On June 16:
1723 Adam Smith the Scottish philosopher and economist was baptised (his exact date of birth isn’t known)
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1858 Abraham Lincoln gave his House Divided speech:
A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.
1915 The British Women’s Institute was founded.
1961 Rudolf Nureyev defected in Paris.
Homepaddock 
Actually Adam Smith was baptsied on the 5th of June.
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Paul – I was using Wikipedia but Bing gives both the 5th and 16th: http://www.bing.com/search?q=When+was+Adam+Smith+baptised%3F&go=&form=QBLH&filt=all
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The 5th is given by Ian Simpson Ross, “The Life of Adam Smith”, Oxford: OUP, 1995, DD Raphael, “Adam Smith”, Oxford: OUP, 1985, Eamonn Butler, “Adam Smith – A Primer”, Lodnon: IEA, 2007, James Buchan, “Adam Smith and the Pursuit of Perfect Liberty”, London: Profile Books, 2006 and is given, wrongly, as his date of birth on his gravestone.
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Paul – all of those beat Wikipedia and Encarta.
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The difference in the dates may depend on which calendar is being use: the the Julian calendar (OS) or the Gregorian calendar (NS). Have emailed an AS expect to check.
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Clearly you can not expect me to be a spelling expert. Make “expect”, “expert” above!
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It turns out that it does have to do with the change of calendars. The documents of the date say 5 June, which if you translate that to the modern calendar it becomes 16 June. I’ll stick with the original date. There is no problem with Smith’s date of death as when he died in 1790 (Gregorian) that is the date recorded on all the relevant documents. After 1752 everybody worked from the Gregorian calendar in Britain. You lean something everyday.
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