There’s a reason that all the brass of the evil galactic empire in the Star Wars trilogy* are Brits.

• Aug. 4: Isaac Hayne
• Aug. 5: Nandakumar

* Episodes IV-VI. Executed Today is not at home to the prequels.

On this day..

• 1905: Kinjikitile Ngwale, Maji Maji Rebellion prophet
• 1789: Ford, unfortunate wretch
• 1540: The Botolph Plotters of Calais, the last English Carthusian, and Thomas More's son-in-law
• A day in the executions of Franz Schmidt
• 1893: Frank Van Loon, via a mother-in-law's vengeance
• 2015: Shafqat Hussain
• 1743: Gen. Charles Emil Lewenhaupt, scapegoat
• 1899: Three in the Klondike Gold Rush
• 1347: Not the Six Burghers of Calais
• 1882: Ham Yeatts
• 1781: Isaac Hayne, paroled prisoner of war
• 1474: A cock and its eggs
• 2006: Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali, mystical Malaysian militant