Historical Events
- Aug 1 First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour, Dorset
- Aug 1 U.S. Army Signal Corps establish a small Aeronautical Division
Walter Johnson's First Game
Aug 2 Legendary pitcher Walter Johnson at 19 begins his 21 year Baseball Hall of Fame playing career with Washington with 3-2 loss v Detroit
- Aug 3 Emperor Wilhelm (Germany) meets with Tsar Nicholas (Russia) to discuss Germany's plan to build a railroad to Baghdad; the discussion helps move Russia towards Britain and eventually the Triple Alliance
- Aug 4 Tour de France: Lucien Petit-Breton of France beats countryman Gustave Garrigou to win first of 2 Tour victories
- Aug 7 MLB Washington Senators legendary pitcher Walter Johnson wins first of his 416 career wins, 7-2 v Cleveland
- Aug 9 1st Boy Scout camp concludes at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Southern England
- Aug 10 Prince Scipone Borchesi wins Beijing to Paris, 7,500 mile auto rally
- Aug 11 St Louis Cardinals pitcher Ed Karger throws a perfect game vs Boston Doves; wins 4-0 in 7 innings at Robison Field, St. Louis
- Aug 13 1st taxicabs operate in New York City, imported by Harry N. Allen
- Aug 16 Mulay Hafid is proclaimed the Sultan of Morocco by supporters leading to civil war; Mulay is supported by Germany while France supports the existing Sultan
- Aug 17 Bishop forbids Christian membership of Dutch Textile Union
- Aug 23 Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Howie Camnitz no-hits NY Giants, 1-0 in 5 inning game at the Polo Grounds, NYC
- Aug 24 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Brisbane : Australian Horace Rice beats Harry Parker of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Film & TV History
Aug 26 Harry Houdini escapes from chains underwater in 57 seconds, at Aquatic Park in San Francisco, California
- Aug 28 United Parcel Service is founded by James E. Casey in Seattle, Washington.
US Men's Tennis Open
Aug 28 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, RI: William Larned beats Robert LeRoy 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 for his third US singles title
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 2 Mary Hamman, American writer and editor (Pictorial Review, Good Housekeeping), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1984)
- Aug 3 Adrienne Ames, American actress (Death Kiss, Panama Patrol), born in Fort Worth, Texas (d. 1947)
- Aug 3 Ernesto Geisel, 29th President of Brazil (1974-79), born in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (d. 1996)
- Aug 3 Irene Tedrow, American actress (Lucy-Dennis the Menace, Mr Novak), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 1995)
- Aug 3 Lawrence Brown, American trombonist (Duke Ellington Orchestra), born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 1988)
- Aug 7 Albert Kotin, American abstract painter (d. 1980)
- Aug 8 (Bennett) "Benny" Carter, American Grammy Award-winning jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, arranger, composer ("Harlem Renaissance Suite"), and bandleader, born in New York City (d. 2003)
- Aug 9 Berta Waterstradt, German writer and actress, born in Kattowitz, Upper Silesia, Germany (d. 1990)
- Aug 11 Ted à Beckett, Australian cricket fast bowler (4 Tests, 3 wickets; Victoria), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1989)
- Aug 12 Gladys Bentley, American blues singer, performer and drag king pioneer during the Harlem Renaissance, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1960) [1]
- Aug 12 Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges, Let's Make Love, Africa Screams), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1988)
- Aug 12 Miguel Torga [Adolfo Correia da Rocha], Portuguese writer (O Quarto Dia da Criação do Mundo), born in São Martinho de Anta, Portugal (d. 1995)
- Aug 13 Alfried Krupp [né von Bohlen und Halbach], German arms manufacturer, convicted war criminal, and Olympic yacht competitor (1936), born in Essen, Germany (d. 1967)
- Aug 13 Basil Spence, British architect, born in Bombay, India (d. 1976)
