January 1916

January 1, 1916 (Saturday)

• Second Battle of Jaunde - Allied forces occupied the capital of Jaunde of German Cameroon.
• Senussi campaign - Aerial reconnaissance spotted a Senussi camp of 80 tents southeast of British garrison at Matruh in North Africa. A desert column mobilized to capture the camp but 10 days of torrential rain delayed the assault.
• British troop ship Geelong sank while returning soldiers from the Gallipoli campaign in the Mediterranean Sea after colliding with another ship. All soldiers and crew on board were rescued.
• The British Royal Army Medical Corps carried out the first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled.
• Ross Sea party - Marooned onshore in the Antarctic after the British polar exploration ship Aurora lost anchor and drifted in May 1915, the 10-man party of the second arm of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition split up. Four scientists manned a post at Cape Evans while the other six sledged to lay down a depot at Mount Hope near the Beardmore Glacier where the first arm of the expedition was expected to reach.
• The Washington State Cougars football team defeated Brown University 14–0 in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators in the second Rose Bowl, after a 15-year hiatus.
• The association football club Estrela do Norte was established in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Brazil.
• Born:
• * Rehavam Amir, Lithuanian-Israeli diplomat, diplomat to the United Kingdom from 1953 to 1958; as Rehavam Zabludovsky, in Vilnius, Lithuania
• * Manuel Manahan, Filipino politician, co-founder of the Progressive Party of the Philippines, member of the Senate of the Philippines from 1961 to 1967; in Manila, Philippine Islands

  January 2, 1916 (Sunday)

• HMS E2, the last British submarine to operate in the Sea of Marmara within Turkey, was recalled by the Royal Navy, bringing an end to the 1915 Marmara campaign. During 1915, British subs torpedoed and sank two battleships, one destroyer, five gunboats, seven ammunition ships, and nine transport ships in the Ottoman Navy, along with 30 steamers and 188 sailing vessels, and "so harassed enemy shipping as to practically paralyze it by the autumn."
• Died:
• * Joseph Rucker Lamar, 58, American judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1910 to 1916
• * Félix Sardà y Salvany, 71, Spanish clergy and writer, editor of the Catholic newspaper La Revista Popular, author of ''Liberalism is a Sin''

  January 3, 1916 (Monday)

• The Sykes–Picot Agreement, a secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France to define their claims for the division of Arab territories in the Ottoman Empire in the event of a Central Powers defeat, was signed by Sir Mark Sykes, Assistant Secretary for Middle Eastern Affairs to the British War Cabinet, and French diplomat François Georges-Picot. In the agreement, what are now Syria and Lebanon were to be under French control, Iraq under British control, and Palestine was to be under joint control.
• Britain's Secret Service Bureau was reorganized to create several Special Branch law enforcement departments within the SSB, including Section 5 of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, or MI5, the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency.
• Born:
• * Maxene Andrews, American singer, one of The Andrews Sisters, best-selling group sold over 75 million records; in Mound, Minnesota, United States
• * Betty Furness, American actress and consumer activist, lead actress for the 1950 TV series Studio One, special assistant to the President of Consumer Affairs for the Federal Trade Commission; as Elizabeth Mary Furness, in New York City, United States
• Died: Grenville M. Dodge, 84, railroad executive and Union Army officer, chief engineer of the First transcontinental railroad

  January 4, 1916 (Tuesday)

• Siege of Kut - A British relief force of over 13,000 men was dispatched to Kut, Mesopotamia to resupply the defending British Indian Army.
• British noble John Hamilton-Gordon became the first to be awarded the title of Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair.
• Born:
• * Roy Fransen, British high diver and stuntman; as Royston Albert Fransen, in Tottenham, north London, England
• * Lionel Newman, American film composer, Oscar winner for the soundtrack for the musical Hello, Dolly!; in New Haven, Connecticut, United States
• * Princess Niloufer, Ottoman noble, one of the last princesses of the Ottoman Empire; as Nilufer Hanımsultan, in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
• Died: Bruce Sloss, 27, Australian association football player, played for Essendon, Sydney Swans, and Brighton; killed in action at Armentières, France

  January 5, 1916 (Wednesday)

• Montenegrin campaign - The Montenegrin Army was ordered to defend the retreating Serbian army as Austria-Hungary launched an offensive against Montenegro.
• Royal Navy destroyer HMS Turbulent was launched at the Hawthorn Leslie and Company shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It would be sunk at the Battle of Jutland six months later.
• Baron Bean, a comic strip by George Herriman, debuted through the King Features Syndicate owned by William Randolph Hearst.
• Born: Maup Caransa, Dutch business executive, leading real estate developer in post-World War II Amsterdam, famously kidnapped for ransom in 1977; as Maurits Caransa, in Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Died:
• * Ulpiano Checa, 55, Spanish artist, known for such works as including painting for Le Train Bleu in 1900, recipient of the Legion of Honour
• * Harry Hems, 71, British sculptor, leading artist of Gothic Revival architecture with noted restoration works such as the St Albans Cathedral in England
• * Sam Lucas, 75, American actor, first African American to portray Uncle Tom in both stage and screen adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin
• * E. J. Woods, 76-77, Australian architect, designer of St. Peter's Cathedral and State Parliament House in Adelaide, Australia

