Historical Events
- Jan 2 General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum
- Jan 3 The beginning of the Battle of Nui Bop in the Sino-French War
- Jan 4 Dr William Grant of Iowa, performs 1st appendectomy in America on Mary Gartside, aged 22
- Jan 11 Henrik Ibsen's "Vildauden," premieres in Oslo
- Jan 17 British beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan
- Jan 19 Battle of Abu Klea, Sudan, between the British Desert Column and Mahdist forces: 76 British and 1,100 Mahdists killed
- Jan 25 Vincent d'Indy's "Saugefleurie" premieres
- Jan 26 Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer Khartoum
Event of Interest
Jan 28 Commission for Auguste Rodin's sculpture 'The Burghers of Calais' signed by the Municipal Council of Calais.
Auguste Rodin
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 1 Roland Diggle, English-born American composer and organist (d. 1954)
- Jan 2 Johannes Ringers, Dutch water engineer (dikes)
- Jan 5 Humbert Wolfe, Italian-British poet (d. 1940)
- Jan 8 John Curtin, Victoria, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (Labor: 1941-45), born in Creswick, Colony of Victoria (d. 1945)
- Jan 8 A. J. Muste, Dutch pacifist and activist (d. 1967)
Alice Paul
Jan 11 Alice Paul, American suffragist (National Woman's Party), born in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey (d. 1977)
Alice Paul
- Jan 11 Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (The White Outlaw), born in Kingfisher Creek, Oklahoma (d. 1965)
- Jan 13 Alfred Fuller, CEO (Fuller Brush Man)
- Jan 15 Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (d. 1973)
- Jan 15 Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)
- Jan 15 Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)
- Jan 16 Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, president of Poland (1939-40)
- Jan 16 Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)
- Jan 17 E Ball-Hennings, writer
- Jan 17 Joseph Arendt, Belgian worker's union leader
- Jan 21 Umberto Nobile, Italian general
- Jan 23 Boleslaw Wallek-Walewski, Polish composer and conductor, born in Lviv, Ukraine (d. 1944)
- Jan 25 Else Mauhs [Alwine Julie Else Mauhs], German-Dutch actress (Eline Vere, L'aiglon), born in Mülheim an der Ruhr (d. 1959)
- Jan 25 Kitahara Hakushū, Japanese poets and children's writers (d. 1942)
- Jan 27 Jerome Kern, American Broadway composer (Showboat, Roberta), born in NYC, New York
- Jan 27 Eduard Künneke, German composer (d. 1953)
- Jan 27 Maeda Seison, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
- Jan 30 John Henry Towers, American naval aviator, born in Rome, Georgia (d. 1955)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 4 Iosif Kotek, Russian composer and violinist, dies at 29
- Jan 6 Peter C Asbjornsen, Norwegian fairy tale writer, dies at 72
- Jan 13 Schuyler Colfax, American politician (b.1823)
- Jan 19 Fred Burnaby, English colonel/balloon pioneer, dies in battle
- Jan 24 Martin R Delany, African American nationalist and Physician (1st African American major in US Army), dies at 72
- Jan 26 Charles George Gordon, British Governor-General of Sudan, executed at 51
- Jan 26 Edward Davy, English inventor (b. 1806)