric who served as the Bishop of Banja Luka between 1940 and 1941. His tenure ended in May 1941, when he was abducted, tortured and killed by followers of the Ustaše…
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1941
Albanian politician (born 1920)
Qemal Stafa was an Albanian politician and one of the founding members of the Albanian Communist Party, and the leader of its youth section.
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1942
Canadian-American baseball player (born 1917)
Byron Joseph LaForest was a Canadian professional baseball player who appeared in 52 games in the major leagues, primarily as a third baseman, for the Boston Red Sox during the latter months of the 1945 season. He was…
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1947
German mathematician and logician (born 1878)
Leopold Löwenheim [ˈle:o:pɔl̩d ˈlø:vɛnhaɪm] was a German mathematician doing work in mathematical logic. The Nazi regime forced him to retire because under the Nuremberg Laws he was considered only three quarters Aryan.…
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1957
Argentinian academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1878)
Carlos Saavedra Lamas was an Argentine academic and politician, and in 1936, the first Latin American Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
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1959
English cricketer (born 1889)
George Ernest Tyldesley was an English cricketer. The younger brother of Johnny Tyldesley and the leading batsman for Lancashire. He remains Lancashire's most prolific run-getter of all time, and is one of only a few…
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1962
Greek tenor and composer (born 1915)
Nikos Gounaris was a Greek tenor who was enormously popular as a light music singer in the 1950s.
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1965
American director and screenwriter (born 1893)
John Waters was an American film director, second unit director and, initially, an assistant director. His career began in the early days of silent film and culminated in two consecutive Academy Award nominations in the…
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1965
Argentinean-English nurse (born 1887)
Violet Constance Jessop was an Irish-Argentine ocean liner stewardess and Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in the early 20th century. She survived the sinking of both RMS Titanic in 1912 and sister ship HMHS Britannic in…
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1971
Turkish poet and academic (born 1948)
Zekai Özger, better known under his pen name Arkadaş Z. Özger, was a young Turkish poet.
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1973
German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1897)
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician and economist who served as the second chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. Affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is known for leading the…
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1977
PIRA volunteer and hunger striker (born 1954)
Robert Gerard Sands was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland. Sands helped to plan the 1976 Balmoral Furniture Company…
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1981
German physician (born 1901)
Horst Schumann was an SS-Sturmbannführer (major) and medical doctor who conducted sterilization and castration experiments at Auschwitz and was particularly interested in the mass sterilization of Jews by means of…
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1983
English-American actor (born 1903)
Hugh Ernest Leo Williams, known professionally as John Williams, was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as Chief Inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, as the…
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1983
English engineer, designed the Bailey bridge (born 1901)
Sir Donald Coleman Bailey, OBE was an English civil engineer who invented the Bailey bridge. Field Marshal Montgomery is recorded as saying that "without the Bailey bridge, we should not have won the war."
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1985
American author and academic (born 1928)
Michael Shaara was an American author of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction.
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1988
American literary and social critic (born 1920)
Irving Howe was an American author, literary and social critic, and a key figure in the democratic socialist movement in the U.S. He co-founded and served as longtime editor of Dissent magazine. In 1976, he wrote the…
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1993
Brazilian poet and translator (born 1906)
Mário de Miranda Quintana was a Brazilian writer and translator.
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1994
Russian chess player and coach (born 1911)
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who held five world titles in three different reigns. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer…
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1995
Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1920)
Vasilis Diamantopoulos was a Greek actor. He was one of the founders of the Modern Theater and was the first actor to appear live on Greek television in the single act play Him and his pants by Iakovos Kambanellis in…
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1999
Italian cyclist (born 1914)
Gino Bartali,, nicknamed Gino the Pious and Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in 1936 and 1937, and the…
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2000
American basketball player and coach (born 1940)
William Clifford Musselman was an American basketball coach in the NCAA, the ABA, the WBA, the CBA, and the NBA.
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2000
American painter and educator (born 1910)
Morris Cole Graves was an American painter. He was one of the earliest Modern artists from the Pacific Northwest to achieve national and international acclaim. His style, referred to by some reviewers as Mysticism, used…
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2001
American publisher, created CliffsNotes (born 1918)
Clifton K. Hillegass was the creator and publisher of CliffsNotes.
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2001
Bolivian general and politician, 62nd President of Bolivia (born 1926)
Hugo Banzer Suárez was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 as a military dictator; and then again from 1997 to…
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2002
American engineer, founded Klipsch Audio Technologies (born 1904)
Paul Wilbur Klipsch was an American engineer and high fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing a high-efficiency folded horn loudspeaker. Unsatisfied with the sound quality of phonographs and early speaker systems,…
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2002
American director and producer (born 1916)
George Sidney was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics Bye Bye Birdie (1963) and Viva Las Vegas (1964). With an extensive background in…
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2002
American lawyer and politician (born 1917)
Louis Crosby Wyman was an American politician and lawyer. He was a United States representative and a U.S. senator from New Hampshire. He was a member of the Republican Party.
