What happened on 31 August?

13 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1854 Cholera epidemic of 1854 / John Snow Dr John Snow traces a London cholera outbreak to the Broad Street pump; landmark in epidemiology.
2. 1997 Death of Princess Diana Car crash in Paris kills the Princess of Wales, sparking an unprecedented outpouring of public grief.
3. 1848 Public Health Act 1848 Creates a General Board of Health and lets towns set up local boards for sewers, drainage and clean water — the first major public-health law for England and Wales, driven by Edwin
4. 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention completes the Triple Entente UK and Russia settle Central Asian disputes, completing the diplomatic alignment of Entente powers.
5. 1888 Jack the Ripper murders Series of unsolved murders in Whitechapel, London; defines the late-Victorian fascination with sensational crime.
6. 1994 The IRA declares a ceasefire After secret talks and the Downing Street Declaration, the Provisional IRA announces 'a complete cessation of military operations' — the loyalist paramilitaries follow six weeks la
7. 1957 Malayan independence (Merdeka) Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaims Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur — Britain's richest colony leaves at the height of the Emergency's defeat of the insurgency.
8. 1928 The Threepenny Opera Brecht and Kurt Weill's 'play with music' about the gangster Macheath opens in Berlin and becomes the hit of the Weimar stage; 'Mack the Knife' goes round the world.
9. 1422 Death of Henry V Two years after Troyes made him heir to France, Henry dies of dysentery at Vincennes aged 35; his nine-month-old son inherits both crowns.
10. 1951 Evita renounces the vice-presidency Before a million supporters calling for her as Perón's running mate, the dying Evita — blocked by the army — renounces the candidacy on the radio.
11. 1837 Emerson's 'The American Scholar' Addressing Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa society, Emerson calls on Americans to stop listening to 'the courtly muses of Europe' — Oliver Wendell Holmes called it America's intellectual
12. 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention Britain and Russia divide Persia into spheres and settle Afghanistan and Tibet — the Great Game ends at a table, freeing both to face Germany.
13. 1827 Lord Goderich's premiership Goderich never faces parliament and resigns in tears without ever winning a vote.