27 July 1890

Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.

Vincent van Gogh’s death has been widely attributed to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On July 27, 1890, van Gogh was shot in the abdomen and died two days later on July 29, 1890. The prevailing theory is that he shot himself in a wheat field near Auvers-sur-Oise, France, and managed to return to the inn where he was staying.

However, there has been some debate and speculation among historians and researchers about the circumstances of his death. Some have suggested alternative theories, including the possibility that van Gogh was accidentally shot by two local boys. Despite these theories, the general consensus remains that van Gogh’s death was the result of suicide.

27 July 1929

The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.

The 1929 conventions I mentioned earlier were actually the two Additional Protocols of the Geneva Conventions, and they did not address prisoners of war. My mistake, and I appreciate your understanding.

Now, let’s focus on the actual Geneva Convention relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. This convention was one of the four Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949, specifically known as the Third Geneva Convention. It deals with the protection of prisoners of war during armed conflicts.

Key provisions of the Third Geneva Convention (1949) include:

Definition of Prisoners of War: The convention defines who qualifies as a prisoner of war, outlining criteria that must be met for combatants to be entitled to prisoner of war status. Prisoners of war must be treated humanely and have their rights and dignity respected.

Humane Treatment: The convention prohibits any form of violence, intimidation, and cruel treatment against prisoners of war. They must be protected from acts of aggression and reprisals.

No Discrimination: The convention prohibits discrimination based on race, nationality, religious beliefs, or other similar factors. All prisoners of war must be treated equally and without any adverse distinction.

Medical Care: Adequate medical care must be provided to prisoners of war, and their health must be safeguarded. Medical personnel must be allowed to provide medical attention and care.

Access to Red Cross: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is granted access to prisoners of war, allowing them to monitor their treatment and conditions of confinement.

Work and Pay: Prisoners of war may be required to perform certain types of work, but the work must not be dangerous or degrading. They must receive fair remuneration for their labor.

Release and Repatriation: When the conflict ends, prisoners of war must be released and repatriated without delay.

27 July 1996

In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

[rdp-wiki-embed url=’https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing’]

27 July 1865

Welsh settlers to settle in Chubut in Argentina.

The first group of settlers, nearly 200 people gathered from all over Wales, but mainly north and mid-Wales, sailed from Liverpool in late May 1865 aboard the tea-clipper Mimosa. Blessed with good weather the journey took approximately eight weeks, and the Mimosa eventually arrived at what is now called Puerto Madryn on 27th July.

Unfortunately the settlers found that Patagonia was not the friendly and inviting land they had been expecting. They had been told that it was much like the green and fertile lowlands of Wales. In reality it was a barren and inhospitable windswept pampas, with no water, very little food and no forests to provide building materials for shelter. Some of the settlers’ first homes were dug out from the soft rock of the cliffs in the bay.

Teheulche nativesDespite receiving help from the native Teheulche Indians who tried to teach the settlers how to survive on the scant resources of the prairie, the colony looked as if it were doomed to failure from the lack of food. However, after receiving several mercy missions of supplies, the settlers persevered and finally struggled on to reach the proposed site for the colony in the Chubut valley about 40 miles away. It was here, where a river the settlers named Camwy cuts a narrow channel through the desert from the nearby Andes, that the first permanent settlement of Rawson was established at the end of 1865.

The colony suffered badly in the early years with floods, poor harvests and disagreements over the ownership of land, in addition the lack of a direct route to the ocean made it difficult to bring in new supplies.

History records that it was one Rachel Jenkins who first had the idea that changed the history of the colony and secured its future. Rachel had noticed that on occasion the River Camwy burst its banks; she also considered how such flooding brought life to the arid land that bordered it. It was simple irrigation and backbreaking water management that saved the Chubut valley and its tiny band of Welsh settlers.

Over the next several years new settlers arrived from both Wales and Pennsylvania, and by the end of 1874 the settlement had a population totalling over 270. With the arrival of these keen and fresh hands, new irrigation channels were dug along the length of the Chubut valley, and a patchwork of farms began to emerge along a thin strip on either side of the River Camwy.

In 1875 the Argentine government granted the Welsh settlers official title to the land, and this encouraged many more people to join the colony, with more than 500 people arriving from Wales, including many from the south Wales coalfields which were undergoing a severe depression at that time. This fresh influx of immigrants meant that plans for a major new irrigation system in the Lower Chubut valley could finally begin.

There were further substantial migrations from Wales during the periods 1880-87, and also 1904-12, again mainly due to depression within the coalfields. The settlers had seemingly achieved their utopia with Welsh speaking schools and chapels; even the language of local government was Welsh.

In the few decades since the settlers had arrived, they had transformed the inhospitable scrub-filled semi-dessert into one of the most fertile and productive agricultural areas in the whole of Argentina, and had even expanded their territory into the foothills of the Andes with a settlement known as Cwm Hyfryd.

But it was these productive and fertile lands that now attracted other nationalities to settle in Chubut and the colony’s Welsh identity began to be eroded. By 1915 the population of Chubut had grown to around 20,000, with approximately half of these being foreign immigrants.

27 July 1694

A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.

bank-of-england

The revolution of 1688, which brought William and Mary to the throne, gave England political stability for the first time in nearly a century.

Businesses flourished, but the public finances were weak and the system of money and credit was in disarray. The goldsmith bankers, who had begun to develop the basic principles of banks as deposit-takers and lenders, had been damaged by the lax financial management of the Stuart kings.

There were calls for a national or public bank to mobilise the nation’s resources, largely inspired by the Dutch example of the Amsterdam Wisselbank. Many schemes were proposed. The successful one, from Scottish entrepreneur William Paterson, invited the public to invest in a new project. The public subscriptions raised £1.2 million in a few weeks, which formed the initial capital stock of the Bank of England and was lent to Government in return for a Royal Charter. The Royal Charter was sealed on 27 July 1694, and the Bank started its role as the Government’s banker and debt manager.

The Bank opened for business a few days later in temporary accommodation in the Mercers’ Hall in Cheapside. It had a staff of seventeen clerks and two gatekeepers. Later in the same year, it moved to the Grocers’ Hall in Princes Street, which became its home until 1734 when it acquired premises in Threadneedle Street. Over the next 100 years, the Bank gradually acquired adjacent premises until the present three-acre island site was secured. Sir John Soane’s massive curtain wall was erected round it, and this still forms the outer wall of the Bank today.