What Happened in April 1916

Historical Events

  • Apr 2 57 armed New Zealand police invade the remote Ngāi Tūhoe settlement of Maungapōhatu in the Urewera Ranges to arrest the Māori prophet Rua Kēnana
  • Apr 2 German troops overtake Bois de Caillette
  • Apr 5 French troops occupy Bois de Caillette
  • Apr 6 German parliament approves unrestricted submarine warfare
  • Apr 8 Norway approves active & passive female suffrage

SS Libau Sets Sail

Apr 9 The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans; Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection

  • Apr 10 The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is founded in New York City
  • Apr 12 Irish nationalist activist and poet Roger Casement boards submarine U-19 at Wilmshaven, Germany, bound for a rendezvous with the Aud at Tralee
  • Apr 17 20th Boston Marathon won by Arthur Roth in 2:27:16.4

Edith Wharton Legion of Honor

Apr 18 Edith Wharton is appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest award, for her contribution to the war effort

  • Apr 18 US Secretary of State Warns Germany that the USA may break diplomatic relations unless torpedo attacks on unarmed ships stop
  • Apr 19 "Bing Boys are Here" opens in London
  • Apr 19 Alderman Kelly reads the 'Castle Order' to a meeting of Dublin Corporation; this forged document supposedly from Dublin Castle, indicated that there was to be mass arrests of Irish Volunteers to prevent "trouble"
  • Apr 19 Italians troops conquer Col di Lana at Merano
  • Apr 20 Chicago Cubs play their 1st game at Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) and beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6
  • Apr 20 German-British sea battle off Belgian coast
  • Apr 21 The Aud, carrying a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans in staging what would become the 1916 Rising, is captured by the British Navy and forced to sail towards Cork Harbour
  • Apr 21 Ulster Protestant and Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement lands at Tralee Bay, Ireland from a German submarine; discovered at McKenna's Fort and arrested by the Royal Irish Constabulary
  • Apr 22 Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers Eóin MacNeill issues the Countermanding order in Dublin to try to stop what would become the Easter Rising
  • Apr 22 France battles at Fort Douaumont
  • Apr 22 Karl Spindler scuttles the Aud near Daunt's Rock, to prevent its cargo of 20,000 rifles destined for Irish republicans falling into enemy hands
  • Apr 23 Lord Dunsany's "Night at an Inn" premieres in NYC

Easter Proclamation of 1916

Apr 24 Easter Rising of Irish republicans against British occupation begins in Dublin

Shackleton's Rescue Mission

Apr 24 Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for ice-trapped ship Endurance

  • Apr 27 The British renew their assault on the Irish Volunteer position in Mount Street; shelling also sets the buildings on fire
  • Apr 29 Irish republicans abandon the post office in Dublin and surrender unconditionally, marking the end of the Easter Rising
  • Apr 30 Germany ratifies bill bringing in Daylight Saving Time - first country in the world
1916 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Apr 3 Herb Caen, American columnist (SF Chronicle), born in Sacramento, California (d. 1997)
  • Apr 3 Ken Kersey, Canadian jazz pianist, and composer ("Boogie Woogie Cocktail"), born in Harrow, Ontario (d. 1983)
  • Apr 4 David White, American actor (Larry Tate-Bewitched), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 1990)
  • Apr 4 Mickey Owen, American baseball catcher (4 × MLB All-Star 1941–44 Brooklyn Dodgers), born in Nixa, Missouri (d. 2005)
  • Apr 4 Nikola Ljubičić, President of the Presidency of Serbia (1982-84) and Communist politician, born in Karan, Užice, Kingdom of Serbia (d. 2005)
  • Apr 5 Baroness Delacourt-Smith of Alteryn [Margaret Rosalind Delacourt-Smith], British Labour politician, born in Newport, Wales (d. 2010)
  • Apr 5 Bernard Baily, American comic artist (co-creator of DC Comics), born in New York (d. 1996)

Gregory Peck (1916-2003)

Apr 5 American actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur), born in San Diego, California

