Today in History for Year 1885

Months in Year 1885: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 100

Jan 2nd - Gen Wolseley receives last distress signal of Gen Gordon in Khartoum
Jan 4th - Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs 1st appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22)
Jan 11th - Henrik Ibsen's "Vildauden," premieres in Oslo
Jan 17th - Brits beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan
Jan 19th - Battle at Abu Klea Sudan: 800-1000 killed
Jan 25th - Vincent d'Indy's "Saugefleurie," premieres
Jan 26th - Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer Khartoum
Feb 5th - News of fall of Khartoum reaches London
Feb 9th - 1st Japanese arrive in Hawaii
Feb 12th - Carl Peters founds German East-Africa Society
Feb 17th - Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa
Feb 18th - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," published
Feb 21st - Washington Monument dedicated (Wash DC)
Feb 25th - US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds
Feb 26th - Congress of Berlin, gives Congo to Belgium & Nigeria to England
Mar 3rd - 1st US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission
Mar 3rd - American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates
Mar 3rd - Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of fed government)
Mar 3rd - US Post Office offers special delivery for 1st-class mail
Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck Mar 4th - Gilbert & Sullivan's opera "Mikado," premieres in London
Mar 4th - Grover Cleveland inaugrated as 1st Democratic pres since Civil War
Mar 14th - Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera "Mikado," premieres in London
Mar 15th - 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Lesson Djinns"
Mar 19th - Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional government, Sask
Mar 20th - John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine
Mar 20th - Yiddish theater opens in NY with Golldfaden operetta
Mar 21st - 2nd French government of Ferry resigns
Mar 26th - Eastman Film Co manufactures 1st commercial motion picture film
Mar 26th - Louis Riel's forces defeat Canadian forces at Duck Lake, Sask
Mar 28th - US Salvation Army officially organized
Mar 30th - The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
Mar 31st - Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate
Apr 30th - Boston Pops Orchestra forms
May 1st - Maria "Goeie Mie" Swanenburg sentence to life for killing 27 in Neth
US President Grover Cleveland May 2nd - "Good Housekeeping" magazine is 1st published
May 2nd - Congo Free State formed by King Leopold II of Belgium
May 7th - John E W Thompson, named minister to Haiti
May 8th - Sarah Ann Henley survives 76-m jump from Clifton Bridge, Avon, Engl
May 12th - Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against Canada
May 14th - 11th Kentucky Derby: Babe Henderson aboard Joe Cotton wins in 2:37.25
May 15th - Canadian Meti insurgent Louis Reil captured, Saskatchewan
May 19th - 1st mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts)
May 19th - German chancellor Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon & Togoland
May 22nd - 13th Preakness: Jim McLaughlin aboard Tecumseh wins in 2:49
Jun 6th - 19th Belmont: Paul Duffy aboard Tyrant wins in 2:43
Jun 6th - Opera "Lakmé" is produced (Paris)
Jun 12th - Roof collapse kills 30 at murder trial in France
Jun 17th - Statue of Liberty arrived in NYC aboard French ship `Isere'
Jun 24th - British government of Salisbury forms
Jun 24th - Samuel David Ferguson becomes 1st US black bishop
Jul 1st - The United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada.
Jul 2nd - Canada's North-west Insurrection ends with surrender of Big Bear
Bacteriologist Louis Pasteur Jul 6th - Louis Pasteur successfully tests an anti-rabies vaccine
Aug 7th - 5 German warships anchor at Zanzibar
Aug 10th - Leo Daft opens America's 1st coml operated electric streetcar (Balt)
Aug 11th - $100,000 raised in US for pedestal for Statue of Liberty
Aug 14th - Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
Aug 29th - Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle
Aug 29th - Phillies Charlie Ferguson no-hits Providence 1-0
Aug 29th - Boxing's 1st heavyweight title fight with 3-oz gloves & 3-minute rounds fought between John L Sullivan & Dominick McCaffrey
Aug 30th - 13,000 meteors seen in 1 hour near Andromeda
Sep 2nd - In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who were struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.
Sep 4th - 1st cafeteria opens (NYC)
Sep 5th - 1st gasoline pump is delivered to a gasoline dealer (Ft Wayne, Ind)
Sep 6th - Eastern Rumelia declares its union with Bulgaria. The Unification of Bulgaria is accomplished.
Sep 11th - Moses Hopkins, named minister to Liberia
Sep 12th - Highest score (35) recorded in any 1st-class soccer match is set
Sep 16th - Puritan (US) beats Genesta (England) in 6th running of America's Cup
Sep 18th - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.
Sep 21st - Dutch demonstrate for general voting right
Sep 22nd - Lord Randolph Churchill makes a speech in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule e.g. "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right".
Sep 24th - 5 German warships depart to Zanzibar
Sep 29th - The first practical public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England.
Sep 30th - Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate
Oct 1st - Special delivery mail service begins in US
Oct 13th - The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta, Georgia.
Oct 15th - Hoss Radbourne pitches his 60th win of season
Oct 17th - Baseball sets all players salaries at $1,000-$2,000 for 1885 season
Oct 22nd - John Ward & several teammates secretly form Brotherhood of Prof Base Ball Players, 1st baseball union
Oct 24th - Johann Strauss' opera "Zigeunerbaron," premieres in Vienna
Oct 25th - John Brahms' 4th Symphony in E, premieres
Nov 1st - Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Immortale Dei
Nov 3rd - Tacoma vigilantes drive out Chinese, burn their homes & businesses
Nov 6th - US mint at Carson City, Nevada directed to close
Nov 7th - Canadian Pacific Railway completed at Craigellachie
Nov 9th - Opera "Ermine," premieres in London
Nov 10th - Gottlieb Daimler's motorcycle, world's 1st, unveiled
Nov 12th - Montreal & Britannia Football Clubs (QRFU) defeat Ontario Combined Team (ORFU) 3-0 in CRFU Championship game
Nov 13th - Serbian army occupies Bulgaria
Nov 16th - Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father of Manitoba", Louis Riel is executed for treason aged 41.
Nov 23rd - Amsterdam police attack meeting of social-democrats united
Nov 26th - 1st meteor photograph
Nov 27th - Earliest photograph of a meteor shower made
Nov 30th - Opera "El Cid" premieres (Paris)
Dec 2nd - Opera "Regina di Saba," premieres in Vienna
Dec 7th - 49th Congress (1885-87) convenes
Dec 17th - France declares Madagascar a protectorate
Dec 22nd - Pope Leo XIII proclaims extraordinary jubilee
Dec 22nd - Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
Dec 29th - Gottlieb Daimler patents 1st bike (Germany)