- Aug 14 Stanley Adams, American lyricist and songwriter (What a Diff'rence a Day Makes), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 1994)
- Aug 15 Paul Vincze, Jewish-Hungarian designer of coins and medal, born in Galgagyörk, Hungary (d. 1994)
- Aug 16 Alexander Uriah Boskovich, Israeli composer, born in Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (d. 1964)
- Aug 17 Marian Viktorovich Koval, Russian composer, born in Pristan Voznesenya, Olonets district, Russian Empire (d. 1971)
- Aug 17 Roger Peyrefitte, French writer (Special Friendships), born in Castres, Tarn (d. 2000)
- Aug 17 Zygmunt Mycielski, Polish composer and music critic, born in Przeworsk, Habsburg Empire (now Poland) (d. 1987)
- Aug 18 Cecilia Grace Hunt Reeves Gillie, Executive (BBC), born in Sheppey, Kent, England (d. 1996)
- Aug 18 Enoch Light, American orchestra leader (Gulf Road Show with Bob Smith), born in Canton, Ohio (d. 1978)
- Aug 18 Howard Swanson, American composer known for his settings of poems of Langston Hughes, born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 1978)
- Aug 18 Otto Mortensen, Danish composer and musicologist, born in Copenhagen (d. 1986)
- Aug 19 Jiří Srnka, Czech classical and film score composer, born in Písek, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1982)
- Aug 19 Thruston B. Morton, American republican politician (Sen-Ky, 1957-69), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1982)
- Aug 19 Zygmunt Mycielski, Polish composer, music writer and editor (Ruch Muzyczny, 1957-68), born in Przeworsk, Austrian Galicia (now Poland) (d. 1987) [1]
- Aug 20 Alan Reed, American actor (Breakfast at Tiffany's) and voice artist (Fred Flintstone, Lady and the Tramp), born in New York City (d. 1977)
- Aug 20 Anatole Fistoulari, Ukrainian conductor, born in Kyiv, Ukraine (d. 1995)
- Aug 20 Stanley Devon, British photographer (British press photographer of the year 1948, 50) (d. 1995)
- Aug 21 Betty Archdale OBE, Anglo-Australian educationalist and English cricket batsman and captain (5 Tests), born in London, England (d. 2000)
- Aug 21 Roy K. Marshall, American astronomer and TV scientist (Nature of Things) (d. 1972)
- Aug 22 Colin Buchanan, British town planner (Traffic in Towns), born in Simla, India (d. 2001)
- Aug 22 Cyril Astley Clarke, British physician and geneticist, born in Leicester, England (d. 2000)
- Aug 22 Oliver McGowan, American actor (Banning, Stagecoach), born in Kipling, Alabama (d. 1971)
- Aug 25 Desmond Flower, English publisher, born in London (d. 1997)
- Aug 28 Phil Edwards, Canadian-Guyanese runner (Olympic bronze 1928, 32, 36), born in Georgetown, Guyana (d. 1971)
- Aug 29 Joseph Wechsberg, Jewish-Czech writer (Looking For a Bluebird), born in Ostrava, Moravia, Czechoslovakia (d. 1983)
- Aug 30 John Mauchly, American physicist who with J. Presper Eckert, designed the first general purpose electronic digital computer (ENIAC), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1980)
- Aug 31 Altiero Spinelli, Italian citizen and advocate of European federalism, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1986)
- Aug 31 Augustus F. Hawkins, American politician (Rep-D-CA, 1963-75), born in Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 2007)
Ramon Magsaysay (1907-1957)
Aug 31 7th President of the Philippines (US Legion of Merit-1952), born in Iba, Zambales, Philippines
- Aug 31 William Shawn, American magazine editor (New Yorker, 1952-87), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1992)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 3 August Saint-Gaudens, Irish-born American sculptor (Mrs Henry Adams, Saint Gaudens Double Eagle 1907 $20 gold piece), dies at 59
- Aug 5 Gentil Theodoor Antheunis, Flemish poet and songwriter, dies at 66
- Aug 15 Joseph Joachim, German violinist (Hungarian Concerto), dies at 76
- Aug 16 James Hector, Scottish geologist (b. 1834)
- Aug 18 John Kerr, Scottish physicist and pioneer in the field of electro-optics (electro-visually Kerr-effect), dies at 82
- Aug 24 Pieter Lodewijk Tak, Dutch journalist (The Chronicle; Het Volk), and politician, dies of heart failure at 58
