October 16

Pre-1600

• 456 – Ricimer defeats Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire.
• 690 – Empress Wu Zetian ascends to the throne of the Tang dynasty and proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire.
• 912 – Abd ar-Rahman III becomes the eighth Emir of Córdoba.
• 955 – King Otto I defeats a Slavic revolt in what is now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
• 1311 – The Council of Vienne convenes for the first time.
• 1384 – Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, although she is a woman.
• 1590 – Prince Gesualdo of Venosa murders his wife and her lover.

1601–1900

• 1736 – Mathematician William Whiston's predicted comet fails to strike the Earth.
• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: The British-led Royalton raid is the last Native American raid on New England.
• 1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 finishes after its sixth day, killing between 20,000 and 24,000 residents of the Lesser Antilles.
• 1793 – French Revolution: Queen Marie Antoinette is executed.
• 1793 – War of the First Coalition: French victory at the Battle of Wattignies forces Austria to raise the siege of Maubeuge.
• 1805 – War of the Third Coalition: Napoleon surrounds the Austrian army at Ulm.
• 1813 – The Sixth Coalition attacks Napoleon in the three-day Battle of Leipzig.
• 1817 – Italian explorer and archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni, uncovered the Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings.
• 1817 – Simón Bolívar sentences Manuel Piar to death for challenging the racial-caste in Venezuela.
• 1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground.
• 1836 – Great Trek: Afrikaner voortrekkers repulse a Matabele attack, but lose their livestock.
• 1841 – Queen's University is founded in the Province of Canada.
• 1843 – William Rowan Hamilton invents quaternions, a three-dimensional system of complex numbers.
• 1846 – William T. G. Morton administers ether anesthesia during a surgical operation.
• 1847 – The novel Jane Eyre is published in London.
• 1859 – John Brown leads a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• 1869 – The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered".
• 1869 – Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England's first residential college for women.
• 1875 – Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
• 1882 – The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.

1901–present

• 1905 – The Partition of Bengal in India takes place.
• 1909 – William Howard Taft and Porfirio Díaz hold the first summit between a U.S. and a Mexican president. They narrowly escape assassination.
• 1916 – Margaret Sanger opens the first family planning clinic in the United States.
• 1919 – Adolf Hitler delivers his first public address at a meeting of the German Workers' Party.
• 1923 – Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, today known as The Walt Disney Company.
• 1934 – Chinese Communists begin the Long March to escape Nationalist encirclement.
• 1939 – World War II: No. 603 Squadron RAF intercepts the first Luftwaffe raid on Britain.
• 1940 – Holocaust in Poland: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.
• 1943 – Holocaust in Italy: Raid on the Roman Ghetto.
• 1946 – Nuremberg trials: Ten defendants found guilty by the International Military Tribunal are executed by hanging.
• 1947 – The Philippines takes over the administration of the Turtle Islands and the Mangsee Islands from the United Kingdom.
• 1949 – The Greek Communist Party announces a "temporary cease-fire", thus ending the Greek Civil War.
• 1951 – The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
• 1953 – 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.
• 1962 – 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).
• 1964 – China detonates its first nuclear weapon.
• 1964 – Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.
• 1968 – Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.
• 1968 – Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.
• 1968 – Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1970 – Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
• 1973 – Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1975 – Indonesian troops kill the Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists, in Portuguese Timor.
• 1975 – Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.
• 1975 – The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.
• 1978 – Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.
• 1984 – Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1991 – George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 20.
• 1995 – The Million Man March takes place in Washington, D.C. About 837,000 attend.
• 1995 – The Skye Bridge in Scotland is opened.
• 1996 – Eighty-four football fans die and 180 are injured in a massive crush at a match in Guatemala City.
• 1998 – Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a murder extradition warrant.
• 2002 – The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens in Egypt, commemorating the ancient library of Alexandria.
• 2013 – Lao Airlines Flight 301 crashes on approach to Pakse International Airport in Laos, killing 49 people.
• 2017 – Storm Ophelia strikes the U.K. and Ireland causing major damage and power loss.