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 225

Jan 1st - Roland Diggle, composer
Jan 2nd - Johannes Ringers, Dutch water engineer (dikes)
Jan 5th - Humbert Wolfe, Italian-British poet (d. 1940)
Jan 8th - John Curtin, Victoria, Australian PM (Labor, 1941-45)
Jan 8th - A. J. Muste, Dutch pacifist and activist (d. 1967)
Jan 11th - Alice Paul, ERA advocate/founder (National Woman's Party)
Jan 11th - Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (d. 1965)
Jan 13th - Alfred Fuller, CEO (Fuller Brush Man)
Jan 15th - Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (d. 1973)
Jan 15th - Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)
Jan 15th - Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)
Jan 16th - Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, president of Poland (1939-40)
Jan 16th - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)
Jan 17th - E Ball-Hennings, writer
Jan 17th - Joseph Arendt, Belgian worker's union leader
Jan 21st - Umberto Nobile, Italian general
Jan 23rd - Boleslaw Wallek-Walewski, composer
Jan 25th - A J Else Mauhs, German/Dutch actress (Eline Vere, L'aiglon)
Jan 25th - Kitahara Hakushū, Japanese poets and children's writers (d. 1942)
Jan 27th - Jerome Kern, NYC, Broadway composer (Showboat, Roberta)
Jan 27th - Eduard Künneke, German composer (d. 1953)
Jan 27th - Maeda Seison, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
Jan 30th - John Henry Towers, aviator/naval hero
Feb 1st - Camille Chautemps, premier France
Feb 2nd - Aldo Palazzeschi, [Giurlani], Italian writer (I cavalli bianchi)
Feb 4th - Cairine Ray Wilson, Montreal, 1st female Canadian senator (appointed)
Feb 7th - Sinclair Lewis, novelist/social critic (Main Street, Nobel 1930)
Feb 8th - Edith Evans, London England, actress (Tom Jones, David Copperfield)
Feb 9th - Alban Maria Johannes Berg, Vienna Austria, a Lulu of a composer!
Feb 12th - Licinio Refice, composer
US First Lady Elizabeth Truman (Feb 13th) Feb 13th - Elizabeth Virginia [Bess] Truman, US 1st lady (1945-52)
Feb 14th - Syed Zafarul Hasan, Prominent Muslim Indian/Pakistani philosopher (d. 1949)
Feb 15th - Richard Wurz, composer
Feb 17th - Steve Evans, American baseball player (d. 1943)
Feb 21st - Sacha Guitry, France, actor/playwright (Story of a Cheat)
Feb 24th - Bert Lytell, NYC, actor (Henry-One Man's Family)
Feb 24th - Chester Nimitz, US admiral (commanded Pacific fleet in WW II)
Feb 24th - Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker of Israeli Knesset (1949-59)
Feb 24th - Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski, Polish novelist/satirist (Black Wings)
Feb 24th - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1939)
Feb 25th - Sylvia Brett, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak (d. 1971)
Feb 26th - Lili Green, [Alice Sally Mary], Neth/Eng dancer
Feb 26th - Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
Mar 1st - Lionel Atwill, English/US actor (Mystery of the Wax Museum)
Mar 4th - Willem H Winkel, Dutch physician/founder (Red Cross of Curacao)
US Admiral Chester Nimitz (Feb 24th) Mar 6th - Ringgold "Ring" Lardner, US sports writer (You Know Me Al)
Mar 11th - Malcolm Campbell, 1st auto racer to travel 5 miles/min (8 km/min)
Mar 12th - Raphael HLAJM Verwilghen, Flemish architect/urban developer
Mar 14th - Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
Mar 16th - Giacomo Benvenuti, composer
Mar 16th - Sydney Chaplin, South Africa, actor (Limelight)
