Historical Events
- Aug 10 Dan Rylands patents screw cap
- Aug 13 William Gray patents coin-operated telephone
- Aug 23 1st ship-to-shore wireless message ("Sherman is sighted") received in the US from Lightship No. 70 to a coastal receiving station at Cliff House in San Francisco
- Aug 29 1st American International professional lawn tennis contest (Newport, Rhode Island)
- Aug 31 Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Cardboard Box" (BG)
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 John Friend Mahoney, American physician who pioneered the treatment of syphilis with penicillin, born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (d. 1957)
- Aug 1 Walther Gerlach, German physicist who, with Otto Stern, co-discovered spin quantization in a magnetic field (Stern–Gerlach effect), born in Biebrich, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany (d. 1979)
- Aug 5 Conrad P Aiken, American Pulitzer poet/writer (Ushant/Conversation)
- Aug 6 George Kenney, American Air Force General (d. 1977)
- Aug 6 John Middleton Murry, English poet and literary critic (Between Two Worlds), born in London, England (d. 1957)
- Aug 8 Jack Ryder, cricketer (athletic Australian all-rounder & captain)
- Aug 10 Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, English composer, born in Great Baddow, Essex (d. 1960)
- Aug 10 Irene Steer, England, 4 X 100m relay swimmers (Olympic gold 1912)
- Aug 10 Charles Darrow, Inventor (d. 1967)
- Aug 12 Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (d. 1981)
- Aug 13 Camillien Houde, French Canadian politician and Mayor of Montreal, born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (d. 1958)
- Aug 19 Arthur Waley, sinologist, translator from Chinese & Japanese
- Aug 20 Witold Friemann, Polish composer, born in Konin, Poland (d. 1977)
- Aug 23 Alfred Lichtenstein, German writer, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1914)
- Aug 24 Simon Kimbangu/Kibangu, Congolese religious leader and founder of Kimbanguism, born in Nkamba, Congo (d. 1951)
- Aug 30 Eduardo Ciannelli, Italian actor (Foreign Correspondent, Gunga Din), born in Ischia, Italy (d. 1969)
- Aug 31 A Provost Idell, father of modern volleyball
- Aug 31 Bombardier Billy Wells [William Thomas Wells], English heavyweight boxer (Lionsdale Belt, 1911), born in London, England (d. 1967)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 2 Eduardo Gutiérrez, Argentinian author (b. 1851)
- Aug 4 Carl Ludwig Amand Mangold, German composer, dies at 75
- Aug 5 Willem Ruys J Dz, ship owner, dies at 80
- Aug 17 Ernst Franck, German composer/conductor, dies at 42
- Aug 19 Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, French writer (Contes cruels), dies at 60
- Aug 22 John Sanger, circus entrepreneur, dies
- Aug 24 Jan E Matzeliger, Suriname inventor (shoe lacing machine), dies
- Aug 29 Stefan Dunjov, Banat Bulgarian military figure (b. 1815)