1887
1887 (
MDCCCLXXXVII) is a
common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar or a
common year starting on Monday of the
Julian calendar.
January
*
January 6 -
`Abd-allah II of
Harar opens the
Battle of Chelenqo with an attack on the camp of the
Shewan army of
Negus Menelik II early in the morning; prepared for the assault, the Negus orders a counter-attack which routs the enemy, resulting with the capture of Harar a few days later.
*
January 20 - The
United States Senate allows the
Navy to lease
Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
*
January 21 - The
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed
*
January 21 -
Brisbane receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres - a record for any
Australian capital city.
*
January 26 -
Battle of Dogali:
Abyssinian troops defeat
Italians*
January 28 - In a
snowstorm at Fort Keogh,
Montana,
USA, the largest
snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38cm) wide and 8 inches (20cm) thick.
February
*
February 2 - In
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first
Groundhog Day is observed.
*
February 5 - The
Giuseppe Verdi opera Otello premieres at
La Scala*
February 23 - The
French Riviera is hit by a large
earthquake, killing around 2,000.
*
February 26 - At the
SCG,
George Lohmann becomes the first
bowler to take eight wickets in a
Test innings.
March
*
March 3 -
Anne Sullivan begins teaching
Helen Keller*
March 4 -
Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first
automobile*
March 13 -
Chester Greenwood patents
earmuffs*
March 19 -
Henry Cogswell College established by
Henry D. Cogswell.
April
*
April 4 -
Argonia, Kansas elects
Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the
United States.
*
April 20 -
George Bouton wins the world's first motor racing contest: he is the only participant.
May
*
May 3 -
Earthquake in
Sonora,
Mexico*
May 9 -
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in
London.
June
*
June 8 -
Herman Hollerith receives a
patent for his
punch card calculator.
*
June 18 - The
Reinsurance Treaty is closed between
Germany and
Russia.
*
June 21 -
Britain celebrates a Golden Jubilee, marking the 50th year of
Queen Victoria's reign. [
1]
*
June 23 - The
Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in
Canada, creating that nation's first
national park,
Banff National Park. [
2]
*
June 28 -
Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.
July
*
July 26 -
L. L. Zamenhof publishes
"Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
*
July 27 -
Giuseppe Peano marries Carola Crosio
October
*
October 1 -
British Empire takes over
BalochistanNovember
*
November 3 -
Associação Académica de Coimbra,
students' union of the
University of Coimbra in
Portugal, was founded.
*
November 10 -
Louis Lingg, sentenced to be hanged for his alleged role in the
Haymarket Riot bomb, kills himself by
dynamite* In London, police and left-wing demonstrators clash. One dead. One of the participants is
George Bernard Shaw.
*
November 11 -
August Spies,
Albert Parsons,
Adolph Fischer,
George Engel,
Louis Lingg,
Michael Schwab, and
Samuel Fielden hanged for inciting riot and murder in the
Haymarket Riot of
May 4,
1886.
*
November 13 -
Bloody Sunday, Police clash with pro-irish indepence protesters.
December
*
December 25 -
Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky first ran from the stills of Glenfiddich Distillery. The whisky is still produced today by
William Grant & Sons.
Unknown dates
*
L. L. Zamenhof completes the creation of the initial version of
Esperanto* U.S.
National Institutes of Health founded
*
Teachers College, later part of
Columbia University, is founded
*
Thomas Stevens is 1st man to
bicycle around the world
*
Michelson-Morley experiment is performed
*
Gramophone patented by
Emile Berliner*
The New Gate is built in
Jerusalem*
Comptometer patented by
Dorr Eugene Felt* The first All-Ireland
Hurling and
Football Finals are held
*
Suez Canal is declared neutral
*
Japan annexes
Iwo Jima*
Zululand becomes a British colony
*
Yellow river floods in China - 900,000 dead
* British
nurses association organized
*
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn founded
*
Spandau Prison in
Berlin finished
*
Portugal abolishes
death penalty for
murder*
Heinrich Hertz discovers
electromagnetism*
US congress passes the
Interstate Commerce Act*
Adolf Eugen Fick invents the
contact lens*
Hibernian FC defeat
Preston North End to become Undisputed Champions of the World through the domenece of these to teams in their respective countries.
January
*
January 1 -
Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence in World War II (d.
1945)
*
January 3 -
August Macke, German painter (d.
1914)
*
January 19 -
Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d.
1943)
*
January 21 -
Maude Davis,
Oldest Person in the World (d.
2002)
*
January 22 -
Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist and conductor (d.
1982)
*
January 23 -
Dorothy Payne Whitney, American-born philanthropist and social activist (d.
1968)
February
*
February 1 -
Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (d.