  • Apr 7 Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
  • Apr 9 Julian Dash, American swing jazz tenor saxophonist, and composer ("Tuxedo Junction"), born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1974)
  • Apr 10 Alfie Bass [Abraham Basalinsky], British actor (Moonraker; Are You Being Served), born in London, England (d. 1987)
  • Apr 11 Alberto E Ginastera, Argentine composer (Panambi), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1983)
  • Apr 11 Dan Fortmann, American College/Pro Football HOF guard (3 × NFL C'ship 1940, 41, 43 Chicago Bears; 6 × First-team All-Pro; 3 × Pro Bowl), born in Pearl River, New York (d. 1995)
  • Apr 11 Howard W. Koch, American producer and director (Frankenstein, Airplane II), born in New York City (d. 2001)
  • Apr 12 Benjamin Libet, American scientist (human consciousness), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2007)
  • Apr 12 Beverly Cleary, American Newberry Medal winning writer of children's and young adult fiction (Ramona series, 1955-99), born in McMinnville, Oregon (d. 2021)
  • Apr 12 Brian Connell, British writer and broadcaster, born in Hertford (d. 1999)
  • Apr 13 Edna Lewis 'the Mother of Soul Food', American chef and author (elevated Southern cooking), born in Freetown, Virginia (d. 2006) [1]
  • Apr 13 Phyllis Fraser [Helen Brown Nichols], American actress, journalist, and co-founder of Beginner Books, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2006)
  • Apr 14 C. R. Rangachari, Indian cricketer (India 1947-48), born in Mammandur, British India (d. 1993)
  • Apr 14 Denis ApIvor, British composer, born in Collinstown, County Westmeath, Ireland (d. 2004)
  • Apr 14 Emerson Buckley, American composer, born in New York City (d. 1989)
  • Apr 15 Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman and heir to the Bloomingdale's department store, born in New York City (d. 1982)
  • Apr 17 Ryoei Saito, Japanese businessman (Daishowa Paper Manufacturing), born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (d. 1996)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916-2000)

Apr 17 Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1960-65, 1970-77 and 1994-2000) and 1st female head of state, born in Ratnapura, British Ceylon

  • Apr 21 Sidney Clute, American actor (Lou Grant; Cagney & Lacey), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1985)
  • Apr 22 Yehudi Menuhin, American-British violinist, (Béla Bartók's Sonata), conductor and teacher, born in New York City (d. 1999)
  • Apr 22 Yvette Lundy, French resistance fighter during WWII, born in Oger, France (d. 2019)
  • Apr 23 Bud Wilkinson, American college football coach (Oklahoma), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 1994)

Lou Thesz (1916-2002)

Apr 24 American professional wrestler, born in Banat, Michigan

  • Apr 24 Stanley Kauffmann, American playwright (Red Handkerchief Man), born in New York City (d. 2013)
  • Apr 25 Jerry Barber, American golfer (PGA C'ship 1961), born in Woodson, Illinois (d. 1994)
  • Apr 25 Luis Herrera de la Fuente, Mexican pianist, conductor (Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, 1954-72), and composer, born in Mexico City (d. 2014)
  • Apr 26 (Arnoldus) Arnold van Wyk, South African concert pianist and composer (Nagmusiek - Night Music), born in Calvinia, Cape Province, Union of South Africa (d. 1983)
  • Apr 26 Morris West, Australian novelist (Shoes of the Fisherman), born in St Kilda, Victoria (d. 1999)
  • Apr 26 Vic Perrin, American radio and television actor (Dragnet), and screenwriter (Gunsmoke), born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin (d. 1989)
  • Apr 26 Virgil Trucks, American baseball pitcher (World Series 1945 Detroit Tigers; MLB All Star 1949, 54), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2013)
  • Apr 26 Werner Bischof, Swiss photographer (Magnum), born in Zurich, Switzerland (d. 1954)

Enos Slaughter (1916-2002)

Apr 27 American Baseball HOF right fielder (10 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1942, 46, 56, 58; St. Louis Cardinals), born in Roxboro, North Carolina

  • Apr 27 Jan Rychlik, Czech composer, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic) (d. 1964)
  • Apr 28 Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian auto-designer (Lamborghini), born in Cento, Ferrara, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1993)

Claude Shannon (1916-2001)

Apr 30 American mathematician and information theorist (A Mathematical Theory of Communication), born in Petoskey, Michigan [1]

  • Apr 30 Robert Shaw, American chorale conductor (Robert Shaw Chorale), born in Red Bluff, California (d. 1999)
Born in 1916

Famous Deaths

  • Apr 1 Gabrielle Petit, Belgian resistance fighter, executed
  • Apr 9 Vicente Goicoechea Errasti, Basque composer, dies at 62
  • Apr 11 Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (Soldiers of Fortune, The King's Jackal), dies of a heart attack at 52
  • Apr 15 Alfred Cogniaux, Belgian botanist, dies at 75
  • Apr 16 Tom Horan, Australian cricket all-rounder (15 Tests, 1 x 100, 11 wickets; Victoria CA), dies a 62
  • Apr 19 Ephraim Shay, American inventor of Shay type of geared steam locomotive, dies at 76
  • Apr 29 Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (Gram-Schmidt process), dies at 65