130 things happened on 16 January, from 27 BC to 2025. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1913 · 113 years ago
Srinivasa Ramanujan, a brilliant Indian mathematician who had been working on his own, wrote to G. H. Hardy at the University of Cambridge. His letter was packed with new formulas, shown without proof. Hardy recognised that Ramanujan's work was extraordinary …
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
The Parliament of Scotland voted by 110 votes to 69 to approve the Treaty of Union with England. England's Parliament passed its own act soon afterwards. On 1 May 1707 the two kingdoms joined to form one country, Great Britain, with Queen Anne as its monarch. The Scottish Parliament closed, and a new Parliament of Great Britain met at Westminster.
UK story
A team from Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition reached the estimated position of the South Magnetic Pole. The team was led by geology professor Edgeworth David and included Douglas Mawson. The same expedition made the first climb of Mount Erebus, an Antarctic volcano. Shackleton's own team got closer to the South Pole than anyone had before.
UK story
Srinivasa Ramanujan, a brilliant Indian mathematician who had been working on his own, wrote to G. H. Hardy at the University of Cambridge. His letter was packed with new formulas, shown without proof. Hardy recognised that Ramanujan's work was extraordinary and arranged for him to come to Cambridge. Ramanujan went on to discover nearly 3,900 mathematical results, and many opened up whole new areas of maths.
UK story
Sir Francis Bigod began an armed rebellion against King Henry VIII and the English Parliament.
UK story
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and found guilty of treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
UK story
American Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy gained their first major naval victory over their European enemies in the war when they defeated a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
UK story
Peninsular War: French forces under Jean-de-Dieu Soult attacked the British amphibious evacuation under Sir John Moore at Corunna in Galicia, Spain.
UK story
The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
The Roman Senate gave Octavian the new title Augustus, meaning 'the revered'. This marks the moment he became the first Roman emperor. Augustus was careful not to look like a king and avoided wearing a crown or carrying a sceptre. Later Roman emperors also took the title Augustus, and it became their main title.
Ivan IV, Grand Prince of Moscow, was crowned Tsar of all Russia at the age of 16. He was the first ruler to take this title, and Russian monarchs used it until 1721. During his long reign, Russia began to change from a medieval state into an empire. He is remembered as Ivan the Terrible, from a Russian word meaning 'fearsome' or 'formidable'.
The first part of Don Quixote, by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, was published in Madrid. It tells the story of a man who reads so many tales of knights that he decides to become a knight himself. With his squire, a farm worker called Sancho Panza, he sets off on comical adventures. It is often called the first modern novel and is one of the best-selling books in history.
The League of Nations held its first council meeting in Paris. It was the first worldwide organisation set up to keep peace between countries, created after the First World War. Britain, France, Italy and Japan were the first permanent members of its council. The League did not have its own army, and it was later replaced by the United Nations.
Two Soviet spacecraft, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5, joined together in orbit. It was the first time two spacecraft with people on board had docked. Cosmonauts Aleksei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov then made a spacewalk from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4. It was the first time a crew had moved from one spacecraft to another in space.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as President of Liberia, in West Africa. She was the first woman in Africa to be elected president of her country. Sirleaf was an economist who had studied at Harvard University in the USA. She was re-elected in 2011, and that year she won the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing women into the work of making peace.
General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III establishes the Caliphate of Córdoba.
Crusades: The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Philip II becomes King of Spain.
Reapers' War: The Junta de Braços (parliamentary assembly) of the Principality of Catalonia accepts the proposal of establishment of the Catalan Republic, under French protection.
King Philip V of Spain promulgates the Nueva Planta decree of the Principality of Catalonia, abolishing the Catalan institutions and its legal system, being replaced by those of Castile, thus putting an end to Catalonia as separate state and becoming a province of the new French-style Kingdom of Spain.
Forces of the Maratha Empire are defeated by the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.
Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
Westward expansion of the United States: John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, was enacted by the U.S. Congress.
Despite being blind in one eye, ice hockey player Frank McGee (pictured) set the record for most goals in a Stanley Cup game when he scored 14 against the Dawson City Nuggets.
Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.
The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.
World War II: During the Battle of Bataan, U.S. Army sergeant Jose Calugas (pictured) organized a squad of volunteers to man an artillery position under heavy fire, an action that later earned him the Medal of Honor.
The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37 years.
Iranian Revolution: The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.
A radiation detector at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, United States, detects radioactivity after a truck carrying rebar accidentally passed through the laboratory's area, revealing a contamination incident that occurred in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the previous month.
Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.
El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.
The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
Syrian civil war: The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) is established with the stated goal of re-organizing Syria along the lines of democratic confederalism.
The Mali War begins when Tuareg militias start fighting the Malian government for independence.
The United States Senate ratifies the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement as a replacement for NAFTA.
The first impeachment of Donald Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Ramanujan writes his first letter to mathematician G. H. Hardy”?
C: 1913. 1913 — that’s 113 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Shackleton's expedition reaches the South Magnetic Pole”?
C: 1909. 1909 — that’s 117 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
A: Scotland's Parliament votes for union with England. 1707: Scotland's Parliament votes for union with England · 1909: Shackleton's expedition reaches the South Magnetic Pole · 1913: Ramanujan writes his first letter to mathematician G. H. Hardy Find it on the page
“Scotland's Parliament votes for union with England” happened in 1707. How many years ago was that?
A: 319 years. 2026 − 1707 = 319. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 16 January.
Dian Fossey was an American scientist who studied mountain gorillas in the forests of Rwanda for nearly 20 years. She watched the gorillas almost every day and worked hard to protect them from poachers. Her book about them, Gorillas in the Mist, helped to inspire a film. Her work helped to slow the decline in mountain gorilla numbers.
UK story
Eric Liddell was a Scottish sprinter, rugby player and Christian missionary, born in China to Scottish parents. At the 1924 Paris Olympics he refused to run in the 100 metres heats because they were held on a Sunday. Instead he ran the 400 metres, and won gold. His story is told in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire.
Well-known people who died on 16 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 16 January somewhere in the world.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “January 16” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.