- 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
Historic Event
Jan 11 Henrik Ibsen's "Vildauden," premieres in Oslo
Music History
Jan 25 Vincent d'Indy's "Saugefleurie" premieres
- Jan 26 Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer Khartoum
Historic Event
Jan 28 Commission for Auguste Rodin's sculpture 'The Burghers of Calais' signed by the Municipal Council of Calais.
Historic Publication
Feb 18 Mark Twain publishes the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in the US
- Feb 21 Washington Monument dedicated (Washington, D.C.)
- Feb 25 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds
- Feb 26 Berlin Conference gives Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to Great Britain
- Mar 3 1st US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission
- Mar 3 American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates
- Mar 3 US Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of federal government)
- Mar 3 US Post Office offers special delivery for 1st-class mail
Historic Event
Mar 4 Grover Cleveland inaugrated as 1st US Democratic President since Civil War
Historic Event
Mar 19 Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional government, Sask
- Mar 20 Jan Ernst Matzeliger received patent number 274,207 for his lasting machine which creates wood or stone molds of customers' feet
- Mar 20 Yiddish theater opens in NY with Goldfaden operetta
- Mar 21 2nd French government of Ferry resigns
- Mar 26 Eastman Film Co manufactures 1st commercial motion picture film
- Mar 26 Louis Riel's forces defeat Canadian forces at Duck Lake, Sask
- Mar 26 1st modern, legal cremation held in England at Woking, Surrey [1]
- Mar 27 47th Grand National: Jockey Ted Wilson wins his second consecutive GN aboard 10/3 favourite Roquefort
A Salute To The Salvation Army
Mar 28 US Salvation Army officially organized
- Mar 30 The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire
- Mar 31 Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate
- Apr 30 Henry Lee Higginson starts the "Popular Music" series with the Boston Symphony, which evolves into the Boston Pops Orchestra 1900
- May 1 Maria "Goeie Mie" Swanenburg sentence to life for killing 27 in Netherlands
- May 2 "Good Housekeeping" magazine is 1st published
- May 2 Congo Free State formed by King Leopold II of Belgium
- May 7 John E W Thompson named US minister to Haiti
- May 8 Sarah Ann Henley survives 76-m jump from Clifton Bridge in Bristol, England
- May 12 Battle of Batoche: Louis Riel and the Metis defeated by Frederick Middleton, leads to collapse of Provincial Government of Saskatchewan and surrender of Riel
- May 14 11th Kentucky Derby: Babe Henderson aboard Joe Cotton wins in 2:37.25
- May 15 Canadian Métis insurgent Louis Reil captured in the aftermath of the Battle of Batoche in Saskatchewan
- May 19 1st mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts)
- May 19 German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon and Togoland
- May 22 13th Preakness: Jim McLaughlin aboard Tecumseh wins in 2:49
- Jun 6 19th Belmont: Paul Duffy aboard Tyrant wins in 2:43
- Jun 12 Roof collapse kills 30 at murder trial in France
Statue of Liberty
Jun 17 Statue of Liberty arrives in NYC aboard French ship `Isere'
Historic Event
Jul 6 Louis Pasteur successfully give an anti-rabies vaccine to 9-year-old Joseph Meister, saving his life
- Jul 6 William T. Stead's "The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon" 1st published, describes how he was able to buy a 13 year old girl in "The Pall Mall Gazette"
- Jul 13 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 5 straight Wimbledon titles for William Renshaw; for second consecutive year he beats Herbert Lawford 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
- Jul 17 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Defending champion Maud Watson defeats Blanche Bingley 6–1, 7–5
- Aug 7 Five German warships anchor off Zanzibar
- Aug 10 Leo Daft opens America's 1st commercially operated electric streetcar in Baltimore
Historic Event
Aug 11 $100,000 raised in US for pedestal for Statue of Liberty
- Aug 14 Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
- Aug 14 British Criminal Law Amendment Act raises age of consent from 13 to 16, protects against child prostitution
- Aug 22 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport R.I.: Richard Sears wins 5th consecutive US singles title; beats Godfrey M. Brinley 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3
Historic Invention
Aug 29 Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle
- Aug 29 Phillies Charlie Ferguson no-hits Providence 1-0
Boxing Title Fight
Aug 29 Boxing's 1st heavyweight title fight with 3-oz gloves & 3-minute rounds fought between John L. Sullivan & Dominick McCaffrey
- Aug 30 13,000 meteors seen in 1 hour near Andromeda
- Sep 2 In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who were struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.
