July 19 is:
National Raspberry Cake Day
National Daiquiri Day
National Flitch Day As far back as 1104 in Dunmow Priory, England, monks offered a side of bacon (flitch) to any married couple, (at least a year and a day after their wedding), that had lived in harmony and fidelity for the past year and had not wished they were single again. Although some web sites state that July 19th is Flitch Day, the Flitch Ceremony in held every four years in mid-July during leap years. Flitch trials are still held in Great Dunmow, England. The jury consists of six maidens and six bachelors. Great Dunmow is believed to be the only location to have preserved the flitch of bacon custom. (A flitch of bacon is a side of “bacon” — half of a pig that has been cut in half lengthwise.)
64 – Great Fire of Rome: a fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control. According to a popular, but untrue legend, Nero fiddled as the city burned.
Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England in 1553 after only nine days on the throne.
1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.
Birthday of Edgar Degas (Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas) (July 19, 1834), the French Impressionist painter identified with the subject of dance. See Wikiart for samples of his art.
Birthday of Charles Horace Mayo (July 19, 1865), American surgeon, specialist in goiters and preventive medicine, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic
1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French Prime Minister François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing that the Soviets had been stealing American technological research and development.
Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the party’s convention in San Francisco in 1984. Walter Mondale was the presidential candidate.