Events in History
- Jan 1 New York City annexes the Bronx
- Jan 13 Battle between jobless and police in NYC leaves 100s injured
- Jan 13 US troops land in Honolulu to protect the king
- Jan 14 I. D. Shadd elected Speaker of lower house of Mississippi legislature
- Jan 17 Armed Democrats seize Texas government ending Radical Reconstruction
- Jan 21 Franz Grillparzer's "Libussa" premieres in Vienna
- Jan 24 Gen J van Swieten conquers Kraton Atjeh, after thousands die
Event of Interest
Jan 31 Jesse James gang robs a train at Gads Hill, Missouri
Jesse James
Event of Interest
Feb 21 Benjamin Disraeli succeeds William Gladstone as British Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli
William Gladstone
- Feb 21 Oakland Daily Tribune begins publication
- Mar 10 Purdue University (Indiana) admits its 1st student
- Mar 18 Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
- Mar 22 Young Men's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC
- Apr 15 NY legislature passes compulsory education law
Event of Interest
Apr 15 First 'Impressionist' exhibition opens in Paris, features Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot
Event of Interest
Apr 16 Dr David Livingstone's body arrives in Southampton
David Livingstone
- Apr 18 David Livingstone, African explorer, buried in Westminster Abbey
- Apr 19 Barracks on Alcatraz Island destroyed in fire
- Apr 27 White League, Paramilitary white supremacist organization, forms
- May 5 Dutch 2nd Chamber passes child labor law
- May 9 London's Victoria Embankment opens
- May 9 The first horse-drawn bus makes its début in the city of Mumbai, plying two routes
- May 12 US Assay Office in Helena, Montana, authorized
- May 13 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On Greek-Ruthenian rite"
- May 14 1st admission charge at a football game, Harvard beats Uni of McGill (Montreal) 3-0
- May 16 1st recorded dam disaster in US (Williamsburg, Massachusetts)
- May 29 Present constitution of Switzerland takes effect
- Jun 20 1st US Lifesaving Medal awarded (Lucian Clemons)
- Jun 22 Dr Andrew T Still, discovers the science of osteopathy
- Jun 28 Freedmen's Bank closes
- Jun 29 Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" in which he lays out his complaints against King George. He is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.
- Jul 1 Dutch 1st Chamber accepts law governing child labor in factories
- Jul 1 1st US kidnapping for ransom, 4-year-old Charles Ross, $20,000
- Jul 1 1st zoo in the United States opens in Philadelphia
- Jul 4 Social Democratic Workmen's Party of North America formed
- Jul 7 27th Postmaster General: James W Marshall of NJ takes office
- Jul 8 The Mounties (North West Mounted Police) begin their March West from Fort Dufferin
- Jul 12 Ontario Agricultural College founded
- Jul 23 Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa
- Jul 31 Patrick Francis Healy, SJ, inaugurated as President of Georgetown U
- Aug 5 Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in England
- Aug 11 Harry S Parmelee patents sprinkler head
- Aug 26 16 blacks lynched in Tennessee
- Sep 1 28th US Postmaster General: Marshall Jewell of Connecticut takes office
- Sep 1 Sydney General Post Office opens in Australia
- Sep 3 The congress of the state of México elevates Naucalpan to the category of Villa, with the title of "Villa de Juárez"
- Sep 12 1874 The District of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada is founded.