- Sep 4 1st cafeteria opens (NYC)
- Sep 5 1st gasoline pump is delivered to a gasoline dealer (Ft Wayne, Ind)
- Sep 6 Eastern Rumelia declares its union with Bulgaria. The Unification of Bulgaria is accomplished.
- Sep 11 Moses Hopkins, named minister to Liberia
Historic Event
Sep 11 Ambrose Bierce finishes as editor of The Wasp magazine
- Sep 12 Highest score (35) recorded in any 1st-class soccer match is set
- Sep 16 5th America's Cup: Puritan (NY Yacht Club) beats Genesta (Royal Yacht Squadron, Isle of Wight, UK) by 1:38 for 2-0 series win
- Sep 18 Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.
- Sep 21 Dutch demonstrate for general voting right
- Sep 22 Lord Randolph Churchill makes a speech in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule e.g. "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right"
- Sep 24 Five German warships depart to Zanzibar
- Sep 29 First practical public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England
- Sep 30 Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate
- Oct 1 Special delivery mail service begins in US
- Oct 3 British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Bob Martin wins his second Championship by 1 stroke from fellow Scot Archie Simpson
- Oct 13 The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta, Georgia
- Oct 15 Hoss Radbourne pitches his 60th win of season
- Oct 17 Baseball sets all players salaries at $1,000-$2,000 for 1885 season
- Oct 22 John Ward & several teammates secretly form Brotherhood of Prof Base Ball Players, 1st baseball union
- Oct 24 Johann Strauss' operetta "Zigeunerbaron (Gypsy Baron)" premieres in Vienna
- Oct 24 "World Championship" Baseball Series, Cincinnati Base Ball Grounds: St. Louis Browns beat Chicago White Stockings, 13–4 in Game 7; disputed series tied at 3-3-1
Music Premiere
Oct 25 Johannes Brahms conducts the premiere of his 4th Symphony in e, Op. 98, in Meiningen, Germany
- Nov 3 Tacoma vigilantes drive out Chinese, burn their homes & businesses
- Nov 6 US mint at Carson City, Nevada, directed to close
- Nov 7 Canadian Pacific Railway completed at Craigellachie
- Nov 9 Opera "Ermine" premieres in London
- Nov 10 German engineer Gottlieb Daimler unveils the world's first motorcycle
- Nov 12 Montreal & Britannia Football Clubs (QRFU) defeat Ontario Combined Team (ORFU) 3-0 in CRFU Championship game
- Nov 14 Serbia invades Bulgaria, beginning the two-week Serbo-Bulgarian War; the Serbs are later defeated decisively [O.S. November 2]
- Nov 17 The Serbian Army, with Russian support, invades Bulgaria
- Nov 19 Bulgarians, led by Stefan Stambolov, repulse a larger Serbian invasion force at Slivinitza
- Nov 23 Amsterdam police attack meeting of social-democrats united
- Nov 27 1st photograph of a meteor taken by Austro-Hungarian photographer Ladislaus Weinek in Prague
- Nov 30 Opera "El Cid" premieres (Paris)
- Dec 2 Opera "Regina di Saba" premieres in Vienna
- Dec 7 49th Congress (1885-87) convenes
- Dec 17 France declares Madagascar a protectorate
- Dec 22 Pope Leo XIII proclaims extraordinary jubilee
Historic Event
Dec 22 Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan
