153 things happened on 16 October, from AD 456 to 2024. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1834 · 192 years ago
A great fire destroyed most of the Palace of Westminster in London, the home of Parliament. It started when old wooden tally sticks, once used to keep track of government money, were burned carelessly in two furnaces under the House of Lords. This caused a ch…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
The English mathematician William Whiston had predicted that a comet would strike the Earth, but it did not happen. Whiston was a thinker who helped spread the scientific ideas of Isaac Newton. He is also remembered for helping to bring about the Longitude Act of 1714, a law linked to the challenge of working out a ship's position at sea.
UK story
A great fire destroyed most of the Palace of Westminster in London, the home of Parliament. It started when old wooden tally sticks, once used to keep track of government money, were burned carelessly in two furnaces under the House of Lords. This caused a chimney fire. The palace that stands now, with the Elizabeth Tower that holds Big Ben, was built after the fire.
UK story
Girton College was founded by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first college for women at Cambridge. It was England's first residential college for women, where students lived as well as studied. In 1948 it became a full college of the University of Cambridge, which officially marked women being admitted to the university. Since 1976 it has welcomed men as well.
UK story
C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was published in the UK. It was the first of seven Chronicles of Narnia books, which came out between 1950 and 1956 with pictures by Pauline Baynes. In the stories, children from our world are magically carried into Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical beasts. There they help the great lion Aslan protect Narnia from evil.
UK story
The Skye Bridge in Scotland opened. It is a road bridge over Loch Alsh, linking the Isle of Skye to a small island called Eilean Bàn. From there, the Carrich Viaduct carries the road on to the mainland. Together they are known as the Skye Crossing and form part of the A87 road.
UK story
The Church of Scotland established Queen's College in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada.
UK story
Authorities of the British Raj partitioned the Bengal Presidency, separating the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas.
UK story
The Philippines takes over the administration of the Turtle Islands and the Mangsee Islands from the United Kingdom.
Jadwiga was crowned ruler of Poland with the title 'King' rather than 'Queen'. The title showed that she ruled in her own right. Jadwiga, also known as Hedwig, was born in Buda and was the youngest daughter of King Louis I of Hungary. She reigned until her death in 1399 and was the last hereditary ruler of the Kingdom of Poland.
Brothers Walt and Roy Disney set up the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood. It grew into the Walt Disney Company, one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. Walt was a pioneer of cartoon films. He holds the record for the most Academy Awards ever won by one person: 22.
South African bishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was known for campaigning against apartheid, a system of laws in South Africa that separated people and treated them unequally because of their race. He also stood up for human rights. Later, he became Archbishop of Cape Town, the first black African to hold that role.
Ricimer defeats Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire.
Empress Wu Zetian ascends to the throne of the Tang dynasty and proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire.
Abd ar-Rahman III becomes the eighth Emir of Córdoba.
King Otto I defeats a Slavic revolt in what is now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The Council of Vienne convenes for the first time.
War of the First Coalition: The two-day Battle of Wattignies concluded with Jean-Baptiste Jourdan leading French forces to victory over Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
War of the Third Coalition: Napoleon surrounds the Austrian army at Ulm.
The Sixth Coalition attacked French forces led by Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig, the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, with over 500,000 troops involved.
Italian explorer and archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni, uncovered the Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings.
Great Trek: Afrikaner voortrekkers repulse a Matabele attack, but lose their livestock.
William Rowan Hamilton invents quaternions, a three-dimensional system of complex numbers.
William T. G. Morton administers ether anesthesia during a surgical operation.
The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered".
Brigham Young University was founded in Provo, Utah, United States.
The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.
A diplomatic incident between the United States and Chile occurred after U.S. sailors were attacked in Valparaíso, nearly leading to war.
Margaret Sanger (pictured) established the United States' first family planning clinic in Brooklyn, New York.
Chinese Communists begin the Long March to escape Nationalist encirclement.
A four-day air battle over Taiwan ended with a decisive American victory, destroying hundreds of Japanese aircraft and military facilities.
The Greek Communist Party announces a "temporary cease-fire", thus ending the Greek Civil War.
Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro delivers his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, and is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Fulgencio Batista government for leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks.
Cuban Missile Crisis begins: U.S. President John F. Kennedy is informed of photos taken on October 14 by a U-2 showing nuclear missiles (the crisis will last for 13 days starting from this point).
Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.
With the success of Project 596, China became the world's fifth nuclear power.
Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize would be jointly awarded to Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ, sparking international controversy.
The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.
Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.
Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.
The Million Man March takes place in Washington, D.C. About 837,000 attend.
The magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake strikes Southern California
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens in Egypt, commemorating the ancient library of Alexandria.
Storm Ophelia strikes the U.K. and Ireland causing major damage and power loss.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Fire destroys most of the Palace of Westminster”?
C: 1834. 1834 — that’s 192 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is published”?
B: 1950. 1950 — that’s 76 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: Fire destroys most of the Palace of Westminster. 1869: Girton, England's first residential women's college, is founded · 1834: Fire destroys most of the Palace of Westminster · 1950: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is published Find it on the page
“Oscar Wilde” happened in 1854. How many years ago was that?
C: 172 years. 2026 − 1854 = 172. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 16 October.
UK story
Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer of plays, poems and stories. In the early 1890s he became one of the most popular playwrights in London, and many people see him as the greatest playwright of the Victorian era. He was famous for his witty sayings. He also wrote bedtime stories for children and a Gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
UK story
Robert Stephenson was an English engineer who designed railway engines and bridges. He was the only son of George Stephenson, known as the 'Father of Railways'. Robert designed the famous locomotive Rocket, which won the Rainhill Trials in 1829. He also planned the London and Birmingham Railway and the Britannia Bridge, which carries trains across the Menai Strait to the island of Anglesey.
Well-known people who died on 16 October.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 16 October somewhere in the world.
World Food Day is held around the world every year. It marks the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. Many organisations use the day to think about hunger and how to make sure everyone has enough to eat. One of them, the World Food Programme, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its work against hunger.
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 “October 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.