1885

January 2

• General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum. [1]

January 4

• Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs first appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22). [1]
• Eduard Yosif Kotek composer, dies at age 29. [1]

January 6

• Peter C Asbjørnsen Norwegian fairy tale writer, dies at age 72. [1]

January 11

• Henrik Ibsen's "Vildauden" premieres in Oslo. [1]

January 15

• Wilson Bentley takes the first photograph of a snowflake. [5]

January 17

• British beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan. [1]

January 19

• Battle at Abu Klea Sudan 800-1000 killed. [1]
• Fred Burnaby English Colonel/balloon pioneer, dies in battle. [1]

January 24

• Martin R Delany politician and black nationalist, dies at age 72. [1]

January 25

• Vincent d'Indy's "Saugefleurie" premieres. [1]

January 26

• Charles George Gordon British Governor-General, executed (slain with troops by Sudanese in Khartoum) at age 51. [1]
• Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer Khartoum. [1]

February 5

• News of fall of Khartoum reaches London. [1]

February 9

• First Japanese arrive in Hawaii. [1]

February 12

• Carl Peters founds German East-Africa Society. [1]

February 15

• Leopold Damrosch composer, dies at age 52. [1]

February 17

• Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa. [1]

February 18

• Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby composer, dies at age 61. [1]
• Samuel Clement (as "Mark Twain") publishes his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. [1] [129]

February 21

• Washington Monument dedicated (Washington DC). [1]

February 25

• US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds. [1]

February 26

• Congress of Berlin, gives Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to England. [1]

March 3

• First US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission. [1]
• American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates. [1]
• US Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of federal government). [1]
• US Post Office offers special delivery for first-class mail. [1]

March 4

• Grover Cleveland inaugrated as first Democratic President since Civil War. [1]

March 14

• Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "Mikado" premieres in London. [1]

March 15

• First performance of César Franck's "Lesson Djinns". [1]

March 19

• Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional government, Saskatchewan. [1]

March 20

• John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine. [1]
• Yiddish theater opens in New York with Golldfaden operetta. [1]

March 21

• Second French government of Ferry resigns. [1]

March 26

• Eastman Film Company manufactures first commercial motion picture film. [1]
• Louis Riel's forces defeat Canadian forces at Duck Lake, Saskatchewan. [1]

March 28

• Fredrick Vilhelm Ludvig Norman composer, dies at age 53. [1]
• US Salvation Army officially organized. [1]

March 31

• Franz Wilhelm Abt German composer/choir conductor, dies at age 65. [1]
• Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate. [1]
• Philipp Fahrbach composer, dies at age 69. [1]

April 10

• John H Scholten theologist (Free Want), dies at age 73. [1]

April 23

• William Henry Holmes composer, dies at age 73. [1]

April 30

• Boston Pops Orchestra forms. [1]

May 1

• Maria "Goeie Mie" Swanenburg sentence to life for killing 27 in Netherlands. [1]

May 2

• Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale in the USA for the first time. [1] [5]
• Congo Free State established by King Leopold II of Belgium. [1]

May 4

• Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic monarch of Serbia (1842-58), dies at age 78. [1]

May 5

• Lauro Rossi composer, dies at age 73. [1]

May 7

• John E W Thompson, named minister to Haiti. [1]

May 8

• Pavel Krizkovsky composer, dies at age 65. [1]
• Sarah Ann Henley survives 76-metre jump from Clifton Bridge, Avon, England. [1]

May 10

• Edward Stephen composer, dies at age 62. [1]
• Ferdinand Hiller composer, dies at age 73. [1]

May 11

• Ferdinand Hiller German pianist/composer/conductor, dies at age 73. [1]

May 12

• Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against Canada. [1]

May 13

• Juliana Horatia [Gatty] Ewing author (Lob Lie-by-the-Fire), dies. [1]

May 15

• Canadian Méti insurgent Louis Riel captured, Saskatchewan. [1]

May 19

• First mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn Massachusetts). [1]
• German chancellor Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon and Togoland. [1]

May 21

• Gavril Yakimovich Lomakin composer, dies at age 73. [1]

May 22

• Victor(-Marie) Hugo, French writer (Les Misérables), dies at age 83. [1] [5]

May 29

• Alfred von Meissner Austrian physician/writer (Ziska), dies at age 63. [1]

June 5

• J Palisa discovers asteroid #248 Lameia. [1]

June 6

• The opera "Lakmé" is produced (Paris). [1]

June 12

• Roof collapse kills 30 at murder trial in France. [1]

June 17

• Statue of Liberty arrives in New York City aboard French ship Isere. [1] [5]

July 2

• Canada's North-west Insurrection ends with surrender of Big Bear. [1]

July 6

• First inoculation (for rabies) of a human being, by Louis Pasteur. [1] [5]

