- Jan 1 Denmark adopts Mid-European time
- Jan 1 Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
- Jan 1 South African Amateur Athletic Union is founded in Johannesburg
- Jan 4 France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
"Fred Ott's Sneeze"
Jan 7 William K.L. Dickson captures "Fred Ott's Sneeze" as a motion picture at Thomas Edison's Black Mariah Studio, West Orange, New Jersey [1]
- Jan 8 Columbus World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire
- Jan 9 Georges Feydeau's "Un à la Patte" premieres in Paris
- Jan 9 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- Jan 9 William K.L. Dickson's motion picture "Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze" aka "Fred Ott's Sneeze" receives first US copyright for the format; it was filmed a few days earlier at Edison Studio, West Orange, New Jersey [1]
- Jan 11 Donghak Peasant Rebellion begins in Mujiang, Korea over local corruption, sparking the 1st Sino-Japanese War
- Jan 13 Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops
- Jan 21 Oscar Fredriksen skates world record 500m in 47.8 sec
- Jan 23 G. W. Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 wpm for 10 min
Corbett vs. Mitchell
Jan 25 In his only successful title defense, James J Corbett KOs English champion Charley Mitchell in 3 rounds at the Duvall Athletic Club, Jacksonville, Florida for the world heavyweight boxing title
- Jan 27 1st college basketball game, University of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11
- Jan 27 Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park
- Jan 30 Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit
- Jan 30 US flag fired on in Rio; prompt satisfaction exacted by Adm Benham
- Feb 2 US warship Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador Reef, near Solomon Island
- Feb 3 1st US steel sailing vessel, Dirigo, launched at Bath, Maine
- Feb 5 Female suffrage organization in Amsterdam forms
- Feb 6 Bottle opener patented by American inventor William Painter
- Feb 7 The Cripple Creek miners' strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado
- Feb 8 US Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
- Feb 12 Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris's Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20
- Feb 14 Venus is both a morning star & evening star
- Feb 16 British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast
- Feb 24 Nicaragua captures Tegucigalpa, Honduras
- Mar 3 "NY Atlantis" 1st Greek-language publication in US begins
- Mar 3 4th & last British government of Gladstone resigns
- Mar 4 Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed
Archibald Primrose PM
Mar 5 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, becomes First Lord of the Treasury (the official title of the UK Prime Minister)
- Mar 5 Seattle authorizes 1st municipal employment office in US
- Mar 8 The state of New York enacts the nation's first dog-licensing law
Coca-Cola Sold in Bottles
Mar 12 Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time in a candy store in Vicksburg, Mississippi
- Mar 12 Pittsburgh issues free season tickets for ladies on Tuesday & Friday
- Mar 13 J. L. Johnstone of England invents horse racing's starting gate
Thaïs
Mar 16 Jules Massenet's opera "Thaïs" premieres in Paris, includes piece “Méditation” for violin and orchestra
- Mar 17 US & China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering US
- Mar 22 Stanley Cup, Victoria Rink, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Hockey Club defeats Ottawa HC, 3-1 to win 3-team challenge tournament
- Mar 24 37 miners killed at Franklin, Washington
- Mar 25 Coxey's Army of the unemployed sets out from Massillon, Ohio, for Washington, D.C.
- Mar 30 56th Grand National: Jockey Arthur Nightingall wins his second GN aboard 5/1 joint favourite Why Not
Candida
Mar 30 George Bernard Shaw's comedy play "Candida" premieres at Theatre Royal, South Shields, England
- Apr 5 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville, Penn
Bruckner's 5th Symphony
Apr 9 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz, Austria-Hungary, abridged and re-orchestrated by conductor Franz Schauk without the composer's approval
- Apr 12 British & Belgian secret accord on dividing Central Africa
- Apr 14 1st public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures)
- Apr 19 Jules Massenet's opera "Werther" premieres in NYC
- Apr 20 136,000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase
- Apr 21 George Bernard Shaw's play "Arms and the Man" premieres in London becoming his first public success
- Apr 22 The very first Venice Biennale opens in Venice, Italy, as a biennial exhibition of Italian art [1]
World Record 100km
Apr 24 French cyclist Henri Desgrange rides 100km in a world record time of 2:39:18
- Apr 24 Lave Cross becomes 1st Philadelphia Phillies player to hit for the cycle in 22-5 win over the Bridegrooms at Eastern Park, Brooklyn
- Apr 29 The 500-strong Commonwealth of Christ (Coxey's Army) arrives in Washington, D.C., to protest against unemployment; Coxey arrested for trespassing at Capitol
- May 10 Hong Kong government declares port is infected with the plague. The outbreak will go on to kill 20,489 over 29 years.
