What Happened in May 1915

Historical Events

Lusitania Leaves NY

May 1 British liner Lusitania leaves NY for Liverpool on its last fateful journey

Business Magnate Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt

May 1 German submarine torpedoes US tanker Gulflight
May 2 Bronx, New York City; Old Fordham Road renamed Landing Road

In Flanders Fields

May 3 Canadian poet and physician John McCrae writes the poem "In Flanders Fields" at Ypres on the Western Front

WWI Soldier, Physician and Poet John McCrae

May 4 Italy drops Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary & Germany
May 5 German U-20 captures and sinks Britsih schooner Earl of Lathom

Ruth's 1st MLB Home Run

May 6 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth hits his first MLB home run; pitches 12 frames in Boston Red Sox 4-3 extra innings loss to New York Yankees

May 6 German U-20 sinks Centurion SE of Ireland
May 6 The Allies on Cape Helles launch three attacks to enlarge their beachheads; after terrible losses, they advance about three miles

RMS Lusitania Sinks

May 7 RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland; 1198 lives lost

Alfred Vanderbilt – ‘a loving and caring man’

May 8 41st Kentucky Derby: Joe Notter aboard Regret wins in 2:05.4
May 9 German & French fight Battle of Artois

Gas Mask Invented

May 10 Canadian physician Cluny Macpherson first presents his gas mask invention to the British War Office

May 10 Zeppelin drops hundred of bombs on Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
May 12 Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250
May 12 Franklin K. Mathiews first presents idea of "Book Week"
May 13 US Secretary of State Bryan sends a note to Germany demanding that Germany disavow the attacks on the Lusitania and make immediate reparations; however, the note is written only to 'pacify exited public opinion', according to Bryan
May 17 40th Preakness: Douglas Hoffman aboard Rhine Maiden wins in 1:58
May 17 Cubs George "Zip" Zabel relieves with 2 outs in 1st & winds up with 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn in longest relief job ever

Last Liberal Government

May 17 Last liberal British government of H. H. Asquith falls

May 17 National Baptist Convention chartered
May 20 Bataafsche Petroleum Me begins oil extraction of Maracaibo
May 22 Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, only mountain other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century
May 22 Local train collides with troop train killing 226 in Gretna, Scotland
May 23 Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary during WW I

Edison Invents Telescribe

May 24 Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations

May 25 Chicago Whales' Claude Hendrix no-hits Pittsburgh Rebels (Federal League), 10-0
May 25 Second Battle of Ypres on the Western Front ends with 105,000 casualties
May 26 H. H. Asquith forms a coalition government in the United Kingdom
May 31 An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London
May 31 Indianapolis 500: Italian-born American driver Ralph DePalma accompanied by riding mechanic Louis Fontaine wins from Englishman Dario Resta

Events in 1915

Famous Birthdays

May 1 Archie Williams, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m 1936), born in Oakland, California (d. 1993)
May 1 Hanns Martin Schleyer, German industrialist, born in Offenburg, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire (d. 1977)
May 2 Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter ("Tutti Frutti"; "You Always Hurt the One You Love": "Tampico"), born in New York City (d. 2003)
May 2 Jan Hanus, Czech composer, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic) (d. 2004)
May 2 Margaret "Peggy" Mount, British actress (Oliver!, Panic in the Parlor), born in Southend-On-Sea, Essex, England (d. 2001)
May 2 Van Alexander [Alexander Van Vliet Feldman], American composer, arranger ("A-Tisket, A-Tasket"), and orchestra leader (Dean Martin Show), born in Harlem, New York (d. 2015)
May 3 Evencio Castellanos, Venezuelan pianist, and composer, born in Cúa, Miranda state, Venezuela (d. 1984)
May 3 Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler and trainer, born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (d. 2003)
May 4 Pedro Saenz, Argentine and Spanish composer, born in Buenos Aires (d. 1995)
May 5 Alice Faye [Leppert], American actress (Hello, Frisco, Hello; Fallen Angel; Stowaway), and singer ("You'll Never Know"), born in Hell's Kitchen, New York City (d. 1998)
May 5 Richard Rovere, American political journalist (Goldwater Caper), born in Jersey City, New Jersey (d. 1979)
May 6 Freddie Cochrane, American boxer (World Welterweight champion 1941-1946), born in Elizabeth, New Jersey (d. 1993)
May 6 George Perle, American composer (12 Tone Tonality; Pulitzer Prize, 1986), born in Bayonne, New Jersey (d. 2009)
May 6 John Arnold, British high court judge (d. 2004)
May 6 May Henriquez-Alvarez, Curacao Dutch sculptor, born in Curacao (d. 1999)

Orson Welles (1915-1985)

May 6 American actor and director (Citizen Kane, War of the Worlds), born in Kenosha, Wisconsin

