Events in History
- Jan 1 French troops occupy Nioro, West-Sudan, 3000 killed
- Jan 1 King Pakketvaart sails to Neth Indies
Event of Interest
Jan 26 Oscar Wilde's "Duchess of Padua" premieres in NYC
Oscar Wilde
- Jan 27 Mine explosion kills 109 at Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania
- Jan 29 Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch
- Jan 31 The first attempt of a Portuguese republican revolution breakes out in the northern city of Porto
- Feb 6 1st great train robbery by Dalton Gang (Southern Pacific #17)
- Feb 9 1st shipment of asparagus arrives in San Francisco from Sacramento
- Feb 15 AIK is founded at Biblioteksgatan 8 in Stockholm by Isidor Behrens.
- Feb 18 Capt Archinard's army fights with Nyamina of Niger in West-Sudan
- Feb 24 French troops under Captain Archinard occupy Diena West Sudan
- Feb 26 1st buffalo purchased for Golden Gate Park
Event of Interest
Feb 26 Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" premieres in Oslo
Henrik Ibsen
- Feb 28 Oscar Grundén skates world record 500m (50.8 sec)
- Mar 3 US Congress creates Courts of Appeal
- Mar 3 US Congress creates Office of Superintendent of Immigration (Treasury Dept)
- Mar 3 The Penalty Spot Kick rule in Association Football is conceived, but does not come into effect until the next season.
Great Blizzard of 1891
Mar 9 Great Blizzard of 1891 begins in England and lasts until March 13; Kills 200 people and 6,000 animals
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- Mar 10 Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching
- Mar 17 British Steamer "Utopia" sinks off Gibraltar killing 574
- Mar 18 Britain is linked to the continent by Telephone
- Apr 1 London-Paris telephone connection opens
Event of Interest
Apr 1 French painter Paul Gauguin leaves Marseille for Tahiti
Paul Gauguin
Event of Interest
Apr 25 US President Benjamin Harrison visits San Francisco
Benjamin Harrison
Assassination Attempt
May 11 The Otsu Scandal: While visiting Japan, Prince Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II) survives an assassination attempt
Nicholas II
- May 16 George A. Hormel & Co establishes Geo. A.Hormel & Co. (Hormel Foods Corporation) in Austin, Minnesota
- May 19 Rice Institute, which became Rice University in Houston, Texas, is chartered
- May 31 Work on trans-Siberian railway begins
- Jun 9 French painter Paul Gauguin arrives in Papeete, Tahiti
- Jun 11 Puerto Rican flag adopted
Event of Interest
Jun 16 John Abbott becomes Canada's third prime minister
John Abbott
- Jun 29 US National Forest Service organized
- Jun 29 Street railway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, commences operation.
- Jul 5 Hail kills 16 horses in Rapid City, South Dakota
- Jul 7 Marcellus F. Berry, an American Express employee is granted four copyrights for what he called "the travelers cheque"
- Jul 8 61°F, highest temperature for July 1891, in Baltimore and Philadelphia
- Jul 14 John T Smith patents corkboard
- Jul 26 Henry James' "American" premieres in London
- Jul 26 France annexes Tahiti.
- Jul 27 Titus van Wyck succeeds M de Savornin Lohman as governor of Suriname
- Aug 5 World's 1st traveler's cheques issued by American Express
- Aug 15 San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed.
- Aug 16 President Benjamin Harrison attends the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument in Bennington, Vermont
- Aug 17 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath)
- Aug 17 Electric self-starter for automobile patented
- Aug 18 Hurricane hits Martinique, about 700 die
- Aug 19 William Huggins describes astronomical application of spectrum
- Aug 21 Dutch Mackay government resigns
Historic Invention
Aug 24 Thomas Edison patents motion picture camera
Thomas Edison
- Sep 3 Cotton pickers organize union & stage strike in Texas
- Sep 3 John Stephens Durham named US minister to Haiti
- Sep 7 Captain Frederick Lugard's army reaches Kavalli, Equatoria
- Sep 11 The Jewish Colonization Association is established by Baron Maurice de Hirsch.
