March 1 » Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.
March 2 » The Battle of Adwa: The Italian Army defeated by the Ethiopian Army in Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
May 18 » Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
June 4 » Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
June 15 » The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
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.
Christening day February 19, 1897
The temperature on February 19, 1897 was about 5.0 °C. The airpressure was 77 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 95%. Source: KNMI
February 28 » Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
May 26 » Dracula, a Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
June 16 » A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
July 26 » Anglo-Afghan War: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.
August 10 » German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovers an improved way of synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).
December 30 » The British Colony of Natal annexes Zululand.
Day of death April 14, 1972
The temperature on April 14, 1972 was between 2.0 °C and 14.6 °C and averaged 8.7 °C. There was 1.0 mm of rain during 0.3 hours. There was 7.6 hours of sunshine (55%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 1 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the east-northeast. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from April 5, 1967 to Tuesday, July 6, 1971 the cabinet Biesheuvel I, with Mr. B.W. Biesheuvel (ARP) as prime minister.
In The Netherlands , there was from Thursday, July 20, 1972 to Friday, May 11, 1973 the cabinet Biesheuvel II, with Mr. B.W. Biesheuvel (ARP) as prime minister.
February 21 » United States President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
March 30 » Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
April 6 » Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
May 8 » Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
June 18 » Staines air disaster: One hundred eighteen people are killed when a BEA H.S. Trident crashes two minutes after take off from London's Heathrow Airport.
June 29 » The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
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/I18792.php : accessed February 20, 2026), "Mathilda Johanna Petrussa PRETORIUS (1896-1972)".
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