Events in History
- Jan 1 1st scheduled airline flight, St Petersburg-Tampa (Tony Jannus pilot)
- Jan 1 Klaas ter Laan becomes The Netherland's 1st socialist mayor (Zaandam)
- Jan 1 Northern & Southern Nigeria united in British colony of Nigeria
- Jan 2 Philips installs research department in Eindhoven
- Jan 5 Ford Motor Co wages jump from $2.40/9-hr day to $5.00/8-hr day
Event of Interest
Jan 5 Industrialist Henry Ford announces his $5 minimum per-day wage, doubled most workers pay
Henry Ford
- Jan 6 Stock brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch founded
- Jan 7 1st steamboat passes through the Panama Canal
- Jan 10 1st edition of Hague's Post under SF van Oss, published
- Jan 10 Oscar Mathisen skates world record 500 m in 43.7 sec in Oslo
- Jan 10 Yuan Shih-k'ai, president of the new Chinese republic, dissolves parliament and prepares a constitution of his own design: he will set himself up as dictator, preparatory to an attempt to make himself emperor
Agreement of Interest
Jan 14 The Gandhi-Smuts Agreement is reached between Gen. J.C. Smuts and Mahatma Gandhi, regarding voluntary registration, poll tax, recognition of Indian marriages and other matters
Mahatma Gandhi
Event of Interest
Jan 16 Writer Maxim Gorky returns to Russia
Maxim Gorky
Theater Premiere
Jan 17 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Der Bogen des Odysseus" premieres in Berlin
Gerhart Hauptmann
- Jan 20 The first group of Transvaal Indian women satyagrahis are released from Pietermaritzburg Prison in South Africa after three months imprisonment
- Jan 22 Paul Claudel's play "L'échange" premieres in Paris
- Jan 25 An Indian mass meeting in Durban unanimously endorse the agreement between General J.C. Smuts and Mahatma Gandhi regarding voluntary registration, poll tax, recognition of Indian marriages and other matters
- Jan 26 600 Dutch textile workers go on strike
- Jan 26 Vatican puts Belgian Nobel winner Maeterlinck's works in their index
- Jan 27 A petition is written and submitted by the black and coloured women of the Orange Free State, an independent Boer sovereign republic in southern Africa, against the carrying of passes by women
- Jan 28 Beverly Hills, California, is incorporated
Birthdays in History
- Jan 1 Noor Inayat Khan, Indian princess and British Special Operations Executive agent in WWII posthumously awarded the George Cross, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
- Jan 4 Mohammed Sahir, shah (Afghanistan)
- Jan 5 Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1955)
- Jan 10 Claude Gallimard, French publisher (d. 1991)
- Jan 10 Yu Kuo-hwa, former Premier of Taiwan, born in Fenghua District, China (d. 2000)
- Jan 11 Dorothy Jeakins, costume designer
- Jan 12 Edward John Gurney, American politician, US senator (1969-74), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1996)
- Jan 14 Thomas J. Watson Jr., American businessman and politician (President of IBM, 1952-1971, US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1979-1981), born in Dayton, Ohio (d. 1993)
- Jan 14 Dudley Randall, African-American poet who founded the pioneering publishing house "Broadside Press", born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2000)
- Jan 15 Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian (The Last Days of Hitler), born in Glanton, England (d. 2003)
- Jan 16 Roger Aubert, Belgian church historian (Le Pontificat de Pie IX)
- Jan 17 Anacleto Angelini, Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
- Jan 18 Arno Schmidt, German writer, born in Hamburg (d. 1979)
- Jan 23 Napoleon L Bonaparte, French pretender to the throne, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1997)
- Jan 26 Kaye Webb, English writer/publisher (Puffin Club)
- Jan 26 Princess Hadice Hayriye Ayshe Dürrühsehvar (d. 2006)
- Jan 27 Anna Larina, revolutionary
- Jan 30 Louis Osman, artist architect goldsmith medallist/craftsman
- Jan 31 Louis Osman, architect/artist/goldsmith
- Jan 31 Sri Daya Mata, Hindu religious figure
Weddings in History
- Jan 14 Danish "Out of Africa" author Karen Blixen (28), pen name Isak Dinesen marries her 2nd cousin Baron Hans von Blixen-Finecke
Deaths in History
- Jan 4 Silas Weir Mitchell, American physician (discovered causalgia, erythromelalgia) and author (Roland Blake, Hugh Wynne), dies at 84
Ambrose Bierce
Jan 11 Ambrose Bierce, American writer and satirist, dies at 71
Ambrose Bierce