A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on October 15th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On October 15, 1815, Emperor of the French, Napoleon I (Bonaparte) began his second and final exile on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic.
On October 15, 1863, The H. L. Hunley, a Confederate (the South!) submarine, sank during a test, killing its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley.
On October 15, 1888, George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received a letter purporting to be from the infamous mass murderer known as “Jack the Ripper.”
On October 15, 1910, the non-rigid airship, America, set off from Atlantic City, New Jersey on the first attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean by humans in a powered aircraft.
On October 15th, 1917, the famous exotic dancer and courtesan Mata Hari was executed by firing squad after having been found guilty of espionage.
On October 15, 1930, Herbert Dow, founder of Dow Chemical Company died.
On October 15, 1989, Ukrainian-Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe to become the all-time leading scorer in the NHL.
On October 15, 1997, Andy Green became the first supersonic driver of a car by setting the land speed record of 763 mph (Mach 1.016), driving a twin jet powered ThrustSSC across a measured course and back in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.
On October 15, 1997, the ThrustSSC driven by Andy Green became the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier.
On October 15, 2017, people all across the world celebrated Global Handwashing Day, a day to encourage sanitary hand washing behavior in an effort to cut respiratory (notably pneumonia) and diarrheal diseases.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.