- Sep 14 "Empire State Express" train goes from NYC to East Buffalo, a distance of 436 miles, in a record 7H6M
- Sep 18 Harriet Maxwell Converse is 1st white woman to become an Indian chief
Event of Interest
Oct 1 Stanford University, California opens its doors after being founded by Leland Stanford and his wife Jane with a $40M donation (1891 dollars), in memory of their son. Among its first graduation class, future US President Herbert Hoover.
Leland Stanford
Herbert Hoover
- Oct 12 Astronomical Society of France is inaugurated
- Oct 20 1st International 6 day bike race at New York's Madison Square Garden begins
- Oct 25 1st International 6 day bike race (NY Madison Square Garden) ends
- Oct 28 Quake strikes Mino-Owari, Japan kills 7,300
- Nov 10 1st Women's Christian Temperance Union meeting held (in Boston)
- Nov 10 Granville T Woods patents electric railway
- Nov 30 Pope Leo XIII's encyclical "Rerum novarum" published
- Dec 2 52nd Congress (1891-93) convenes
- Dec 7 52nd US Congress (1st to appropriate $1 billion) holds 1st session
- Dec 19 1st Negro Catholic priest ordained in US, Charles Uncles, Baltimore
- Dec 20 Strongman Louis Cyr withstands pull of 4 horses
- Dec 29 Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio)
Birthdays in History
- Jan 3 Osip E Mandelstam, Polish/Russian poet/author (Kamenj) [NS=Jan 15]
- Jan 4 Edward Brooker, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1948)
- Jan 7 Zora Neale Hurston, Notasulga Alabama, American writer
- Jan 8 Bronislava Nijinska, ballet choreographer
- Jan 8 Walter Bothe, German subatomic particle physicist (Nobel 1954)
- Jan 8 Storm Jameson, English writer (d. 1986)
- Jan 9 August Gailit, Estonia, writer (Ekke Moor)
- Jan 10 Jos Speybrouck, Belgian drawer, born in Kortrijk, Belgium (d. 1956)
- Jan 15 Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (Noise of Time), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1938)
- Jan 17 Norman "Squab" Read, American aviator who lived to be 101
- Jan 17 Walter Eucken, German economist
- Jan 22 Franz Alexander, Hungarian/US psycho analytical
- Jan 22 Moïse Kisling, Polish-French painter (La Souris Boiteuse), born in Kraków, Grand Duchy of Cracow, Austria-Hungary (d. 1953)
Antonio Gramsci
Jan 23 Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher & Marxist theorist, born in Ales, Sardinia, Italy (d. 1937)
Antonio Gramsci
Frank Costello
Jan 26 Frank Costello, Italian-American gangster (The Prime Minister of the Underworld), born in Lauropoli, Calabria, Italy (d. 1973)
Frank Costello
Antonio Segni
Feb 2 Antonio Segni, Italian politician, Prime Minister of Italy (1955-57, 59-60, 62-64), born in Sassari, Sardinia (d. 1972)
Antonio Segni
- Feb 3 Jan Donner, Dutch minister of Justice (1926-33)
- Feb 4 Madabhushi Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Speaker of Lok Sabha (d: 1978).