August 10

• Leo Daft opens America's first commercial operated electric streetcar (Balt). [1]

August 14

• Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint. [5]

August 29

• Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle. [1]

August 30

• 13,000 meteors seen in one hour near Andromeda. [1]

September 4

• First cafeteria opens (New York City). [1]

September 5

• First gasoline pump is delivered to a gasoline dealer (Fort Wayne, Ind). [1]

September 11

• Moses Hopkins, named minister to Liberia. [1]

September 15

• Jumbo the elephant is struck by a freight train and killed, in Saint Thomas, Ontario. [66.18]

September 30

• Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate. [1]

October 1

• Special delivery mail service begins in US. [1]

October 15

• Hoss Radbourne pitches his 60th win of the season. [1]

October 29

• George B McClellan Union army general, dies at age 58. [1]

November 3

• Tacoma vigilantes drive out Chinese, burn their homes and businesses. [1]

November 7

• Canadian Pacific Railway completed at Craigellachie. [1]

November 9

• The opera "Ermine" is produced (London). [1]

November 16

• Louis Riel, French rebel who fought against Canada, executed at age 41. [1] [271.556]

November 25

• Thomas A Hendricks 21st Vice President, dies at age 66, 8 months after taking office. [1]

November 27

• Earliest photograph of a meteor shower made. [1]

November 30

• The opera "Le Cid" is produced (Paris). [1]

December 2

• The opera "Regina di Saba" is produced (Vienna). [1]

December 7

• 49thUS Congress (1885-87) convenes. [1]

December 17

• France declares Madagascar a protectorate. [1]

December 22

• Pope Leo XIII proclaims extraordinary jubilee. [1]

December 24

• Louis-Prosper Gachard Belgian historian, dies at age 85. [1]

December 29

• Gottlieb Daimler patents first bike (Germany). [1]

1886

January 4

• Ernest Panckoucke French publisher (Horace), dies at age 77. [1]

January 9

• Jakob Eduard Schmolzer composer, dies at age 73. [1]

January 15

• Weekly Herald, first Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada newspaper, publishes first issue. [1]

January 16

• Amilcare Ponchielli Italian composer (La Gioconda), dies at age 51. [1]

January 17

• Amilcare Ponchielli Italian composer (La Gioconda), dies at age 51. [1]

January 19

• Aurora Ski Club, first in US, founded in Minnesota. [1]

January 26

• Karl Benz patents first auto with burning motor. [1]

January 27

• First British government of Salisbury resigns. [1]

January 29

• Karl Benz in Karlsruhe patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile. [1] [5]

February 9

• President Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle because of anti-Chinese violence. [1]

February 12

• Second British government of Salisbury forms. [1]
• P J Edvard Backström Swedish writer, dies at age 44. [1]

February 13

• Painter Thomas Eakins resigns from Philadelphia Academy of Art after controversy over use of male nudes in a coed art class. [1]

February 23

• Aluminum manufacturing process developed. [1]
• London Times publishes world's first classified ad. [1]
• Tsjaikovski's symphony "Manfred" premieres. [1]

March 6

• First US alternating current power plant starts, Great Barrington Massachusetts. [1]
• First US nurses' magazine, The Nightingale, first appears, New York City, New York. [1]

March 17

• Carrollton Massacre, (Mississippi) 20 blacks killed. [1]

March 18

• Leopold Zunz German intellect (Synagogue Poetry), dies at age 91. [1]

March 20

• First AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, Massachusetts. [1]

March 26

• First cremation in England. [1]

March 29

• Chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise for Coca-Cola (with cocaine). [1]
• John Keble theologian, Bournemouth. [1]

March 31

• Giovanni Rossi composer, dies at age 57. [1]

April 6

• City of Vancouver British Columbia Canada incorporated. [1]
• Declaration of Berlin neutralizes Tonga. [1]

April 9

• Joseph V von Scheffel German writer (Ekkehard), dies at age 60. [1]

April 13

• Karoly Thern composer, dies at age 68. [1]

April 25

• Sigmund Freud opens practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna. [1]

April 29

• First public Dutch electricity opens. [1]

May 1

• Conrad Busken Huet writer (Country of Rubens). [1]
• Heinrich Franz Daniel Stiehl composer, dies at age 56. [1]
• US general strike for 8 hour day, begins. [1]

May 3

• M A Maclean elected first mayor of Vancouver British Columbia. [1]

May 4

• Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen. [1]

May 5

• Joseph Albert German photographer (Albertotype), dies at age 61. [1]

May 8

• Atlanta pharmacist (Jacob's Pharmacy) Dr John Styth Pemberton invents Coca Cola (contained cocaine). [1] [5]

May 15

• Emily Dickinson US poet, dies at age 55. [1]

