Elizabeth Palmer (1895 - 1973)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Elizabeth's lifetime.

In 1895, in the year that Elizabeth Palmer was born, on March 15th, in County Tipperary, Ireland, Michael Cleary killed his wife of 8 years, Bridget, and burned her body. His defense was that his "wife" was a changeling that was left in his real wife's place when she was abducted by fairies. He was nonetheless convicted and imprisoned for manslaughter. He spent 15 years in prison.

In 1910, she was merely 15 years old when Halley's comet, which returns past the earth every 75 - 76 years was observed photographically for the first time. Two fortuitous events occurred - photography had been invented since the last time the comet had passed and the comet was relatively close. There was panic because one astronomer claimed that the gas from its tail "would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet." People bought gas masks, "anti-comet pills" and "anti-comet umbrellas".

In 1922, she was 27 years old when from October 22nd - 29th, 3,000 men of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party marched on Rome. (Mussolini waited in Milan, he did not participate in the March.) The day after the March Mussolini went to Rome and the King of Italy handed over power to Mussolini, in part because he was supported by the military, the business class, and the right-wing factions of Italy.

In 1949, by the time she was 54 years old, on January 25th, the first Emmy Awards (for television) were handed out in Los Angeles. Shirley Dinsdale won for the Most Outstanding Television Personality and Pantomime Quiz Time earned an Emmy for the Most Popular Television Program.

In 1973, in the year of Elizabeth Palmer's passing, on January 28th, the Paris Peace Accord was signed - supposedly ending the Vietnam War. Hostilities continued between North and South Vietnam and the U.S. continued to bomb. But by August 15, 1973, 95% of American troops had left Vietnam. The war ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.