Mar 20th - Eugen Herrigel, Germany, philosopher/early pioneer of Zen in Europe
Mar 20th - Hendrik A de Fish, [Henri Pauwels], Flemish philological/sociologist
Mar 22nd - Adriano Lualdi, composer
Mar 22nd - Jakabs Medins, composer
Mar 22nd - Aryeh Levin, Orthodox Jewish rabbi
Mar 24th - Charlie Daniels, US swimmer (Olympics-4 gold-1904, 08)
Mar 25th - Veit Valentin, German/US historian (Deutsche Revolution)
Mar 26th - Julius Harrison, composer
Mar 26th - Robert Blackburn, British aviation pioneer
Mar 28th - Marc-Jean-Baptiste Delmas, composer
Mar 31st - Jules Pascin, [Julius Pincas], Bulgarian/US painter/cartoonist
Apr 1st - Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill (Hozier), British barones
Apr 3rd - Harry St John Philby, [sheik Abdullah], British explorer
Apr 3rd - Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954)
Apr 5th - Dimitrie Cuclin, composer
Apr 6th - Carlos Leon Salzedo, composer
Apr 8th - Dimitrios Levidis, composer
Apr 13th - Pieter S Gerbrandy, Dutch lawyer/premier in London (1940-45)
Apr 13th - Georg Lukács, Hungarian-born philosopher and literary critic (d. 1971)
Apr 13th - Vean Gregg, American baseball player (d. 1964)
Apr 15th - Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
Apr 16th - Leo Weiner, Hungary, composer (Fasching)
Apr 17th - Cecil Burleigh, composer
Apr 17th - Isak Dinesen, Danish writer (Out of Africa, 7 Gothic Tales)
Apr 17th - Karen Blixen-Finecke, [pen name Isak Dinesen], Danish writer (Out of Africa)
Apr 29th - Egon E Kisch, Czech writer/journalist (Rasende Reporter)
Apr 29th - Wallingford Riegger, Albany Georgia, composer (Bacchangle)
Apr 30th - Luigi Russolo, composer
May 2nd - Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (d. 1966)
May 5th - Henri Velge, 1st chairman (Belgian Council of State)
May 7th - George "Gabby" Hayes, Wellesvile NY, actor (In Old Santa Fe, El Paso)
May 10th - Fritz v Unruh, writer
May 10th - Marie Benavente, [Maria Wissink], actress (Scapegoat)
May 14th - Otto Klemperer, Breslau Germany, conductor/composer (Das Ziel)
May 18th - Eurico Gaspar Dutra, president of Brazil (1945-50)
May 21st - Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, wife of Prince William of Wied (d.1936)
May 22nd - Julio Fonseca, composer
May 22nd - Giacomo Matteotti, Italian politician (d. 1924)
May 24th - Susan Sutherland Isaacs, English educational psychologist (d. 1948).
May 29th - Erwin F Finlay-Freundlich, British astronomer (theory of relativity)
May 31st - Alois Hudal, bishop, helped Nazis escape trial (d. 1963)
Jun 5th - Georges Mandel, [Louis Rothschild], French Foreign minister (-1940)
Jun 7th - Percy Brier, composer
Jun 8th - Karl Genzken, Nazi physician (d. 1957)
Jun 12th - Werner Erich Josten, Elberfeld Germany, composer (Jungle)
Jun 19th - Stevan Hristic, composer
Jun 20th - Andrzej Gawroński, Polish scholar (d. 1927)
Jun 22nd - Milan Vidmar, Slovenian engineer and chess player (d. 1962)
Jun 26th - Andre Maurois, [Emile Herzog], French writer (Balzac)

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 3 of 3

Jun 24th - 28th US President Woodrow Wilson (28) weds Presbyterian minister daughter Ellen Louise Axson (25) in Savannah, Georgia
Aug 25th - "Little House On The Prairie" author Laura Ingalls Wilder (18) weds Almonzo James Wilder (28)
Aug 29th - Pulitzer Prize-winning American author ('Age of Innocence') Edith Jones (23), marries Edward "Teddy" Wharton (36)

