Discover what happened on May 20 in history! This day marks a series of notable events, famous births, and significant deaths. Explore the details below to learn more about the historical happenings of this day. On this day, history comes alive!
Births
- 1802: Carolus Danhieux
- 1802: Princess Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym (Regent of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1802–1858))
- 1803: Ann Walker (English landowner (1803-1854))
- 1803: Gustav Nauenburg (German theologian, singer, writer, music educator, music critic and encyclopedist)
- 1803: Wilhelmine Kestner
- 1803: Eduard Gottlieb Ludwig Sckell
- 1803: Natalis Auglaire (director)
- 1803: Yelizaveta Moskvina ((1803-1850))
- 1803: Natalis Auglaire (director)
- 1803: Yelizaveta Moskvina ((1803-1850))
- 1803: Frédéric Bourgeois de Mercey (French painter (1803-1860))
- 1803: Nikolay Ivanovich Behr ((1803-1878))
- 1803: Ann Walker (English landowner (1803-1854))
- 1803: Gustav Nauenburg (German theologian, singer, writer, music educator, music critic and encyclopedist)
- 1803: Wilhelmine Kestner
- 1803: Eduard Gottlieb Ludwig Sckell
- 1803: Natalis Auglaire (director)
- 1803: Yelizaveta Moskvina ((1803-1850))
- 1803: Yelizaveta Moskvina ((1803-1850))
- 1804: Leonard Mackeyne (teacher)
- 1804: Louis Darcy-Delcer (French official (19th century))
- 1806: John Stuart Mill (British philosopher and political economist (1806–1873))
- 1807: Florentin de Brouwer de Hogendorp (Belgian politician and industrialist (1807-1871))
- 1807: Gustavus Adolphus Neumann (newspaper editor (1807–1886))
- 1807: John Green (Indiana lawyer, judge and politician)
- 1807: Henry Champion Partridge (Peerage person ID=499933)
- 1807: Janet Macdowall ((born 1807))
- 1807: Grey Skipwith (Lieutenant, US Navy)
- 1807: François Gélinas (20 May 1807 – 21 Mar 1896)
- 1807: Marie Cheffer (1803 – certain 23 Aug 1871)
- 1808: Édouard Hachin (French poet)
- 1808: Paul Becker (German-born Russian classical philologist, archaeologist, university lecturer and state councillor (1808-1881))
- 1808: George Henry Ford (South African artist)
- 1808: Charles Bagot (M, #13428, b. 20 May 1808, d. 25 February 1881)
- 1808: Frances Bacon ((died 1892))
- 1808: Edward Knatchbull Hughes Hallett (British Royal Navy officer, commander in 1841 (1808-?))
- 1808: Joseph Hopkins Peyton (American politician (1808-1845))
- 1808: Thomas D. Rice (American performer, playwright and comedian (1808-1860))
- 1808: Benjamin Brueyre (French missionary (1808-1880))
- 1808: Duncan Alexander Cameron (British Army general (1808-1888))
- 1808: Edward Harris (British naval commander, diplomat and politician (1808–1888))
- 1808: Lacy Walter Giles Yea (British soldier)
- 1808: Édouard Hachin (French poet)
- 1808: Paul Becker (German-born Russian classical philologist, archaeologist, university lecturer and state councillor (1808-1881))
- 1808: George Henry Ford (South African artist)
- 1808: Charles Bagot (M, #13428, b. 20 May 1808, d. 25 February 1881)
- 1808: Frances Bacon ((died 1892))
- 1808: Edward Knatchbull Hughes Hallett (British Royal Navy officer, commander in 1841 (1808-?))
- 1811: Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck (German art historian and art collector (1811-1901))
- 1811: Ernst Methfessel (German composer (1811–1886))
- 1811: Alfred Domett (Prime Minister of New Zealand (1811-1887))
- 1811: Ernst von Waldthausen (German merchant and entrepreneur)
- 1811: Andrea Verga (Italian psychiatrist (1811-1895))
- 1811: Odoardo Fantacchiotti (Italian sculptor (1811-1877))
- 1811: Pietro Savi (Italian botanist (1811-1871))
- 1811: Edmond Chambert (French architect, active 1833)
- 1811: Ernst Gustav Schultz (orientalist)
- 1811: Bernardino Medina y Moreno (Roman Catholic bishop)
- 1811: Mary Briscoe Baldwin (American missionary)
- 1811: Herbert James Blount ((1811-1860))
- 1811: William Henry Daunt ((born 1811))
- 1811: Louisa Sophia Layard ((1811-1870))
- 1811: Ole Mathiasen Bøgh (Danish painter (1811-1838))
- 1811: Agostino Noaro
- 1813: William Smith (English lexicographer (1813–1893))
- 1813: Remigio Del Grosso (Italian astronomer (1813-1876))
- 1813: Elijah Kellogg (American missionary (1813-1901))
- 1813: George Lees Underhill (English politician)
- 1813: Ferdinand Voith (Czech member of Czech council and nobleman)
- 1813: Ludolph van Bronkhorst (Dutch entrepreneur)
- 1813: Nikolay von Rehbinder (1813-1865)
- 1813: Eleazer Kingsbury Foster (American politician)
- 1813: Holme Cardwell
- 1813: Otway Fitzgerald (English Anglican priest (1813-1897))
