Today in History for Year 1888

Months in Year 1888: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 106

Jan 3rd - 1st wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C Stone in Washington DC
Jan 5th - Dutch Heidemaatschappij established
Jan 7th - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Valley of Fear" (BG)
Jan 13th - National Geographic Society founded (Washington, DC)
Jan 27th - National Geographic Society organizes (Wash DC)
Jan 30th - Harry Moses 297 not out for NSW against Victoria
Feb 22nd - John Reid of Scotland demonstrates golf to Americans (Yonkers NY)
Feb 24th - Louisville, Ky becomes 1st government in US to adopt Australian ballot
Feb 28th - Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes
Feb 28th - Vincent d'Indy's Wallenstein-trilogy, premieres
Mar 2nd - The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.
Mar 10th - 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Psyche"
Mar 10th - HW Boxing champ John L Sullivan draws Charlie Mitchell in 30 rounds
Mar 11th - Great blizzard of '88 strikes NE US
Mar 12th - 2nd day of the Great blizzard of '88 in NE US (400 die)
Mar 13th - Great Blizzard of 1888 rages
Mar 14th - 2nd largest snowfall in NYC history (21")
Mar 20th - Start of the Sherlock Holmes Adventure, "A Scandal in Bohemia"
Mar 20th - The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta staged in Moscow, Russia.
Mar 21st - Arthur Pinero's "Sweet Lavender," premieres in London
Mar 22nd - English Football League established
Mar 25th - Socialist leader Domela Nieuwenhuis elected to Dutch 2nd chamber
Apr 1st - Soccer team Sparta forms in Rotterdam
Apr 7th - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Yellow Face" (BG)
Apr 11th - The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
Apr 16th - Drentse & Friese peat cutters go on strike
Apr 20th - 246 reported killed by hail in Moradabad, India
Apr 24th - Eastman Kodak forms
Apr 29th - Old Kavallison, Congo: Stanley meet Emin Pasha
Apr 30th - Hail stones kills about 250 in Moradabad district of Delhi
May 4th - Italy & Spain sign military covenant
May 7th - Edouard Lalo's opera "Le roi d'Ys," premieres in Paris
May 7th - George Eastman patents "Kodak box camera"
May 11th - 16th Preakness: F Littlefield aboard Refund wins in 2:49
May 12th - Crouching start 1st used by Charles Sherrill of Yale
May 13th - DeWolf Hooper 1st recited "Casey at Bat"
May 13th - Princess Isabel of Brazil signs "Lei Auréa" abolishing slavery
May 14th - 14th Kentucky Derby: George Covington aboard MacBeth II wins in 2:38.00
May 16th - CPR opens Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
May 22nd - Leroy Buffington patents a system to build skyscrapers
Jun 1st - California gets its 1st seismograph
Jun 3rd - "Casey at the Bat" published (SF Examiner)
US President Grover Cleveland Jun 5th - Democrats nominate Grover Cleveland for president
Jun 5th - The Rio de la Plata Earthquake takes place.
Jun 9th - 22nd Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Sir Dixon wins in 2:40.25
Jun 13th - Congress creates Department of Labor
Jun 15th - Wilhelm II becomes emperor of Germany
Jun 20th - Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Libertas
Jun 23rd - Frederick Douglass is 1st African-American nominated for president
Jun 25th - Republican Convention, in Chicago, nominates Benjamin Harrison
Jun 29th - First (known) recording of classical music made, Handel's Israel in Egypt on wax cylinder.
Jul 3rd - NY Giant pitcher Rube Marquard ties record of 19 game win-streak
Jul 4th - 1st organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Ariz
Jul 11th - 118°F (48°C), Bennett, Colorado (state record)
Jul 11th - Pennsylvania's Monongehela River rises 32' after 24 hour rainfall
Jul 15th - Bandai volcano (Japan) erupts for 1st time in 1,000 years
Jul 23rd - John Boyd Dunlop, applies to patent pneumatic tire
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass Jul 27th - Philip Pratt unveils 1st electric automobile
Aug 7th - Theophilus Van Kannel of Phila patents revolving door
Aug 10th - NY Giant pitcher Tim Keefe sets a 19 game win streak record
Aug 11th - California Theatre closed (now a Pac Tel Phone Store)
Aug 12th - Bertha, wife of inventor Karl Benz, makes 1st motor tour
Aug 19th - 1st beauty contest (Spa, Belgium), 18 yr old West Indian wins
Aug 20th - Longest US men's single tournament match Palmer Presbrey defeats T S Tailer, 19-21, 8-6, 6-1, 6-4, an 80-game 1st-round contest
Aug 21st - William Seward Burroughs patents adding machine
Aug 25th - 8th US Mens Tennis: Henry W Slocum Jr beats Howard A Taylor (64 61 60)
Aug 30th - Lord Walsingham kills 1070 grouse in a single day
Sep 1st - Dutch Railway Deventer-Almelo opens
Sep 3rd - East Africa Company political & commercial rights
Sep 3rd - Queen Victoria grants William Mackinnons Imperial British
Sep 4th - George Eastman patents 1st roll-film camera & registers "Kodak"
Sep 6th - Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season - a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
Sep 7th - Edith Eleanor McLean is 1st baby place in an incubator
Sep 8th - In England the first six Football League matches ever are played.