May 19

• Camille Saint-Saëns' third Symphony in C, premieres. [1]

May 29

• Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola. [5]

June 2

• Grover Cleveland is first to wed during presidency (Frances Folsom). [1]

June 13

• Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [1]
• King Ludwig II of Bavaria drowns. [1]

June 28

• C H F Peters discovers asteroid #259 Aletheia. [1]

July 3

• The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating hand typesetting. [1] [5]
• Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first purpose-built automobile. [5]

July 4

• First scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada. [1] [5]

July 6

• Horlick's of Wisconsin offers first malted milk to public. [1]

July 10

• Eruption of Tarawera volcano destroys famous pink and white. [1]

July 23

• Steve Brodie supposedly survives plunge from Brooklyn Bridge. [1]

August 31

• First major earthquake recorded in eastern US, at Charleston, South Carolina. [1]
• Crocker-Woolworth National Bank organized. [1]
• In Charleston, South Carolina, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs. [53]

September 4

• Geronimo is captured, ending last major US-Indian war. [1]

September 14

• George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee, patents typewriter ribbon. [1] [5]

October 7

• Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba. [1]

October 10

• First dinner jacket worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, New York (the tuxedo). [1]
• David L Yule first Jewish US senator, dies. [1]

October 12

• Hurricane and sea surge kills 250 at Indianola Texas. [1]

October 27

• Musical fantasy "Night on Bald Mountain," performed in Russia. [1]

October 28

• Statue of Liberty dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, it is celebrated by the first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City. [1]

November 18

• Chester A Arthur (21st President), dies in New York at age 56. [1]

November 22

• Victoria Street Cable Tram route begins in Melbourne, Australia. [1]

November 30

• The Folies Bergere hall in Paris, France, stages its first revue, the Place aux Jeunes. [129]
• First commercially successful AC electric power plant opens, Buffalo. [1]

December 5

• Peter Hofstede de Groot Dutch reformed theologist, dies at age 84. [1]

December 8

• American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions; Samuel Gompers elected AFL president. [1]

December 14

• Antoni Wincenty Rutkowski composer, dies at age 27. [1]

December 16

• Rift at Dutch Reformed Church over "Doleantie". [1]

December 22

• First national accountants' society in US formed (New York City, New York). [1]

1887

January 1

• Johan Hendrik Koelman portrait painter, dies at age 66. [1]

January 4

• Thomas Stevens is first man to bicycle around the world (San Francisco-San Francisco); 21,700km. [1]

January 5

• First US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University. [1]

January 7

• Abraham I van Lier Dutch actor/director (Gran Théâtre), dies at age 74. [1]

January 14

• Friedrich von Amerling Austrian painter, dies at age 83. [1]
• Peter "Peerke" Donders missionary (Father of Melaatsen), dies at age 77. [1]

January 16

• Cliff House damaged when schooner "Parallel"'s powder cargo explodes. [1]

January 20

• US Senate approves the naval base lease of Pearl Harbor. [1]

January 21

• Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) forms. [1]

January 26

• Battle of Dogali Abyssinian Emperor John IV defeats Italians. [1]

February 1

• Harvey Wilcox of Kansas subdivides 120 acres he owned in Southern California and starts selling it off as a real estate development (Hollywood). [1]

February 2

• Groundhog Day is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. [129]

February 3

• To avoid disputed national elections,US Congress creates Electoral Count Act. [1]

February 4

• Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads. [1]

February 5

• Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello premieres at La Scala in Italy. [1] [5]
• Snow falls on San Francisco. [1]

February 8

• Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing Minnesota became the first US ski club. [1]
• Dawes Act passed (Indians living apart from tribe granted citizenship). [1]

February 10

• Ellen Wood English author (Pomeroy Abbey), dies at age 73. [1]
• Pieter van der Aa Dutch geographer, dies at age 54. [1]

February 15

• Alexander Borodin composer, dies. [1]

February 16

• First newspaper convention (Rochester New York). [1]
• Eduard Douwes Dekker writes his last text (Lf8-c5). [1]

February 19

• Eduard Douwes Dekker Dutch writer (Max Havelaar), dies at age 66. [1]

February 20

• Germany, Austria-Hungary and France end Triple Alliance. [1]

February 21

• First US bacteriology laboratory opens (Brooklyn). [1]
• Oregon becomes first US state to make Labor Day a holiday. [1]

February 22

• Union Labor Party organized in Cincinnati. [1]

February 23

• US Congress grants Seal Rocks to San Francisco. [1]
• French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die. [1]

February 27

• Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin, Russian composer, dies at age 53. [1] [5]

March 2

• American Trotting Association organized in Detroit Michigan. [1]
• August W Eichler German botanist, dies at age 47. [1]
• Wilhelm Troszel composer, dies at age 63. [1]