- Sep 26 1st Grand International Rifle match held
- Oct 1 Rotterdam opens drinking water pipes
- Oct 9 World Postal Union forms in Bern Switzerland
- Oct 10 Fiji becomes a British possession
- Nov 3 James Theodore Holly, elected bishop of Haiti
- Nov 4 Samuel J Tilden elected governor of NY
- Nov 17 Emigrant ship Cospatrick catches fire & sinks off Auckland, NZ
- Nov 18 National Woman's Christian Temperance Union organizes in Cleveland
- Nov 24 American inventor Joseph Glidden patents barbed wire
- Nov 25 The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
- Dec 8 Jesse James gang takes train at Muncie Kansas
Event of Interest
Dec 12 Hawaiian King David Kalakaua is 1st king to visit the US as guest of Ulysses S. Grant at 1st US state dinner at the White House
Ulysses S. Grant
Birthdays in History
Joseph Erlanger
Jan 5 Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist (shock therapy-Nobel 1944), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1965)
Joseph Erlanger
- Jan 13 Jozef E van Roey, Flemish cardinal/archbishop of Mechlin
- Jan 14 Thornton W. Burgess, American conservationist & author (The Bedtime Story-Books; Now I Remember: Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist), born in Sandwich, Massachusetts (d. 1965)
- Jan 16 Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet (Cremation of Sam McGee), born in Lancashire, England (d. 1958)
- Jan 22 Wincenty Witoz, Galicia, Prime Minister of Poland (1920-21, 1923, 1926)
- Jan 22 Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
- Jan 24 Arthur Schomburg (Arturo Alfonso), Puerto Rico, archivist of African American history and culture
- Jan 25 Hewlett Johnson [Red Dean of Canterbury], English bishop, born in Salford, Greater Manchester (d. 1966)
- Jan 25 W. Somerset Maugham, British novelist & poet (Of Human Bondage), born in Paris, France (d. 1965)
John D. Rockefeller Jr
Jan 29 John D. Rockefeller Jr, American financier and philanthropist, born in Cleveland, Ohio
John D. Rockefeller Jr
- Feb 1 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian poet/dramatist/essayist
- Feb 3 Gertrude Stein, Penn, author (Autobiography of Alice B Toklas)
- Feb 6 Milton Bennett Medary, American architect (Washington Chapel), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1929)
- Feb 9 Amy Lowell, American poet and critic (Patterns, Sword Blades & Poppy Seed), born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1925)
- Feb 11 Elsa Beskow [Maartman], Swedish children's book/fairy tales author
- Feb 13 Hendrik Spiekman, Dutch journalist and politician (social-democratic)
Ernest Shackleton
Feb 15 Ernest Shackleton, British-Irish polar explorer (Endurance, Antarctica), born in Kilkea, Ireland (d. 1922)
Ernest Shackleton
Thomas J. Watson
Feb 17 Thomas J. Watson, Sr., American businessman (Chairman and CEO of IBM, 1914-1956), born in Campbell, New York (d. 1956)
Thomas J. Watson
- Feb 23 Konstantin Päts, Estonian PM (1921-23, 1932-33), dictator (1933-40)
- Mar 1 Jean de Merode [Marie-Louise B Courtenay], Princess of Netherlands (d. 1955)
- Mar 5 Arthur van Schendel, Dutch writer (The World a Dancing Party)
- Mar 14 Anton Philips, Co-Founder of Royal Philips Electronics N.V., born in Zaltbommel, Gelderland, Netherlands (d. 1951)
- Mar 15 Harold L Ickes, social activist, New Deal politician
- Mar 15 Eugène Fiset, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1951)
- Mar 17 Stephen Samuel Wise, American Rabbi and President of Zionist Org of America, born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1949)
- Mar 18 Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian philosopher, born in Kiev, Russian Empire (d. 1948)
- Mar 20 Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (d. 1945)
- Mar 22 Ellen Glasgow, American novelist (Nobel Prize for Literature 1942), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1945)
Harry Houdini
Mar 24 Harry Houdini [Erich Weiss], Famous magician and escape artist, born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (d. 1926)
Harry Houdini
- Mar 24 Luigi Einaudi, economist/1st president of Italy (1948-55)
Robert Frost
Mar 26 Robert Frost, American poet (Mending Wall, Road Not Taken), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1963)
Robert Frost
- Mar 29 Lou Henry Hoover, US First Lady (1929-33) and wife of the 31st President, Herbert Hoover, born in Waterloo, Iowa (d. 1944)
- Apr 8 Stanisław Taczak, Polish general, commander-in-chief of the Greater Poland Uprising, born in Mieszków, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland (d. 1960)
- Apr 14 Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and Canada, born in Kensington Palace, London (d. 1957)
- Apr 15 Johannes Stark, German physicist (Stark effect, Nobel 1919), born in Schickenhof, German Empire (d. 1957)
- Apr 15 George Harrison Shull, American plant geneticist, born in Clark County, Ohio (d. 1954)
