What Happened in March 1912

Historical Events

Amundsen Reaches South Pole

Mar 7 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen announces his team was the first to reach the South Pole (located 14 December 1911), 34 days before British explorer Robert Falcon Scott

Venizelos Wins Election

Mar 11 Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, wins the Greek elections again.

Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos

Mar 11 First Stanley Cup challenge game to be played in three 20-minute periods (formerly 30-minute halves), Quebec beats Moncton, 9-3 on way to series sweep
Mar 12 Establishment of the first football club in Bulgaria - Botev Plovdiv

Girl Scouts

Mar 12 Girl Scouts begin in the US as the Girl Guides, formed by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah

Helen Hayes Theater

Mar 12 Helen Hayes Theater (Little Theatre) opens at 240W 44th St, NYC

Mar 13 Bulgaria and Serbia conclude an alliance pact ostensibly against Austria, but it secretly provides for a possible war against Turkey
Mar 13 Stanley Cup, Quebec Skating Rink, Quebec City, Quebec: Quebec Bulldogs rout Moncton Victorias (NB), 8-0 for a 2-0 sweep of the challenge series
Mar 14 King Vittorio Emanuel III of Italy injured in an assassination attempt

Cy Young Retires

Mar 15 Legendary pitcher Cy Young retires from baseball with 511-315 win-loss record

Mar 17 Camp Fire Girls organization announced by Mrs Luther Halsey Gulick
Mar 27 US First Lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry trees on the bank of the Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C. [1]
Mar 29 74th Grand National: Ernie Piggott wins aboard 4/1 co-favourite Jerry M at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England

Scott's Last Entry

Mar 29 Captain Robert Falcon Scott, storm-bound in a tent near the South Pole, makes last entry in his diary "the end cannot be far"

Mar 30 French protectorate in Morocco established

Events in 1912

Famous Birthdays

Mar 1 Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian Catholic clergyman (Archbishop of Toronto, 1978-90; Cardinal 1979-2003), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 2003)
Mar 2 (Theodore) "Red" Saunders, American jazz drummer and bandleader, based in Chicago, born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 1981)
Mar 2 Arthur Langton, South African cricket medium pace bowler (15 Tests, 40 wickets), born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa (d. 1942)
Mar 3 Joe Stydahar, American NFL player and coach (Chicago Bears), born in Kaylor, Pennsylvania (d. 1977)
Mar 4 Afro Basaldella, Italian painter (The Garden of Hope), born in Udine, Italy (d. 1976)
Mar 4 Carl Marzani, Italian-born American left wing political activist, publisher and documentarian, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1994)
Mar 6 Madge Adam, English solar astronomer (1st solar physicist at Oxford university's observatory), born in London, England (d. 2001)
Mar 8 Preston Smith, 40th Governor of Texas, born in Williamson County, Texas (d. 2003)
Mar 9 (Joseph) "Arky" Vaughan, American Baseball HOF shortstop (9 × MLB All-Star; NL batting champion 1935; NL stolen base leader 1943; Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers), born in Clifty, Arkansas (d. 1952)
Mar 11 Robert Clifford Latham, English Pepys scholar, born in Audley, England (d. 1995)
Mar 11 Xavier Montsalvatge, Spanish composer (El gato con botas), born in Girona, Spain (d. 2002)
Mar 12 Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet (A Red Carpet for the Sun), born in Târgu Neamţ, Romania (d. 2006)
Mar 12 Kylie Tennant, Australian novelist (Battlers, Lost Haven), born in Manly, Australia (d. 1988)
Mar 12 Paul Weston [Wetstein], American pianist, arranger, orchestra leader (Tommy Dorsey Orchestra; The Jim Nabors Show), pop and classical composer ("Day By Day"; "Crescent City Suite"), born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1996)
Mar 13 Ernst Hess, Swiss composer, born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland (d. 1968)
Mar 13 Igor Youskevitch, Russian-Ukrainian ballet dancer, born in Pyriatyn, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine (d. 1994)

Mar 13 James Friell, Scottish political cartoonist (Daily Worker), born in Glasgow (d. 1997)
Mar 14 Les Brown, American big band bandleader (His Band of Renown - "Sentimental Journey"), born in Reinerton, Pennsylvania (d. 2001)
Mar 15 Louis Paul Boon, Belgian writer (Kapellekensbaan), born in Aalst, Belgium (d. 1979)

