Historical Events
- Feb 7 French writer Gustave Flaubert is acquitted on a charge of obscenity for his work "Madame Bovary"
- Feb 16 Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms in Washington, D.C.
Historic Event
Feb 18 Chinese residents in the fledging state of Sarawak rebel against the "White Rajah" James Brooke
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 2 Jan Six, Dutch art historian/art collector
- Feb 3 Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen, Copenhagen, Danish Botanist and Geneticist who provided evidence for Hugo de Vries' mutation theory
- Feb 9 Johannes T de Visser, theologist/Dutch 1st minister of Education
- Feb 12 Bobby Peel, English cricket all-rounder (20 Tests, 3 x 50, 101 wickets, BB 7/31; Yorkshire CCC), born in Churwell, England (d. 1941)
- Feb 17 Samuel Sidney McClure, Irish-American newspaper editor and publisher
- Feb 18 Max Klinger, German graphic artist/painter/sculptor
- Feb 21 Jules de Trooz, Belgian politician, Premier of Belgium (1907), born in Leuven (1907)
- Feb 22 Heinrich Hertz, physicist, 1st to broadcast & receive radio waves
Robert Baden-Powell
Feb 22 Robert Baden-Powell, British officer and founder of the modern scouting movement, born in Paddington, London (d. 1941)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 7 Félix de Merode, Earl of Merode, Belgian minister of War and Finance, dies at 65
- Feb 9 Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet of the Greek national anthem, dies at 58
- Feb 10 David Thompson, English-Canadian explorer (Columbia River), dies at 86
- Feb 14 Johannes Bernardus van Bree, Dutch violinist/composer/conductor, dies at 56
- Feb 15 Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (Kamarinskaya; Ruslan and Ludmilla), dies at 53
- Feb 16 Auguste-Gaspard-Louis Desnoyers, French engraver, dies at 77
- Feb 16 Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic explorer (Kane Basin), dies at 37
- Feb 26 Ole Andreas Lindeman, Norwegian organist (Trondheim Vor Frelsers Kirke, 1799-57), composer, and educator, dies at 88
- Feb 28 André Dumont, Belgian geologist, dies at 48