Pre-1600

• 1351 – Gian Galeazzo Visconti, first Duke of Milan (d. 1402)
• 1396 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English admiral (d. 1450)
• 1430 – James II of Scotland (d. 1460)
• 1483 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian cardinal and diplomat (d. 1542)
• 1535 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese samurai (d. 1585)
• 1588 – Luke Wadding, Irish Franciscan friar and historian (d. 1657)

1601–1900

• 1605 – Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy, French writer and composer (d. 1677)
• 1620 – Pierre Paul Puget, French painter and sculptor (d. 1694)
• 1678 – Anna Waser, Swiss painter (d. 1714)
• 1679 – Jan Dismas Zelenka, Czech viol player and composer (d. 1745)
• 1710 – András Hadik, Austrian-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1790)
• 1714 – Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist and academic (d. 1795)
• 1726 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish-German painter and educator (d. 1801)
• 1729 – Pierre van Maldere, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1768)
• 1752 – Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, German theologian and academic (d. 1827)
• 1754 – Morgan Lewis, American general, lawyer, and politician, 3rd Governor of New York (d. 1844)
• 1758 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843)
• 1762 – Paul Hamilton, American soldier and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1816)
• 1789 – William Burton, American physician and politician, 39th Governor of Delaware (d. 1866)
• 1795 – William Buell Sprague, American minister, historian, and author (d. 1876)
• 1802 – Isaac Murphy, American educator and politician, 8th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1882)
• 1803 – Robert Stephenson, English railway and civil engineer (d. 1859)
• 1804 – Benjamin Russell, American painter and educator (d. 1885)
• 1806 – William P. Fessenden, American lawyer and politician, 26th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1869)
• 1815 – Francis Lubbock, American colonel and politician, 9th Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
• 1818 – William Forster, Indian-Australian politician, 4th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1882)
• 1819 – Austin F. Pike, American lawyer and politician (d. 1886)
• 1831 – Lucy Stanton, American activist (d. 1910)
• 1832 – Vicente Riva Palacio, Mexican liberal intellectual, novelist (d. 1896)
• 1840 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1900)
• 1841 – Itō Hirobumi, Japanese lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1909)
• 1847 – Maria Pia of Savoy (d. 1911)
• 1852 – Carl von In der Maur, Governor of Liechtenstein (d. 1913)
• 1854 – Karl Kautsky, Czech-German journalist, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1938)
• 1854 – Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet (d. 1900)
• 1855 – Samad bey Mehmandarov, Azerbaijani general and politician, 3rd Azerbaijani Minister of Defense (d. 1931)
• 1861 – J. B. Bury, Irish historian and scholar (d. 1927)
• 1861 – Richard Sears, American tennis player (d. 1943)
• 1863 – Austen Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
• 1867 – Mario Ruspoli, 2nd Prince of Poggio Suasa (d. 1963)
• 1869 – Claude H. Van Tyne, American historian and author (d. 1930)
• 1872 – Walter Buckmaster, English polo player and businessman, co-founded Buckmaster & Moore (d. 1942)
• 1876 – Jimmy Sinclair, South African cricketer and rugby player (d. 1913)
• 1881 – William Orthwein, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1955)
• 1884 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (d. 1916)
• 1886 – David Ben-Gurion, Polish-Israeli soldier and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1973)
• 1888 – Eugene O'Neill, American playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
• 1888 – Paul Popenoe, American founder of relationship counseling (d. 1979)
• 1890 – Michael Collins, Irish general and politician, 2nd Irish Minister for Finance (d. 1922)
• 1890 – Maria Goretti, Italian martyr and saint (d. 1902)
• 1890 – Paul Strand, American photographer and director (d. 1975)
• 1897 – Louis de Cazenave, French soldier (d. 2008)
• 1898 – William O. Douglas, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1980)
• 1900 – Edward Ardizzone, Vietnamese-English author and illustrator (d. 1979)
• 1900 – Primo Conti, Italian painter and poet (d. 1988)
• 1900 – Goose Goslin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1971)