- 1813: Elizabeth Edwards ((1813-1881))
- 1813: Ludwig Schmidt
- 1813: Juste Bourmancé
- 1813: Gustave Henri Rosée d’Infreville (French official (19th century))
- 1819: Károly Ács
- 1819: Horace Jones (British architect (1819–1887))
- 1819: Kyōnin-nyūdōshinnō (Japanese princely priest in the Edo period (1819-1853))
- 1819: Adalbert Kuhlwein (judge)
- 1819: Nicolas Lehon
- 1819: Antoine Boutet (French vet)
- 1819: Nicolas Lehon
- 1819: Antoine Boutet (French vet)
- 1821: István Pajor (writer (1821-1899))
- 1821: François Philippe Voisin (French engineer)
- 1821: Pierre Moulin du Coudray de La Blanchère (French ichthyologist and photographer (1821–1880))
- 1821: Giacinto Carini (Italian politician (1821-1880))
- 1821: Edward C. Burks (American politician)
- 1821: Axel Nyblæus
- 1821: Alexander von Daehn
- 1821: Ferdinand Urbánek (Czech member of Czech council and entrepreneur (1821–1887))
- 1821: Ånon Hanssen Vik (Norwegian politician)
- 1821: Henry Cotton (British judge (1821–1892))
- 1821: Claudius James Erskine (British Indian civil servant, academic, and judge (1821–1893))
- 1821: Hermann Holz (German photographer and painter)
- 1821: Eugène-Étienne Charbonnier (Roman Catholic bishop)
- 1821: Stephan Pajor
- 1821: Johan Bergman
- 1821: William Bower Colquhoun
- 1821: Ludovicus Meysman (teacher)
- 1828: Nathaniel Head (American politician (1828-1883))
- 1828: Gilbert Nabonnand (botanist (1828-1903))
- 1828: David Kamehameha (member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii)
- 1828: James W. Reilly (United States Army general during American Civil War (1828-1905))
- 1828: Walker Powell (Canadian politician (1828–1915))
- 1828: Joaquim Jacinto de Mendonça (Brazilian politician (1828-1891))
- 1828: Luís de Sousa Breves
- 1828: Auguste Hanauer ((1828-1908))
- 1828: Carl Hauselt
- 1828: Maurice-Augustin Georget La Chesnais (French historian (1828-1908))
- 1828: Adolph Moeller (American politician)
- 1828: Thomas Bryant (British surgeon)
- 1828: Rosalind Alicia Frankland ((died 1900))
- 1828: John Humphrey Bland ((1828-1919))
- 1828: Richard de Hoghton ((1828-1892))
- 1828: Pavlína Vicenová
- 1828: Ludwig Wilhelm Volz
- 1828: Franz Sigmund Georg Ehrenreich Hermann von Guretzky-Cornitz
- 1829: Gaspare Finali (Italian politician (1829-1914))
- 1829: Charles Edward Bright (Australian businessman (1829–1915))
- 1829: George Elliott Barton (Irish judge and barrister, politician in New Zealand and Australia)
- 1829: Charles Veulliot (French botanist and mycologist (1829-1890))
- 1829: Juliusz Kraziewicz
- 1829: Johannes Hermanus Gunning (Dutch preacher and theologian (1829-1905))
- 1829: Henri de Coëtnempren de Kersaint (French politician (1829-1860))
- 1829: John Charles Bengough ((1829-1913))
- 1829: Paul Wiecke (Dr. phil. Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn 1857)
- 1829: Charles Lewis Peticolas (professional slide-maker)
- 1829: James Walter Ransom (American politician)
- 1830: Ivan von Müller (German classical philologist (1830–1917))
- 1830: Josef Brechler z Troskovic (Czech civil servant (1830-1902))
- 1830: Jean-Marie Boudin (French priest)
- 1831: Carl Spitzner (German physician (1831–1899))
- 1831: Várszély Ármin Vendel
- 1831: Johann Georg Bornemann (German botanist and paleontologist (1831-1896))
- 1831: James Donaldson (Scottish classical scholar, and educational and theological writer (1831–1915))
- 1831: Karl Hermann von Kahlden (Brazilian politician (1831-1910))
- 1831: David Saunders (Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister)
- 1831: Thomas Martin Jensen (Danish painter (1831-1916))
- 1831: Eduard Geib
- 1831: Lady Margaret Anne de Burgh ((died 1888))
- 1831: Charles Jenkins (Peerage person ID=48026)
- 1831: William Elrington Gordon ((1831-1897))
- 1831: Ernest Philippe Cadolle
- 1831: Joseph August von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg
- 1831: Carl Spitzner (German physician (1831–1899))
- 1831: Várszély Ármin Vendel
- 1831: Johann Georg Bornemann (German botanist and paleontologist (1831-1896))
- 1831: James Donaldson (Scottish classical scholar, and educational and theological writer (1831–1915))
- 1831: Karl Hermann von Kahlden (Brazilian politician (1831-1910))
- 1831: David Saunders (Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister)
- 1831: Thomas Martin Jensen (Danish painter (1831-1916))
- 1831: Eduard Geib
- 1831: Lady Margaret Anne de Burgh ((died 1888))
- 1831: Charles Jenkins (Peerage person ID=48026)
- 1831: William Elrington Gordon ((1831-1897))
- 1831: Ernest Philippe Cadolle
- 1832: Fanny Laënnec (French p