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

Events

1400-1899

• 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.

1900-1999

• 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.

2000-2099

• 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

1300-1899

• 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)

1900-1999

• 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

1800 BC-AD 1899

• 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 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)

1900-1999

• 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)
• 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)

2000-2099

• 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