January 28 » Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8mph (13km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2mph (3.2km/h).
June 28 » An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 miners.
August 17 » Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
September 21 » Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan: British forces under the command of Horatio Kitchener take Dongola.
September 22 » Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
December 10 » Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premieres in Paris. A riot breaks out at the end of the performance.
Christening day March 11, 1897
The temperature on March 11, 1897 was about 1.8 °C. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 100%. Source: KNMI
January 31 » Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.
July 2 » British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.
July 11 » Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
August 2 » Anglo-Afghan War: The Siege of Malakand ends when a relief column is able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand states.
August 21 » Oldsmobile, an American automobile manufacturer and marque, is founded.
September 10 » Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed striking immigrant miners in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, United States.
Day of death February 25, 1956
The temperature on February 25, 1956 was between -15.1 °C and -2.1 °C and averaged -9.1 °C. There was 9.4 hours of sunshine (89%). The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the north-northeast. Source: KNMI
January 1 » Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
March 1 » The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
October 28 » Elvis Presley receives a polio vaccination on national TV.
November 2 » Suez Crisis: Israel occupies the Gaza Strip.
November 3 » Hungarian Revolution: A new Hungarian government is formed, in which many members of banned non-Communist parties participate. During negotiations on Tököl Island ostensibly on Soviet troop withdrawal, the KGB arrests Pál Maléter and other Hungarian Revolutionary commanders, effectively decapitating the Revolution's military leadership. János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich form a counter-government in Moscow as Soviet troops ready for the final assault.
November 5 » Suez Crisis: British and French paratroopers land in Egypt after a week-long bombing campaign.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Gert Esterhuizen, "Family tree Eric Esterhuizen", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-eric-esterhuizen/I10002.php : accessed January 5, 2026), "Robert Albertus PRETORIUS (1896-1956)".
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