I was tempted to opt for Queen Isabella of Spain banning violence against Indians in the Americas in 1503, but that clearly didn’t last. I remember learning about the War of Jenkins’ Ear at school. I can’t think of a better name for a war to get schoolboys interested in history. Some may argue that war wasn’t declared on this day, but rather on the 19th October. It depends which calendar you use, Julian or Gregorian. It was 30th October under the old Julian calendar, which they were using at the time.
Robert Jenkins was the captain of an English merchant ship, or perhaps it was a pirate ship. It depends on your point of view. The official version is that in 1731, his ship Rebecca was boarded by Spanish coast guards, off the coast of Florida. The Spanish accused Jenkins of smuggling, and cut off his left ear. Jenkins pickled his ear and kept it in a bottle. When he returned to England, the story spread, and Jenkins was summoned to parliament, where he showed the Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, his ear. The English people demanded that the Spanish be taught a lesson, so war was declared against Spain. The war lasted from 1739 until 1748, in the West Indies.
An alternative view is that Jenkins lost his ear in a pub brawl. The South Sea Company and politicians created the story to whip up a war against Spain in the Caribbean, believing that it would further the company’s interests, and put pressure on the Spanish to continue allowing the English to trade slaves in South America.
We will never know the full facts, but the latter version rings true to me. Politicians with a commercial interest distorting facts to line their own pockets. Thank heaven that doesn’t happen these days!