- 775 Mansur, kalief of Abbasiden, dies
- 1323 Amadeus V de Great, Count of Flanders and Savoy, dies at 74
- 1333 Nicolaas V [Pietro Rainalducci], Italian anti-Pope (1328-30), dies at about 73
- 1355 Louis, King of Sicily, felled by the Black Death
- 1473 Reinoud II van Brederode, viscount of Utrecht, dies
- 1553 Lucas Cranach Sr, German painter, dies at 81
- 1555 Hugh Latimer, English bishop and royal chaplain, burned at the stake as one of the Oxford Martyrs at 80
- 1555 Nicholas Ridley, English theologist/bishop of Rochester, burned at the stake as an Oxford martyr
- 1570 Baron van Montigny, Dutch earl of Horne, murdered
- 1591 Gregory XIV, [Niccolo Sfondrati], Italian Pope, dies at 56
- 1594 William Allen, English cardinal/founder seminary of Douai, dies at 62
- 1628 François de Malherbe, French poet and critic (b. 1555)
- 1649 Isaac van Ostade, painter, buried
- 1680 Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian-Austrian general (b. 1608 or 1609)
- 1688 Philips Koninck, painter/etcher, buried at 68
- 1690 Margaretha M Alacoque, French mystic/saint, dies at 43
- 1694 Samuel Freiherr von Pufendorf, German lawyer, dies at 62
- 1755 Saint Gerard Majella, Catholic saint, dies at 29
- 1774 Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet (Scottish Poems), dies at 24
- 1781 Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (b. 1705)
- 1791 Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader, statesman and favorite of Catherine the Great, dies at 52
Marie Antoinette
1793 Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1774-92) who allegedly uttered the phrase "let them eat cake", beheaded at 37
Marie Antoinette
- 1793 John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and founder of pathological anatomy in England, dies at 65
- 1796 Victor Amadeus III of Savoy (b. 1726)
- 1810 Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of Breslov Hasidut, dies at 38
- 1817 Manuel C Piar, Curacaos/Venezulian freedom writer, dies
- 1849 George Washington Williams, 1st major African American historian, dies
- 1862 George B. Anderson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 31
- 1865 Andrés Bello, Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, philosopher, and sociologist (b. 1781)
- 1867 Salomon J Rappoport, Czech rabbi (Ereg miliem), dies
- 1877 John Zwijsen, archbishop of Utrecht, dies at 83
- 1877 Theodore Barrière, French dramatist (b. 1823)
- 1888 John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
- 1891 Sarah Winnemucca, indian scout, dies
- 1893 Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, President of France (b. 1808)
- 1906 Varina Howell Davis, First Lady of the Confederate States (1862-65), dies at 80
- 1909 Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer, dies at 53
- 1916 Klaas/old stick Kater, christian worker's union leader, dies at 73
- 1937 Jean de Brunhoff, French children's book author (Babar the Elephant), dies at 37
- 1937 William Sealy Gosset, English statistician (Student's t-distribution), dies at 61
- 1942 12, Dutch Communist Party-resistance fighter/3 NVV-hostages, executed
- 1944 John Eigenhuis, Dutch writer (The Dike), dies at 78
Alfred Jodl
1946 Alfred Jodl, German general during World War II (head of the German High Command, signed unconditional Nazi surrender), hanged by Allied forces after the Nuremberg trials at 56
Alfred Jodl
Hans Frank
1946 Hans Frank, German Nazi Governor General of Occupied Poland, hanged by Allied forces after the Nuremberg trials at 46
Hans Frank
Joachim von Ribbentrop
1946 Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi foreign minister and war criminal, hanged at 53
Joachim von Ribbentrop
- 1946 Wilhelm Frick, German war criminal, hanged
Wilhelm Keitel
1946 Wilhelm Keitel, Nazi military leader (head of the German High Command), is hanged at Nuremberg at 64
Wilhelm Keitel
George Marshall
1959 George Marshall, US army general, dies at 78
George Marshall
- 1962 Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher (Water & Dreams), dies at 78
- 1972 Hale Boggs, U.S. Congressman from Louisiana (b. 1914)
- 1977 Michael Balcon, producer, dies at 81
- 1979 Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (Lillelord), dies at 77
- 1980 Carl PM Romme, Dutch minister of Social Affairs (KVP), dies at 83
Moshe Dayan
1981 Moshe Dayan, Israel's general/minister of Defense, dies at 66
Moshe Dayan
- 1982 Hans Selye, Austrian-Canadian endocrinologist, dies at 75
- 1986 C Wttewaall van Stoetwegen, CHU Member of Dutch parliament, dies at 85
- 1993 John Bowles, president (Rexall Drugs), dies at 76
- 1995 John Walker, museum director, dies at 88
- 1995 Murdo Alex MacLeod, Free Church of Scotland minister, dies at 60
- 1995 Thomas Augustine Martin, Irish academic, dies at 59
- 1996 Anthony Griffin, sailor, dies at 75
- 1996 Eric Malpass, English writer, dies at 85
- 1996 Ismond Rosen, psychoanalyst and artist, dies at 82
- 1997 James A. Michener, American author (South Pacific, Sayonara), dies of kidney failure at 90
- 1998 Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943)
- 2000 Mel Carnahan, American politician (b. 1934)
- 2001 Gotthold Gloger, German writer and painter, dies at 77
- 2002 Angela Dawson, American murder victim
- 2003 Avni Arbas, Turkish artist (b. 1919)
- 2006 Valentín Paniagua Corazao, Ex President of Peru (b. 1936)
- 2007 Barbara West, English survivor of the Titanic sinking, dies at 96
- 2014 John Spencer-Churchill, 11th duke of Marlborough, English large landowner, dies at 88
- 2016 Kigeli V, last King of Rwanda (1959-61), dies at 80
- 2017 Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese journalist (Panama Papers), killed by a car bomb at 53
October in History
![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![Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent]()
Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent
Daredevil André-Jacques Garnerin took to the sky in a hydrogen balloon on this day and after cutting himself adrift performed the first ‘parachute’ descent.
October 22, 1797
