1884
1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar).
Events
- January 4 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
- January 18 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
- February 1 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- March 13 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).
- April 22 - Colchester earthquake, England; the UK's most destructive.
- May 1 - the first proclamation of eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1st, called May Day or Labour Day, is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
- July 5 - Germany takes possession of Cameroon.
- August 5 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
- August 10 - A severe earthquake, magnitude 5.5, (intensity VII) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine, and west as far as Cleveland.
- October - International Meridian Conference in Washington DC fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
- October 6 - United States Naval War College established in Newport, Rhode Island.
- October 18 - University of Wales, Bangor (UK) founded.
- November 1 - The Irish Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Thurles, Ireland.
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
- November 15 - The Berlin Conference which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa begins (ends February 26, 1885).
- November 25 - British surgeon John Dooglee makes the first successful removal of a brain tumor.
- December 1 - American Old West - Near Frisco, New Mexico (now Reserve, New Mexico), deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
- December 6 - Washington Monument was completed.
- December 16 - World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Bechuanaland becomes British protectorate.
- Stefan-Boltzmann law reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann.
- British Police officers go on armed patrol in London.
Environmental change
Births
January
- January 2 - Oscar Micheaux, African American, filmmaker & author (d. 1951)
- January 12 - Texas Guinan, vaudeville performer (d. 1933)
- January 13 - Sophie Tucker, singer, comedienne, vaudeville performer (d. 1966)
- January 21 - Roger Baldwin, ACLU president, social activist (d. 1981)
- January 23 - Ralph DePalma, race car driver (d. 1956)
- January 28 - Auguste Piccard, physicist (d. 1962)
- January 31 - Theodor Heuss, politician and publicist (d. 1963)
February
March
April
May
July
August
October
November
December
Deaths
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