- 412 Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria
- 892 Al-Mutamid, kalief of Abbasiden, dies
- 898 Lambert, Holy Roman Emperor
- 912 Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Emir of Córdoba
- 1002 Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)
- 1080 Rudolf of Rheinfeld, Duke of Swabia and German anti-King
- 1268 Dirk II, mister of Valkenburg, dies
- 1271 Hostiensis, [Henricus the Segusia], cardinal/bishop of Ostia, dies
- 1326 Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (1308-26), dies at 65
- 1389 Urban VI, [Bartolomeo Prignano], Italian pope (1378-89), dies
- 1404 Marie of Valois, Princess of France, dies at 60
- 1512 Antoon Keldermans, Flem builder (Middelburg town hall), dies at 72
- 1524 Joachim Patinir, Flemish landscape painter, dies at about 45
- 1539 Reynier Brunt, procureur-general of Court of Holland, dies
- 1595 Abu al-Faiz ibn Mubarak Faizi, Persian-Dutch East iIndies poet, dies at 48
- 1674 Robert Herrick, English poet ('Gather ye rosebuds while ye may'), dies at 83
- 1715 Humphry Ditton, English mathematician, dies at 40
- 1730 Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer (b. 1658)
- 1788 Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)
- 1789 John Morgan, American physician-in-chief of Continental Army and co-founder of the Medical College at the University of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in Colonial America, dies at 54
- 1810 Alfred Moore, American judge (b. 1755)
- 1811 Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (b. 1735)
- 1817 Tadeusz AB Kosciusko, Polish lt-general/freedom fighter, dies
- 1819 F Louise W, daughter of viceroy Willem V, dies at 48
- 1819 Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and statesman (b. 1744)
- 1820 Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal, dies at 49
- 1837 Ivan Dmitriev, Russian statesman and poet, dies at 77
- 1891 Gilbert Arthur a Beckett, English writer (b. 1837)
- 1891 William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 54
- 1918 Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian saint (b. circa 1838)
- 1920 Hendrik Peter Staal, Dutch reformed officer and politician, dies at 75
Herbert Henry Dow
1930 Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (Dow Chemical), dies from cirrhosis of the liver at 64
Herbert Henry Dow
Pierre Laval
1945 Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of France (1931-32 and 1935-36) and Head of Vichy France (1942-44), executed by firing squad for high treason at 62
Pierre Laval
Hermann Goering
1946 Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichmarshal, poisons himself in prison at 53
Hermann Goering
- 1958 Jan Poortenaar, Dutch painter, etcher and cartoonist, dies at 72
- 1959 Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1880)
- 1963 Edmond Fleg[enheimer], Swiss-French writer (Ecoute Israel), dies at 88
- 1969 Shermake, president of (Somalia), murdered
- 1971 Sylvester Magee, last living American slave and oldest person who ever lived, dies at 130
Carlo Gambino
1976 Carlo Gambino, Italian-American gangster, dies of a heart attack at 74
Carlo Gambino
- 1980 Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1900)
- 1985 Meret Oppenheim, writer, dies at 72
- 1987 Thomas Sankara, president of Burkina Faso, dies
- 1991 Hotze de Roos, carpenter/kid book writer (Chameleon series), dies
- 1992 Dorothy Helen Baker, mother of Diane Baker, dies at 78
- 1994 Karl Edward Wagner, American sci-fi author (Bloodstone, Night Winds), dies at 48
- 1994 Sarah Kofman, French philosopher, dies at 60
- 1995 Arthur Carleton Hetherington, public servant, dies at 82
- 1996 Bernard Frank, oriental scholar/writer, dies at 69
- 2000 Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
- 2001 Zhang Xueliang, Chinese ruler of Manchuria (b. 1901)
- 2003 Ben Metcalfe, Canadian environmental activist (b. 1919)
- 2003 Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 2005 Matti Wuori, Finnish politician (b. 1945)
- 2008 Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish poet (b. 1914)
- 2010 Richard C. Miller, American photographer (b. 1912)
- 2010 Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and pro-life activist (b. 1926)
Norodom Sihanouk
2012 Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, dies from a heart attack at 89
Norodom Sihanouk
- 2012 Claude Cheysson, French politician (Minister of Foreign Affairs), dies at 92
- 2013 Peter Miles, British Army officer, businessman and courtier in the Household of Elizabeth II, dies at 89
- 2013 Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1982-84), dies at 90
October in History
![The Great Stand on the Ugra River]()
The Great Stand on the Ugra River
On one side of the Ugra River stood the Mongol Golden Horde, on the other, Ivan III, Grand Prince of the rising Muscovy Principality. At stake, everything.
October 8, 1480![Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner]()
Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner
Nowhere in England is the principal of free speech embodied more than at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park. But this right was won through death and protest.
October 14, 1855![Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry]()
Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry
A cosy assurance from a BBC weather forecaster for viewers not to worry about an impending storm has gone down as the most spectacular mis-forecast in history.
October 15, 1987![The Tragedy of Aberfan]()
The Tragedy of Aberfan
One hundred and sixteen young children died on this day when an avalanche of coal tip waste and debris thundered down a hillside and engulfed their school.
October 21, 1966
