100 Years Ago Today

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11th October 1920

Edward, Prince of Wales, arrives back in London after a six-month tour of the British Empire. Edward leaving Portsmouth Harbour.


Ship Losses:

HMCS CD86 (Royal Canadian Navy) The Admiralty-type drifter foundered on passage from Canada to the United Kingdom.
Dinorwic (United Kingdom) The cargo ship struck rocks off Lambay Island, County Dublin. She proceeded to Dublin but sank at her moorings there.
Esther Anne (United States) The four-masted schooner collided with Duquesne ( United States) in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Pennsylvania and sank. Her crew were rescued.
Ella C. Hollett (United Kingdom) The schooner was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean. She was discovered derelict and on fire at 44°33′N 17°33′W by St. Catherine ( United Kingdom).
Inverawe (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground on the Haisborough Sands. She was refloated on 14 October.
Peder Wessel (Denmark) The three-masted schooner collided with Ravensworth ( United Kingdom) in the English Channel off the Royal Sovereign Lightship ( United Kingdom) and sank. Her crew were rescued.

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12th October 1920

Ship Losses:

Nikon (Greece) The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the Baltic Sea and sank off Västervik, Sweden.
P. Heat (United States) The schooner was sunk in a collision with Cayo Mambi ( United States) at Santiago, Cuba.

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14th October 1920

Ship Losses:

Santiago Arago (Spain) The schooner was destroyed by fire in the Mediterranean Sea off Almería. Her crew were rescued.

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15th October 1920

Treaty of Tartu is signed between Finland and Soviet Russia to determine the border between the two nations. The Finnish delegation.


British Mark IV tank captured by the Red Army from anti-Bolshevik forces in northern Taurida.


Officers of the Detached Division, Lt. Gustaw Paszkiewicz (with riding crop in the middle) after re-occupation of Minsk in the Polish-Bolshevik war.

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16th October 1920

Leon Trotsky, People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Printed in the Illustrated London News.


King George V shaking hands with World War One veterans prior to the football match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in London. Tottenham Hotspur won 4-0.

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17th October 1920

Ireland: Irish republican Michael Fitzgerald is the first imprisoned hunger striker to die, after 68 days' fast.

John Reed, journalist known for the book “Ten Days That Shook the World” that covered the October Revolution in Russia, has passed away at age 32 due to typhus.

I loved history at school, but I never knew the exact date of important historical events.

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18th October 1920

Mounted London police charge into demonstrators protesting high unemployment.


London police with an injured woman on Downing Street as demonstrators and police clash.


Ship Losses:

Burnside (United States) The cargo ship caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean and was abandoned (49°22′N 4°32′W). Her crew were rescued by Goliath ( United States). She later broke in two, with both sections remaining afloat and coming ashore on the Cornish coast. Later scrapped.

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19th October 1920

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20th October 1920

The body of French aviator Adolphe Pégoud, the first fighter ace in history who KIA in the Great War, is exhumed and reburied at Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.


Black Wolf Squadron lands at Mitchell Field.


Ship Losses:

Rose (United Kingdom) The Thames barge foundered in the Thames Estuary 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) off Slough Fort.

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21st October 1920

Ahmet Tevfik becomes the new (and last) Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. His power is limited, with the Turkish National Movement under Mustafa Kemal holding power in Anatolia.




Ship Losses:

Adonis (United Kingdom) The schooner came ashore on the east coast of the United States 300 nautical miles (560 km) from Jacksonville, Florida and was abandoned.
Chama (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground on Bellechasse Island, Quebec, Canada. She was refloated on 25 October.
Georgie (France) The cargo ship came ashore at Quebec City, Canada. She was refloated on 11 November.
Nordica (United Kingdom) The schooner was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean (43°53′N 51°28′W). Her crew were rescued by Willfaro ( United States).

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22nd October 1920

Ireland. Formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary, an armed (and predominantly Protestant) police reserve, is announced.


Return to Paris of the French military mission in Russia, General Pau and Mlle Carlier (Gare du Nord)


Ship Losses:

Zaca (United States) The cargo ship caught fire at Port of Spain, Trinidad and was beached.

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23rd October 1920

Recruitment poster for the British Territorial Army Signals units.


Ship Losses:

Village Belle (United Kingdom) The cargo ship sprang a leak and was abandoned off Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland.

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24th October 1920

Actress Elsie Mackay with her plane.

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25th October 1920

King Alexander of Greece dies after he was bitten by a monkey and the wound became infected. Alexander’s death causes a succession crisis and political instability in the country.


Terence MacSwiney, Mac Curtain's successor as lord mayor of Cork and a local IRA chief, dies on hunger strike in Brixton prison.


Ship Losses:

E. Hoel (Norway) The cargo ship collided with Grandlieu ( France) in the Atlantic Ocean 40 nautical miles (74 km) off Vigo, Galicia, Spain and sank. Her crew were rescued.