Historical Events
Historic Event
Feb 14 Oscar Wilde's "Importance of Being Earnest," opens in London
Historic Event
Feb 21 NC Legislature, adjourns for day to mark death of Frederick Douglass
Historic Event
Feb 25 Groenkloof Nature Reserve in Pretoria established by President Paul Kruger as the first game sanctuary in Africa
- Feb 26 Michael Owens of Toledo, Ohio, patents a glass-blowing machine
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Conn Smythe, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame team owner (Toronto Maple Leafs 1927-61; Stanley Cup x 8), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1980)
George Halas
Feb 2 George Halas [Papa Bear], American NFL coach and pioneering owner of the Chicago Bears, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1983)
- Feb 3 Izak Buys, cricketer (one Test for South Africa 1922, 0 & 4*, 0-52)
- Feb 3 Nick Kenny, Astoria columnist/songwriter (Nick Kenny Show), born in NYC, New York
- Feb 3 Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, politician (APRA-Peru) [or Feb 22]
- Feb 4 Annie [Anna HM] Romein-Verschoor, Dutch historian (Erflaters)
- Feb 4 [Johann Baptist] Hanns Albin Rauter, German SS and Police leader in the occupied Netherlands, born in Klagenfurt, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1949)
- Feb 4 Nigel Bruce, British actor (Rebecca, Suspicion, Sherlock Holmes), born in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico (d. 1953)
- Feb 6 Babe Ruth, American Baseball Hall of Fame slugger (MLB All-Star 1933, 34; 7 x World Series champion; 12 × AL home run leader 1918–21, 23-24, 1926–31; Boston RS, NY Yankees), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1948)
- Feb 7 Irving Aaronson, American jazz pianist and big band leader, born in New York City (d. 1963)
- Feb 9 Hermann Brill, German politician (d. 1959)
- Feb 11 Viktor Nikolayevich Trambitsky, composer
- Feb 13 Fred Essler, Austrian actor (Unsinkable Molly Brown, Saratoga Trunk), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1973)
- Feb 14 Max Horkheimer, German philosopher & sociologist (Studies in prejudice), born in Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1973)
- Feb 15 Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete (d. 1971)
- Feb 17 Anita Stewart, American silent film actress (South of Hell Mountain), producer, and mystery novelist, born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 1961)
- Feb 17 Edna Park Edwards, American stage and vaudeville actress, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1967)
- Feb 18 George "The Gipper" Gipp, American football player (Notre Dame), born in Laurium, Michigan (d. 1920)
- Feb 18 Semjon Timoshenko, Russian marshal/inspector-general (WWII)
- Feb 19 Louis Calhern, American actor (Julius Caesar, Blackboard Jungle), born in NYC, New York (d. 1956)
- Feb 20 Freida Geiken, autobiographer (National Historic Taping)
- Feb 20 Jimmy Yancey, American boogie-woogie jazz and blues pianist, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1951) [birth year disputed - documentation ranges from 1894-1903]
- Feb 21 Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist, (1943 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for discovery of vitamin K), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1976)
- Feb 22 Victor RaulHaya de la Torre, founder (Peruvian Aprista Party)
- Feb 23 Richard Goolden, British actor (Two Days to Live, School for Husbands), born in London, England (d. 1981)
- Feb 25 DeBenneville "Bert" Bell, PA, NFL owner/commissioner/HOF (Eagles)
- Feb 25 Henri Martelli, French composer, born in Bastia, Corsica, France (d. 1980)
- Feb 27 Edward Brophy, American character actor (Champ, Dumbo, Great Guy, The Cameraman, Doughboys), born in NYC, New York (d. 1960)
- Feb 28 Guiomar Novaes, Brazilian concert pianist (Brazilian Order of Merit), born in São João da Boa Vista, Brazil (d. 1979)
- Feb 28 Marcel Pagnol, French playwright/director (Marchands de Gloire)
Famous Deaths
Frederick Douglass
Feb 20 Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist, lecturer and editor who was also an escaped slave, dies of a heart attack at 77
- Feb 24 Ignaz Lachner, German composer, dies at 87
