Famous Deaths in 1897

  • Jan 12 Isaac Pitman, British inventor (Pitman Shorthand) (b. 1813)
  • Jan 29 John E. Smith, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), dies at 80
  • Jan 30 John Cottam, cricket (Test for Aust 1897, no Sheffield matches), dies
  • Feb 1 Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist (b. 1826)
  • Feb 5 Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, American pitcher won 60 games in 1884, dies at 42
  • Feb 6 Ebenezer C Brewer, British writer (Dictionary of Phrase & Fable), dies
  • Feb 7 Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist and electrical engineer, dies at 49
  • Feb 13 Joseph O. Shelby, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 66
  • Feb 19 Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician (theory of functions), dies at 81
  • Feb 22 Charles Blondin, French acrobat and tight rope walker, dies at 72
  • Feb 23 Woldemar Bargiel, German composer, dies at 68
  • Mar 9 Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier and pioneer of modern skiing, dies at 71
  • Mar 10 Teodulo Mabellini, Italian composer, dies at 79
  • Mar 11 Berthold Tours, Dutch-English composer, dies at 58
  • Mar 11 Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist, evangelist, dies at 45
  • Mar 19 Antoine T. d'Abbadie, French explorer (Ethiopia), dies at 87

  • Mar 20 Apollon Maykov, Russian poet, dies at 76
  • Mar 27 Andreas Anagnostakis, Greek physician (b. 1826)
  • Apr 3 Johannes Brahms, German composer and conductor (Hung Dances), dies at 63
  • Apr 8 George Garrett, English composer, dies at 62
  • Apr 8 Heinrich von Stephan, UK politician, dies
  • Apr 23 Clement Harris, English composer, killed fighting in the Greco-Turkish war at 25
  • May 2 William Cleaver Francis Robinson, composer, dies at 63
  • May 10 William Thomas Best, English organist and composer, dies at 70
  • May 10 Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary leader (b. 1863)
  • May 12 Ulrika "Minna" Cant-Johnstown, Finnish playwright, dies at 53
  • May 12 Willem Roelofs, Dutch painter and lithographer, dies at 75
  • May 21 Karol Mikuli, composer, dies at 77
  • May 23 Aleko Konstantinov, Bulgarian writer (To Chicago & Back), dies at 34
  • May 29 Julius von Sachs, German botanist and naturalist, dies at 64
  • Jun 9 Alvan Graham Clark, American telescope maker and astronomer (Sirius B), dies 3 weeks after 1st use of Yerkes 40" lens at 64
  • Jun 17 Sebastian Kneipp, Bavarian priest and naturopathist (known for "Kneipp Cure" form of hydrotherapy), dies at 76
  • Jun 22 Ralph Abercromby, British meteorologist, dies at about 54
  • Jun 25 Margaret Oliphant, Scottish novelist and biographer (Beleaguered City), dies at 69
  • Jul 12 Félix Godefroid, Belgian harpist and composer, dies at 78
  • Jul 14 John Franklin Farnsworth, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 77
  • Jul 16 Levin Goldschmidt, German business law expert, dies at 1897
  • Jul 20 Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)
  • Jul 20 Philip Dale Roddey, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 71
  • Jul 29 Joost G Kist, lawyer/president of High Council (1885-97), dies at 74
  • Aug 8 Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss cultural historian, dies at 79

  • Aug 9 Samuel McGowan, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 77
  • Aug 13 Antonius von der Linde, Neth/German librarian, dies at 63
  • Sep 20 Karel Bendl, Czech composer, dies at 59
  • Sep 21 Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (b. 1819)
  • Sep 22 Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general, dies at 81
  • Sep 30 St Therese of Lisieux, Roman Catholic saint and mystic (b. 1873)
  • Oct 8 Martin Pluddemann, composer, dies at 43
  • Oct 8 Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter, dies at 67
  • Oct 9 John Heemskerk, Dutch politician (Minister of the Interior 1866-88), dies at 79
  • Oct 11 Leon Boelmann, French organist/composer (Suite Gothique), dies at 35
  • Oct 17 Isidor Dannström, Swedish composer, dies at 84
  • Oct 19 George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
  • Oct 21 Paul Kuczynski, Polish composer, dies at 50
  • Oct 24 Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet (Golden Treasury), dies at 73
  • Oct 28 Hercules Robinson, British colonial administrator (Ceylon, Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa), dies at 72
  • Nov 6 Édouard Deldevez, French violinist and composer, dies at 80
  • Nov 9 Moritz Heuzenroeder, composer, dies at 48
  • Nov 15 John Mercer Langston, 1st African-American to hold US political office, dies at 67
  • Nov 17 George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (b. 1820)
  • Nov 19 William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (b. 1810).
  • Nov 30 Abraham Carel Wertheim, Dutch banker and philanthropist, dies at 64
  • Dec 16 Alphonse Daudet, French writer (Tartarin sur les Alpes), dies at 57
  • Dec 18 Carlo A Alfieri, Italian Member of parliament, dies at 70
  • Dec 28 William Corby, American Catholic priest and President of the University of Notre Dame, dies at 64
  • Dec 29 William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)