Year 1797
Lord Cornwallis was sworn in as Governor-General of Bengal.
FEBRUARY 1
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
1 February: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 1 February.
Observances & Special Days
Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)Air Force Day (Nicaragua)Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)National Freedom Day (United States)
Year 1835
End of slavery in Mauritius.
Year 1835
East India Company leased the Darjeeling region from Sikkim.
Year 1884
Publication of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Year 1893
Thomas Edison completed his first film.
Year 1946
Hungary’s parliament approved the abolition of a nine-century monarchy and the establishment of a republic.
Year 1956
Sudhi Ranjan Das became the 5th Chief Justice of India.
Year 1964
P. B. Gajendragadkar becomes the 7th Chief Justice of India.
Year 1972
Formation of International Airport Authority of India.
Year 1977
Indian Navy Coast Guard formed.
Year 1979
Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years in exile.
Year 1981
In a One-Day cricket match between Australia and New Zealand, when New Zealand needed six runs off the last ball, Greg Chappell asked his brother Trevor Chappell to throw an underarm ball. Trevor bowled the ball to Chappell and Australia won the match but then underarm bowling was declared illegal after that match.
Year 1992
Bhopal Chief Justice declared Warren Anderson, chief executive officer of Union Carbide, a fugitive.
Year 2002
Terrorists beheaded American journalist Daniel Pearl.
Year 2003
Columbia space shuttle exploded while returning from space, killing six astronauts, including Kalpana Chawla of Indian descent.
Year 2013
World Hijab Day is an annual event founded by Nazma Khan.
Born 1914
A. K. Hangal, an Indian freedom fighter, and actor.
Born 1956
Brahmanandam, an Indian film actor and comedian, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema.
Born 1957
Jackie Shroff, an Indian actor.
Born 1971
Manoj Tiwari, an Indian politician, singer, and actor.
Born 1971
Ajay Jadeja, an Indian former professional cricketer.
Born 1982
Shoaib Malik, a Pakistani cricketer.
Born 1930
Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Indian-Bangladeshi general and politician, 10th President of Bangladesh (d. 2019)
Born 1961
Kaduvetti Guru, Indian politician (d. 2018)
Died 1976
Werner Karl Heisenberg, a German theoretical physicist and one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics.
Died 1982
Pandit Raghunath Murmu, an Indian Santali writer and educator.
Died 2003
Kalpana Chawla, an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.
Died 2013
Shanu Lahiri, a Bengali painter, and art educator.