Sep 11th - Death of the Argentine politician Domingo Sarmiento, after whom the Latin American Teacher's Day is chosen.
Sep 12th - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Greek Interpreter" (BG)
Sep 18th - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Sign of Four" (BG)
Sep 19th - World's 1st beauty contest (Spa Belgium)
Sep 25th - Royal Court Theatre, London, opens
Sep 25th - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Hound of Baskervilles" (BG)
Sep 30th - "Jack the Ripper" butchers 2 more women, Liz Stride & Kate Eddowes
Oct 1st - National Geographic magazine publishes for 1st time
Oct 9th - Washington Monument opens for public admittance
Oct 10th - Teatotalers excursion train crushed, killing 64 (Mud Run Pa)
Inventor Thomas Edison Oct 17th - Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
Oct 19th - Moshav Gederah is attacked by Arabs
Oct 20th - Chicago & All America baseball teams play exhibition in Auckland, NZ
Oct 23rd - Pelham Bay Park in Bronx, vested
Oct 29th - Lord Salisbury grants Cecil Rhodes charter for BSA Company
Oct 30th - John J Loud patents ballpoint pen
Oct 30th - Ndebele-king Lobengula grants Cecil Rhodes, Mashonaland £100 per month
Oct 31st - John Boyd Dunlop patents pneumatic bicycle tire
Nov 3rd - Amsterdam: 1st concerto of Concert worker, under Willem Kes
Nov 6th - Benjamin Harrison (R-Sen-Ind) beats Pres Grover Cleveland (D), 233 electoral votes to 168, Cleveland received slightly more votes
Nov 9th - Jack Ripper's 5th & last probably last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, found on her bed
Nov 14th - St Andrews Golf Club, Yonkers NY, opens with just 6 holes
Nov 14th - USC Trojans (then Methodists) play their 1st football game
Nov 17th - Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony premieres in St Petersburg
Nov 20th - William Bundy patents timecard clock
Composer Tchaikovsky Dec 11th - French Panama Canal company fails

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 260

Jan 1st - John Garand, American inventor (d. 1974)
Jan 4th - Arthur Berry, England, soccer player (Olympic-gold-1908, 12)
Jan 8th - Matt Moore, County Meath Ireland, actor (Coquette, Deluge)
Jan 8th - Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (d. 1972)
Jan 8th - Matthew Moore, Irish-American actor (d. 1960)
Jan 10th - Emile van Bosch, Dutch revue/operetta-artist (Fair Folks)
Jan 10th - Grock, Switzerland, clown
Jan 11th - Chester Conklin, Oskaloosa IA, actor (Every Day's a Holiday, Greed)
Jan 12th - Claude Delvincourt, composer
Jan 15th - Joseph Henabery, Omaha NE, director (Cobra)
Jan 16th - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
Jan 20th - Lead Belly, Louisiana, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line), (d. 1949)
Jan 23rd - Gilbert Ledward, British sculptor
Jan 24th - Ernst Heinrich Heinkel, German inventor (1st rocket-powered aircraft)
Jan 24th - Hedwig "Vicki" Baum, Austrian/US author (Men Never Know)
Jan 24th - Henry King, US, director (Jesse James, 12 O'Clock High)
Feb 2nd - Candelario Huizar, composer
Feb 2nd - Frank Lloyd, Scotland, actor/director (Mutiny on Bounty, Oliver Twist)
Feb 2nd - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
Blues Musician Lead Belly (Jan 20th) Feb 3rd - Joris Baers, Flemish bibliography/founder (Boekengids)
Feb 4th - Paul Althaus, German theologist (The Christian Truth)
Feb 6th - Ljudmil Stojanow, Bulgarian poet (Metsh i Slowo, Cholera)
Feb 8th - Matthijs Vermeulen, Dutch composer/music critic
Feb 8th - Dame Edith Evans, British actress (d. 1976)
Feb 10th - G Ungaretti, writer
Feb 13th - Georgios Papandreou, Greek prefect of Lesbos/minister/premier
Feb 13th - Heintje Davids, [Hendrika], Dutch revue star
Feb 17th - Henrietta P "Hetty" Beck, actress (Bouwmeester Award)
Feb 17th - Otto Stern, German/US physicist (Stern-Gerlach-experiment, Nobel 1943)
Feb 17th - Ronald Aburthnott Knox, English priest/writer (Viaduct Murder)
Feb 19th - Aurora Quezon, First Lady of the Philippines (d. 1949)
Feb 20th - Georges Bernanos, France, novelist (Diary of a Country Priest)
