31 May

Events

Pre-1600

* 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
*1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus' and Cumans.
*1293 – Mongol invasion of Java was a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of its ministers. However, it ended with failure for the Mongols. Regarded as establish City of Surabaya
*1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (''New Bridge''), the oldest bridge of Paris, France.

1601–1900

*1610 – The pageant ''London's Love to Prince Henry'' on the River Thames celebrates the creation of Prince Henry as Prince of Wales.
*1669 – Citing poor eyesight as a reason, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
*1775 – American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves are adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
*1790 – Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
* 1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
*1795 – French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
*1805 – French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock.
*1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
*1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
* 1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
* 1864 – American Civil War: Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia engages the Army of the Potomac.
* 1879 – Gilmore's Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
*1884 – The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria.
*1889 – Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam fails and sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

1901–present

*1902 – Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
*1909 – The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convenes for the first time.
*1910 – The South Africa Act comes into force, establishing the Union of South Africa.
*1911 – The RMS ''Titanic'' is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
* 1911 – The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
*1916 – World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet engages the High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
* 1921 – The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.
*1924 – Hope Development School fire kills 24 people, mostly disabled children.
* 1935 – A 7.7 earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.
* 1941 – Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
*1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
* 1947 – Ferenc Nagy, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, resigns from office after blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party accusing him of being part of a plot against the state. This grants the Communists effective control of the Hungarian government.
*1951 – The Uniform Code of Military Justice takes effect as the legal system of the United States Armed Forces.
* 1955 – The U.S. Supreme Court expands on its ''Brown v. Board of Education'' decision by ordering district courts and school districts to enforce educational desegregation "at all deliberate speed."
*1961 – The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
* 1961 – In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
*1962 – The West Indies Federation dissolves.
*1970 – The 7.9 Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe'') and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.
* 1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
*1973 – The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
* 1973 – Indian Airlines Flight 440 crashes near Indira Gandhi International Airport, killing 48.
*1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
*1985 – United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
*1991 – Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II peacekeeping mission.
* 2003 – Air France retires its fleet of Concorde aircraft.
* 2005 – '' Vanity Fair'' reveals that Mark Felt was " Deep Throat".
*2008 – Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds
* 2010 – Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish citizens on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.
*2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
* 2013 – A record breaking 2.6 mile wide tornado strikes near El Reno, Oklahoma, United States, causing eight fatalities (including three storm chasers) and over 150 injuries.
*2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launch the Manbij offensive, in order to capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
*2017 – A car bomb explodes in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.
*2019 – A shooting occurs inside a municipal building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, leaving 13 people dead, including the shooter, and four others injured.

Births

Pre-1600

*1443 (or 1441) – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (d. 1509)
*1462 – Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1504)
*1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
*1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
*1556 – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Catholic cardinal (d. 1600)
*1577 – Nur Jahan, Empress consort of the Mughal Empire (d. 1645)

1601–1900

*1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
*1640 – Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
*1641 – Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
*1725 – Ahilyabai Holkar, Queen of the Malwa Kingdom under the Maratha Empire (d. 1795)
*1732 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (d. 1812)
*1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
* 1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter and educator (d. 1817)
*1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet, author, and critic (d. 1853)
*1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1887)
* 1812 – Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (d. 1884)Croucher, Rosalind F. (2008)
'Delenda Est Carthago!' Sir Robert Richard Torrens and his attack on the evils of conveyancing and dependent land titles: a reflection on the sesquicentenary of the introduction of his great law reforming initiative
' Alex Castles Memorial Legal History Lecture for Flinders University Law School, Adelaide, 26 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
* 1815 – Adye Douglas, English-Australian cricketer and politician, 15th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1906)
*1818 – John Albion Andrew, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867)
*1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (d. 1892)
*1827 – Kusumoto Ine, first Japanese female doctor of Western medicine (d. 1903)
*1835 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (d. 1869)
* 1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (d. 1900)
*1842 – John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (d. 1894)
*1847 – William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Canadian-Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (d. 1924)
*1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (d. 1919)
* 1852 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (d. 1921)
* 1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
*1858 – Graham Wallas, English socialist, social psychologist, and educationalist (d. 1932)
*1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
*1863 – Francis Younghusband, Indian-English captain and explorer (d. 1942)
*1866 – John Ringling, American entrepreneur; one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus (d. 1936)
*1875 – Rosa May Billinghurst, British suffragette and women's rights activist (d.1953)
* 1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (d. 1952)
*1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (d. 1956)
*1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
* 1885 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (d. 1967)
*1887 – Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
*1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1968)
* 1892 – Erich Neumann, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1951)
* 1892 – Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1968)
* 1892 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1934)
*1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian, radio host, game show panelist, and author (d. 1956)
*1898 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (d. 1993)
*1900 – Lucile Godbold, American athlete (d. 1981)

1901–present

*1901 – Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
*1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
*1909 – Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000)
*1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
* 1912 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (d. 1997)
*1914 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer and educator (d. 2006)
*1916 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
* 1918 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (d. 2001)
* 1918 – Lloyd Quarterman, African American chemist (d. 1982)
*1919 – Robie Macauley, American editor, novelist and critic (d. 1995)
* 1921 – Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014)
* 1921 – Andrew Grima, Anglo-Italian jewellery designer (d. 2007)
* 1921 – Howard Reig, Austrian-Italian actress and singer (d. 2006)
*1922 – Denholm Elliott, English-Spanish actor (d. 1992)
*1923 – Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (d. 2015)
* 1923 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
* 1923 – Claudio Matteini, Italian football player (d. 2003)
*1925 – Julian Beck, American actor and director (d. 1986)
*1927 – James Eberle, English admiral (d. 2018)
* 1927 – Michael Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, English lieutenant and banker (d. 2017)
*1928 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (d. 2001)
*1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (d. 2014)
*1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, musician, and producer
*1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
* 1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano and actress (d. 2010)
*1932 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian pianist, bassist, and composer (d. 2012)
* 1932 – Jay Miner, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 1994)
* 1933 – Henry B. Eyring, American religious leader, educator, and author
*1934 – Jim Hutton, American actor (d. 1979)
* 1935 – Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
* 1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
* 1938 – John Prescott, British sailor and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
* 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
* 1939 – Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author
*1940 – Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach
* 1940 – Augie Meyers, American musician and singer-songwriter
* 1940 – Gilbert Shelton, American illustrator
* 1941 – June Clark, Welsh nurse and educator
* 1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
* 1941 – William Nordhaus, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
*1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
* 1943 – Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
*1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
* 1945 – Laurent Gbagbo

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