1947)
*
February 2 -
Pat Sullivan, Australian director and producer of animated films (d.
1933)
*
February 3 -
Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d.
1914)
*
February 6 -
Josef Frings, Archbishop of Cologne (d.
1978)
*
February 10 -
John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1985)
*
February 11 -
Ernst Hanfstängl, German-born pianist and U.S. politician (d.
1975)
*
February 11 -
John van Melle, Dutch-born writer (d.
1953)
*
February 17 -
Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (d.
1947)
*
February 18 -
Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek poet (d.
1957)
*
February 20 -
Vincent Massey,
Governor-General of Canada (d.
1967)
*
February 26 -
Grover Cleveland Alexander, baseball player (d.
1950)
March
*
March 3 -
Rupert Brooke, English poet (d.
1915)
*
March 5 -
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d.
1959)
*
March 9 -
Phil Mead, English cricketer (d.
1958)
*
March 14 -
Sylvia Beach, American publisher in Paris (d.
1952)
*
March 22 -
Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d.
1961)
*
March 23 -
Juan Gris, Spanish-born painter and graphic artist (d.
1927)
*
March 23 -
Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of
Rasputin (d.
1967)
*
March 24 -
Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (d.
1933)
April-May
*
April 10 -
Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1971)
*
April 15 -
Mike Brady, American golfer (d.
1972)
*
May 2 -
Eddie Collins, baseball player (d.
1951)
*
May 5 -
Geoffrey Fisher,
Archbishop of Canterbury (d.
1972)
*
May 11 -
Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (d.
1951)
*
May 25 -
Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian saint (d.
1968)
*
May 26 -
Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born actor (d.
1971)
*
May 28 -
Jim Thorpe, American athlete (d.
1953)
*
May 31 -
Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1975)
June
*
June 2 -
Orrick Johns, American poet and playwright (d.
1946)
*
June 22 -
Julian Huxley, British biologist (d.
1975)
*
June 25 -
George Abbott, American playwright (d.
1995)
July
*
July 7 -
Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (d.
1985)
*
July 16 -
Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball player (d.
1951)
*
July 18 -
Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and traitor (d.
1945)
*
July 22 -
Gustav Hertz, German physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1975)
*
July 28 -
Marcel Duchamp, French-born artist (d.
1968)
*
July 29 -
Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born composer (d.
1951)
August
*
August 3 -
Rupert Brooke, British war poet (d.
1915)
*
August 12 -
Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1961)
*
August 13 -
Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (d.
1952)
*
August 15 -
Edna Ferber, American novelist (d.
1968)
*
August 17 - Emperor
Karl I of Austria (d.
1922)
*
August 17 -
Marcus Garvey, American publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (d.
1940)
*
August 24 -
Harry Hooper, baseball player (d.
1974)
September
*
September 1 -
Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (d.
1961)
*
September 3 -
Frank Christian, American jazz musician (d.
1973)
*
September 13 -
Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1976)
*
September 16 -
Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (d.
1979)
*
September 28 -
Avery Brundage, American sports official (d.
1975)
October
*
October 1 -
Violet Jessop,
RMS Titanic survivor (d.
1971)
*
October 5 -
René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1976)
*
October 6 -
Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d.
1965)
*
October 8 -
Huntley Gordon, Canadian-born actor (d.
1956)
*
October 22 -
John Reed, American journalist (d.
1920)
*
October 31 -
Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese Nationalist (d.
1975)
November
*
November 6 -
Walter Johnson, baseball player (d.
1946)
*
November 10 -
Arnold Zweig, German writer (d.
1968)
*
November 17 -
Bernard Montgomery, World War II British commander (d.
1976)
*
November 19 -
James B. Sumner, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1955)
December
*
December 12 -
Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d.
1974)
*
December 22 -
Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d.
1920)
Month/day unknown
*
Joseph H. Choate, Jr., American politician and philanthropist (d.
1968)
*
Pauline Sabin, American activist for
repeal of prohibition in U.S. (d.
1955)
*
February 27 -
Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (b.
1833)
*
March 8 -
Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer (b.
1813)
*
May 14 -
Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and abolitionist (b.
1808)
*
July 8 -
John Wright Oakes, Landscape
painter (b.
1820)
*
July 17 -
Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b.
1802)
*
July 25 -
John Taylor, American religious leader (b.
1808)
*
August 8 -
Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier (b.
1808)
*
August 20 -
Jules Laforgue, French poet (b.
1860)
*
October 17 -
Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (b.
1824)
*
November 2 -
Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (b.
1820)
*
November 8 -
Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (b.
1851)
*
November 19 -
Emma Lazarus, American poet (b.
1859)
*
December 5 -
Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (b.
1804)
