Events in History
- May 1 Amsterdam begins transferring drinking water out of the dunes
- May 5 British Commodore James Plumridge attacks Finnish settlements in Gulf of Bothnia, killing civilans and destroying British-owned goods.
Event of Interest
May 21 Frederic Mistral, Joseph Roumanille, and five other Provencal poets found Félibrige, a literary and cultural association

Frederic Mistral
Birthdays in History
- May 11 Ottmar Mergenthaler, Hachtel Germany, inventor (linotype)
- May 24 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, admiral (WWI), born in Graz, Austrian Empire (d. 1921)
- May 24 John Riley Banister, American law officer and cowboy, born in Banister Hollow, Camden County, Missouri (d. 1918)
- May 27 Georges Eekhoud, Belgian writer (Jeune Belgium), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1927)