Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).
Events of 1916
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
- July 1 - November 18: More than 1 million soldiers die during The Battle of the Somme including 60,000 casualties for the British Commonwealth on the first day.
- July 1 - July 12: at least one shark mauled five swimmers along 80 miles of New Jersey coastline during the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, resulting in four deaths and survival of one youth who required limb amputation. This event was the inspiration for author Peter Benchley, over half a century later, to write Jaws.
- July 2 - Battle of Erzincan
- July 8 - July 16- Massive flooding caused by two different hurricanes devastates Western North Carolina.
- July 15 - In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
- July 22 - In San Francisco, California, a bomb explodes on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade killing 10 injuring 40. (Warren Billings and Tom Mooney are later wrongly convicted of it)
- July 29 - In Ontario, Canada, a lightning strike ignites a forest fire that destroys the towns of Cochrane and Matheson - 233 dead
- July 30 - German agents cause the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey, an act of sabotage destroying an ammunition depot and killing at least seven people.
August
September
October
November
- November 1 - Paul Miliukov delivers in the State Duma the famous "stupidity or treason" speech, precipitating the downfall of the Boris Stürmer government.
- November 5 - Kingdom of Poland proclaimed by joint act of emperors of Germany and Austria
- November 5 - Honan Chapel, Cork, Ireland, a product of the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement(1894-1925), is dedicated.
- November 7
- November 13 - Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.
- November 18 - World War I: First Battle of the Somme ends - In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.
- November 21 - HMHS Britannic (built in 1911 and launched in 1914), the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line, sister ship of RMS Olympic and the legendary RMS Titanic, sank after hitting a mine with the loss of 30 lives.
- November 23 - World War I,Eastern Front: Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is occupied by the troops of the Central Powers.
- November 25 - Friedrich Adler shoots Karl von Stürgkh, Prime Minister of Austria
December
Undated
- Rodeo's first side-delivery bucking chute designed and made by the Bascom boys, Raymond, Mel, Earl and their father John W. Bascom at Welling, Alberta Canada
- Cours de linguistique générale by Ferdinand de Saussure is published.
- Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, are cancelled.
- Food is rationed in Germany.
- Ernst Rüdin publishes his initial results on the genetics of schizophrenia.
- The Netherlands is hit by a North Sea storm that floods lowlands and kills 10.000 people.
- Robert Baden-Powell founds Wolf Cubs scouts in Britain, changed to Cub Scouts in the USA.
- Louis Enricht claims he has a substitute for gasoline
- Gustav Holst composes The Planets, Opus 32
- Bray Studios creates the Farmer Al Falfa series, the first of the Terrytoons.
- Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is founded.
- The Enrico Parodi sinks while in tow off the The Carracks in Cornwall, England.
Ongoing
Fictional
The following are references to year 1916 in fiction:
Births
January-February
- January 3
- January 7 - Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (d. 1975)
- January 9 - Peter Twinn, English mathematician and World War II code-breaker (d. 2004)
- January 10 - Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
- January 12 - Pieter Willem Botha, President of South Africa (d. 2006)
- January 17 - Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr., American politician
- January 18 - Silviu Brucan, Romanian author and politician (d. 2006)
- January 19 - Harry Huskey, American computer designer
- January 22 - Henri Dutilleux, French composer
- January 24
- February 2 - Olaf Pooley, English actor
- February 9 - Tex Hughson, baseball player (d. 1993)
- February 11
- February 14
- February 15 - Ernest Millington, English politician
- February 18 - Maria Altmann, Austrian Holocaust survivor and heiress
- February 20 - Jean Erdman, American dancer
- February 23 - Retta Scott, first female Disney animator to be credited on a feature film (d. 1990)
- February 26 - Jackie Gleason, American comedian (d. 1987)
- February 28
- February 29 - Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
March-April
