November 3

1534 Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon, but asked the Pope to annul the marriage so he could marry Anne Boleyn. When the annulment was refused, the King transferred ecclesiastical jurisdiction and revenues from the Pope to himself. The English Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making Henry VIII head of the English church on November 3, 1534, creating the Church of England.

Henry VIII 

1631 After attending Jesus College, Cambridge, John Eliot, "the apostle to the Indians," emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, arriving in the New World on November 3, 1631. Eliot was appointed minister and "teaching elder" at the First Church in nearby Roxbury. After several years pasturing the Roxbury, Massachusetts church, Eliot felt called to become the first Protestant minister to devote himself to the evangelization of the American Indian.

1749 Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford was born on November 3, 1749. Rutherford discovered nitrogen in 1772, calling it  "noxious air" or "phlogisticated air." The English word nitrogen entered the language in 1794. When Rutherford married Harriet Mitchelson of Middleton in 1786 he became the maternal uncle of the future novelist Sir Walter Scott.

1783 Between 1196 and 1783 at Tyburn tree near London’s present-day Marble Arch, 40,000 - 60,000 people were hanged, often in batches. Stands were built for the crowds who came to watch. John Austin, a highwayman, was the last person to be publicly hanged at London's Tyburn gallows on November 3, 1783.

"The Manner of Execution at Tyburn", 17th century

1838 The Times of India, one of the most widely circulated English-language newspapers in the world, was founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce on November 3, 1838. It has a long and storied history and has played a significant role in the Indian media landscape. The newspaper has covered a wide range of topics over the years, including news, politics, business, entertainment, and culture, making it a prominent and influential publication in India.

1858 In 1851 English political economist John Stuart Mill married Harriet Taylor. After Harriet developed consumption they lived in the country and she died on November 3, 1858  at the Hotel de l’Europe in Avignon, France after seven years of happy marriage. A few months after Harriet's death, John bought a small white house in Avignon. He installed the furniture from the hotel room in which she'd died.

1896 Republican William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan, who was both the Democratic and Populist nominee in the campaign to become the 25th US President on November 3, 1896. 

McKinley forged an electoral coalition of the well-to-do, urban dwellers, and prosperous farmers that kept the Republicans in power most of the time until 1932.

1896 Martha Hughes Cannon became the first female state senator elected in the United States when she was elected as a Utah State Senator on November 3, 1896. A Mormon polygamous wife, she ran against and defeated her own husband. Martha Hughes Cannon was the author of Utah sanitation laws and was a founder and member of Utah's first State Board of Health.

1900 The first National Automobile Show opened in Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 3, 1900, displaying 31 car makers. The admission fee was 50¢. The National Automobile Show continues to be held annually in New York City, and it is one of the largest and most prestigious auto shows in the world.

1903 Panama joined the Republic of Gran Colombia in 1821, along with Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. The Republic of Gran Colombia was dissolved in 1830 but the country remained part of Colombia for several decades, Panama finally achieved independence on November 3, 1903 with the help of the US.

1903 When Panama achieved full independence from Colombia on November 3, 1903, the USA bought the rights to build the Panama Canal at the same time. The United States spent almost $375,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $8,600,000,000 today) on building the Panama project before completing it in 1914.

1906 Alzheimer's disease, a pre-senile dementia, was given its first full public clinical and pathological description, by a German neurologist Dr. Aloysius "Alois" Alzheimer on November 3, 1906, at the Tubingen meeting of the Southwest German Psychiatrists.

1911 Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company on November 3, 1911. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring six and a half years later, which propelled him back to the GM presidency.

1914 Determined to slip into something more comfortable than an ungainly and painful whalebone corset, 19-year-old New York socialite Mary "Polly" Jacob used two silk handkerchiefs and some pink ribbon to create the world’s first bra. Polly filed for a patent for her invention in early 1914 and on November 3 of that year the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted her a patent for the "Backless Brassiere."

Jacob's brassiere, from the original patent application.

1914 Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet and pharmacist who served as a medical officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. He overdosed on cocaine on November 3, 1914, at the age of 27. 

Trakl's poetry is known for its dark, melancholic tone and its imagery of decay and death. He was one of the leading figures of the Austrian Expressionist movement, and his work has been praised by critics for its beauty and its depth.

1918 The British and Italians defeated the Austrians at Vittorio Veneto in Italy on November 3, 1918. Their victory marked the end of World War I on the Italian Front and secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1926 American sharpshooter Annie Oakley died on November 3, 1926 from pernicious anemia in Ohio at age 66. Frank Butler, her husband of 50 years, passed away 18 days later. Annie Oakley starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; audiences were astounded to see her shooting out a cigar from her husband's lips or splitting a playing-card edge-on from 27 meters away. She was arguably the first American woman to become a superstar. 

1936 Missouri was the first US state to amend wildlife conservation into its constitution in order to prevent it from being easily repealed, by a statewide referendum, which was held on November 3, 1936. The model Missouri uses for wildlife conservation is still a transnational standard in the 21st century.

1948 Harry S Truman ran for a second term as President against the heavily favored Governor of New York, Thomas Dewey, in 1948. On November 3, 1948 The Chicago Daily Tribune published the erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" in its early morning edition shortly after Truman officially upset Dewey in the presidential election.

1957 The Soviet Union launched Sputnik II on November 3, 1957. On board was the first animal to enter orbit, Laika, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow. Laika died when Sputnik's air supply ran out; no provision had been made for recovering the craft.

1964 Lyndon B. Johnson took over as US President after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. He finished Kennedy's term as president then in 1964 he ran for re-election against Barry Goldwater. Johnson was elected President with 61.1% of the vote on November 3, 1964, the highest percentage since 1820. 

1974 Launched on November 3, 1973, NASA's Mariner 10 was the first ever space probe to fly by Mercury. It first flew to Venus and then, using Venus' gravity to modify its trajectory, swung around to visit Mercury. Mariner 10 mapped about 45% of the planet’s surface from 1974 to 1975. 

1992 "The Father of the Atom" Ernest Rutherford is a hero in his native New Zealand and his face appears on the country’s $100 note. The Rutherford banknote went into circulation on November 3, 1992.

2010 In late 2010 Australian microbrewery Nail Brewing produced Antarctic Nail Ale, beer made with water melted from a block of Antarctic ice. Only thirty bottles were produced, with the first bottle auctioned for A$800 on November 3, 2011. 

2015 When Michelle Payne won the 2015 Melbourne Cup on November 3, 2015, riding Prince of Penzance, she became the first female jockey to win the event. She was also the fourth woman to ride in the race and was coincidentally wearing the colors of the suffragette movement: purple, green and white.

2020 Former professional baseball right fielder Larry Walker was fixated on the number 3. He wore number 33, was married on November 3 at 3:33 and his phone number had “as many threes as the phone company would allow.” In 1993, he signed a $3 million contract with the Montreal Expos. in 2020, Walker became the 333rd person to be named to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.