This Day in History - 11th October

1216 King John lost his crown and jewels whilst crossing 'The Wash', on the north-west margin of East Anglia.

1521 Pope Leo X conferred the title of 'Defender of the Faith' (Fidei Defensor) on England's Henry VIII for his book supporting Catholic principles.

1649 After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops, under the command of Oliver Cromwell, stormed the town of Wexford, Ireland, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians.

1727 The coronation of King George II.

1738 The birth of Arthur Phillip, English admiral and first governor of New South Wales, who founded the first penal colony at Sydney.

1821 The birth, in Dulverton, Somerset, of George Williams the founder of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association). As a young man, he described himself as a 'careless, thoughtless, godless, swearing young fellow' but he eventually became a devout Christian.

1899 The start of the Boer War between the British Empire and the Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal in southern Africa.

1919 The first airline meals were served on a Handley-Page flight from London to Paris. They were pre-packed lunch boxes at 3 shillings each (15p).

1937 Bobby Charlton, English footballer, was born. He played almost all of his club football (from 1956–1973) at Manchester United.

1951 Gordon Richards, champion British jockey, rode his 200th winner for the sixth successive season.

1957 The largest radio telescope in the world (at that time) was switched on at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. 

1966 The Post Office announced that all home and business addresses in Britain were to be allocated postcodes.

1982 The Mary Rose, which had been the pride of Henry VIII's English fleet until it sank in the Solent in 1545, was raised, by the Mary Rose Trust. It was one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology. She was one of the largest ships in the English navy and was one of the earliest examples of a purpose-built sailing warship. Since the mid-1980s, the hull of the Mary Rose has been kept in a covered dry dock in Portsmouth whilst undergoing conservation. 

1988 Girls began to study at Magdalene College, Cambridge for the first time. To mark the occasion male students wore black armbands and the porter flew a black flag.

2014 A would-be thief tried to saw through the standing leg of the monument to Eric Morecambe, in the legendary comedian's home town of Morecambe.