- Apr 18 Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German author (In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message), born in Bischofswerda, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire (d. 1941)
- Apr 19 Firmin Baes, Flemish painter, born in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium (d. 1943)
- Apr 19 Ernst Rüdin, Swiss-German psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland (d. 1952)
- Apr 24 John Russell Pope, American architect (Jefferson Memorial, National Archives and Records Administration), born in NYC, New York (d. 1937)
- Apr 24 Willem Roelofs, Dutch painter and cartoonist (d. 1940)
Guglielmo Marconi
Apr 25 Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor and electrical engineer who pioneered work on long distance radio transmission (Nobel 1909), born in Bologna, Italy (d. 1937)
Guglielmo Marconi
- Apr 28 Karl Kraus, Austrian satirical writer, born in Jičín, Austrian-Hungarian Empire (d. 1936)
- Apr 30 Cyriel Verschaeve, Belgian priest and writer (Maria Magdalena - 1928), born in Ardooie, West Flanders, Belgium (d. 1949)
- May 1 Romaine Brooks [Beatrice Romaine Goddard], American painter, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1970)
- May 3 François Coty, French perfume manufacturer, born in Ajaccio, Corsica, France (d. 1934)
- May 3 V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1954)
- May 10 Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (d. 1941)
- May 12 Clemens Freiherr von Pirquet, Austrian physician (Reaction of Pirquet)
- May 20 Folkert E Posthuma, Dutch minister of Agriculture/Industry
- May 22 Daniel François Malan, Prime Minister of South Africa (1948-54) who began the implementation of apartheid, born in Riebeek-Wes, Cape Colony (d. 1959)
Henri Farman
May 26 Henri Farman, British-French aviator who broke several aviation records, born in Paris (d. 1958)
Henri Farman
- May 27 Richard von Schaukal, Moravian-Austria poet and writer (Eros Thanatos), born in Brno, Czech Republic (d. 1942)
- May 29 G. K. Chesterton [Gilbert Keith], English writer (Man Who Made Gold), born in London, England
- Jun 13 Leopoldo Lugones, Argentine poet (Las montañas del oro), born in Villa Maria del Rio Seco, Argentina (d. 1938)
- Jun 14 Edward Bowes, American radio host (Major Bowes Amateur Hour), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1946)
Arthur Meighen
Jun 16 Arthur Meighen, 9th Prime Minister of Canada (C: 1920-21, 1926), born in Anderson, Ontario (d. 1960)
Arthur Meighen
Eugen Fischer
Jul 5 Eugen Fischer, Nazi physician (Kaiser Wilhelm Institute), born in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany (d. 1967)
Eugen Fischer
- Jul 7 Erwin Bumke, German jurist (d. 1945)
- Jul 10 Sergey Konenkov, Russian sculptor, born in Verkhniye Karakovichi, Russia (d. 1971)
- Jul 14 'Abbas Hilmi II, last khedive (Ottoman viceroy) of Egypt (1892-1914)
- Jul 14 Andre Debierne, French chemist/physicist (Actinium)
- Jul 24 Oswald Chambers, Scottish Baptist and Holiness Movement minister and writer (My Utmost for His Highest), born in Aberdeen, Scotland (d. 1917)
- Jul 25 Sergey Vasilyevich Lebedev, Russian Chemist who invented the first commercially viable and mass-produced synthetic rubber, born in Lublin, Poland (d. 1934)
- Jul 28 Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher and educator (Essay on Man), born in Silesia, Prussia (d. 1945)
- Jul 29 August Stramm, German poet and playwright, born in Cathedrals (d. 1915)
- Jul 29 James Shaver Woodsworth, Canadian politician (d. 1942)
- Aug 3 Eugène Baie, Belgian author (Sub rosa et sub umbra), born in Anderlecht, Belgium (d. 1963)
- Aug 6 Charles Fort, American writer and researcher (specialized in anomalous phenomena), born in Albany, New York (d. 1932)
Herbert Hoover
Aug 10 Herbert Hoover, 31st US President (R: 1929-1933), born in West Branch, Iowa (d. 1964)
Herbert Hoover
- Aug 14 Mustafa Kamil Pasha, Egyptian lawyer, journalist and nationalist activist, born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 1908)
- Aug 15 Joseph Klausner, Polish-Israeli new testament expert, born in Valkininkai, Lithuania (d. 1958)
- Aug 21 Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek, Dutch minister of Foreign affairs (1918-27), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1942)
- Aug 22 Max Scheler, German philosopher (Vom Umsturz der Werte), born in Munich, Germany (d. 1928)
- Aug 26 Zona Gale, American novelist (d. 1938)
- Aug 27 Carl Bosch, German chemist (BASF, Nobel 1931), born in Cologne, German Empire (d. 1940)
- Aug 31 Edward Thorndike, American psychologist (father of modern educational psychology), born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts (d. 1949)
- Sep 1 Ismar Elbogen, German/US rabbi (Encyclopedia Judaica)
- Sep 13 Henry F. Ashurst, American Democratic politician (U.S. Senator from Arizona), born in Winnemucca, Nevada (d. 1962)
