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Months in Year 1879: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 111

Jan 1st - John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in Leipzig
Jan 2nd - 1st Test match hat-trick, Fred Spofforth at the MCG
Jan 2nd - British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die
Jan 2nd - Dr Benjamin E Mays, named president of Atlanta Board of Education
Jan 2nd - Northwestern League (minor baseball league) organized, Rockford, Ill
Jan 7th - Dutch King Willem II marries Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont
Jan 9th - Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Ft Robinson
Jan 9th - Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas
Jan 11th - Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins
Jan 12th - British Zulu War begins: Lt-General Chelmsford invades Zululand
Jan 16th - January record 13" of snow falls in NYC (broken Jan 7, 1996)
Jan 20th - British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana
Jan 21st - Henrik Ibsen's "Et Dukkehjem," premieres in Copenhagen
Jan 22nd - Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa
Jan 22nd - James Shields (D) elected US senator from Missouri after previously serving as US senator from Illinois & Minnesota
Jan 23rd - National Archery Association forms (Crawfordsville Ind)
Jan 25th - The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
Jan 29th - Custer Battlefield National Monument, Mont established
Jan 30th - French President MacMahon resigns
Feb 5th - Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow
Feb 8th - Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
Feb 10th - 1st electric arc light used (California Theater)
Feb 10th - Henry Morton Stanley departs to the Congo
Feb 12th - 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Sq Garden, NYC)
Feb 12th - News about slaughtering of Isandlwana reaches London
Feb 14th - Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
Feb 15th - Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before Supreme Ct
Feb 18th - Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha
Feb 22nd - 1st 5 cent & 10 cent store opened by Frank W Woolworth (Utica NY)
Feb 25th - Congress passed 1st Timberland Protection Act
Feb 27th - Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener)
Feb 28th - "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation
Mar 1st - Library of Hawaii founded
Mar 3rd - 1st female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood)
Mar 3rd - US Geological Survey director authorized in Dept of the Interior
Mar 23rd - War of the Pacific was fought between Chile and the joints forces of Bolivia and Peru. Chile successfully took over Arica and Tarapacá which left Bolivia as a landlocked country.
Mar 27th - Longest championship fight (136 rounds)
Mar 29th - Tsjaikovski's opera "Jevgeni Onegin," premieres in Moscow
Apr 5th - Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
Apr 8th - Khedive Ismael of Egypt fires French/British ministers
Apr 8th - Milk was sold in glass bottles for 1st time
Apr 18th - Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on indians citizen rights begins
Apr 20th - 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London & Cyprus
May 8th - George Selden files for 1st patent for a gasoline-driven automobile
May 10th - Meteor falls near Estherville, Iowa
May 14th - The first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrive in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
May 16th - Antonin Dvorák's "Slavic Dancing," premieres
May 16th - Treaty of Gandamak to set up Afghan state between Russia & English
May 20th - 5th Kentucky Derby: Charlie Shauer aboard Lord Murphy wins in 2:37
May 21st - Battle of Iquiquw
May 21st - War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
May 24th - 7th Preakness: L Hughes aboard Harold wins in 2:40.5
May 30th - 92°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in May
May 30th - Gilmore Garden (NYC) renamed Madison Square Garden
May 30th - An F4 tornado strikes Irving, Kansas, killing 18 and injuring 60.
May 31st - 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition
May 31st - Madison Square Garden opens
Jun 1st - Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.
Jun 5th - 13th Belmont: George Evans aboard Spendthrift wins in 2:42.75
Jun 16th - Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theater NYC
Jun 18th - W H Richardson, a black inventor, patents the children's carriage
Jun 21st - F W Woolworth opens 1st store (failed almost immediately)
Jun 26th - Ismael Pasha resigns as khedive of Egypt
Jun 30th - Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha leaves Cairo with train full stolen goods
Jul 1st - Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha sails from Alexandria to Naples
Jul 1st - Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower.
Jul 4th - Africaner Union forms by Rev SJ du Toit at Cape colony
Jul 4th - Battle at Rorkes Drift: Britain ends attack on Zulus
Jul 17th - 1st railroad opens in Hawaii
Jul 19th - Doc Holliday kills for the first time after a man shoots up his New Mexico saloon.
Aug 4th - Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Aeterni Patris
Aug 7th - The opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester.
