On This Day

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January 1883 in History

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Events in History

  • Jan 2 Battle of Boschberg takes place in South Africa as part of the Mapoch War
  • Jan 10 Fire at uninsured Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin kills 71. General Tom Thumb of P. T. Barnum fame, escapes unhurt
  • Jan 13 Fire in Circus Ferroni in Berditschoft, Poland, kills 430

Theater Premiere

Jan 13 Henrik Ibsen's play "En Folkefiende" (An Enemy of the People) premieres in Oslo

Playwright Henrik Ibsen
  • Jan 16 Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system

Electric Lighting Begins

Jan 19 The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey

Inventor Thomas Edison
  • Jan 30 England team presented with ashes of a bail after Sydney Test

Birthdays in History

  • Jan 1 Federigo Tozzi, Italian writer and journalist (La Torre, Tre Croci), born in Siena, Italy (d. 1920)
  • Jan 1 Ichirō Hatoyama, Japanese politician, Prime Minister (1954-56), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1959)

Clement Attlee (1883-1967)

Jan 3 British Prime Minister (L-1945-51), born in Putney, London

Clement Attlee
  • Jan 4 Johanna Westerdijk, botanist and Netherlands 1st female professor (Utrecht, 1917-52), born in Nieuwer-Amste, Netherlands (d. 1917)
  • Jan 4 Max Eastman, American critic/essayist and editor of The Masses (d. 1969)
  • Jan 6 Khalil Gibran, Lebanese mystic & poet (The Prophet, Broken Wings), born in Bsharri, Lebanon (d. 1931)
  • Jan 7 Andrew Browne Cunningham, Irish British admiral (First Sea Lord of the Admiralty 1943-46), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1963)
  • Jan 8 Patrick J. Hurley, United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
  • Jan 8 Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (d. 1941)
  • Jan 10 Aleksei Tolstoi, Russian poet (Pjotr Peroyj), born in Pugachyov, Russia (d. 1945)
  • Jan 20 Bertram Home Ramsay, English naval officer (Admiral who oversaw Dunkirk evacuations and Normandy landings), born in London, England (d. 1945)
  • Jan 21 Amang Rodriguez, Filipino politician (d. 1964)
  • Jan 21 Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (advocated literary use of Nynorsk), born in Lom, Norway (d. 1929)
  • Jan 26 Bindo Maserati, Italian auto engineer and businessman (manager Maserati Racing; founder O.S.C.A. Racing), born in Voghera, Italy (d. 1980)

Deaths in History

  • Jan 4 Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (b. 1823)
  • Jan 5 Charles Tompson, first Australian published poet (b. 1806)
  • Jan 10 Samuel Mudd, American physician (imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth), dies of pneumonia at 49
  • Jan 23 Gustave Doré, French artist, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1832)

Historical Figures

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