August Birthdays
Post updated 2nd August 2023
Known to the Anglo Saxons as Weod monath or “weed month” due to the rapid rate of plant growth, August offers us the last official weeks of summer and is the birth month of the sandwich (which was invented on 6th August 1762 when the Earl of Sandwich asked for some meat to be served to him between two slices of bread, so that he didn’t need to interrupt his gambling in order to eat it).
August has been a month of wonderful new beginnings throughout history. Columbus set sail in August in 1492, the first communications satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral in 1960 and the UK fire service and police detective forces were both established in August. However, it has also seen its fair share of infamy in the past too, with The Great Train Robbery, the Roman invasion of Britain in 55BC and the catastrophic eruption of Mt Vesuvius near Pompeii all occurring in August.
It's a month of harvesting and holidaying; of preparing for returning to school and simultaneously stocking up in preparation for colder months ahead and celebrating the final days of summer. People with August birthdays are lucky enough to have three birthstones and two birth flowers to choose from, along with an array of inspirational people who share their birth month with them.
Birthstones for August
Traditional August Birthstone – Sardonyx
Sardonyx is comprised of alternating layers of onyx and sard (two types of chalcedony) to create a reddish gemstone striped with white bands. The word sardonyx is derived from the Greek words “sard” meaning “reddish brown,” and “onyx” meaning “veined gem.” It was widely used in Ancient Rome for a variety of things, from necklaces decorated with cameos of the goddess Venus (to attract luck in love), to seals and signet rings (as sealing wax does not stick to Sardonyx). Sardonyx is believed to promote happiness, confidence, optimism and self-discipline, making it a great choice for students or anyone who needs to knuckle down and get on with a big work project.
Modern Birthstones - Peridot or Spinel
Peridot
Also known as Olivine, Peridot is one of the modern birthstones for August and the national stone of Egypt. It is one of only two gemstones - diamond is the other - that is formed, not in the Earth’s crust, but deeper down in the molten rock of the Upper Mantle and it is brought to the surface by the earthquakes and volcanoes. Peridot is only ever green in colour, so it is ironic that it is thought to help dispel jealousy and resentment! Perhaps because of the dramatic way in which it makes its way to the Earth’s surface, Peridot is thought to be beneficial for those wishing to break away from dependencies or destructive patterns of behaviour.
Spinel
The word spinel comes from the Latin word ‘spina’, which means spine and refers to the stone’s needle-like formation. Wearing spinel is said to promote great passion and devotion and it is also believed to help increase physical energy and stamina.
Birth Flowers for August
Poppy – symbolises imagination, eternal sleep, and oblivion.
Gladiolus - generosity, strength of character, and deep sincerity
Inspirational People with August Birthdays
Maria Mitchell – 1st August 1818
Maria Mitchell was born in Nantucket to Quaker parents who prioritised her education from an early age. It was her father who first encouraged her to pursue her interest in astronomy, allowing her to assist him with rating the chronometers for the Nantucket whaling fleet.
For 20 years (between 1836 and 1856) she was a librarian by day and an observer of the night sky after dark. In 1847 she established the orbit of a comet that was later to become “Miss Mitchell’s Comet’. Following this discovery, she became the first woman to be elected to into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was later elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Philosophical Society before becoming Professor of Astronomy at the newly founded Vassar College in 1865.
As well as being an accomplished astronomer and an inspiring educator, Mitchell was actively involved in anti-slavery and feminist movements, serving as the president of the American Association of University Women in 1873 and tirelessly campaigning for women to be allowed greater access to higher education.
“Until women throw off this reverence for [male] authority they will not develop. When they do this, when they come to truth through their investigations … their minds will work on and on, unfettered.”
Mitchell died in 1889, aged 70, but her legacy was not forgotten. In 1905 she was one of three women elected to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans and a crater on the moon and an asteroid discovered in 1937 are named in her honour.
Lucille Ball – 6th August 1911
“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore faith in yourself.”
Classically beautiful and exuding Hollywood glamour, Lucille Ball’s career began in 1929, when she landed work as a model, mostly modelling fur coats, as she was extremely thin as a young woman. Shortly afterwards she adopted the stage name Diane Belmont and began performing on Broadway. In the 1930s and 40s she got the nickname “Queen of the B Movies”, for repeatedly being cast as the lead in low-budget films, though she also got a few good roles in A-pictures, such as Stage Door (1937) and The Big Street (1942).
In the 1950s she became one of America’s best-loved comedic actresses for her role as Lucy Ricardo in the hit TV show I Love Lucy, which she starred in alongside her husband, Desi Arnaz. The couple had a very clear vision about how they wanted the sitcom to be filmed and, when their demands were deemed too expensive by CBS, they both agreed to take a pay cut, provided they could retain full ownership rights to the program and run it under their newly-formed production company, Desilu Productions. When Lucille’s bought Arnaz out of Desilu Productions in 1962, after their divorce, she became the first woman to run a major television studio. In 1971 she became the first woman to receive the International Radio and Television Society's Gold Medal.
Her prolific career earner her two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television and, in 1990, she posthumously received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award.
Matthew Henson – 8th August 1866
Born to sharecropper parents in Maryland, Henson left school at 12 to become a cabin boy on a merchant ship. During the six years he was at sea he learnt to read, write and navigate and these skills attracted the attention of Commander Robert E. Peary, whom he met while working in a hat shop in Washington.
Peary employed Henson as a valet to assist him on an expedition to Nicaragua in 1888 and was so impressed with his work that Henson went on to accompany Peary on seven Arctic expeditions between 1891 and 1909. During this time Henson became an expert dog sledder and even learnt Inuit fluently to communicate with their local guides.
On their final Artic expedition, Peary and Henson discovered the North Pole, but for decades, the credit for the accomplishment was given to Peary. However, it has since been accepted that Henson and two of the Inuit guides actually arrived at the Pole 45 minutes before Peary, leading Henson to write ‘I think I am the first man to sit on top of the world’.
Henson died in 1955 and it wasn’t until the year 2000, nearly a century after Peary was awarded National Geographic’s Hubbard Medal for his role in the 1909 expedition, that Henson was posthumously awarded the same honour.
Dorothy Parker – 22nd August 1893
“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.”
Being born in your parents’ summer home in New Jersey sounds like the start of a life blessed with privilege and opportunity. However, Dorothy’s mother died before she was five years old and, when her father died when she was twenty, his once-successful clothing business was failing and she was left to support herself. Self-described as “a plain disagreeable child with stringy hair and a yen to write poetry”, the adult Dorothy used her skill as a writer to begin earning a living working in New York magazine publishing, first as a caption writer for Vogue and then as a staff writer for Vanity Fair. She was fired from Vanity Fair in 1920, for making a joke at the expense of the wife of one of its biggest advertisers.
Despite the shaky start to the decade the 1920s were Parker’s most prolific period and her first volume of poetry went on to become a bestseller. She was also a key participant in the Algonquin Hotel’s famous Round Table literary lunch club, and this is where many of her witty one-liners were uttered.
“I'm not a writer with a drinking problem, I'm a drinker with a writing problem.”
Her success did not make her immune from troubles in her personal life, which was plagued with tragedy. Both her husbands died of drug overdoses and she attempted suicide twice, once after an abortion. After her death, her ashes sat in a lawyer’s filing cabinet for 15 years before someone claimed them.
It’s hard to square this sad and tortured individual with the witty quotes for which she became famous. Her life reminds us that, no matter what people portray to the outside world, they are often fighting battles we know little or nothing about.
