On This Day - 30th August
1146 A conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow. It was hoped that by banning the weapon, wars would eventually end. Despite the prohibition, crossbows continued to be used until the 16th century, when they were replaced by firearms.
1682 William Penn sailed from England. He later established the colony of Pennsylvania. A statue of him now stands on top of City Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1716 The baptism of Lancelot Brown, the English landscape architect more commonly known as 'Capability' Brown. He was born c. 1715-16 and was the head gardener at Stowe (see 
picture) from 1742-1750. It is estimated that he was responsible for over 170 gardens surrounding the finest country houses and estates in Britain.
1720 The birth of Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and Member of Parliament. When he died on 11th June 1796, the Gentleman's Magazine claimed that he was 'worth over a million pounds'.
1791 The British Ordnance Survey (mapping agency) was founded.
1791 HMS Pandora, the ship sent in 1790 to search for the Bounty and the mutineers who had taken her, sank after having run aground on a reef the previous day.
1797 The birth, in London, of the novelist Mary Shelley who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.
1860 The first British tramway, operated by the Birkenhead Street Railway, was inaugurated by an American, George Francis Train.
1871 The birthday of Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford, British experimental physicist who was the first to split an atom.
1901 Scottish inventor Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner.
1917 Lord Dennis Healey, Labour politician & former Chancellor was born.
1926 Jack Hobbs scored 316 at Lords, the highest individual score recorded at the ground.
1928 Indian politician Jawahrlal founded the Independence of India League to campaign for freedom from British rule.
1930 Morris Cars announced the arrival of the Morris Major costing £215.
1936 The record for crossing the Atlantic was gained by the liner 'Queen Mary', winning the 'Blue Riband'.
1939 In anticipation of German bombing, the great evacuation of children from British cities began, four days before the outbreak of World War II.
1950 The birth of the sculptor Antony Gormley. His best known works include the Angel of the North, Gateshead (see 
picture) and 'Another Place' (see 
picture) on Crosby Beach near Liverpool where 100 cast iron figures face out to sea.
1976 More than 100 police officers were taken to hospital after clashes at the Notting Hill Carnival in west London.
1996 Former heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno announced his retirement.
2008 Police revealed that two bodies recovered from the burnt-out Shropshire home of a millionaire and his family were Jillian Foster, 49, and daughter Kirstie, 15. A coroner's verdict recorded that the failed businessman, Christopher Foster unlawfully shot his wife and daughter before burning the house and then killing himself.
2013 MPs rejected possible UK military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and their alleged use of chemical weapons in which hundreds had died. After the vote, Prime Minster David Cameron said it was clear that Parliament did not want action and 'the government will act accordingly'.
2016 The opening of the Duke of Wellington public house (see 
picture) in the town of Wellington, Somerset. Duke of Wellington is a hereditary title, derived from the Somerset town and was created for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington. The wall plaque (see 
picture) gives more details.
2020 Eyam Parish Church held its Annual Plague Commemoration Service on-line (11.00am) on the Eyam Church Facebook page because of the world coronavirus pandemic. The plague came to this Derbyshire village in 1665 and there are many parallels with the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic. Generally the annual service is held at Cucklett Delf, an open space close to the village, as it was during the plague epidemic but, in 2001 because of 'Foot and Mouth' the service was held, ironically, in the church itself as most farmland that year was declared out of bounds. You can find out more about the Eyam plague on this page of the Beautiful Britain website.