A Day in the Past

On this day: 15 April

125 things happened on 15 April, from 1071 to 2019. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.

Printable worksheet Take the quiz

In the UK 6

UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Around the world 18

1817 209 years ago

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf (then called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.

Find out more: Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (Wikipedia)
1927 99 years ago

Torrential rains caused the Mississippi River to break out of its levee system in at least 145 places, resulting in the worst flooding in the history of the United States.

Find out more: Mississippi River (Wikipedia)
1960 66 years ago

At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Find out more: Shaw University (Wikipedia)

Quick quiz

Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!

  1. In which year did this happen: “English poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy encountered a "long”?

    1. 1959
    2. 1997
    3. 1802
    Show the answer

    C: 1802. 1802 — that’s 224 years ago. Find it on the page

  2. In which year did this happen: “Henry VI, King of Germany, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor”?

    1. 1191
    2. 1907
    3. 1957
    Show the answer

    A: 1191. 1191 — that’s 835 years ago. Find it on the page

  3. Which of these happened first?

    1. English poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy encountered a "long
    2. Serse, an opera by Baroque composer George Frideric Handel loosely based on
    3. Henry VI, King of Germany, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor
    Show the answer

    C: Henry VI, King of Germany, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1802: English poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy encountered a "long · 1738: Serse, an opera by Baroque composer George Frideric Handel loosely based on · 1191: Henry VI, King of Germany, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor Find it on the page

  4. “Serse, an opera by Baroque composer George Frideric Handel loosely based on” happened in 1738. How many years ago was that?

    1. 288 years
    2. 298 years
    3. 278 years
    Show the answer

    A: 288 years. 2026 − 1738 = 288. Find it on the page

Born on this day 40

Famous people whose birthday is 15 April.

Remembering 21

Well-known people who died on 15 April.

Special days 13

Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 15 April somewhere in the world.

For older readers 27 Show stories about war, disasters, crime and other difficult history

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.

Where these facts come from

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 “April 15” 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.