  January 6, 1916 (Thursday)

• Battle of Mojkovac - An Austro-Hungarian force of 20,000 men attacked dug-in Montenegrin positions near Mojkovac, Montenegro. Despite out being vastly outnumbered, the Montenegrin Army of 6,000 repulsed the attack and inflicted 2,000 casualties.
• Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad - The British relief force of 13,000 under command of Major-General George Younghusband ran into a force with the Ottoman Sixth Army while on a relief mission to Kut in the Mesopotamia, and suffered 600 casualties the first day.
• Royal Navy battleship HMS King Edward VII struck a mine laid down by German cruiser off the coast of Scotland and sank while being towed to shore by British destroyer HMS Fortune.
• British submarine HMS E17 was wrecked offshore of the Netherlands, with all crew rescued by Dutch cruiser HNLMS Noordbrabant.
• Following its evacuation from Gallipoli, the French Expeditionary Force of the Orient was absorbed into the larger Army of the Orient based in the Greek port of Salonika.
• Born:
• * Herbert Choy, American judge, first Asian American to serve as a federal judge, senior judge for United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1971 to 1984; in Kaumakani, Territory of Hawaii, United States
• * Phil Masi, American baseball player, catcher for the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox from 1939 to 1952; as Philip Samuel Masi, in Chicago, United States
• Died: Joseph Maurice Pambet, 61, French army officer, commander of the French 22nd Infantry Division that was involved in most of the first major battles of World War I on the Western Front including the First Battle of the Marne; killed in a car accident

  January 7, 1916 (Friday)

• Battle of Mojkovac - The Austro-Hungarians retreated after a second failed attack on Mojkovac, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Montenegrin force held the line for another 11 days before retreating.
• Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad - With extra cavalry and artillery units sent by Lieutenant General Fenton Aylmer, British forces under Major General George Younghusband renewed attacks on Ottoman Sixth Army positions. A combination of heavy fog and little cover from enemy slowed the advance but allowed the British to force Ottoman forces to pull back.
• Royal Air Force No. 34 Squadron was established from elements of No. 19.
• The University of Oregon fight song "Mighty Oregon" was first performed by the Eugene Municipal Band in Eugene, Oregon. The song has a similar tune to the popular hit "It's a Long Way to Tipperary".
• Born:
• * Elena Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, Deputy Prime Minister and First Lady of Romania, wife of Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu; as Lenuța Petrescu, in Petrești, Dâmbovița, Kingdom of Romania
• * Paul Keres, Estonian chess player, considered the best chess player never to win a world champions, four-time runner-up at the Candidates Tournament; in Narva, Russian Empire
• * Teresio Olivelli, Italian soldier and resistance fighter, member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II; in Como, Kingdom of Italy
• * Togo Tanaka, American journalist, reported on camp conditions while part of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; in Portland, Oregon, United States
• * Al Hostak, American boxer, held the world middleweight title from 1938 to 1940; as Albert Paul Hostak, in Minneapolis, United States

  January 8, 1916 (Saturday)

• Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad - The British successfully captured Sheikh Sa'ad in the Mesopotamia at a cost of 4,400 casualties.
• Russian battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya exchanged fire with the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim in the Black Sea. While the action was minor, it proved the Russian navy now had control of the Black Sea and forced the Ottoman Navy to focus on defending the Dardanelles.
• St. Louis gangster William "Skippy" Rohan of the Egan's Rats was gunned down just after midnight in a saloon by gang member Harry "Cherries" Dunn following a heated exchange in which one accused the other of "snitching" to the St. Louis police department. Dunn's shooting of Rohan severed all ties with the Egan's Rats and marked him for death, leading to Dunn's murder nine months later.
• Royal Navy battle cruiser HMS Repulse was launched by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. It would see action at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917.
• The Coliseum Theater opened in Seattle as the city's first movie theatre, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
• Born: John Davies, British business executive and politician, first Director of the Confederation of British Industry, first Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; in Blackheath, London, England
• Died:
• * Eugene W. Hilgard, 83, German American agriculturalist, credited as the father of modern soil sciences
• * Ada Rehan, 58, Irish-born American stage actress, one of the "Big Four" stage leads for Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre on Broadway; died of cancer and arteriosclerosis
• * Samuel Way, 79, Australian judge, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia from 1876 to 1916