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2002
Sierra Leonean commander (born 1964)
Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known as Mosquito, was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civil War…
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2003
South African activist and politician (born 1912)
Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), he was…
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2003
Indian composer and producer (born 1919)
Naushad Ali was an Indian composer for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is respectfully remembered as "Moseeqar-e-Azam" in the…
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2006
Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1925)
Atıf Yılmaz Batıbeki was a renowned Turkish film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was very much a legend in the film industry of Turkey with 119 movies directed. He also wrote screenplays for 53 movies and…
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2006
American-Canadian physicist and engineer, created the laser (born 1927)
Theodore Harold Maiman was an American engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser. Maiman's laser led to the subsequent development of many other types of lasers. The laser was…
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2007
Canadian-American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (born 1917)
Irvine "Irv" Isaac Robbins was a Canadian-born American businessman. He co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin.
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2008
American singer and guitarist (born 1928)
Jerry Leon Wallace was an American country and pop singer. Between 1958 and 1964, Wallace charted nine hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 8 "Primrose Lane" that was later used as the theme song for the…
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2008
Italian soprano (born 1910)
Giulietta Simionato was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966.
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2010
Nigerian academic and politician, 13th President of Nigeria (born 1951)
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2007 until his death in May 2010. He won the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May…
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2010
Israeli footballer and manager (born 1924)
Yosef "Yosale" Merimovich was a football player and manager. A one-club man, he played as a forward for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1947 and 1958, winning six championships and six cups. Born in Cyprus, he represented the…
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2011
British actress (born 1931)
Dana Wynter was a German-born British actress who was raised in the United Kingdom and southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1950s. One of her best-known film…
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2011
Indian cricketer (born 1937)
Surendra Nath was an Indian cricketer who played in eleven Test matches between 1958 and 1961. He was primarily a medium-pace swing bowler, who enjoyed a particularly successful tour of England in 1959.
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2012
Count of Wisborg (born 1916)
Carl Johan Arthur, Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, was the fourth son and fifth and youngest child of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught.
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2012
Finnish journalist and publisher (born 1932)
Aatos Juho Michel Erkko was a Finnish newspaper editor, newspaper publisher, and the main owner of the Sanoma Corporation and the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, of which he was also the editor in chief.
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2012
Dutch footballer, coach, and manager (born 1922)
George Knobel was a Dutch football manager.
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2012
South African lawyer and politician, South African Minister of Communications (born 1950)
Radhakrishna Lutchmana "Roy" Padayachie was a South African politician and activist. He was a cabinet minister between November 2010 and his death in May 2012. At the same time he represented the African National…
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2012
2013
American FBI agent and author (born 1937)
Robert Kenneth Ressler was an American FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the term "serial killer",…
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2013
Nigerian journalist and politician, 9th Governor of Lagos State (born 1926)
Michael Agbolade Otedola KSS was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Lagos State during the Nigerian Third Republic.
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2014
American cyclist, engineer, and author (born 1935)
Jobst Brandt was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, bicycle enthusiast, educator, and author.
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2015
Dutch linguist, academic, and politician (born 1942)
Johannes Juliaan Gijsbert "Hans" Jansen was a Dutch politician, scholar of contemporary Islam and author.
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2015
Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician (born 1954)
Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon was an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon lived in…
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2017
Mauritanian politician (born 1953)
Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was a Mauritanian political and military figure. Following a coup d'état in August 2005, he served as the transitional military leader of Mauritania until 19 April 2007, when he…
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2017
Jamaican singer-songwriter (born 1947)
Millicent Dolly May Small CD was a Jamaican singer who is best known for her international hit "My Boy Lollipop" (1964). The song reached number two in both the UK and US charts and sold over seven million copies…
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2020
American stuntwoman and actress (born 1941)
Jean Luann Epper was an American stuntwoman and actress. She performed stunts in over 100 feature films and television series and is perhaps best known as Lynda Carter's stunt double on the 1970s television series…
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2024
English actor (born 1944)
Bernard Hill was an English actor. He was known for his versatile performances in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.
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2024
Argentine footballer and manager (born 1938)
César Luis Menotti, known as El Flaco ("Slim"), was an Argentine football player and manager who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team.
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2024
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Notable deaths
Who died on May 5?
Claude Choules — Long-living combat veteran of WWI
FeaturedClaude Choules
Death year2011
Known forHe served with the Royal Navy from 1915 until 1926
Deaths on this date94 (465 – 2024)
Explore May 5
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on May 5 in History
2023
The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency. Wikipedia →
2010
Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. Wikipedia →
2007
See all events on May 5
Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon. Wikipedia →
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