This Day in History - 2nd August

1100King William II of England, (often known as William Rufus) son of William the Conqueror, was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest after allegedly being mistaken for a deer. 

1610English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay in north eastern Canada, thinking that he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.

1776The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place. On 4th July earlier that year the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

1784The first specially-built Royal Mail coach began its scheduled service from Bristol to London.

1788The death of Thomas Gainsborough, English portrait and landscape painter. He preferred landscapes to portraits, but painted King George III and his Queen, although the King was obliged to give the credit to Joshua Reynolds,Gainsborough's rival, as Reynolds was the royal painter.

1865Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was published but was soon withdrawn because of bad printing. Only 21 copies of the first edition survived, making it one of the rarest 19th century books. Lewis Carroll was born at Daresbury Parsonage in Cheshire (now in ruins and in the care of the National Trust.

1870Tower Subway opened in London. It is cited as the world's first underground 'tube' railway, though it was not the first underground railway. That was London's Metropolitan Railway which opened in 1863 and used a 'cut and cover' design to support the roof.

1894Death duties, now known as inheritance tax, were introduced in Britain.

1925Alan Whicker, broadcaster and writer was born.

1957The official Elvis Presley Fan Club was launched in the UK.

1989Trade restrictions between Britain and Argentina were lifted for the first time since the 1982 Falklands war.

1993Following speculative pressure on currencies in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the Mechanism collapsed and currencies were allowed to fluctuate within broad band of 15% on either side of central rates.

2013Magdelena Luczak, 27, and Mariusz Krezolek, 34, from Coventry were served a minimum of 30 years each for what the judge called their 'incomprehensible brutality' that led to the death, from a head injury, of her 4 year old son Daniel. Daniel, who had also been starved by the pair and was subjected to cold water punishment weighed just over a stone and a half when he died and had 'endured severe physical and mental suffering'.

201449 year old Stuart Kettell completed his challenge to push a Brussels sprout up Snowdon using his nose. It took him 3 days and he raised more than £6000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.