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 59 of 59

Jan 4th - Eduard Yosif Kotek, composer, dies at 29
Jan 6th - Peter C Asbjornsen, Norwegian fairy tale writer, dies at 72
Jan 13th - Schuyler Colfax, American politician (b.1823)
Jan 19th - Fred Burnaby, English colonel/balloon pioneer, dies in battle
Jan 24th - Martin R Delany, politician & black nationalist, dies at 72
Jan 26th - Charles George Gordon, Brit gov-gen (Sudan), executed at 51
Jan 26th - Edward Davy, English inventor (b. 1806)
Feb 14th - Jules Vallès, French writer (b. 1832)
Feb 15th - Leopold Damrosch, composer, dies at 52
Feb 18th - Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby, composer, dies at 61
Mar 28th - Fredrick Vilhelm Ludvig Norman, composer, dies at 53
Mar 31st - Franz W Abbot, German composer/choir conductor, dies at 65
Mar 31st - Philipp Fahrbach, composer, dies at 69
Apr 7th - Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
Apr 10th - John H Scholten, theologist (Free Want), dies at 73
Apr 23rd - William Henry Holmes, composer, dies at 73
May 4th - Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic, monarch of Serbia (1842-58), dies at 78
May 5th - Lauro Rossi, composer, dies at 73
May 8th - Pavel Krizkovsky, composer, dies at 65
May 10th - Edward Stephen, composer, dies at 62
May 10th - Ferdinand Hiller, composer, dies at 73
May 11th - Ferdinand Hiller, German pianist/composer/conductor, dies at 73
May 13th - Juliana Horatia [Gatty] Ewing, author (Lob Lie-by-the-Fire), dies
May 13th - Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (b. 1809)
May 19th - Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)
May 21st - Gavril Yakimovich Lomakin, composer, dies at 73
Author Victor Hugo (May 22nd) May 22nd - Victor(-Marie) Hugo, French writer (Les Miserables), dies at 83
May 29th - Alfred von Meissner, Austria physician/writer (Ziska), dies at 63
Jun 5th - Julius Benedict, composer (Protoghesi), dies at 80
Jun 8th - Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal (b. 1799)
Jun 14th - Agustin Bethencourt, Venezuelan publisher on Curacao, dies at 58
Jun 16th - Wilhelm Camphausen, German painter (b. 1818)
Jun 17th - Gen Edwin H K Freiherr von Manteuffel, mayor (Elzas-Lothar'n), dies
Jun 22nd - Mahdi, [Muhammad Ahmed], Sudanese music reviewer, dies
Jul 1st - Hermann von Fehling, German chemist (Fehling's reagens), dies at 73
Jul 7th - Nicola De Giosa, composer, dies at 66
Jul 8th - Henry Waelput, Flemish composer/conductor (Blessing of Arms), dies
Jul 15th - Rosalia de Castro, Spanish writer and poet (b. 1837)
Jul 17th - Jean-Charles Chapais, Canadian politician (b. 1811)
Jul 23rd - Ulysses S. Grant, 18th US pres, dies in Mount McGregor NY, at 63
Aug 7th - Antony EJ Modderman, Dutch minister of Justice (1879-83), dies at 46
US President Ulysses S. Grant (Jul 23rd) Aug 12th - Georg Curtius, German classical/linguist/philologist, dies at 65
Aug 20th - Edouard J A Agneessens, Flemish painter (Slave Market), dies at 42
Aug 28th - Julius Hopp, composer, dies at 66
Sep 13th - Friedrich Kiel, Austrian composer (b. 1821)
Sep 15th - Juliusz Zarebski, composer, dies at 31
Sep 15th - Jumbo, P. T. Barnum's circus elephant (hit by a train)
Sep 30th - Maria J Small-Gartmann, actress, dies at 60
Oct 23rd - Charles S. West, Texas jurist and politician (b. 1829)
Oct 29th - George B McClellan, Union army general, dies at 58
Oct 29th - James Hannington, English missionary, murdered in Uganda
Oct 30th - Gustav Adolf Merkel, composer, dies at 57
Nov 8th - Johannes Kneppelhout, [Klikspaan], Dutch humorist/author, dies at 71
Nov 24th - Alfonso XII, king of Spain (1875-85), dies at 27
Nov 25th - Alfonso XII, king of Spain (1874-85), dies at 27
Nov 25th - Thomas A Hendricks, 21st VP, dies at 66, 8 months after taking office
Nov 26th - Thomas Andrews, Irish physicist/chemist (ozone), dies at 71
Dec 8th - William Henry Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1821)
Dec 24th - Louis-Prosper Gachard, Belgian historian, dies at 85