May 6 Theodore H. White, American journalist (Making of President, Pulitzer Prize 1962), born in Dorchester, Boston (d. 1986)
May 8 John Archer [Ralph Bowman], American actor (Destination: Moon, White Heat, Blue Hawaii), born in Osceola, Nebraska (d. 1999)
May 10 Bert van Dongen [Albert Cohen], Dutch singer, impressionist and actor (Het meisje met den blauwen hoed), born in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands (d. 1982)
May 10 Denis Thatcher, husband of British PM Margaret (1979-90), born in London, England (d. 2003)
May 10 Monica Dickens, British author and founder of the Samaritians in the US, born in London, England (d. 1992)
May 10 Salah Abou Seif [Salah Abu Saif], Egyptian film director (Bidaya wa Nihaya), born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 1996)
May 12 Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)
May 13 John Habakkuk [Hrothgar Habakkuk], Welsh economic historian (Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1973–77), born in Barry, Wales (d. 2002)
May 15 Bill Williams [Herman Wilhelm Katt], American actor (The Adventures of Kit Carson; Date With the Angels), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1992)
May 15 Paul A. Samuelson, American economist (1970 Nobel Prize for Economics, 1947 John Bates Clark Medal), born in Gary, Indiana (d. 2009) [1]
May 17 Gus Viseur, Belgian-French jazz button accordionist, born in Lessines, Belgium (d. 1974)
May 18 Leon Shenandoah, Native American leader (Iroquois Confederacy), born in Hemlock Creek, New York (d. 1996)

Moshe Dayan (1915-1981)

May 20 Israeli military leader and politician (Minister of Defense 1967-74), born in Degania Alef, Ottoman Empire

May 20 Peter Copley, British actor (Victim, Kingdom of Heaven, King & Country), born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England (d. 2008)
May 23 Clyde Wiegand, American physicist (co-discovered the antiproton), born in Long Beach, Washington (d. 1996)
May 25 Daniel Wolf, American journalist (d. 1996)
May 26 Antonia Forest [Patricia Giulia Caulfield Kate Rubinstein], British children's author (The Marlows), born in Hampstead, London (d. 2003)
May 26 Sam Edwards, American actor (Captain Midnight, Twelve O'Clock High), born in Macon, Georgia (d. 2004)
May 27 Herman Wouk, American novelist (The Caine Mutiny, Winds of War), born in New York City (d. 2019)
May 27 Louise Annand-MacFarquhar, Lanarkshire, Scotland, painter and filmmaker (At the Museum), (d. 2012)
May 28 Joseph Greenberg, American linguist (d. 2001)
May 28 Scott McKay [Carl Chester Gose], American actor (Stage Door, Guest in House, 30 Seconds over Tokyo), born in Pleasantville, Iowa (d. 1987)
May 28 Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Austrian violinist, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2002)
May 29 David Jenkins, Welsh librarian (National Library of Wales), born in Blaenclydach, Glamorgan (d. 2002)
May 29 Gerald Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck, 6th Baron Huntingfield, British agent to UN Secreteriat (d. 1994)
May 29 Igor Buketoff, American conductor (Iceland Symphony Orchestra, 1964-65), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2001)
May 29 Karl Münchinger, German conductor (Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, 1945-87), born in Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1990)
May 30 Jerome Bert Weisner, American engineer (science advisor to John. F Kennedy, President of MIT 1971-80), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1994)
May 30 Larry Kelley, American College Football Hall of Fame tight end (Heisman Trophy 1936; Unanimous All-American 1936; Yale), born in Hightstown, New Jersey (d. 2000)
May 31 Barbara Pepper [Marion], American actress (Foreign Correspondent, Green Acres, Rogue Tavern), born in New York City (d. 1969)

Born in 1915

Famous Deaths

May 2 Clara Immerwahr, German chemist, first woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry in Germany, dies at 44

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (1877-1915)

May 7 American businessman (New York Central Railway), dies aboard the RMS Lusitania during World War I at 37

May 7 Alfred Scott Witherbee Jr., American 3-year-old who drowned on Lusitania
May 7 Charles Frohman, American theatre producer (Peter Pan), dies aboard RMS Lusitania at 58
May 8 Henry McNeal Turner, 1 African American Methodist Bishop and 1st African American army chaplain, dies at 82

Anthony Wilding (1883-1915)

May 9 New Zealand tennis player (Wimbledon 1910-13), killed in action on the Western Front at 31

François Faber (1887-1915)

May 9 Luxembourgian cyclist (Tour de France 1909), killed in action by gunshot wounds at 28

May 10 Albert Weisgerber, German painter and graphic artist, dies in battle at 37
May 19 Bob Ferguson, Scottish golfer (British Open 1880, 81, 82), dies at 69
May 19 John Simpson Kirkpatrick stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli during World War I (b. 1892)
May 21 Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (designed the portable mortar), dies in combat at 40

On This Day