Aug 12th - 1st National Archery Association tournament (Chicago)
Aug 17th - Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company
Aug 20th - Govt Kappeijne of Coppello resigns
Aug 21st - The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, reportedly appears to the people of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.
Aug 23rd - Governor-general Charles Gordon of Sudan returns to Cairo
Aug 28th - Battle at Ulundi: Lord Chelmsford beats king Cetshwayo's Zuluz
Sep 15th - Pim Mulier forms "Haarlem Football Club"
Sep 18th - The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.
Sep 19th - Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track & field record pole-vaulting 11' 2½" at age 17 years & 198 days
Sep 20th - US Grants come to SF for elaborate extended visit
Sep 23rd - Baldwin steam motors tram 1st tried in Sydney Australia
Sep 23rd - Richard Rhodes invented a hearing aid called the Audiophone
Sep 28th - Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route
Sep 29th - NL owners meeting in Buffalo adopt reserve clause, giving each team exclusive rights to their players
Oct 1st - Cincinnati Enquirer publishes 1st report on baseball reserve clause
Oct 2nd - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Musgrave Ritual" (BG)
Oct 7th - Germany & Austrian-Hungary sign Twofold Covenant
Oct 8th - War of the Pacific: the Chilean Navy defeats the Peruvian Navy in the Battle of Angamos, Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau is killed in the encounter.
Oct 12th - British troops occupy Kabul Afghanistan
Oct 19th - Afghan's emir Mohammed Yakub forced to resign
Oct 19th - Thomas Edison demonstrates electric light
Oct 21st - Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb
Nov 2nd - In a 6-day footrace a Mr Weston loses to a horse, 900 to 885 km
Nov 4th - Elkins patents refrigerating apparatus
Nov 4th - James Ritty patents 1st cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in his Dayton, Ohio saloon
Nov 6th - Canada celebrates 1st Thanksgiving Day
Nov 19th - Natl Assoc of Trotting Horse Breeders determines what "is" a trotter
Nov 28th - Battle at Lydenburg S Africa: Gen Wolseley beats Sekhukhenes Pedi-Zulu

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 224

Jan 1st - Edward M Forster, England, novelist (Howards End, Passage to India)
Jan 1st - Emile Argand, Swiss geologist (Dekbladen Theory)
Jan 1st - Ernest Jones, British psychoanalyst (Life & Work of Sigmund Freud)
Jan 1st - William Fox, US film pioneer (Nickelodeon)
Jan 2nd - Johannes L "Jan" Walch, Dutch literary (Grimaces)
Jan 2nd - Pieter Tesch, Dutch geologist (Pedestal of Nederlands)
Jan 3rd - Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge, 1st lady (1923-29)
Jan 5th - Hans Eppinger, Austrian physician (d. 1946)
Jan 7th - St Bernadette (Marie-Bernarde Soubirous), 1844(?), religious visionary
Jan 9th - John Broadus Watson, behaviorist psychologist
Jan 11th - Antonio Beltramelli, writer
Jan 12th - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (d. 1968)
Jan 15th - Ernest Thesiger, London England, actor (Bride of Frankenstein, Ghoul)
Jan 15th - Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author (d. 1961)
Jan 18th - Henri Giraud, French general (d. 1949)
Jan 19th - Marie Koenen, author/wife of Felix Rutten (Wassend Cereal)
Jan 19th - Boris Savinkov, Russian writer (d. 1925)
Jan 26th - Ludovicus H [Lode] Baekelmans, Flemish (stage)author (Tille)
Feb 1st - Sydney Baynes, composer
Feb 3rd - Charles Follis, 1st black NFLer (Shelby, Ohio)
Feb 5th - Edward Rigby, England, actor (Star Look Down, Young & Innocent)
Feb 6th - Carl Ramsauer
Feb 9th - Carl Natanael Berg, composer
Feb 9th - Jacques Bainville, French historian/essayist/journalist
Feb 10th - Franz Carl Bornschein, composer
Feb 11th - Jean Gilbert, composer
Feb 13th - Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1949)
