June 16

June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining.

Events

• 1487 – Battle of Stoke Field, the last dying breath of the Wars of the Roses
• 1586 – Mary Queen of Scots recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir
• 1654 – Queen Christina of Sweden abdicates
• 1716 – The first volume of Alexander Pope's* translation of the lliad is published. Admonishes classical scholar Richard Bentley: "It is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer."
• 1745 – British troops take Cape Breton Island at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River
• 1745 – Sir William Pepperell captures the French fortress of Louisburg during the War of the Austrian Succession.
• 1746 – War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza
• 1755 – French and Indian War: French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians
• 1774 – Formation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
• 1779 – Spain declares war on Britain and the siege of Gibraltar begins
• 1815 – Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before Waterloo.
• 1836 – Formation of the London Working Men's Association begins the Chartist Movement
• 1846 – Pope Pius IX is elected pope.
• 1858 – Abraham Lincoln's House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois
• 1858 – Battle of Morar, during the Indian Mutiny.
• 1871 – University Tests Act allow students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology.
• 1884 – The first roller coaster in the United States begins operation at Coney Island, New York
• 1891 – John Abbott becomes Canada's third prime minister.
• 1902 – Australia: Female British subjects (with the glaring exception of Asians, Aborigines and Africans) won the vote with the Uniform Franchise Act.
• 1903 – Ford Motor Company incorporates.
• 1903 – Roald Amundsen commences first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage by leaving Oslo, Norway.
• 1904 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
• 1904 – Leopold Bloom walks around Dublin. (see Ulysses)
• 1911 – A 772 gram stony meteorite struck earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn.
• 1915 – foundation of the British Women's Institute
• 1922 – General election in Irish Free State: large majority to pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
• 1924 – Whampoa Military Academy is founded
• 1925 — The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the USSR, Artek established.
• 1940 – World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France
• 1940 – A Communist government is installed in Lithuania
• 1948 – The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by the Cathay Pacific airline, marks the first skyjacking of a commercial plane.
• 1955 – Pope Pius XII excommunicates Juan Perón
• 1956 – Ted Hughes marries Sylvia Plath
• 1960 – Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho opens in New York
• 1961 – Rudolf Nureyev defects at Le Bourget airport in Paris
• 1963 – Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space
• 1972 – Burglars are caught breaking into the United States Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate building
• 1972 – Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
• 1972 – Opening of the New York Jazz Museum
• 1972 – Largest single-site hydro-electric power project starts at Churchill Falls Newfoundland
• 1976 – Apartheid: A non-violent march by 15000 students in Soweto, South Africa turns into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd and kill 566 children.
• 1977 – Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the USSR
• 1981 – Ken Taylor honoured for helping six Americans escape from Iran during hostage crisis
• 1983 – Yuri Andropov becomes president of the USSR
• 1994 – A Chinese operated Northwest Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes 10 minutes after takeoff killing 160
• 1996 – First round of voting in the Russian presidential election
• 1997 – Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; some 50 people killed.
• 1999 – Thabo Mbeki elected President of South Africa.
• 2001 – George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia
• 2002 – Politically Incorrect is cancelled (from sponsors dropping the show) after host Bill Maher makes controversial comments on air regarding the integrity of President George W. Bush.
• 2003 – The Hatfields and McCoys sign a formal truce.

Births

• 1313 – Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (d. 1375)
• 1514 – John Cheke, English classical scholar (d. 1557)
• 1583 – Axel Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1654)
• 1613 – John Cleveland, English poet (d. 1658)
• 1644 – Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of Scotland, England and Ireland and Duchess of Orléans (d. 1670)
• 1738 – Mary Katharine Goddard, American printer and publisher (d. 1816)
• 1792 – John Linnell, English artist (d. 1882)
• 1792 – Sir Thomas Mitchell, Australian explorer (d. 1855)
• 1801 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1868)
• 1806 – Edward Davy, English physician, chemist, and inventor (d. 1885)
• 1813 – Otto Jahn, German archaeologist (d. 1869)
• 1820 – Athanase Coquerel, French protestant preacher (d. 1875)
• 1826 – Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (d. 1897)
• 1829 – Geronimo, Apache warrior and leader (d. 1909)
• 1836 – Wesley Merritt, soldier (d. 1910)
• 1837 – Ernst Laas, German philosopher (d. 1885)
• 1838 – Cushman Davis, politician (d. 1900)
• 1840 – Ernst Otto Schlick, engineer (d. 1913)
• 1858 – King Gustav V of Sweden (d. 1950)
• 1874 – Arthur Meighen, ninth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1960)
• 1880 – Otto Eisenschiml, Austrian-American chemist and historian (d. 1963)
• 1890 – Stan Laurel, American actor and comedian (d. 1965)
• 1897 – Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
• 1902 – Barbara McClintock, geneticist (d. 1992)
• 1902 – George Gaylord Simpson, paleontologist (d. 1984)
• 1903 – Helen Traubel, American soprano (d. 1972)
• 1907 – Jack Albertson, actor (d. 1981)
• 1909 – Archie Fairley Carr, biologist and expert on turtles (d. 1987)
• 1910 – Juan Velasco, President of Peru from 1968 to 1975 (d. 1977)
• 1912 – Enoch Powell, British politician (d. 1998)
• 1914 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, athlete (d. 1956)
• 1916 – Hank Luisetti, baseball player (d. 2002)
• 1917 – Katharine Graham, Washington Post publisher (d. 2001)
• 1917 – Irving Penn, photographer
• 1920 – José López Portillo, President of Mexico from 1976 to 1982 (d. 2004)
• 1920 – John Howard Griffin, writer (d. 1980)
• 1927 – Tom Graveney, English cricketer
• 1927 – Herbert Lichtenfeld, author and playwright (d. 2001)
• 1930 – Vilmos Zsigmond, cinematographer
• 1934 – Dame Eileen Atkins, English actress
• 1935 – Jim Dine, artist
• 1937 – Erich Segal, author
• 1938 – James Bolam, English actor
• 1938 – Joyce Carol Oates, novelist
• 1940 – Neil Goldschmidt, governor of Oregon
• 1941 – Lamont Dozier, record company executive
• 1942 – Giacomo Agostini, Italian motorcyclist
• 1942 – Eddie Levert, R&B singer
• 1947 – -minu, Swiss columnist and writer
• 1951 – Roberto Durán, boxer
• 1952 – Michel Blanc, French actor
• 1952 – George Papandreou, junior, Greek politician
• 1952 – Gino Vannelli, vocalist, songwriter
• 1955 – Laurie Metcalf, actress Dennis Lippincott,Printer
• 1966 – Jan Zelezný, Czech athlete
• 1967 – John Franklin, actor
• 1970 – Phil Mickelson, golfer
• 1971 – Tupac Shakur, musician (d. 1996)
• 1977 – Kerry Wood, baseball pitcher
• 1980 – Joey Yung, Hong Kong singer
• 1988 – Marinó Sigurðsson, Iceland actor/director
• 1988 – Keshia Chante, Canadian R&B Singer