- May 11 American RR Union strikes Pullman Sleeping Car Co
- May 12 Ludwig Englander's musical "Passing Show" premieres in NYC
- May 14 Fire in Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings
- May 15 20th Kentucky Derby: Frank Goodale aboard Chant wins in 2:41
- May 16 Fire in Boston destroys the South End Grounds baseball stadium and 200 other buildings
- May 17 19th Preakness: Fred Taral aboard Assignee wins in 1:49.25
- May 21 22-year-old French Anarchist Émile Henry is executed by guillotine. His last words were reputed to be "Courage, camarades! Vive l'anarchie!"
- May 22 American inventor Augustine Sackett is granted a patent for Sackett Board, the prototype for drywall (U.S. Patent No. 520,123)
- May 23 William Love hosts groundbreaking ceremonies for Love Canal
Lowell Observatory Views Mars
May 24 Lowell Observatory, Arizona, first begins observations of Mars with an eighteen-inch telescope, leads its builder Percival Lowell to conclude there are canals on Mars
- May 26 German Emanuel Lasker becomes undisputed World Chess Champion by beating Austrian-American defending titleholder Wilhelm Steinitz, 10-5 (4 draws) in Montreal, Canada
- May 30 Boston Beaneaters baseball second baseman Bobby Lowe first to hit 4 home runs in MLB game in 20-11 win against Cincinnati Reds
- Jun 12 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: J.H. Taylor wins first Open played outside Scotland; beats Douglas Rolland by 5 strokes
- Jun 15 Phillies beat Cincinnati Reds, 21-8
- Jun 16 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Philadelphia CC: Helen Hellwig beats defending champion Aline Terry 7-5, 3-6, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3
- Jun 18 Premier Roseberry declares Uganda a British protectorate
- Jun 19 28th Belmont: Willie Simms aboard Henry of Navarre wins in 1:56.5
- Jun 20 French bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin discovers bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague in Hong Kong (Yersinia pestis named in his honor)
- Jun 21 Workers in Pittsburgh strike Pullman sleeping car company
- Jun 23 The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin
- Jun 24 Marie François Sadi Carnot is assassinated in Lyon by Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio
- Jun 25 American Railway Union under Eugene V Debs goes on strike
Kruger Meets Over Uitlanders
Jun 25 Boer leader Paul Kruger meets British High Commissioner, Sir Henry Loch, on Pretoria station in South Africa and accompanies him to his hotel to discuss the grievances of the Uitlanders (Foreigners)
- Jun 27 American Annie Londonderry [Annie Kopchovsky] sets out from Boston to become first woman to bicycle around the world (completes journey September 1895)
- Jun 28 Labor Day established as a holiday for US federal employees
- Jun 28 The Natal Legislature plans to introduce the Indian Franchise Bill, South Africa
- Jun 30 Korea declares independence from China, asks for Japanese aid
- Jun 30 London's Tower Bridge opens across the Thames
- Jul 2 Government obtains injunction against striking Pullman Workers
- Jul 4 Elwood Haynes successfully tests one of 1st US autos at 6 MPH
- Jul 4 Republic of Hawaii proclaimed, Sanford B Dole as president
- Jul 6 Cleveland sends 2,000 troops to Chicago to suppress Pullman strike
- