* 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.

* 1909 – William M. Branham, American evangelist ( d. 1965 )

* 1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver ( d. 1987 )

* 1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands ( d. 2004 )

* 1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor ( d. 1992 )

* 1909 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist ( d. 1966 )

* 1909 – Lester Young, American saxophonist ( d. 1959 )

* 1909 – V. K. Gokak, Indian writer ( d. 1992 )

* 1909 – Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat ( d. 1944 )

Monty Noble led Australia to victory in both 1907 – 08 and 1909.

* 1909 – Walter Van Tilburg Clark, American novelist ( d. 1971 )

* 1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.

* 1909 – Bill Voce, England cricketer ( d. 1984 )

* 1871 – John Millington Synge, Irish writer ( d. 1909 )

* 1909 – Hugo Winterhalter, American composer and bandleader ( d. 1973 )

* 1909 – Paul Callaway, American organist and conductor ( d. 1995 )

* 1909 – Bruce Matthews, Canadian army officer and businessman ( d. 1991 )

* 1909 – First automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway takes place.

* 1909 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician ( d. 1992 )

* 1829 – Carlo Acton, Italian composer and pianist ( d. 1909 )

* 1909 – Michael Rennie, English actor ( d. 1971 )

* 1909 – The Turkish military reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

* 1909 – Leila Danette, American actress

In 1909, a French military critic, General Langlois, pointed out that it was Buller, not Roberts, who had the toughest job of the war – and it was Buller who was the innovator in countering Boer tactics.

Arthur William à Beckett ( 25 October 1844 Fulham-14 January 1909 London ) was an English journalist and intellectual.

A month after Blériot's crossing of the English Channel the aviation week in Reims, France, August 1909, caught special worldwide attention.

Nicaragua's legal system also is a mixture of the English Common Law and the Civil Law through the influence of British administration of the Eastern half of the country from the mid-17th century until about 1905, the William Walker period from about 1855 through 1857, USA interventions / occupations during the period from 1909 to 1933, the influence of USA institutions during the Somoza family administrations ( 1933 through 1979 ) and the considerable importation between 1979 and the present of USA culture and institutions.

The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use of the phrase " conspiracy theory " to a 1909 article in The American Historical Review .< ref >" conspiracy ", Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition, 1989 ; online version March 2012.

* 1909 – Lesslie Newbigin, English theologian and bishop ( d. 1998 )

* 1909 – John Wyer, English sports car racing team manager ( d. 1989 )

In 1909, Jones wrote the short Pronunciation of English, a book which he later radically revised.

* Jones, D. 1909 ), " The Pronunciation of English ", Cambridge: CUP ; rpt in facsimile in Jones ( 2002 ).

* 1909 – Patricia Hayes, English actress ( d. 1998 )

* Dione Lucas ( 1909 – 1971 ), English chef and first female graduate of Le Cordon Bleu

* 1909 – Fanny Cradock, English food writer and broadcaster ( d. 1994 )

* 1909 – Stephen Spender, English poet ( d. 1995 )

* 1909 – Tuppy Owen-Smith, South African cricketer and English rugby union player ( d. 1990 )

Some described lower-middle class life ( Kipps ; The History of Mr Polly ), leading him to be touted as a worthy successor to Charles Dickens, but Wells described a range of social strata and even attempted, in Tono-Bungay ( 1909 ), a diagnosis of English society as a whole.

* 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from ( Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom ) in 37 minutes.

* 1909 – Donald Sinclair, English hotel owner and manager ( d. 1981 )

* 1909 – Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, English politician ( d. 1994 )

* 1909 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian ( d. 1993 )

* 1909 – Martin Lings, English Islamic scholar ( d. 2005 )

* 1909 – Ann Todd, English actress ( d. 1993 )

* 1909 – Malcolm Lowry, English novelist ( d. 1957 )

Loraine is cited by the Oxford English Dictionary for using the term " joystick " in his diary in 1909 when he went to Pau to learn to fly at Bleriot's school.