Feb 20th - Marie Rambert, Warsaw, English ballet producer/director/teacher
Feb 21st - Florence Bates, TX, actress (Moon & Sixpence, Love Crazy, San Antonio)
Feb 21st - Willem Banning, Dutch theologist/sociologist (Religious Build Up)
Feb 21st - Clemence Dane, British novelist and playwright (d. 1965)
Feb 22nd - Owen Brewster, American politician (d. 1961)
Feb 25th - John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State (1953-59)
Feb 27th - Lotte Lehmann, Perleberg Germany, soprano (Fidello)
Feb 27th - Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist (d. 1974)
Feb 27th - Earl Caddock, American professional wrestler (d. 1950)
Mar 1st - Ewart Astill, English cricketer (d. 1948)
Mar 4th - Knute Rockne, Norwegian/US football player/coach (Notre Dame)
Mar 4th - Rafaela Ottiano, Italian-born American actress (d. 1942
Mar 4th - Jeff Pfeffer, American professional baseball pitcher (d. 1972)
Mar 5th - Friedrich Schnack, German journalist/writer (Rosewood)
Mar 7th - Alidius WLT van Starkenborch Stachouwer, gov of Neth Indies (1936-45)
Mar 8th - Stuart Chase, NH, writer/economist (Tragedy of Waste)
Mar 10th - Barry Fitzgerald, Dublin Ireland, actor (Acad Award-Going My Way)
Mar 10th - Krsto Odak, composer
Mar 12th - Hall Johnson, composer
Mar 14th - Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Quebec painter (d. 1970)
Mar 17th - Frank Buck, actor (Africa Screams, Tiger Queen, Tiger Fangs)
Mar 17th - Paul Ramadier, French politician (d. 1961)
Mar 18th - Joseph Csaky, Hungarian/French sculptor
Mar 19th - Josef Albers, German/US graphic artist/painter/writer (Bauhaus)
Mar 19th - Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
Mar 20th - S V Vegesack, writer
Mar 24th - Jameson Thomas, London England, actor (Farmer's Wife)
Mar 24th - Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian Bolshevik politician (d. 1922)
Mar 26th - Elsa Brändström, Swedish nurse (d. 1948)
Mar 29th - Adrianus M de Jong, Dutch writer (World Tour of Bulletje & Bonestaak)
Mar 29th - James E Casey, founder (United Parcel Service)
Mar 30th - Anna Q Nilsson, Sweden, actress (Shenandoah, Uncle Tom's Cabin)
Apr 3rd - Neville Cardus, cricketer (doyen of cricket writers)
Apr 4th - Tris Speaker, baseball great, hit more doubles than Pete Rose
Apr 4th - Zdzisław Żygulski, Sr., Polish literary historian (d. 1975)
Apr 6th - Daniel Andersson, Swedish poet/writer (Svarta Ballader)
Apr 8th - Dennis Chavez, American politician (d. 1964)
Apr 9th - Florence Smith Price, US composer (Wanamaker Prize 1932)
Apr 9th - Sol Hurok, theatrical impresario
Apr 11th - Donald Calthrop, London, actor (Blackmail, Scrooge, Rome Express)
Apr 12th - Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet musician (d. 1964)
Apr 15th - Florence Bates, San Antonio Tx, actress (Kismet, I Remember Mama)
Apr 15th - Maximilian Kronberger, German poet (d. 1904)
Apr 18th - Arnold Henry Moore Lunn, skier
Apr 18th - Duffy Lewis, American baseball player (d. 1979)
Apr 19th - William L Axt, composer
Apr 23rd - Georges Vanier, French-Canadian soldier and diplomat (d. 1967)
Apr 26th - Aleksandr Mikhailov, USSR, astronomer
Apr 26th - Anita Loos, American screenwriter, novelist (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and playwright (d. 1981)
Apr 27th - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
Apr 28th - Henry DG Crerar, Canadian general (WW I/Italy/Netherland)
Apr 30th - John Crowe Ransom, US poet/critic (God Without Thunder)
May 3rd - Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
May 6th - Emmanuel Celler, (Rep-D-NY, 1923-73)
May 9th - Rolf de Maré, Swedish art collector and museum director (d. 1964)
May 10th - Max[imilian Raoul Walter] Steiner, Vienna, composer (Gone With Wind)
May 11th - Irving Berlin, [Isadore Balin], Temum Siberia, composer (White Xmas)
May 11th - P A J Losecaat Vermeer, leader of Dutch High Council
May 11th - Willis A. Lee, World War II U.S. naval admiral (d. 1945)
May 14th - Miles Mander, Wolverhampton England, actor (Tower of London)
May 15th - Jean Wahl, French philosopher
May 17th - A P "Tich" Freeman, cricket leg-spinner (legend for Kent & England)
