115 things happened on 16 February, from 1249 to 2024. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1900 · 126 years ago
The Southern Cross Expedition, also called the British Antarctic Expedition, made the first ever landing on the Great Ice Barrier. This huge sheet of floating ice is now called the Ross Ice Shelf. The explorers, led by the Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink, also…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
At Torrington in Devon, Sir Thomas Fairfax led the Parliamentarian army to victory over the Royalists, who fought for the king. The fighting went on into the night, in heavy rain. The battle ended Royalist resistance in the West Country and was the last major battle of the First English Civil War. Each February, the town remembers it with a torch-lit procession.
UK story
Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, became Prime Minister of Great Britain. He is thought of as the country's second prime minister, after Sir Robert Walpole. He is one of only three people in British history to have been both Speaker of the House of Commons and Prime Minister. He stayed in the job until he died in 1743.
UK story
The Southern Cross Expedition, also called the British Antarctic Expedition, made the first ever landing on the Great Ice Barrier. This huge sheet of floating ice is now called the Ross Ice Shelf. The explorers, led by the Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink, also set a new record for travelling furthest south. They were the first to spend the winter on the Antarctic mainland and pioneered the use of dogs and sledges there.
UK story
British archaeologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Carter had discovered the tomb in November 1922, and it is the best-preserved pharaoh's tomb ever found. Most of the chamber was filled by a gilded wooden shrine. Inside it, nested shrines surrounded a stone sarcophagus holding three coffins, one inside another.
UK story
During the Second World War, the German tanker Altmark was carrying 299 captured British sailors back to Germany. The British destroyer HMS Cossack, captained by Philip Vian, followed it into a fjord in Norway. Its sailors boarded the tanker and freed all the prisoners. One prisoner remembered the rescuers shouting 'the Navy's here!', a phrase that became famous across Britain.
UK story
Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon.
UK story
Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.
The French government passed a law saying that the musical note A above middle C should be 435 hertz. Hertz measures how many times something vibrates each second. This was the first attempt to set a standard concert pitch, the note that musicians tune their instruments to. The international standard now used is slightly higher, at 440 hertz.
American chemist Wallace Carothers received a United States patent for nylon. He led a team of chemists at the company DuPont and is credited with inventing it. Nylon is a synthetic, or human-made, material that can be made into fibres, films and many other shapes. It is used in clothes, carpets, car parts and food packaging.
The first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system began working in Haleyville, Alabama, in the United States. Now 911 is the emergency number for the whole of the United States and Canada. Dialling it connects people to an emergency office, which can send help to where they are. Almost everywhere in the USA, the system can automatically find the caller's address.
The Kyoto Protocol came into force after Russia agreed to it. It is an international treaty in which countries committed to cutting the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. It had been agreed in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. It was based on scientists' agreement that the world is warming and that carbon dioxide made by humans is causing it.
King Louis IX dispatched André de Longjumeau as the French ambassador to the Mongol Empire.
Livonian Crusade: In the Battle of Karuse, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania achieved a decisive victory over the Livonian Order on the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.
Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.
American Civil War: A Union victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson gave General Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender".
The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.
The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence (pictured), proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania.
A landslide in Byblos revealed a sarcophagus in an underground tomb that was later discovered to be part of a large Bronze Age necropolis.
The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.
The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.
The Commission of Government is officially sworn in; ending 79 years of responsible government in Newfoundland.
The Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties, came to power in the Spanish general election, a factor in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War five months later.
World War II: In Athens, the Greek People's Liberation Army is established
World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.
World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law.
Fidel Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba, beginning his decades-long rule over the country.
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was chartered.
Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).
The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs.
The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the second anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Explorers make the first landing on Antarctica's Great Ice Barrier”?
A: 1900. 1900 — that’s 126 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Howard Carter opens the burial chamber of Tutankhamun”?
A: 1923. 1923 — that’s 103 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
C: Spencer Compton becomes Britain's second prime minister. 1900: Explorers make the first landing on Antarctica's Great Ice Barrier · 1923: Howard Carter opens the burial chamber of Tutankhamun · 1742: Spencer Compton becomes Britain's second prime minister Find it on the page
“Spencer Compton becomes Britain's second prime minister” happened in 1742. How many years ago was that?
A: 284 years. 2026 − 1742 = 284. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 16 February.
UK story
Vera Menchik was a chess player who was born in Russia and lived mainly in England. She was the first Women's World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1927 until 1944. She won the championship a record eight times. She was also the first woman to play in top-level tournaments against the world's best players.
Cathy Freeman is an Aboriginal Australian athlete who ran the 400 metres. At the 2000 Olympic Games, she lit the Olympic Flame at the start of the Games. She then won the gold medal in the women's 400 metres. Her best time of 48.63 seconds makes her one of the fastest women ever over that distance.
Well-known people who died on 16 February.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 16 February 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 “February 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.