Feb 17th - Dorothy Canfield Fisher, US, novelist (Book-of-Month-Club)
Feb 23rd - Agnes Arber, English biologist/philosopher (Mind & the Eye)
Feb 23rd - Norman Lindsay, Creswick Victoria, artist/novelist
Feb 24th - Herman Teirlinck, Belgian writer (Sun)
Feb 25th - Otakar Ostrcil, composer
Feb 26th - Frank Bridge, English violinist/composer/conductor/tutor of B Britten
Feb 27th - Jose Sancho Marraco, composer
Mar 4th - Bernhard Kellermann, writer
Mar 5th - Walter Long, actor (Moby Dick, Sheik, Sea Devils, Dragnet Patrol)
Mar 5th - Sir William Beveridge, British economist (d. 1963)
Mar 8th - M Lichnowsky, writer
Mar 8th - Otto Hahn, German physicist/chemist (Nobel 44, radiothorium/actinium)
Mar 11th - Justus Hermann Wetzel, composer
Mar 11th - Niels Bjerrum, Danish chemist (ph tests)
Mar 14th - Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (theory of relativity)
Mar 15th - Gerrit J Heering, Dutch theologist (Fall of Christianity)
Mar 19th - Joseph Haas, German (opera)composer (Tobias Wunderlich)
Mar 20th - Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (d. 1960)
Mar 25th - Otakar Zich, composer
Mar 26th - Othmar Ammann, Swiss bridge engineer (d. 1965)
Mar 27th - Edward Steichen, pioneered American photography
Mar 27th - Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)
Mar 30th - Coen de Koning, Dutch ice skater (d. 1954)
Apr 4th - Gabriel Groulez, composer
Apr 9th - Gerald Festus Kelly, artist
Apr 11th - Leendert Round, Dutch sculptor (entrance Rotterdam Zoo)
Apr 12th - Frederick G Melcher, US, publisher/editor/founded children book week
Apr 13th - Edward Bruce, Director art projects (d. 1943)
Apr 14th - James Branch Cabell, American novelist/essayist (Restless Heads)
Apr 15th - Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer (d. 1980)
Apr 19th - Richard Scheibe, German sculptor (Adler mit Hakenkreuz)
Apr 20th - Robert Lynd, Irish writer/critic (Pleasures of Ignorance)
Apr 20th - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
Apr 21st - Kartini, Indonesian national figure (d. 1904)
Apr 26th - Owen Williams Richardson, England, physicist (Nobel 1928)
Apr 28th - Edgar Tytgat, Flemish painter/etcher
Apr 28th - Franz Arnold, writer
Apr 29th - Thomas Beecham, England, composer (found London Philharmonic)
May 2nd - James F. Byrnes, American statesman, and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1972)
May 3rd - Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman (d. 1950)
May 5th - Symon Petlyura, leader Ukraine (pogroms)
May 6th - Johan H T Norlind, Swedish musicologist
May 6th - Bedrich Hrozny, Czech orientalist (d. 1952)
May 10th - Symon Petlura, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1926)
May 17th - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926)
May 19th - Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, US/Eng's feminist/ex of Waldorf Astor
May 22nd - Eastwood Lane, composer
May 22nd - Jean Emile Paul Cras, composer
May 22nd - Warwick Armstrong, cricketer (Big Ship Great Aussie skipper 1920-21)
May 22nd - Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born actress, scriptwriter, and producer (d. 1945)
May 23rd - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966)
May 24th - H. B. Reese, American inventor of Reese's and founder (d. 1956)
May 25th - W Maxwell Aitken lord Beaverbrook, Canada/English banker
May 27th - Lucile Watson, actress (Great Lie, Watch on the Rhine, Let's Dance)
May 27th - Hans Lammers, German SS officer (d. 1962)
May 28th - Milutin Milankovic, Yugoslavian astronomer/meteorologist
May 30th - Colin Blythe, cricketer (outstanding English slow lefty pre-WW I)
May 31st - Mark Hambourg, composer
Jun 2nd - Adolf Herckenrath, Flemish playwright/poet (Avondvlam)
Jun 3rd - Pieter J A Adriani, Dutch tax lawyer
Jun 3rd - Raymond Pearl, American biologist (d. 1940)
Jun 4th - Mabel Lucie Attwell, English children's author and illustrator (d. 1964)