1901–present

• 1903 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French author and pianist (d. 2003)
• 1903 – Big Joe Williams, American Delta blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1982)
• 1904 – Björn Berglund, Swedish actor (d. 1968)
• 1905 – Ernst Kuzorra, German footballer and manager (d. 1990)
• 1906 – León Klimovsky, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
• 1907 – Richard Titmuss, English sociologist and academic (d. 1973)
• 1908 – Olivia Coolidge, English-American author and educator (d. 2006)
• 1908 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Otto von Bülow, German commander (d. 2006)
• 1912 – Clifford Hansen, American rancher and politician, 26th Governor of Wyoming (d. 2009)
• 1918 – Louis Althusser, Algerian-French philosopher and academic (d. 1990)
• 1918 – Abraham Nemeth, American mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
• 1918 – Tony Rolt, English race car driver and engineer (d. 2008)
• 1919 – Kathleen Winsor, American journalist and author (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Paddy Finucane, Irish fighter pilot and flying ace (d. 1942)
• 1921 – Matt Batts, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
• 1921 – Sita Ram Goel, Indian historian, publisher and writer (d. 2003)
• 1921 – MacKenzie Miller, American horse trainer and breeder (d. 2010)
• 1922 – Max Bygraves, English-Australian actor and singer (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Leon Sullivan, American minister and activist (d. 2001)
• 1923 – Linda Darnell, American actress (d. 1965)
• 1923 – Bert Kaempfert, German conductor and composer (d. 1980)
• 1923 – Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2010)
• 1924 – Gerard Parkes, Irish-Canadian actor (d. 2014)
• 1925 – Daniel J. Evans, American politician, 16th Governor of Washington
• 1925 – Angela Lansbury, English-American actress, singer, and producer (d. 2022)
• 1926 – Charles Dolan, American businessman, founded Cablevision and HBO
• 1926 – Ed Valigursky, American illustrator (d. 2009)
• 1927 – Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
• 1928 – Mary Daly, American philosopher and theologian (d. 2010)
• 1928 – Ann Morgan Guilbert, American actress (d. 2016)
• 1929 – Fernanda Montenegro, Brazilian actress
• 1930 – John Polkinghorne, English physicist, theologian and priest (d. 2021)
• 1930 – Carmen Sevilla, Spanish actress (d. 2023)
• 1931 – Charles Colson, American lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
• 1931 – Valery Klimov, Ukrainian-Russian violinist and educator (d. 2022)
• 1931 – Rosa Rosal, Filipino actress
• 1931 – P. W. Underwood, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
• 1932 – John Grant, English journalist and politician (d. 2000)
• 1932 – Henry Lewis, American bassist and conductor (d. 1996)
• 1932 – Lucien Paiement, Canadian physician and politician (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Nobuyo Ōyama, Japanese voice actress
• 1934 – Peter Ashdown, English race car driver
• 1936 – Peter Bowles, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2022)
• 1936 – Andrei Chikatilo, Ukrainian-Russian serial killer (d. 1994)
• 1936 – Mladen Koščak, Croatian footballer (d. 1997)
• 1936 – Akira Machida, Japanese lawyer and judge, 15th Chief Justice of Japan (d. 2015)
• 1938 – Carl Gunter, Jr., American politician (d. 1999)
• 1938 – Nico, German singer-songwriter, model, and actress (d. 1988)
• 1940 – Barry Corbin, American actor and producer
• 1940 – Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player and coach (d. 2003)
• 1940 – Ivan Della Mea, Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist (d. 2009)
• 1941 – Mel Counts, American basketball player
• 1941 – Tim McCarver, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2023)
• 1941 – Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, English computer programmer and politician