Deaths

• 1750 BC – King Hammurabi of Babylon
• AD 1216 – Pope Innocent III
• 1464 – Roger van der Weyden, Flemish painter (b. 1399)
• 1468 – Jean Le Fevre, Burgundian chronicler (b. ca. 1395)
• 1622 – Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, chancellor of Scotland (b. ca. 1555)
• 1626 – Christian the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel, Protestant military commander (b. 1599)
• 1666 – Richard Fanshawe, English poet, translator and diplomat (b. 1608)
• 1671 – Stenka Razin, Cossack rebel leader (executed) (b. ca. 1630)
• 1707 – Duchess de Nemours, sovereign princess of Neuchâtel, best known for her Mémoires (b. 1625)
• 1722 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general (b. 1650)
• 1752 – Giulio Alberoni, Spanish cardinal (b. 1664)
• 1752  – Joseph Butler, English philosopher (b. 1692)
• 1777 – Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset, French poet and dramatist (b. 1709)
• 1778 – Konrad Ekhof, German actor (b. 1720)
• 1779 – Sir Francis Bernard, Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts (b. 1712)
• 1804 – Johann Hiller, German composer (b. 1728)
• 1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, statesman and financier (b. 1759)
• 1848 – Ludwig II, Grand-Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, (b. 1777)
• 1849 – Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, German theologian (b. 1780)
• 1855 – John Gorrie, physician, early pioneer in refrigeration (b. 1803)
• 1858 – John Snow, English obstetrician (b. 1813)
• 1866 – Auguste Barthelemy, French satirical poet (b. 1796)
• 1869 – Charles Sturt, English explorer (b. 1795)
• 1872 – Norman MacCleod, Scottish clergyman to Queen Victoria (b. 1812)
• 1878 – Crawford Long, physician (b. 1815)
• 1881 – Sir Josiah Mason, English pen-manufacturer (b. 1795)
• 1885 – Wilhelm Camphausen, German painter (b. 1818)
• 1894 – William Calder Marshall, Scottish sculptor (b. 1813)
• 1900 – Prince François, Duke of Joinville, third son of Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1818)
• 1925 – Chittaranjan Das, Indian patriot and freedom fighter (b. 1870)
• 1925 – Emmett Hardy, jazz musician (b. 1903)
• 1930 – Elmer Ambrose Sperry, inventor (b. 1860)
• 1940 – DuBose Heyward, writer
• 1944 – Marc Bloch, French historian (executed) (b. 1886)
• 1953 – Margaret Bondfield, English politician and feminist (b. 1873)
• 1958 – Imre Nagy, former Premier of Hungary (b. 1895)
• 1959 – George Reeves, actor, played Superman (b. 1914)
• 1969 – Harold Alexander, British military commander (b. 1891)
• 1970 – Brian Piccolo, American football player
• 1971 – Lord Reith, first Director-General of the BBC (b. 1889)
• 1976 – Hector Pieterson, one of the first children (566 in all) killed during the Soweto Uprising.
• 1977 – Wernher von Braun, rocket scientist (b. 1912)
• 1979 – Vernon Presley, father of Elvis Presley (b. 1916)
• 1979 – Nicholas Ray, film director (b. 1911)
• 1981 – Jule Gregory Charney, meteorologist
• 1986 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer and organist (b. 1902)
• 1988 – Kim Milford, actor (b. 1951)
• 1993 – Lindsay Hassett, Australian cricketer (b. 1913)
• 1996 – Mel Allen, baseball announcer
• 1999 – Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of Britain's Official Monster Raving Loony Party (b. 1940)
• 2000 – Dowager Empress Nagako of Japan, consort of Emperor Hirohito (b. 1903)
• 2003 – Enrico Baj, Italian avantgarde artist
• 2003 – Georg Henrik von Wright, Finland-Swedish philosopher (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances

• South Africa – Youth Day
• Roman Catholic Church – Feast of Saint John Regis, patron of medical social workers
• Bloomsday, in honour of James Joyce's Ulysses

External links

• BBC: On This Day

June 15 – June 17 – May 16 – July 16 — listing of all days