- Feb 5 Karl L Schmidt, German/Swiss theologist (Urchristentum)
- Feb 9 Pietro Nenni, Italian socialist/minister of foreign affairs (1946-47)
- Feb 10 Harold RLG, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, Gov-gen of Canada (1945-52)
- Feb 13 Grant Wood, American painter (American Gothic), born near Anamosa, Iowa (d. 1942)
- Feb 13 Kate Roberts, Welsh nationalist and writer (d. 1985)
- Feb 16 Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist (d. 1967)
- Feb 17 Georg Britting, German poet and writer (d. 1964)
- Feb 22 Jan Wils, Holland, architect/designer (Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium)
- Feb 22 Vlas Chubar, Soviet politician (d. 1939)
- Feb 27 Anne Samson, oldest-ever nun documented (d. 2004)
- Mar 3 Jan Donner, Dutch minister of Justice/president High Council
- Mar 7 Marcel Barger [Meyer Streliskie], Dutch cabaret performer (I keep Susy) (died in Auschwitz 1942)
José P. Laurel
Mar 9 Jose Paciano Laurel y Garcia, 3rd President of the Philippines (1942-44), born in Tanauan, Batangas (d. 1959)
José P. Laurel
Earl Warren
Mar 19 Earl Warren, Governor of California and 14th US Supreme Court Chief Justice (1953-69), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1974)
Earl Warren
- Mar 24 Annie "Charley" Toorop, Dutch painter (3 Generations)
- Mar 24 John Knittel, Swiss writer, born in Dharwar, India (d. 1970)
- Mar 24 Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Soviet physicist (d. 1951)
- Mar 28 Karel M J F Cruysberghs, Flemish author
- Mar 28 Peter Suhrkamp, German publisher (Suhrkamp Verlag), born in Hatten, Germany (d. 1959)
- Mar 29 Ivan Goll, French-German writer (the Landless John), born in Saint-Dié (d. 1950)
- Mar 29 Alfred Neubauer, German racing team manager (Mercedes Benz), born in Neutitschein, Austria-Hungary (d. 1980)
- Mar 31 Ion Pillat, Romaniams poet/senator (Umbra timpului)
- Mar 31 Andy Varipapa, American ten-pin bowler (BPAA All-Star champion 1947-48), born in Carfizzi, Italy (d. 1984)
- Apr 2 Max Ernst, German-French surrealist painter and sculptor (founded surrealism), born in Brühl, German Empire (d. 1976)
- Apr 7 Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (founded LEGO), born in Filskov, Denmark (d. 1958)
- Apr 13 Maurice Buckley, Australian soldier and winner of the Victoria Cross, born in Melbourne, Victoria (d. 1921)
- Apr 13 Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen [Nellie Walker], African-American Harlem Renaissance novelist (Quicksand, Passing), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1964)
B.R. Ambedkar
Apr 14 B.R. Ambedkar [Baba Saheb], Indian politician, jurist (architect of the Constitution of India) and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement, born in Mhow, India (d. 1956)
B.R. Ambedkar
- Apr 19 Ricardo Bacchelli, Italian playwright and poet (La Ronda), born in Bologna, Italy (d. 1985)
- Apr 22 Harold Jeffreys, English mathematician (Theory of Probability) and geophysicist, born in County Durham, England (d. 1989)
- Apr 22 Vittorio Jano, Italian automobile designer, born in San Giorgio Canavese, Piedmont, Italy (d. 1965)
- Apr 22 Ferdinando Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist (Sacco and Vanzetti Trial), born in Torremaggiore, Italy (d. 1927)
- Apr 30 Watze Cuperus, Frisian author (Swart mar leaflik), born in Blije, Netherlands (d. 1966)
- May 3 Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet, born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1969)
- May 4 J. W. F. Werumeus Buning, Dutch poet (Daily Bread), born in Amsterdam (d. 1958)
- May 7 Harry McShane, Scottish socialist (d. 1988)
- May 11 Henry Morgenthau Jr., US Secretary of Treasury (1934-45) who helped design the New Deal and Lend Lease programs, born in NYC, New York (d. 1967)
- May 15 David Vogel, Russian-born Hebrew writer (Huwelijksleven), born in Satanov, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
- May 15 Fritz Feigl, Austrian Brazilian chemist (spot tests), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1971)
- May 15 Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian playwright and novelist (The Master and Margarita, Black Snow), born in Kiev, Russian Empire (d. 1940)
- May 17 Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, granddaughter of King Edward VII and great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, born in East Sheen Lodge, Richmond, England (d. 1959)
- May 18 Rudolf Carnap, philosopher (German Logical Positivist)