• 1943 – Fred Turner, Canadian singer-songwriter and bass player
• 1944 – Kaizer Motaung, South African footballer and manager
• 1944 – Elizabeth Loftus, American psychologist
• 1945 – Stefan Buczacki, English horticulturalist, botanist, and television host
• 1945 – Roger Hawkins, American session drummer (d. 2021)
• 1945 – Paul Monette, American author and poet (d. 1995)
• 1946 – Geoff Barnett, English footballer (d. 2021)
• 1946 – Suzanne Somers, American actress and producer (d. 2023)
• 1947 – Nicholas Day, English actor
• 1947 – Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player and coach
• 1947 – Bob Weir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1947 – David Zucker, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1948 – Alison Chitty, English production designer and costume designer
• 1948 – Bruce Fleisher, American golfer (d. 2021)
• 1948 – Hema Malini, Indian actress, director, producer, and politician
• 1948 – Leo Mazzone, American baseball player and coach
• 1950 – Angry Grandpa, American internet personality (d. 2017)
• 1950 – Károly Horváth, Romanian-Hungarian cellist, flute player, and composer (d. 2015)
• 1952 – Christopher Cox, American lawyer and politician
• 1952 – Cordell Mosson, American bass player (d. 2013)
• 1952 – Crazy Mohan, Indian actor, screenwriter, and playwright (d. 2019)
• 1952 – Glenys Thornton, Baroness Thornton, English politician
• 1953 – Tony Carey, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
• 1953 – Paulo Roberto Falcão, Brazilian footballer and manager
• 1954 – Lorenzo Carcaterra, American author and blogger
• 1954 – Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
• 1954 – Serafino Ghizzoni, Italian rugby player
• 1954 – Corinna Harfouch, German actress
• 1955 – Kieran Doherty, Irish Republican hunger striker and politician (d. 1981)
• 1955 – Ellen Dolan, American actress
• 1956 – Marin Alsop, American violinist and conductor
• 1956 – John Chavis, American football player and coach
• 1956 – Meg Rosoff, American-English author
• 1956 – Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah, Bangladeshi poet, author, and playwright (d. 1992)
• 1957 – Priidu Beier, Estonian poet and educator
• 1958 – Roy McDonough, English footballer and manager
• 1958 – Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1959 – Kevin Brennan, Welsh journalist and politician
• 1959 – Brian Harper, American baseball player
• 1959 – Gary Kemp, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1959 – Philip Maini, Northern Irish mathematician at the University of Oxford
• 1959 – Tessa Munt, English lawyer and politician
• 1959 – Jamie Salmon, English-New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster
• 1959 – Erkki-Sven Tüür, Estonian flute player and composer
• 1959 – John Whittingdale, English politician
• 1960 – Guy LeBlanc, Canadian keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2015)
• 1960 – Bob Mould, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1961 – Chris Doleman, American football player (d. 2020)
• 1961 – Marc Levy, French author
• 1961 – Scott O'Hara, American pornographic performer, author, poet, editor and publisher (d. 1998)
• 1961 – Randy Vasquez, American actor, director, and producer
• 1962 – Manute Bol, Sudanese-American basketball player and activist (d. 2010)
• 1962 – Flea, Australian-American bass player, songwriter, and actor
• 1962 – Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Russian opera singer (d. 2017)
• 1962 – Nico Lazaridis, German footballer
• 1962 – Tamara McKinney, American skier
• 1963 – Brendan Kibble, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 – Timothy Leighton, English physicist and academic
• 1964 – Shawn Little, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
• 1964 – James Thompson, American-Finnish author (d. 2014)
• 1965 – Kang Kyung-ok, South Korean illustrator
