This Day in History - 7th June

1535John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was tried for treason (he was executed on 22nd June).

1628The Petition of Rights, one of England's most famous constitutional documents and of equal value to the Magna Carta was granted the Royal Assent by Charles I. It set out specific liberties of the subject that the king was prohibited from infringing, including restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, the forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restrictions on the use of martial law.

1761The birth of John Rennie, Scottish civil engineer and designer of London Bridge.

1778The birth of George Bryan Brummell, commonly known as 'Beau' Brummell. He was an iconic figure in Regency England and is credited with introducing, and establishing as fashion, the modern men's suit, worn with a tie. He claimed he took five hours to dress, and recommended that boots be polished with champagne.

1811The birth in Bathgate, West Lothian, of James Young Simpson. He discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and successfully introduced it for general medical use.

1862The United Kingdom and the United States agreed to suppress the slave trade.

1906Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania was launched at the John Brown Shipyard at Clydebank, Glasgow. At the time she was the world's fastest and largest liner.

1929Mrs. Margaret Bondfield became the first woman cabinet minister in the Labour government, as Ramsay Macdonald’s Minister of Labour.

1935In Britain, Stanley Baldwin, Conservative, succeeded Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister.

1939King George VI became the first British monarch to visit the United States of America.

1940 The birth of the entertainer Tom Jones. He has sold over 100 million records and has had thirty six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and nineteen in the United States.

1977More than one million people lined the streets of London to watch the Royal Family on their way to St. Paul's at the start of the Queen's silver jubilee celebrations.

1990France, West Germany and Italy lifted a ban on British beef-on-the-bone after reaching a deal in Brussels.

1991Bill Morris became the first black trades union leader in the UK - being elected Secretary-General of the Transport and General Workers Union.

2000Tony Blair, the UK prime minister was heckled and criticised by the respected Women's Institute members as he gave a speech at their conference.

2000Animal welfare companies praised a policeman who closed a section of the M5 in Devon to rescue three ducklings.