Lightnin Hopkins (1912-1982)

Mar 15 American blues musician (Ball of Twine), born in Centerville, Texas

Mar 16 (Thelma Catherine) "Pat" Nixon [née Ryan], American First Lady (1969-74), born in Ely, Nevada (d. 1993)
Mar 19 Adolf Galland, German WWII flying ace and general (104 aerial victories, for the Luftwaffe), born in Westerholt, Germany (d. 1996)
Mar 19 Lavere "Buster" Harding, Canadian-American jazz pianist, composer and arranger (Count Basie; Dizzy Gillespie; Billie Holiday), born in North Buxton, Ontario (d. 1965)
Mar 19 Russ Case, American orchestra leader (Julius La Rosa Show), born in Hamburg, Iowa (d. 1964)
Mar 21 Peter Bull, British actor and author (The African Queen, Tom Jones, Dr Strangelove), born in London, England (d. 1984)
Mar 22 Agnes Martin, Canadian-American abstract painter, born in Macklin, Saskatchewan (d. 2004)
Mar 22 Henri Rousselot, French admiral (submarine commander during WWII), born in Lorraine, France (d. 1994)
Mar 22 Karl Malden [Mladen George Sekulovich], American actor (Streets of San Francisco; A Streetcar Named Desire; American Express commercials), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2009)
Mar 22 Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (Hard Day's Night, Steptoe and Son), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1985)
Mar 23 Alfred Schwarzmann, German gymnast (Olympic gold individual, team, horse vault, 2 x bronze 1936; silver 1952), born in Fürth, Germany (d. 2000)

Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)

Mar 23 German-American rocket scientist (Germany - V1 and V2, US -Saturn V, NASA), and Disney space consultant, born in Wirsitz, Kingdom of Prussia (now Wyrzysk, Poland)

Dorothy Height (1912-2010)

Mar 24 American civil rights and women's rights activist (National Council of Negro Women), born in Richmond, Virginia

Mar 25 Jean Vilar, French stage and film actor and director (Théâtre National Populaire), born in Sète, France (d. 1971)

James Callaghan (1912-2005)

Mar 27 British Prime Minister (Labour: 1976-79), born in Portsmouth, England

Mar 27 Reuel Lahmer, Canadian-American organist and composer ("It Is Good To Give Thanks"), born in Maple, Ontario (d. after 1982)
Mar 27 Robert Watson Hughes, Scottish-Australian composer, born in Levan, Inverclyde, Scotland (d. 2007)
Mar 28 A. Bertram Chandler, Anglo-Australian mariner and sci-fi author (Empress of Outer Space), born in Aldershot, England (d. 1984)
Mar 28 Marina Raskova, Russian navigator, born in Moscow (d. 1943)
Mar 29 Hanna Reitsch, German aviator and WWII military test pilot, born in Hirschberg, Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1979)
Mar 30 (Andrew) Rodger Waterson, Scottish zoologist, specializing in malacology (mollusks) and entomology (insects), born in Ollaberry, Shetland, Scotland (d. 1996)
Mar 30 Jack Cowie, New Zealand cricket fast bowler (9 Tests, 45 wickets; Auckland CA) and umpire (3 Tests 1956–59), born in Auckland, New Zealand (d. 1994)

Born in 1912

Famous Deaths

Mar 1 George Grossmith, British actor, comedian and writer (The Diary of a Nobody, A Society Clown), dies at 64
Mar 1 Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg, Danish politician (Council President of Denmark), dies at 72
Mar 6 August Toepler, German physicist, dies at 75
Mar 15 Louis van Westerhoven, Dutch actor, singer and opera director (Youth), dies at 58
Mar 17 Lawrence "Titus" Oates, British explorer (Antarctica), sacrifices himself during the Terra Nova Expedition at 32
Mar 22 Henry Harrison Walker, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 79

Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912)

Mar 29 British explorer and leader of the ill-fated south pole expedition, dies in Antarctica at 43

Mar 30 Karl May, German writer (Winnetou, Kara Ben Nemsi), dies at 70

On This Day