Wednesday 19th of December 1370

Urbanus V dies of unknown causes at the age of 60 in Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Tuesday 19th of December 1848

Poet and writer Emily Jane Brontë aka Ellis Bell known for her novel Wuthering Heights dies of tuberculosis at the age of 30 in Haworth, West Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Though Brontë's condition worsened steadily she rejected medical help and all offered remedies saying that she would have "no poisoning doctor" near her.

Friday 19th of December 1851

Romantic landscape painter William Joseph Mallord Turner dies of natural causes at the age of 76 in 119 Cheyne Walk, London, Chelsea, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Turner died in the house of his mistress Sophia Caroline Booth. His last words were "The sun is God."

Wednesday 19th of December 1883

35-year-old Hendrik Frankhuizen is poisoned by serial poisoner Maria Swanenburg aka Goeie Mie in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

Wednesday 19th of December 1906

Soviet statesman Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev is born in Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.

Thursday 19th of December 1907

239 die in Darr Mine explosion in Pittsburgh Coal Company Darr Mine, Jacob's Creek, Pennsylvania, United States.

Sunday 19th of December 1909

Unitarian peace activist Florence Beaumont is born in New York City, New York, United States.

Monday 19th of December 1910

Writer, thief and political activist Jean Genet is born in Maternité de la Rue d’Assas, Rue d’Assas 22, Paris, VIe, Île-de-France, France.

Genet's mother Camille Gabrielle Genet was a young prostitute who raised him for the first seven months of his life before putting him up for adoption.

Sunday 19th of December 1915

Singer Édith Piaf aka La Môme Piaf is born as Édith Giovanna Gassion in Rue de Belleville 72, Paris, XXe, Île-de-France, France.

Legend has it that Piaf was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72 but her birth certificate cites the Hôpital Tenon.

Sunday 19th of December 1915

Psychiatrist and neuropathologist Aloysius Alzheimer dies of heart failure at the age of 51 in Breslau, Schlesien, Germany.

Saturday 19th of December 1925

A few minutes after a jury in Circuit Court had declared him not guilty of murder a lynch mob stormed the courthouse and takes Murder suspect Lindsey Coleman in Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.

Saturday 19th of December 1931

34-year-old Nazi leader and Reichspropagandaleiter Joseph Paul Goebbels marries 30-year-old Magda Behrend aka Engelchen in Gut Severin, Parchim, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

Wednesday 19th of December 1934

Murderess Ethel Lillie Major is executed by hanging by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by his nephew Albert Pierrepoint at the age of 42 in Hull Prison, Kingston upon Hull, West Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Major was the last person and only woman to be executed at Hull Prison.

Wednesday 19th of December 1945

Stunt actress Mary Wiggins aka Lucky known for doubling actress Ann Sothern commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 36 in Hollywood, California, United States.

Thursday 19th of December 1946

44-year-old Gertrud Glöde is killed by serial killer Rudolf Pleil aka Der Großten Todmacher in Vienenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Wednesday 19th of December 1956

57-year-old General practitioner and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams is arrested in Lewes, Sussex, United Kingdom.

Saturday 19th of December 1959

22-year-old Jillian Macpherson Brewer is stabbed and hacked to death with a tomahawk and a pair of scissors by serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke aka The Australian Nightmare in Cottesloe, Western Australia, Australia.

18-year old Darryl Beamish provided four confessions, two through a sign language interpreter, one a written statement and another in notes scrawled on the exercise yard at the Perth lock-up. Beamish said the confessions were obtained through intimidation and threats, and were untrue. Nevertheless Beamish was convicted of wilful murder in 1961 and sentenced to death by hanging. The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he served 15 years. After six appeals his conviction was finally overturned in 2005.

Saturday 19th of December 1964

21-year-old Christiane Herreman is raped and strangled by serial killer Michel Bellen aka The Strangler of the Left Bank in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 19th of December 1968

14-year-old Nora Wenzl is slashed dead by serial killer Manfred Wittmann aka The Beast of Oberfranken in Bad Staffelstein, Bayern, Germany.

Sunday 19th of December 1971

18-year-old Barbara Fields is abducted and raped by serial killer Robert Hansen aka The Aviation Hunter in Anchorage, Alaska, United States.

Fields survived.

Friday 19th of December 1975

27-year-old Member of the 'Manson Family' Lynette Alice Fromme aka Squeaky known for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford is sentenced to life-imprisonment for the attempted assassination of president Ford in Sacramento, California, United States.

Tuesday 19th of December 1995

A search of the house of 39-year-old Kidnapper, serial killer and child molester Marc Dutroux fails to discover 8-year-old Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo who are kept in a dungeon in his basement in 128 Route de Philippeville, Marcinelle, Hainaut, Belgium.

Thursday 19th of December 1996

Actor Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72 in 91 Rue de Seine, Paris, VIe, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 19th of December 1997

104 die in SilkAir Boeing 737-36N Flight 185 crash in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia.

The time it took the aircraft to dive from cruise altitude to the river was less than one minute. The plane was traveling faster than the speed of sound for a few seconds before impact. Due to the high speed the entire aircraft and passengers disintegrated upon impact.

Tuesday 19th of December 2000

Murderer David Dewayne Johnson is executed by lethal injection at the age of 37 in Cummins Unit, Varner, Arkansas, United States.