• 1965 – German Titov, Russian ice hockey player and coach
• 1965 – Tom Tolbert, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1966 – Olof Lundh, Swedish journalist
• 1966 – Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, American voice actress, singer, and director
• 1967 – Michael Laffy, Australian footballer
• 1967 – Davina McCall, English television host and actress
• 1968 – Randall Batinkoff, American actor and producer
• 1968 – Mark Lee, Singaporean actor and singer
• 1968 – Francesco Libetta, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1968 – Todd Stashwick, American actor and writer
• 1968 – Elsa Zylberstein, French actress
• 1969 – Roy Hargrove, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2018)
• 1969 – Takao Omori, Japanese wrestler
• 1969 – Terri J. Vaughn, American actress and producer
• 1969 – Wendy Wilson, American singer-songwriter
• 1970 – Kazuyuki Fujita, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
• 1970 – Mehmet Scholl, German footballer and manager
• 1971 – Frank Cuesta, Spanish television presenter
• 1971 – Chad Gray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1971 – Paul Sparks, American actor
• 1972 – Adrianne Frost, American comedian, actress, and author
• 1972 – Darius Kasparaitis, Lithuanian-American ice hockey player and coach
• 1972 – Kordell Stewart, American football player and radio host
• 1973 – Justin Credible, American wrestler
• 1973 – David Unsworth, English footballer and manager
• 1974 – Aurela Gaçe, Albanian singer
• 1974 – Paul Kariya, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1975 – Ernesto Noel Aquino, Honduran footballer
• 1975 – Brynjar Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer
• 1975 – Jacques Kallis, South African cricketer
• 1975 – Kellie Martin, American actress, director, and producer
• 1977 – John Mayer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1980 – Sue Bird, Israeli-American basketball player
• 1980 – Jeremy Jackson, American actor and singer
• 1980 – Caterina Scorsone, Canadian-American actress
• 1980 – Timana Tahu, Australian rugby league player
• 1981 – Brea Grant, American actress and writer
• 1981 – Martin Halle, Danish footballer
• 1981 – Boyd Melson, American boxer
• 1981 – Anthony Reyes, American baseball player
• 1982 – Alan Anderson, American basketball player
• 1982 – Frédéric Michalak, French rugby player
• 1982 – Cristian Riveros, Paraguayan footballer
• 1982 – Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indian actor, singer, and producer
• 1983 – Philipp Kohlschreiber, German tennis player
• 1983 – Loreen, Swedish singer
• 1983 – Kenny Omega, Canadian wrestler
• 1984 – François Pervis, French track cyclist
• 1984 – Rachel Reilly, American talk show host and actress
• 1985 – Jay Beagle, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Alexis Hornbuckle, American basketball player
• 1985 – Verena Sailer, German sprinter
• 1985 – Casey Stoner, Australian motorcycle racer
• 1985 – Peter Wallace, Australian rugby league player
• 1986 – Nicky Adams, English-Welsh footballer
• 1986 – Derk Boerrigter, Dutch footballer
• 1986 – Inna, Romanian singer
• 1988 – Zoltán Stieber, Hungarian footballer
• 1989 – Dan Biggar, Welsh rugby player
• 1991 – Jonathan Schoop, Curaçaoan baseball player
• 1991 – Shardul Thakur, Indian cricketer
• 1992 – Kostas Fortounis, Greek footballer
• 1992 – Viktorija Golubic, Swiss tennis player
• 1992 – Bryce Harper, American baseball player
• 1992 – Stuart Lightbody, Irish badminton player
• 1993 – Jovit Baldivino, Filipino singer and actor (d. 2022)
• 1993 – Caroline Garcia, French tennis player
• 1994 – Adam Elliott, Australian rugby league player
• 1994 – Halimah Nakaayi, Ugandan middle-distance runner
• 1997 – Charles Leclerc, Monégasque Formula One driver
• 1997 – Naomi Osaka, Japanese tennis player
• 1997 – Aliou Dieng, Malian footballer
• 1999 – Aaron Nesmith, American basketball player

