June 5, 1916: Lord Kitchener is killed in action in World War I. It can't be called an assassination, since the enemy didn't know he was aboard the ship in question. But he was dead just the same, and he thus became Great Britain's leading martyr of the war.
Horatio Herbert Kitchener -- he usually used his middle name -- was born on June 24, 1850 in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom. But, ethnically, he was wholly English. His father was then stationed in Ballylongford with the British Army, and both of his parents were from Suffolk, in East Anglia, England. He had a brother, Walter, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General, served as Governor of Bermuda, and was knighted.
He graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, was commissioned into the Royal Engineers, and served in France, Cyprus, Egypt, the Sudan, and what was then called the British Mandate of Palestine. By 1892, his heroism, his linguistic expertise, and, of course, his connections had led him to be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
In 1898, his victory at the Battle of Omdurman sewed up victory, and control of the Sudan, for Britain in the Mahdist War, helping to avenge the death of General Charles Gordon in the Battle of Khartoum in 1885. Kitchener had become an imperial hero, and was named Baron Kitchener of Khartoum. He served as Chief of Staff during the Second Boer War, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India, and as Consul-General in Egypt.
When World War I began in 1914, he was promoted to Field Marshal, and named Secretary of State for War, and created Earl Kitchener, of Khartoum and of Broome in the County of Kent. That was where he had his permanent residence, at a house named Broome Park in Canterbury, Kent, in the South-East of England.
He had become the most popular British soldier since the Duke of Wellington, nearly a century earlier. This helped in leading recruiting, as his nationally-recognized image was used on a poster that was much-copied, including in America, for the Uncle Sam "I WANT YOU for U.S. Army" poster that debuted upon America's entry into the war in 1917.
On June 5, 1916, Kitchener was making his way to Russia on the armored cruiser HMS Hampshire, to attend negotiations with Czar Nicholas II. In bad weather, the ship struck a mine laid by the German submarine U-75, a mile and a half west of Orkney, Scotland, and sank. Kitchener was among 737 men who died, and was the highest-ranking British officer to die in action in the entire war. He was just short of 66 years old.
The news of Kitchener's death was received with shock all over the British Empire. A man in Yorkshire committed suicide at the news. General Douglas Haig, commander on the Western Front, asked his staff, "How shall we get on without him?" King George V ordered all officers to wear black armbands for a week.
In his memory, the Canadian city of Berlin, Ontario, so named for a large number of German immigrants living there, was renamed Kitchener. It is 40 miles northwest of Hamilton, and 67 miles southwest of Toronto.
His older brother, Colonel Henry Kitchener, inherited his title, as the 2nd Earl of Kitchener. His son Henry having predeceased him, that Henry's son named Henry became the 3rd Earl. Upon his death in 2011, the title became extinct.
In the 2021 film The King's Man, set during World War I and its leadup, and part of the Kingsman media franchise, Kitchener's death is shown to be an assassination, by the conspiracy benefiting from keeping the war going by playing both sides off against each other.
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June 5, 1916 was a Monday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Yankees, far from the "Murderers' Row" that they would become in the 1920s, knocked White Sox starter Joe Benz out of the box in the 1st inning, on an RBI single by Wally Pipp and a 2-RBI single by Roger Peckinpaugh, but were shut down thereafter. Nick Cullop went the distance for the win. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 2-for-4, and Eddie Collins went 1-for-4.
* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at the Polo Grounds. Fred Toney went 10 innings for the Reds, and was driven in with the winning run with a single by the infamous Hal Chase in the top of the 10th.
* The Brooklyn Robins, as the Dodgers were known during the managing of Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Ebbets Field. They did this in spite of Zack Wheat, the best player in franchise history to that point, going 0-for-4; while Honus Wagner, still the best player in the Pirate franchise's history, defied his 42 years and went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 1-0 at Braves Field in Boston. Gene Packard pitched a 5-hit shutout.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Rogers Hornsby, in his 1st full season, and playing 3rd base instead of his usual 2nd, hit a home run for the Cardinals. But the Phillies won it in the bottom of the 11th inning, with Bert Niehoff doubling home Dave Bancroft.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-0 at League Park in Cleveland. Just before the season, superstar center field Tris Speaker and Red Sox management had fallen out with each other, and Speaker was traded to the Indians for 2 players and a lot of cash. This didn't hurt the Red Sox at first, though: They went on to win the World Series in 1916 and 1918. But Speaker would lead them, as player and as manager, to the World Series in 1920, and nearly win Pennants again in 1923 and 1926. In this game, he went 0-for-4. Babe Ruth pitched a 6-hit shutout, and went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Harry Coveleski, brother of Hall-of-Fame pitcher Stan and a good pitcher in his own right, outpitched the legendary Walter Johnson. Ty Cobb went 2-for-4.
* And a Midwest rainstorm that postponed games on a Philadelphia Athletics roadtrip for the 1st of 5 straight days, first in St. Louis and then in Chicago, prevented the A's from playing the St. Louis Browns. This game was made up at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis on July 26. The Browns won, 5-0. Carl Weilman allowed 10 hits, but kept the shutout. Hank Sevareid went 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs.
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