OK, it seems you and the OP here have come across a seriously bent version of LCD.
Nevertheless, to get it to work you need to use the pin numbers as you see them written on your PCB, but the standard functions of each pin number as in this diagram.
I gather yours does in fact, not have a backlight, so that pins 15 and 16 which are next to pin 1 are not connected. Otherwise they would be pin 16 ground and pin 15, 5V. So, connect ground to pin 1, Vcc (presumably 5v) to pin 2, a 470 ohm resistor (or a 5k pot) from pin 3 to ground and so on.