May 17th - Selmer Jackson, Iowa, actor (Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp)
May 21st - May Aufderheide, composer
May 23rd - Adrian Roland Holst, Dutch poet (Raged & Tired)
May 23rd - Zack Wheat, American baseball player (d. 1972)
May 25th - Miles Malleson, writer/actor (Phantom of Opera, Postman's Knock)
May 27th - Louis Durey, composer

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Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 53 of 53

Jan 5th - Henri Herz, composer, dies at a day before 85th birthday
Jan 14th - Stephen Heller, composer, dies at 74
Jan 21st - Stephan Hale Alonzo Marsh, composer, dies at 83
Jan 29th - Edward Lear, poet/author, dies at 75
Jan 30th - Asa Gray, US botanist (Flora of North America), dies at 77
Jan 31st - John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
Feb 5th - Anton Mauve, Dutch painter/cousin of Vincent Van Gogh, dies at 49
Feb 13th - Jean Baptiste Lamy, 1st Archbishop of Santa Fe (b. 1814)
Mar 4th - Amos Bronson Alcott, US theory/poet (Table Talk), dies at 88
Mar 6th - Louisa May Alcott, US author (Old-fashioned Girl), dies at 55
Mar 9th - William I, German Emperor (b. 1797)
Mar 10th - Ciro Pinsuti, Italian pianist/composer, dies at 57
Mar 12th - Henry Bergh, founder (ASPCA), dies at 76
Mar 16th - Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (b. 1801)
Mar 24th - Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
Mar 26th - Barghash bin Said, second Sultan of Zanzibar (b. 1837)
Mar 29th - Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan, composer, dies at 74
Apr 14th - William Fisk Sherwin, composer, dies at 62
Apr 15th - Matthew Arnold, English poet, dies at 65
Poet/Critic Matthew Arnold (Apr 15th) Apr 16th - Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (b. 1845)
May 17th - Giacomo Zanella, Italian poet (b. 1820)
Jun 3rd - Cark Reidel, composer, dies at 60
Jun 12th - Carel Vosmaer, art historian/poet/editor (Neth Spectator), dies at 62
Jun 15th - Emperor Friedrich III of Germany (b. 1831)
Jun 20th - Cesare Dominiceti, composer, dies at 66
Jun 20th - John H Zuckertort, German chess player, dies at 45
Jun 23rd - Emil Naumann, composer, dies at 60
Jul 4th - Theodor Storm, German judge/author (Schimmelreiter), dies at 70
Jul 10th - Rafael Hernando, composer, dies at 66
Jul 20th - Henri Braekeleer, Flemish painter, dies
Jul 21st - Matthias J Scheeben, German theologist (Natur und Gnade), dies at 53
Aug 8th - Friedrich Wilhelm Jahns, composer, dies at 79
Aug 9th - Charles Cros, French mathematician/chemist/poet, dies at 45
Aug 9th - Isaac Strauss, composer, dies at 82
Aug 16th - John Pemberton, American druggist and inventor of Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
Aug 17th - James Jameson, British nature investigator (Congo), dies
Aug 19th - Spencer F Baird, US biologist (Wood's Hole Station), dies at 65
Aug 21st - Simon Vissering, Dutch minister of Finance (1879-81), dies at 70
Aug 24th - Rudolph J E Clausius, German physicist (thermodynamics), dies
First Victim of Jack the Ripper Mary Ann Nichols (Aug 31st) Aug 31st - Mary Ann Nichols, a 42-year-old prostitute, was found stabbed to death in London, 1st of at least five murders by Jack the Ripper
Sep 9th - John van Swieten, Dutch governor of West-Sumatra, dies at 71
Sep 11th - Domingo F Sarmiento, president of Argentina (1868-74), dies at 77
Sep 30th - Catherine Eddowes, English, murdered by Jack the Ripper at 45
Sep 30th - Elizabeth Stride, Long Liz, English, murdered by Jack the Ripper at 45
Oct 8th - Jules J baron d'Anethan, Belgian Minister of Justice, dies
Oct 16th - John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
Oct 19th - Amaat Vyncke, Flemish missionary/founder (Flemish Wind), dies at 38
Nov 1st - Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (b. 1838)
Dec 2nd - Franz Xaver Witt, composer, dies at 54
Dec 2nd - Mehmed N Kemal Bey, Turkish writer/journalist (Vatan), dies at 47
Dec 3rd - Carl Zeiss, German lens maker (b. 1816)
Dec 10th - Mariano Obiols, composer, dies at 79
Dec 31st - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)