Tuesday 26th of August 1738

Forger William Newington is executed by hanging in Tyburn Tree, London, Tyburn, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 26th of August 1743

Nobleman and chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier aka The Father of Modern Chemistry is born in Paris, IVe, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 26th of August 1791

Cop killer Whiting Sweeting is executed by hanging at the age of 27 in Stephentown, New York, United States.

Friday 26th of August 1796

Gang leader and multiple murderer Emanuel Claus is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 22 in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Claus was the first man to be executed by the Guillotine in Belgium.

Tuesday 26th of August 1845

Victim of Jack the Ripper Mary Ann Nichols aka Polly is born as Walker in Dean Street, London, Soho, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 26th of August 1873

Police officer and murderer Thomas Hartley Montgomery is executed by hanging at the age of 31 in Omagh Gaol, Omagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Montgomery's last words were "Is hanging a painful death?"

Saturday 26th of August 1876

Mutineer and murderer Emmanuel Cristos Bombas is executed by hanging at the age of 63 in Cork County Gaol, Cork City, Munster, Ireland.

Tuesday 26th of August 1879

Murderer John Ralph is executed by hanging at the age of 28 in Warwick, Warwickshire, United Kingdom.

Thursday 26th of August 1880

Surrealist writer Guillaume Apollinaire is born as Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Tuesday 26th of August 1884

Mass murderer Joseph Laycock is executed by hanging by James Billington at the age of 34 in Armley Gaol, Gloucester Terrace, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Laycock killed his 21-year-old wife Maria, his 5-year-old daughter Sarah, his 3-year-old son Francis and his 11-month-old daughter Mary in White Croft on 10 July 1884. Afterwards Laycock tried to cut his own throat but didn't succeed.

Tuesday 26th of August 1884

Murderer James Tobin is executed by hanging by John Berry in Wexford, Leinster, Ireland.

Friday 26th of August 1898

Art collector, bohemian and socialite Peggy Marguerite Guggenheim is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Friday 26th of August 1910

Nun and missionary Mother Teresa is born as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Skopje, North Macedonia.

Friday 26th of August 1910

38-year-old Serial killer George Joseph Smith aka The Brides in the Bath Murderer marries 35-year-old Beatrice Mundy aka Bessie in Weymouth, Dorset, United Kingdom.

Mundy was the fifth of Smith's eight known wives.

Wednesday 26th of August 1914

Writer Julio Jules Florencio Cortázar aka The Simón Bolívar of the Novel is born in Brussel, Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium.

Thursday 26th of August 1937

Victim of Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper Vera Evelyn Millward aka Anne Brown aka Mary Barton is born in Madrid, Área metropolitana de Madrid, Spain.

Saturday 26th of August 1944

Drummer Maureen Ann 'Moe' Tucker known from The Velvet Underground is born in Jackson Heights, New York, Queens, New York, United States.

Sunday 26th of August 1945

Poet and writer Franz Viktor Werfel dies of a heart attack at the age of 55 in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

Saturday 26th of August 1950

Automobile manufacturing pioneer Ransom Eli Olds dies of natural causes at the age of 86 in Olds Mansion, South Washington Avenue, Lansing, Michigan, United States.

Friday 26th of August 1955

Rapist and murderer Clarence Wayne Dixon is born in Fort Defiance, Arizona, United States.

Wednesday 26th of August 1959

Victim of Jeffrey Dahmer aka The Milwaukee Cannibal Anthony Hughes is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Tuesday 26th of August 1969

36-year-old Donald Jerome Shea aka Shorty is tortured to death by criminal hippy gang the Manson Family in Spahn Ranch, 12000 Santa Susana Pass Road, Chatsworth, California, United States.

Manson decided to have Shea killed because he believed Shea had reported them to the police, resulting in a raid on the ranch on 16 August where the family were taken into custody on suspicion of car theft. The rumour was that Shea had been "dismembered into nine pieces."

Wednesday 26th of August 1970

25-year-old Film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder marries 32-year-old Ingrid Caven in Feldkirchen, Bayern, Germany.

Fassbinder and Caven divorced in 1972.

Saturday 26th of August 1972

Aviator and solo sailor pioneer Francis Chales Chichester dies of lung cancer at the age of 71 in Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom.

Saturday 26th of August 1972

37-year-old Serial killer Joseph Kallinger aka The Shoemaker is released from prison on bail after being charged with child-abuse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Monday 26th of August 1974

Aviation pioneer Charles Augustus Lindbergh aka The Lone Eagle dies of lymphoma at the age of 72 in Kipahulu, Hawaii, United States.

Saturday 26th of August 1978

Actor Charles Boyer commits suicide by an overdose of Seconal at the age of 79 in Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

Boyer committed suicide two days after his wife, British actress Pat Paterson, died from cancer.

Tuesday 26th of August 1980

Animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director Tex Frederick Bean Avery dies of lung cancer at the age of 72 in Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California, United States.

Thursday 26th of August 1982

15-year-old Peter Sigl is shot dead by serial killer Peter Hößl aka Der Wochenendmörder in München, Bayern, Germany.

Hößl was released from a mental hospital on 21 December 1981 after spending almost 20 years behind bars for three murders committed in 1956, 1959 and 1960.

Friday 26th of August 1983

36-year-old Serial killer William George Bonin aka The Freeway Killer is sentenced to die for four murders in Orange County, California, United States.

Bonin was already sentenced to death for 10 murders in Los Angeles County.

Sunday 26th of August 1984

Noise music band Club Moral play their 36th concert at the In Vitro festival in Tom Tom Club, Ernest Van Dijck Kaai 21, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Tuesday 26th of August 1986

Murderer Chester Lee Wicker is executed by lethal injection at the age of 38 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Wicker's last meal request was for lettuce, tomatoes and two glasses of milk.

Wednesday 26th of August 1998

Gang leader and multiple murderer Genaro Ruiz Gene Camacho is executed by lethal injection at the age of 44 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Camacho's last meal request was for steak, baked potato, salad and strawberry ice cream. The execution had to be delayed by two hours because of difficulties locating a suitable vein for the injection.

Saturday 26th of August 2000

67-year-old Gangster Reginald Kray aka Reggie Kray is released from prison on compassionate grounds in Wayland Prison, Griston, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Thursday 26th of August 2004

Murderer James Vernon Allridge is executed by lethal injection at the age of 42 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Allridge's last meal request was for a double-meat bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and salad dressing, shoestring or crinkle-cut French fries with ketchup and banana pudding or banana pudding ice cream and watermelon or white seedless grapes.

Sunday 26th of August 2007

The grave of student leader Rudi Dutschke in St.-Annen-Kirchhof, Berlin, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany.

Friday 26th of August 2016

52-year-old Serial killer Gao Chengyong aka The Chinese Jack the Ripper is arrested in Baiyin, Gansu, China.

Gao confessed to the eleven murders.

Saturday 26th of August 2017

Cult film director Tobe William Hooper known for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre dies of natural causes at the age of 74 in Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, California, United States.

Wednesday 26th of August 2020

Double murderer Lezmond Mitchell is executed by lethal injection at the age of 38 in Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana, United States.

Mitchell was the only Native American on death row at the time. Mitchell was a member of the Navajo Nation.