Pre-1600

• 385 – Fú Jiān, Chinese emperor (b. 337)
• 786 – Lullus, archbishop of Mainz (b. 710)
• 976 – Al-Hakam II, Umayyad caliph (b. 915)
• 1027 – Fujiwara no Kenshi, Japanese empress (b. 994)
• 1130 – Pedro González de Lara, Castilian magnate
• 1284 – Shams al-Din Juvayni, Persian statesman, vizier and minister of finance of the Ilkhanate
• 1323 – Amadeus V, count of Savoy (b. 1249)
• 1333 – Nicholas V, antipope of Rome (b. 1260)
• 1438 – Anne of Gloucester, English noblewoman (b. 1383)
• 1355 – Louis the Child, king of Sicily (b. 1338)
• 1523 – Luca Signorelli, Italian painter (b. c.1450)
• 1553 – Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter and engraver (b. 1472)
• 1555 – Hugh Latimer, English bishop and saint (b. 1487)
• 1555 – Nicholas Ridley, English bishop and martyr (b. 1500)
• 1591 – Gregory XIV, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1535)
• 1594 – William Allen, English cardinal (b. 1532)

1601–1900

• 1621 – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch organist and composer (b. 1562)
• 1628 – François de Malherbe, French poet and critic (b. 1555)
• 1637 – Johann Rudolf Stadler, Swiss clock-maker (b. 1605)
• 1649 – Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1621)
• 1655 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and theorist (b. 1591)
• 1660 – John Cook, English politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales (b. 1608)
• 1679 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Irish-English soldier and politician (b. 1621)
• 1680 – Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian-Austrian field marshal (b. 1609)
• 1730 – Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French-American explorer and politician, 3rd French Governor of Louisiana (b. 1658)
• 1730 – Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha, Greek politician, 139th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1666)
• 1750 – Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German lute player and composer (b. 1687)
• 1755 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (b. 1725)
• 1774 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet (b. 1750)
• 1791 – Grigory Potemkin, Russian general and politician (b. 1739)
• 1793 – Marie Antoinette, Austrian-born queen consort of Louis XVI of France (b. 1755)
• 1793 – John Hunter, Scottish-English surgeon and philosopher (b. 1728)
• 1796 – Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia (b. 1726)
• 1799 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman Indian activist (b. 1760)
• 1810 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian religious leader, founded the Breslov Hasidic group (b. 1772)
• 1822 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian-English dancer (b. 1724)
• 1877 – Théodore Barrière, French playwright (b. 1823)
• 1888 – John Wentworth, American journalist and politician, 19th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)