Jun 5th - Adolf Wiklund, composer
Jun 5th - Robert Mayer, German-born philanthropist (d. 1985)
Jun 5th - René Pottier, French cyclist (d. 1907)
Jun 6th - L Patrick Abercrombie, English architect
Jun 7th - Knud J V Rasmussen, Danish pole explorer (Thule)
Jun 7th - Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (d. 1963)
Jun 9th - Dudley Digges
Jun 9th - Oscar Back, Austrian-Dutch viola player
Jun 10th - Benjamin Lambord, composer
Jun 11th - Roger P Bresnaham, hall of fame catcher/manager
Jun 11th - Roger Bresnahan, baseball player (d. 1944)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 50 of 50

Jan 9th - Don Joaquin BF Espartero, fieldmarshall/viceroy of Navarra, dies at 86
Jan 13th - WF Hendrik the Navigator, prince of Neth/viceroy of Lux, dies at 58
Jan 16th - Octave Crémazie, French Canadian poet (b. 1827)
Jan 22nd - Anthony Durnford, British colonel, dies in battle
Jan 22nd - George Shepstone, British political affiliate, dies in battle
Jan 23rd - Adolf Jensen, composer, dies at 42
Jan 29th - Antonia MB Antonucci, Italian cardinal/diplomat, dies at 80
Feb 11th - Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter, dies
Feb 11th - Willem J van Zeggelen, Dutch author/novelist/writer, dies at 67
Feb 21st - Peter P van Bosse, Dutch liberal minister of Finance, dies at 69
Feb 23rd - Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
Mar 1st - Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (b. 1825)
Mar 13th - Adolf Anderssen, German world champ chess (1851..66), dies at 60
Mar 30th - David van der Kellen, Dutch coin engraver, dies at 74
Mar 30th - Thomas Couture, French painter/author, dies at 63
Apr 4th - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (b. 1803)
Apr 9th - Ernst Friedrich Richter, composer, dies at 70
Apr 16th - Bernadette, st/(saw Virgin Mary at Lourdes), dies in Nevers France
Apr 18th - Anthony Pannizim, principal librarian (British Museum), dies
May 4th - William Froude, Brit civil eng/shipbuilder (F Integer), dies at 68
May 15th - Gottfried Semper, German architect (b. 1803)
May 17th - Asa Packer, railroad magnate and founder of Lehigh Valley Railroad (b. 1805)
May 21st - Arturo Prat, Chilean naval officer (b. 1848)
May 24th - William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist (Liberator), dies at 73
Jun 2nd - E Louis JJ Napoleon Bonaparte, crown prince, dies in battle at 23
Jun 11th - Willem, (crown)prince of Orange, dies of bronchitis or murder at 39
Jul 6th - Henry Thomas Smart, composer, dies at 65
Jul 16th - Edward Deas Thomson, Australian politician (b. 1800)
Jul 17th - Maurycy Gottlieb, Ukrainian painter (b. 1856)
Aug 3rd - Joseph Severn, English painter (b. 1793)
Aug 8th - Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1797)
Aug 22nd - Friedrich August Kummer, composer, dies at 82
Aug 27th - Rowland Hill, introduced postage stamps, dies at 84
Aug 30th - John B Hood, confederate general (lost Atlanta), dies at 48
Aug 31st - William Barber, 6th US chief engraver (1844-79), dies
Sep 8th - Nikolay Ivanovich Zaremba, composer, dies at 58
Sep 12th - Peter Arnold Heise, composer, dies at 49
Sep 14th - Bernhard von Cotta, German geologist (b. 1808)
Sep 17th - Eugene Emmanuel Violletle-Duc, gothic archetect, dies
Sep 17th - Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (b. 1814)
Sep 28th - Nathan C Meeker, US, poet/writer, murdered
Oct 8th - Miguel Grau Seminario, Peruvian Admiral (b. 1834)
Oct 14th - F Kornberger, writer, dies at 58
Oct 28th - Marie Roch Louis Reybaud, French writer (b. 1799)
Oct 31st - Big Snake, brother of Ponca chief Standing Bear, dies
Oct 31st - Jacob Abbott, American author (b. 1803)
Oct 31st - Joseph Hooker, American General (b. 1814)
Nov 5th - James Clerk Maxwell, Scotish physicist (speed of light), dies at 48
Dec 6th - Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American industrialist (b. 1814)
Dec 26th - Jean Leonard Marie Poiseuille, dies