Reginald Conran Wyly (1880 - 1965)

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

In 1880, in the year that Reginald Conran Wyly was born, on February 4th, five members of one family in Ontario, Canada were killed and their farm was burned by a mob. Called the Black Donnelly Massacre, the Irish family had been feuding with other citizens of the town. No one was ever convicted.

In 1898, he was 18 years old when on March 24th, Robert Allison of Pennsylvania became the first person to buy an American-built car. He bought a Winton, which he had seen in an advertisement in Scientific American. The Winton, built in Ohio, was made by hand and came with a leather roof, padded seats, gas lamps, and tires made by B.F. Goodrich.

In 1908, Reginald was 28 years old when a mysterious Siberian explosion leveled over 770 square miles of forest. There were no human casualties. Explanations of the explosion have included a comet, meteorite, natural atomic explosion, or a crashed UFO. Although it is called an impact event - the largest one in recorded earth history - there is no crater and it is widely thought that the explosion was caused by a meteor exploding 3 to 6 miles above the earth.

In 1951, he was 71 years old when on April 5th, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (husband and wife) were sentenced to death for treason. They were executed on June 19th. American citizens, they were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Their two young sons were adopted by a high school teacher and his wife.

In 1965, in the year of Reginald Conran Wyly's passing, from August 11 to 16, riots broke out in Watts, a Black section of Los Angeles. An allegedly drunk African-American driver was stopped by LA police and, after a fight, police brutality was alleged - and the riots began. 34 people died in the rioting and over $40 million in property damage occurred. The National Guard was called in to help the LA police quell rioting.