Aug  1 

1838  Slavery was abolished in the British Empire

Aug  3 

1858  John Speke, English explorer,  discovered Lake Victoria

Aug  4 

1892  Lizzie Borden was alleged to have killed her father and stepmother with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts

1265  Simon de Montfort was defeated and killed at the Battle of Evesham

Aug  5 

1858  The laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable was completed - but it failed after three weeks

Aug  7 

2000  Actor Alec Guinness and political commentator Sir Robin Day died

1947  The Kon Tiki expedition landed on a reef in the Tuamotu Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean having spent four months at sea on a raft made of balsa wood

1914  The £1 and 10/- notes were first issued