1901–present

• 1904 – Haritina Korotkevich, Russian heroine (b. 1882)
• 1908 – Joseph Leycester Lyne, English monk (b. 1837)
• 1909 – Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, German poet and playwright (b. 1856)
• 1913 – Ralph Rose, American shot putter, discus, and hammer thrower (b. 1885)
• 1936 – Effie Adelaide Rowlands, British writer (b. 1859)
• 1937 – Jean de Brunhoff, French poet and playwright (b. 1899)
• 1946 – Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial:
  • Hans Frank, German lawyer, politician and war criminal (b. 1900)
  • Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior (b. 1877)
  • Alfred Jodl, German general (b. 1890)
  • Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian SS officer (b. 1903)
  • Wilhelm Keitel, German field marshal (b. 1882)
  • Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian architect and politician (b. 1893)
  • Fritz Sauckel, German sailor and politician (b. 1894)
  • Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Austrian lawyer and politician, 16th Federal Chancellor of Austria (b. 1892)
  • Julius Streicher, German journalist and politician (b. 1887)
  • Joachim von Ribbentrop, German lieutenant and politician, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany (b. 1893)
• 1947 – Anna B. Eckstein, German peace activist (b. 1868)
• 1951 – Liaquat Ali Khan, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1895)
• 1956 – Jules Rimet, French businessman (b. 1873)
• 1957 – John Anthony Sydney Ritson, English rugby player, mines inspector, engineer and educator (b. 1887)
• 1958 – Robert Redfield, American anthropologist of Mexico (b. 1897)
• 1959 – Minor Hall, American drummer (b. 1897)
• 1959 – George Marshall, American general and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Defense, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1880)
• 1962 – Gaston Bachelard, French poet and philosopher (b. 1884)
• 1964 – Patsy Callighen, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1906)
• 1966 – George O'Hara, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1899)
• 1968 – Ellis Kinder, American baseball player (b. 1914)
• 1971 – Robin Boyd, Australian architect and educator, designed the Domain Park Flats (b. 1919)
• 1972 – Nick Begich, American lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
• 1972 – Hale Boggs, American lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
• 1972 – Leo G. Carroll, English-American actor (b. 1886)
• 1973 – Gene Krupa, American drummer, composer, and actor (b. 1909)
• 1975 – Vittorio Gui, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1885)
• 1978 – Dan Dailey, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (b. 1913)
• 1979 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (b. 1903)
• 1981 – Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel (b. 1915)
• 1981 – Eugene Eisenmann, Panamanian-American lawyer and ornithologist (b. 1906)
• 1982 – Mario Del Monaco, Italian tenor (b. 1915)
• 1983 – Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer and conductor (b. 1895)
• 1986 – Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist and pianist (b. 1921)
• 1989 – Walter Farley, American author and educator (b. 1915)
• 1989 – Scott O'Dell, American journalist and author (b. 1898)
• 1989 – Cornel Wilde, American actor (b. 1912)
• 1990 – Art Blakey, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1919)
• 1990 – Jorge Bolet, Cuban-American pianist and educator (b. 1914)
• 1992 – Shirley Booth, American actress and singer (b. 1898)
• 1996 – Jason Bernard, American actor (b. 1938)
• 1996 – Eric Malpass, English author (b. 1910)
• 1997 – Audra Lindley, American actress (b. 1918)
• 1997 – James A. Michener, American author and philanthropist (b. 1907)
• 1998 – Jon Postel, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1943)
• 1999 – Jean Shepherd, American radio host, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
• 2000 – Mel Carnahan, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 51st Governor of Missouri (b. 1934)
• 2000 – Rick Jason, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2001 – Etta Jones, American singer-songwriter (b. 1928)
• 2003 – Avni Arbaş, Turkish painter (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer (b. 1915)
• 2003 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
• 2004 – Pierre Salinger, American journalist and politician, 11th White House Press Secretary (b. 1925)
• 2006 – John Victor Murra, Ukrainian-American anthropologist and academic (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Valentín Paniagua, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 91st President of Peru (b. 1936)
• 2007 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer-songwriter (b. 1981)
• 2008 – Dagmar Normet, Estonian author and translator (b. 1921)
• 2010 – Eyedea, American rapper and producer (b. 1981)
• 2010 – Barbara Billingsley, American actress (b. 1915)
• 2011 – Dan Wheldon, English race car driver (b. 1978)
• 2012 – Frank Moore Cross, American scholar and academic (b. 1921)
• 2012 – John A. Durkin, American lawyer and politician (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Mario Gallegos, Jr., American firefighter and politician (b. 1950)
• 2012 – Bódog Török, Hungarian handball player and coach (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Eddie Yost, American baseball player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Govind Purushottam Deshpande, Indian playwright and academic (b. 1938)
• 2013 – George Hourmouziadis, Greek archaeologist and academic (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Ed Lauter, American actor (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Laurel Martyn, Australian ballerina and choreographer (b. 1916)
• 2013 – Robert B. Rheault, American colonel (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Saggy Tahir, Pakistani-American lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
• 2014 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
• 2014 – Allen Forte, American musicologist and theorist (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Seppo Kuusela, Finnish basketball player and coach (b. 1934)
• 2014 – John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English businessman (b. 1926)
• 2015 – Richard J. Cardamone, American lawyer and judge (b. 1925)
• 2015 – James W. Fowler, American psychologist and academic (b. 1940)
• 2015 – William James, Australian general and physician (b. 1930)
• 2015 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Memduh Ün, Turkish film producer, director, actor and screenwriter (b. 1920)
• 2016 – Calvin Carl "Kelly" Gotlieb, Canadian professor and computer scientist (b. 1921)
• 2017 – Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese journalist and blogger (b. 1964)
• 2017 – Roy Dotrice, British actor (b. 1923)
• 2017 – John Dunsworth, Canadian actor (b. 1946)
• 2017 – Sean Hughes, British-born Irish stand-up comedian (b. 1965)
• 2023 – Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1937)

• Air Force Day (Bulgaria)
• Boss's Day (United States)
• Christian feast day:
  • Balderic (Baudry) of Monfaucon
  • Bercharius
  • Bertrand of Comminges
  • Colmán of Kilroot (Colman mac Cathbaid)
  • Eliphius
  • Fortunatus of Casei
  • Gall
  • Gerard Majella
  • Hedwig of Silesia
  • Hugh Latimer (Anglicanism)
  • Junian (of Saint-Junien)
  • Marguerite Marie Alacoque
  • Marie-Marguerite d'Youville
  • Nicholas Ridley (Anglicanism)
  • Silvanus of Ahun
  • Blessed Thevarparampil Kunjachan (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church / Catholic Church)
  • Pope Victor III
  • October 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Pope John Paul II Day (Poland)
• Death anniversary of Liaquat Ali Khan (Pakistan)
• Teachers' Day (Chile)
• World Food Day (International)
• Bu-Ma Democratic Protests Commemoration Day (South Korea)

• "On This Day". BBC.
• The New York Times: On This Day
• "Historical Events on October 16". OnThisDay.com.