- March 3 - Paul Halmos, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 2006)
- March 4
- March 11 - Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
- March 13
- March 14 - Horton Foote, American writer
- March 15 - Harry James, American musician and band leader (d. 1983)
- March 17
- March 19 - Irving Wallace, American novelist (d. 1990)
- March 20 - Pierre Messmer, French politician (d. 2007)
- March 24 - Donald Hamilton, Swedish-born writer (d. 2006)
- March 26 - Christian B. Anfinsen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- March 29 - Eugene McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Minnesota and Presidential candidate (d. 2005)
- March 31 - Lucille Bliss, American voice actor
- April 3
- April 5 - Gregory Peck, American actor (d. 2003)
- April 11 - Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (d. 1983)
- April 12
- April 13 - Phyllis Fraser, American actor and publisher (d. 2006)
- April 15 - Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American department store heir (d. 1982)
- April 18 - José Joaquín Trejos Fernández, President of Costa Rica
- April 22 - Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (d. 1999)
- April 24 - Stanley Kauffmann, American film critic
- April 24 - Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler
- April 25 - R.J. Rushdoony, American founder of Christian Reconstructionism (d. 2001)
- April 26
- April 28 - Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (d. 1993)
- April 30
May-June
- May 1 - Glenn Ford, American actor (d. 2006)
- May 6 - Robert H. Dicke, American experimental physicist (d. 1997)
- May 8 - Chinmayananda, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1993)
- May 8 - João Havelange, Brazilian industrialist and football league president
- May 10 - Milton Babbitt, American composer
- May 11 - Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- May 14 - Sammy Luftspring, Canadian boxer (d. 2000)
- May 15 - Ephraim Katzir, President of Israel
- May 17 - Lenka Reinerová, Czech writer
- May 20 - Trebisonda Valla, Italian athlete (d. 2006)
- May 20 - Owen Chadwick, British author and historian
- May 21
- May 26 - Henriette Roosenburg, Dutch journalist (d. 1972)
- May 31
- June 4 - Robert F. Furchgott, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 5 - Eddie Joost, baseball player and manager
- June 8 - Francis Crick, English molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
- June 9 - Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense
- June 15 - Herbert Simon, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
- June 18 - Julio César Turbay Ayala, Colombian politician (d. 2005)
- June 23
- June 24 - William B. Saxbe, American politician
July-August
- July 1
- July 2
- July 3 - John Kundla, American basketball coach
- July 4
- July 8 - Jean Rouverol, American actress, screenwriter, and author
- July 9 - Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
- July 11
- July 14 - Natalia Ginzburg, Italian author (d. 1991)
- July 18 - L. Patrick Gray III, American Federal Bureau of Investigation director (d. 2005)
- July 19 - Phil Cavarretta, baseball player
- July 22
- July 25 - Fred Lasswell, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
- July 27 - Elizabeth Hardwick, American literary critic and novelist (d. 2007)
- July 28 - David Brown, American producer
- July 30 - Dick Wilson, American actor (d. 2007)
- July 31 - Bill Todman, American game show producer (d. 1979)
- August 1 - Fiorenzo Cardinal Angelini, Italian Cardinal
- August 5 - Kermit Love, American puppeter (d. 2008)
- August 6 - Dom Mintoff, Prime Minister of Malta
- August 14 - Ralph de Toledano, American conservationist and author (d. 2007)
- August 16 - Iggy Katona, American race car driver (d. 2003)
- August 20 - Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian chess player (d. 1984)
- August 25
- August 27 - Martha Raye, American actress (d. 1994)
- August 28 - Jack Vance, American writer
- August 29 - Luther Davis, American screenwriter
- August 30 - Shag Crawford, American baseball umpire (d. 2007)
- August 31
September-October
- September 1
- September 13 - Roald Dahl, Welsh author (d. 1990)
- September 14 - John Heyer, Australian documentary filmmaker (d. 2001)
- September 16 - Frank Leslie Walcott, Barbadian labour leader (d. 1999)
- September 18 - John Jacob Rhodes, American politician and lawyer (d. 2003)
- September 21 - Zinovi Gerdt, Russian actor (d. 1996)
- September 27 - Frank Handlen, American artist
- October 3
- October 4 - Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate
- October 12 - Alice Childress, American actress, playwright, and novelist (d. 1994)