- May 19 Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d. 1916)
- May 22 Johannes R. Becher, German writer and politician, born in Munich (d. 1958)
- May 22 Robert Gordon Sproul, American educator and college president (University of California), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1975)
- May 23 Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1974)
- May 24 Benedictus H. Danser, Dutch taxonomist and botanist, born in Schiedam, Netherlands (d. 1943)
- May 24 William F. Albright, American old testament scholar and archaeologist, born in Coquimbo, Chile (d. 1971)
- May 25 Robert Willem Pieter Peereboom, Dutch editor in chief (Haarlem Newspaper), born in Haarlem, North Holland, Netherlands (d. 1956)
- May 30 Iman J van den Bosch, Belgian resistance fighter
- Jun 2 Thurman Arnold, American attorney and jurist (d. 1969)
- Jun 7 Koos [Jacobus Jan] Vorrink, Dutch politician and socialist (SDAP/AJC/PvdA), born in Vlaardingen, Zuid, Holland, Netherlands (d. 1955)
- Jun 18 Hans Ruin, Finnish Swedish-language historian
- Jun 20 John A. Costello, 3rd Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, born in Dublin (d. 1976)
- Jun 21 Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect (Nuove Struttura), born in Sondrio, Italy (d. 1979)
- Jun 22 Franz de Backer, Flemish writer (White Enemy)
- Jun 23 Vladislav Vančura, Czech writer (Rozmarné léto), born in Háj ve Slezsku, Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
- Jun 26 Sidney Coe Howard, American dramatist (Swords, Pulitzer 1925), born in Oakland, California (d. 1939)
- Jun 28 Carl Panzram, American serial killer and rapist, born in East Grand Forks, Minnesota (d. 1930)
- Jun 28 Esther Forbes, American novelist (Johnny Tremain), born in Westborough, Massachusetts (d. 1968)
- Jun 28 Carl Spaatz, American World War II general and 1st Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, born in Boyertown, Pennsylvania (d. 1974)
- Jul 5 John H. Northrop, American biochemist (crystallized enzymes (Nobel 1946)), born in Yonkers, New York (d. 1987)
- Jul 5 Tin Ujević, Croatian poet (Žedan kamen na studencu), born in Vrgorac, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1955)
- Jul 8 Elisabeth Zernike, Dutch writer (Poor Part, Bruidstijd)
- Jul 8 Josef Hora, Czech writer/poet (Working Day)
- Jul 23 Maurus H. Hulsman, Dutch priest and editor (Amigoe di Curacao)
- Jul 26 Jacques Pirenne, Belgian historian and honorary secretary of King Leopold III of Belgium, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1972)
- Jul 29 Bernhard Zondek, German/Israeli gynaecologist
- Aug 2 Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian and linguist, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1971)
- Aug 6 William Slim, British general (d. 1970)
- Aug 21 Emiliano Mercado del Toro, World's oldest living man 2004-2007, born in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico (d. 2007)
Bugs Moran
Aug 21 [George] Bugs Moran, American gangster, born in St. Paul, Minnesota (d. 1957)
Bugs Moran
Weddings in History
- Mar 21 A Hatfield marries a McCoy, ends long feud in West Virginia it started with an accusation of pig-stealing & lasted 20 years
Wedding of Interest
Jul 8 Future US President Warren G. Harding (25) weds publisher Florence DeWolfe (30) in Marion, Ohio
Warren G. Harding
Deaths in History
- Jan 4 Antoine Labelle, Quebec catholic priest (b. 1833)
- Jan 5 Guillaume L Baud, Dutch minister of Colonies (1848-49), dies at 89
- Jan 10 Laza Lazarević, Serbian writer (Prvi put s ocem na jutrenje) and psychiatrist, dies at 39
- Jan 11 Georges-Eugene, Baron Haussmann, French administrator and architect, dies at 81
George Bancroft
Jan 17 George Bancroft, American historian and father of U.S. History, dies at 90
George Bancroft
- Jan 20 David Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands (1874-91), dies at 54
- Jan 23 Prince Baudouin of Belgium, Count of Flaanders, dies at 21
- Jan 26 Nikolaus Otto, German auto pioneer (internal combustion engine), dies. (b. 1833)
- Jan 31 Ernest Meissonier, French painter/etcher/sculptor, dies at 75
- Feb 9 Johan B Jongkind, Dutch/French painter (Winter View), dies at 71
- Feb 10 Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (b. 1850)
- Feb 13 David Dixon Porter, United States Navy admiral, dies at 77
William Tecumseh Sherman
Feb 14 William Tecumseh Sherman, American Major General in the Union Army, dies at 71
William Tecumseh Sherman
- Feb 15 Claudius W. Sears, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 74
