1142: Possible date for establishment of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) League [disputed date – other research places date between 1450 and 1660]

1854: Major outbreak of cholera occurs in Soho, London. Physician John Snow goes on to call it “the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in this kingdom.”

1888: The body of Jack the Ripper’s first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, is found in Whitechapel in London’s East End

1917: In China, Sun Yat-sen and his supporters’ ‘rump’ parliament establishes a military government and elects Sun Yat-sen as commander-in-Chief

1945: The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies

1957: Federation of Malaya gains independence from Great Britain

1994: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Sinn Féin) declares a ceasefire in Northern Ireland

1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris

Source: Onthisday.com