Historical Events
- Dec 8 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I, opens in Rome
- Dec 8 Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
- Dec 9 Noble Order of Knights of Labor founded, Philadelphia
- Dec 10 Women suffrage (right to vote) granted in Wyoming Territory (US 1st)
- Dec 10 The first American chapter of Kappa Sigma is founded at the University of Virginia.
- Dec 18 Canada's Hamilton Foot Ball Club plays its 1st game
- Dec 28 William Finley Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio, patents chewing gum
- Dec 30 Philadelphia Knights of Labor forms
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (d. 1923)
- Dec 2 Jonas Cohn, German/English philosopher (Theory of the Dialects)
- Dec 5 Ellis Parker Butler, American author (d. 1937)
- Dec 16 Albert F Pollard, British historian (Dict of natural biography)
- Dec 16 Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1952)
- Dec 17 Nikolay Ivanovich Kazanli, composer
- Dec 19 Eduard Hermann, Coburg Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, German linguist (Homer)
- Dec 20 Charley Grapewin, American actor (The Wizard of Oz, Libeled Lady), born in Xenia, Ohio (d. 1956)
- Dec 22 Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (Richard Corey)
- Dec 22 Dmitri Egorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1931)
- Dec 24 Henriette GA Roland Holst-van der Schalk, Dutch poet (Women in Forest)
- Dec 26 Harry Redman, American composer, writer, and artist, born in Illinois (d. 1958)
- Dec 29 Bill Howell, cricketer (Australian bowler at turn of century)
- Dec 30 Adolphe Max, Belgian Rep (Lib)
- Dec 30 Stephen Leacock, Canadian economist/humorist/professor
Henri Matisse
Dec 31 Henri Matisse, French impressionist painter (Odalisque), born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, France (d. 1954)
Henri Matisse
Famous Deaths
- Dec 6 Jan de Liefde II, Dutch vicar/author (People's Welfare), dies at 54
- Dec 18 Louis Moreau Gottschalk, composer, dies at 40
- Dec 24 Edwin M[cMasters] Stanton, US Secretary of War (1861-65), dies at 55
- Dec 26 Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille, French physician and physiologist (blood pressure), dies at 72