- October 14 - C. Everett Koop, United States Surgeon General
- October 19
- October 26 - François Mitterrand, President of France (d. 1996)
- October 30 - Leon Day, baseball player (d. 1995)
November-December
- November 1 - John C. Harkness, American architect
- November 4 - Walter Cronkite, American television journalist
- November 5 - Jim Tabor, baseball player (d. 1953)
- November 10 - Louis le Brocquy, Irish painter
- November 11 - Robert Carr, British politician
- November 12 - Rogelio de la Rosa, Filipino actor and politician (d. 1986)
- November 14 - Sherwood Schwartz, American television writer and producer
- November 16 - Daws Butler, American voice actor (d. 1988)
- November 24 - Forrest J. Ackerman, American writer
- November 26 - Gerhard Unger, German tenor
- November 27 - Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (d. 2002)
- November 28
- November 29 - Fran Ryan, American actress (d. 2000)
- December 7 - George Russell Weller retired salesman known for the Santa Monica Farmer's Market incident
- December 8 - Richard Fleischer, American film director (d. 2006)
- December 9 - Kirk Douglas, American actor
- December 11 - Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban musician (d. 1989)
- December 14 - Shirley Jackson, American writer (d. 1965)
- December 15 - Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
- December 18
- December 19
- December 25 - Graciela Naranjo, Venezuelan singer and actress (d. 2001)
- December 27 - Johnny Frigo, American jazz violinist and bassist (d.2007)
Deaths
January - June
- January 4 - Bruce Sloss, Australian footballer (b. 1889)
- January 8 - Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
- January 13 - Victoriano Huerta, President of Mexico (b. 1854)
- February 6 - Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan writer (b. 1867)
- February 12 - Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (b. 1831)
- February 13 - Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish painter (b. 1864)
- February 19 - Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (b. 1838)
- February 20 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1844)
- February 28 - Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
- March 4 - Franz Marc, German artist (b. 1880)
- March 24 - Enrique Granados, Spanish composer (ship sinking) (b. 1867)
- April 19 - Ephraim Shay, American inventor (b. 1839)
- April 21 - Georges Boillot, French Grand Prix driver (killed in action) (b. 1884)
- May 3 - Padraig Pearse, Irish nationalist (b. 1879)
- May 11 - Max Reger, German composer (b. 1873)
- May 12 - James Connolly, Irish socialist (b. 1868)
- May 13 - Sholom Aleichem, Ukrainian Yiddish writer (b. 1859)
- May 21 - Artúr Görgey, Hungarian military general and politician (b. 1818)
- June 5 - Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, British field marshal and statesman (b. 1850)
- June 6 - Yuan Shikai, Chinese military official and politician (b. 1859)
- June 29 - Georges Lacombe, French artist (b. 1868)
July - December
- July 6 - Odilon Redon, French painter (b. 1840)
- July 16 - Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
- July 23 - Sir William Ramsay, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- July 29 - Claude Charles Castleton, Australian VC recipient (killed in battle) (b. 1893)
- August 3 - Sir Roger Casement, Irish nationalist (executed) (b. 1864)
- August 31 - Martha McClellan Brown, American activist (b. 1838)
- September 4 - José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1832)
- October 7 - James Whitcomb Riley, American poet (b. 1849)
- October 28 - Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist (b. 1838)
- October 31 - Charles Taze Russell, Prominent Protestant Reformer and Evangelist (b. 1852)
- November 9 - Ion Dragalina, Romanian general (killed in action) (b. 1860)
- November 14
- November 15 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)
- November 21 - Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (b. 1830)
- November 22 - Jack London, American author (b. 1876)
- November 23 - Lanoe Hawker, British World War I pilot, VC recipient, KIA by The Red Baron, (b.1890)
- November 24 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American firearms inventor (b. 1840)
- December 28 - Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (b. 1835)
- December 29 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (b. 1869)
Nobel Prizes
Notes
External links
- Early Advertising Publications: "Fishing for Suckers" From the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress
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