June 2

597 The Roman abbot Saint Augustine landed in Kent at Ebbsfleet, Isle of Thanet accompanied by his party of 40 monks in 597. The King of Kent Æthelberht's Frankish wife, Bertha was a Christian and he considered the claims of the Catholic missionary for a time before converting and on June 2, 597 he was baptized. Æthelberht permitted the missionaries to settle and preach in his capital of Canterbury where they used the church of St Martin's for services.

Sculpture of Æthelberht on Canterbury Cathedral in England

1420 The Treaty of Troyes agreed that Henry V of England would succeed King Charles VI of France to the throne through marrying Charles' daughter, the beautiful 18-year-old, elegant Catherine Valois. They wed on June 2, 1420 at Troyes Cathedral, 100 miles east of Paris. The couple had one child named Henry, whom Catherine bore whilst Henry was away in France. After King Henry's death in 1422, Catherine married a courtier, Owen Tudor and gave birth to the house of Tudor.

1763 Local Ojibwe Indians staged a game of lacrosse with visiting Sauks outside of Fort Michilimackinac (present Mackinaw City, Michigan) on June 2, 1763, during the Pontiac Wars. The British soldiers watched the game, and when the ball was hit through the open gate of the fort, the teams rushed in. Once inside they grabbed weapons which Native Indian women had smuggled into the fort. The warriors killed about 15 of the 35-man garrison in the struggle and captured the fort.

1840 The author and poet Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840 in a thatched, stonemason's cottage in Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester, Dorset in SW England. He was left for dead after his birth, but an observant midwife noted signs of life and gave him a good slap. Thomas jr. was a product of a shotgun wedding between his  hard-up master mason father Thomas and mother, Jemina. They'd married six months before his birth.

Thomas Hardy's birthplace and cottage at Higher Bockhampton

1857 The composer Sir Edward Elgar was born on June 2, 1857 in Broadheath, Worcestershire to the owner of a music shop, William and Ann, the daughter of a farm worker. Apart from having violin lessons Elgar was self-taught. He studied the printed music in his father’s shop and often traveled with him when he went on his rounds to tune pianos in the Worcestershire grand houses.

1875 The inspiration for the telephone came when Alexander Graham Bell was working to improve the telegram in Boston, Massachusetts. The Scot was aided by a young repair mechanic Thomas Watson. On June 2, 1875 Watson made a mistake, the incorrect contact of a clamping screw which was too tight changed what should have been an intermittent transmission into a continuous current. Bell at the other end of the wire heard the contacter dropping - the first ever transmission of sound.

1886 President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom on June 2, 1886. The ceremony was the first and only presidential nuptials performed in the White House, although numerous relatives of presidents married at the White House through the years. At 21 years old, Frances Folsom Cleveland was the youngest First Lady. Their second child, Esther, was the only baby to be born in the White House.

1910 An aviation pioneer, Charles Rolls, co-founder of the Rolls Royce company, became the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane taking 95 minutes on June 2, 1910. Charles Rolls died a month later, when he crashed his Wright biplane after its tail broke off during a flying display in Bournemouth. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aviation accident.

1919 Albert Einstein married his second cousin Elsa Löwenthal on June 2, 1919. It was his second marriage. They had no children from the union, but Albert adopted her two daughters, Ilsa and Margot, when they were both around eleven years old. The motherly Elsa had a warm, sympathetic manner and was an excellent manager of Einstein at home and on his travels. However, their marriage was undermined by Einstein's womanizing.

1924 U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act into law on June 2, 1924, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
Many Indians, even though born in the United States, were not considered citizens until the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act granted them citizenship. Before this law was passed, those who had not been granted citizenship by specific treaties were considered members of "domestic independent nations."

1938 The children's section of London Zoo was opened by the American Ambassador Joe Kennedy's young sons, six-year-old Teddy Kennedy and 12-year- old Bobby Kennedy, the younger brothers of future US President John F. Kennedy on June 2, 1938.

1946 In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic on June 2, 1946, when for the first time, women were able to vote. King Umberto II, who had succeeded his father as the last reigning monarch of Italy, went into exile following the referendum. Festa della Repubblica is the Italian National Day and Republic Day, which is celebrated on June 2 each year, with the main celebration taking place in Rome. 

1953 Queen Elizabeth II of the UK was crowned in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI. It was the first coronation to be televised and millions watched worldwide. One of the reasons for choosing June 2nd was that meteorological records identified the date as the most likely day of the year to be sunny. It turned out gloomy, cloudy, windy and very rainy.

1962 The so-called Battle of Santiago took place during the World Cup on June 2, 1962. The football match between hosts Chile and Italy became so violent that police were called onto the field by English referee Ken Aston to escort players who had been sent off.

1965 Luciano Pavarotti's first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment took place at Covent Garden, London on June 2, 1965. His bel canto technique had already astounded audiences across Europe, but it was this London performance that earned the tenor the title, "King of the High Cs".

1967 Luis Monge was executed in the gas chamber, Colorado State Penitentiary, Cannon City on June 2 1967 having murdered his wife and 3 of his 10 children. His was the last US execution until 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated.

1975 It snowed during an English county cricket match on June 2, 1975 at Buxton between Derbyshire and Lancashire. The snow was so heavy that it covered the pitch, forcing the umpires to abandon play. This was the first time that snow had stopped play in an English county cricket match since 1962.

1979 Pope John Paul II, who was born in Poland as Karol Wojtyła, made his first official visit to his native country on June 2, 1979. He also became the first Pope to visit a Communist country. During his visit, Pope John Paul II delivered numerous speeches and celebrated Mass in various cities across Poland.

1999 Bhutan ended its status as the only country in the world to prohibit television on June 2, 1999 when the state-run Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) came on the air. It started broadcasting on the night of the silver jubilee of Bhutan's king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

2008 On June 2, 2008, 52 people and 200,000 head of cattle died in heavy blizzards in Mongolia.  The loss of livestock had a significant impact on the country's economy, as livestock is a major source of income for many Mongolians. The government declared a state of emergency in the affected areas, providing food, water, and shelter to those who have been affected by the storms.

2015 During World War I, African-American Sgt Henry "Black Death" Johnson fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German troops and rescuing a fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds. However, racism was still a barrier and Johnson's bravery was never recognized by the U.S. until June 2, 2015 when he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a posthumous ceremony at the White House.