- Feb 28 George Hearst, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from California), dies at 70
- Mar 15 Théodore de Banville, French writer, dies at 67
- Mar 15 Joseph Bazalgette, English civil engineer (b. 1819)
- Mar 17 Napoléon JKP Bonaparte, French prince and member of National Convention, dies at 68
Joseph E. Johnston
Mar 21 Joseph E. Johnston, American military officer (senior officer in Confederate Army and United States Army), dies at 84
Joseph E. Johnston
- Mar 24 Daniel H. Wells, Mormon leader and 3rd Mayor of Salt Lake City, dies at 76
Georges Seurat
Mar 29 Georges Seurat, French post-impressionist painter (Pointillism), dies at 31
Georges Seurat
P. T. Barnum
Apr 7 P. T. [Phineas Taylor] Barnum, American circus promoter and showman (Barnum & Bailey), dies at 80
P. T. Barnum
- Apr 24 Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian general and fieldmarshal, dies at 90
- Apr 25 Nathaniel Woodard, English educationalist (b. 1811)
- Apr 29 Armistead Lindsay Long, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 65
- May 4 Sherlock Holmes, "dies" at Reichenbach Falls
- May 6 Thomas Hare, English barrister and political reformer, dies at 85
- May 8 Helena Blavatsky, Russian occultist, philosopher, and author (co-founded Theosophical Society), dies at 59
- May 10 Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli, Swiss botanist (famous for his work on plant cells), dies at 74
- May 11 Edmond Becquerel, French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics (photovoltaic effect), dies at 71
- May 16 Ion Brătianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)
John A. Macdonald
Jun 6 John A. Macdonald, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (1867-73 and 1878-91), dies of a stroke at 76
John A. Macdonald
- Jun 23 Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist, dies at 86
- Jul 4 Hannibal Hamlin, American attorney and 15th Vice President of U.S. (1861-65), dies at 81
- Jul 29 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, father of Bengali prose (Exile of Sita), dies at 70
- Jul 31 Jean-Baptist Capronnier, French-Belgian glass painter, dies at 77
- Aug 2 George Washington Williams, American historian (History of the Negro Race in America), dies from tuberculosis and pleurisy at 41
- Aug 12 James Russell Lowell, poet/critic/diplomat, dies
- Aug 14 Sarah Childress Polk, Wife of the 11th President of the United States, James K. Polk (1845-1849), dies at 87
- Aug 22 Jan Neruda, Czech author (b. 1834)
- Sep 7 Lorenzo Sawyer, 9th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, dies at 71
- Sep 9 Jules Grévy, 2nd President of the French Third Republic, dies at 84
- Sep 11 Antero Tarquínio de Quental, Portuguese poet (Beatrice), dies at 49
- Sep 18 William Ferrel, American mathematician (b. 1817)
- Sep 27 Ivan Goncharov, Russian author (b. 1812)
Herman Melville
Sep 28 Herman Melville, American writer (Billy Budd, Moby-Dick), dies at 72
Herman Melville
- Sep 30 Georges Boulanger, French general and politician, dies at 54
- Oct 3 Edouard Lucas, French mathematician (Lucas sequences), dies at 49
- Oct 6 Charles Stewart Parnell, English-Irish Home Rule Party leader, dies at 45
- Oct 9 Johannes Tideman, theologist, dies at 83
- Oct 11 Charles Stewart Parnells remains buried in Ireland
- Oct 15 Gilbert Arthur a Beckett, English writer (b. 1837)
- Oct 15 William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 54
- Oct 16 Sarah Winnemucca, indian scout, dies
- Oct 21 Alpheus Baker, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 63
- Oct 22 Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow, Austrian physiologist (b. 1846)
Arthur Rimbaud
Nov 10 Arthur Rimbaud, French poet and arms merchant (Saison en Enfer), dies of a bone cancer at 37
Arthur Rimbaud
- Nov 24 Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, English statesman and Viceroy of India (1876-1880), dies at 60
- Dec 5 Pedro II van Alcantara, Emperor of Brazil (1831-89), dies at 66
- Dec 6 Émile Bayard, French artist and illustrator, dies at 54
- Dec 11 Johan C J van Schagen, Dutch poet/writer (Narrenwijsheid), dies
- Dec 17 Msiri, ruler of the Garanganze Kingdom, Congo (Katanga), dies in battle against Belgian funded expedition
- Dec 17 Omer Bodson, Belgian captain, dies in battle against Msiri, ruler of Garanganze Kingdom in the Congo
- Dec 29 Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (Tensor of Kronecker), dies at 68