March 3

• American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton IA. [1]
• Anne Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old blind-deaf Helen Keller. [1]

March 4

• Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile, which he test runs in Esslingen and Cannstatt, Germany. [5]

March 8

• Everett Horton, Connecticut, patents fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes. [1]
• Pavel Annenkov Russian literature historian/critic, dies at age 73. [1]

March 13

• Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs. [1]

March 15

• Michigan appoints first salaried game and fish warden in US(William Alden Smith). [1]

March 16

• Emanuel Kania composer, dies at age 59. [1]

March 17

• The A.B. Dick Company sells the first Diaphragm Mimeograph duplicating machine. [55.52]

March 20

• Pavel Annenkov Russian literature historian, dies at age 73. [1]

March 24

• Oscar Straus appointed first Jewish ambassador from US (to Turkey). [1]

March 28

• Ditler G Monrad Danish bishop/premier (1863-), dies at age 75. [1]

April 4

• Susanna Medora Salter elected first US woman mayor (Argonia Kansas). [1]

April 5

• Anne Sullivan teaches "water" to Helen Keller. [1]

April 10

• President Abraham Lincoln is re-buried with his wife in Springfield Illinois. [1]

April 11

• Pyotr Petrovich Sokal'sky composer, dies at age 54. [1]

April 12

• Henrik Ibsen's "Rosmersholm", premieres in Oslo. [1]

April 26

• Huntsville Electric Company is established to sell electricity. [1]

April 28

• Carl Ferdinand Pohl composer, dies at age 67. [1]

April 30

• Friedrich Wilhelm Markull composer, dies at age 71. [1]

May 2

• G Rossini's corpse transfered to Santa Croce, Florence. [1]
• Hannibal W Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film. [1]

May 3

• In Sonora, Mexico, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs. [53]

May 8

• Alexander Ulyanov brother of Lenin/hanged for assassination of tsar. [1]

May 9

• Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London. [5]

May 18

• Emmanuel Chabriers opera "Le Roi Malgré Luis" premieres in Paris France. [1]

May 19

• Pieter Blussé van Alblas liberal minister of Finance, dies at age 75. [1]

May 23

• First transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver British Columbia. [1]
• Ludwig Mathias Lindeman composer, dies at age 74. [1]

May 24

• Sultan Bargash of Zanzibar grants East African Association at East African harbors. [1]

May 25

• Gas lamp at Paris Opera catches fire; 200 die. [1]

May 26

• Racetrack betting becomes legal in New York state. [1]

May 27

• Coenraad J van Houten Dutch cocoa manufacturer, dies at age 86. [1]

June 7

• Monotype type-casting machine patented by Tolbert Lanston, Washington DC. [1]

June 8

• In Almaty (Vernyy), Kazakhstan (Turkestan, Russia), a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs. Almaty destroyed; many fissures, landslides and mudslides observed. [53]
• A Borrelly discovers asteroid #268 Adorea. [1]

June 21

• Britain celebrates golden jubilee of Queen Victoria. [1]

July 26

• First Esperanto book published. [1]

August 10

• Excursion train crashes killing 101. (Chatsworth, Illinois). [1]

September 15

• Philadelphia celebrates 100th anniversary of US Constitution. [1]

September 16

• The first game of softball is played in Chicago, Illinois. [5]

October 17

• Gustav Kirchoff discoverer of the laws of spectroscopy, dies. [1]

November 8

• Death of John Henry "Doc" Holliday, peacefully in bed, of tuberculosis. [187.265]

November 19

• Emma Lazarus US poet ("Give us your tired and poor"), dies in New York at age 38. [1]

November 23

• The opera "The Trumpeter of Suckingen" first American production (New York City). [1]

November 29

• US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii. [1]

December 1

• Albertus J Duymaer van Twist Governor-General of Dutch-Indies, dies at age 78. [1]
• Sherlock Holmes first appears in print: "A Study In Scarlet". [1]
• Sino-Portuguese treaty recognizes Portugal's control of Macao. [1]

December 2

• Amsterdam's Oscar Carrés Circus Theater opens. [1]
• Charles Dickens' first public reading in US (New York City, New York). [1]
• French President Grévy (80) resigns. [1]

December 5

• Stanley's expedition reaches plateau at Lake Albert Congo. [1]

December 10

• Austria-Hungary/Italy/Great Britain signs military treaty of Balkan. [1]

December 17

• Georges Feydeaus' "Tailleur Pour Dames" premieres in Paris. [1]

December 19

• Jake Kilrain and Jem Smith fight 106 round bare knuckle draw. [1]

December 26

• Jules François Blasini Curaçao pianist/composer, dies at age 40. [1]

December 28

• Sir John Layton Jarvis, first British race horse trainer knighted. [1]