- Sep 17 Ben Turpin, American comic (Uncle Tom Without the Cabin), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1940)
- Sep 18 Johannes Anker Larsen, Danish writer (Vises Sten), born in Langeland, Denmark (d. 1957)
Charles Vyner Brooke
Sep 26 Charles Vyner Brooke, 3rd and last White Rajah of Sarawak (1917-46), born in London, England (d. 1963)
Charles Vyner Brooke
- Oct 6 Frank G. Allen, 51st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1950)
- Oct 9 Nicholas Roerich, Russian painter, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1947)
- Oct 14 Margarete Susman, German-Jewish writer, born in Hamburg (d. 1966)
- Oct 15 Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, born in Buckingham Palace, London (d. 1899)
- Oct 21 Albert Aftalion, Bulgaria/French economist
- Oct 26 Martin Lowry, English chemist (Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory), born in Low Moor, Bradford (d. 1936)
Owen D. Young
Oct 27 Owen D. Young, American industrialist (RCA) and diplomat (Young Plan), born in Stark, New York (d. 1962)
Owen D. Young
August Krogh
Nov 15 August Krogh [Schack], Danish zoophysiologist (arterioles and capillaries, Nobel 1920), born in Grenaa, Jutland, Denmark (d. 1949)
August Krogh
- Nov 18 Carrie White, oldest US woman (dies Nov 1990 at 116), born in Havana, Florida (d. 1991)
- Nov 18 Clarence Day, American author (Life with Father), born in NYC, New York (d. 1935)
- Nov 20 James Michael Curley, American politician (53rd Governor of Massachusetts, 1935-37), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1958)
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Mar 21 Ulysses S. Grant's daughter Nellie marries in the White House
Ulysses S. Grant
Wedding of Interest
Apr 24 Outlaw Jesse James marries cousin Zerelda 'Zee' Mimms
Jesse James
Deaths in History
Gail Borden
Jan 11 Gail Borden, American manufacturer and inventor of condensed milk, dies at 72
Gail Borden
- Jan 14 Johann Philipp Reis, German Physicist and Inventor, dies of lung disease at 40
- Jan 17 Chang & Eng Bunker, Chinese/Thai Siamese twins, die at 62
- Jan 19 August Heinrich Hoffmann, German writer, dies at 75
- Feb 3 Lunalilo, Hawaiian monarch (b. 1835)
- Feb 8 David F Strauss, German theologist, dies at 66
- Feb 9 Jules Michelet, French historian (History of France), dies at 75
- Feb 17 Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian astronomer, mathematician and sociologist (body mass index scale), dies at 77
- Feb 18 Louis Wigfall, American politician (Confederate States Senator from Texas 1862-85), dies at 57
- Feb 27 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban revolutionary hero, dies at 54
Millard Fillmore
Mar 8 Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (Whig: 1850-53), dies at 74
Millard Fillmore
- Mar 11 Charles Sumner, American politician, Senator Massachusetts (1851-74) and anti-slavery advocate, dies at 63
- Mar 14 Johann Heinrich von Mädler, German astronomer (published the most complete map of the Moon of the time, Mappa Selenographica, 4 vol. with Wilhelm Beer), dies at 79
- Mar 28 Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish-German astronomer (Hansen hypothesis), dies at 78
- Apr 4 Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)
- Apr 14 Hermanus J Abbring, Dutch author/engineer on Curacao, dies at 86
- Apr 19 Owen Jones, architect, dies
- Apr 20 Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York), dies at 56
- May 11 Franklin Buchanan, American first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, dies at 73
- Jun 8 Cochise, Apache leader
- Jun 21 Anders Jonas Ångström, Swedish physicist (Spectroscopy), dies at 59
- Jul 11 Xavier de Mérode, Belgium minister to the Pope in Rome, dies at 54
- Jul 12 Fritz Reuter, German novelist, dies at 63
- Aug 14 Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction of Florida) and Presbyterian minister, dies at 52
- Aug 22 Sydney Thompson Dobell, English poet, dies at 50
- Aug 27 Johan George Schwartze, painter, dies
- Aug 27 John Henry Foley, Irish sculptor (Prince Albert Memorial), dies at 56
- Sep 12 François Guizot, French historian and politician (17th Prime Minister of France), dies at 86
- Sep 15 Benjamin Robbins Curtis, American attorney and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, dies at 64
- Sep 21 JBAL Leonce Elie the Beaumont, French geologist, dies at 75
- Oct 23 Abraham Geiger, German theologian and leader of Reform Judaism, dies at 64
- Nov 2 Thomas Anderson, Scottish chemist (discovered pyridine), dies at 55
- Nov 9 Israel Bak, created 1st Hebrew printing press, dies
- Dec 7 Constantin von Tischendorf, German biblical scholar (b. 1815)
- Dec 16 Abraham Capadose, Dutch physician and missionary, dies at 79
- Dec 17 William Barker Cushing, American naval officer (best known for sinking the CSS Albemarle during a daring nighttime raid on 27 October 1864), dies at 32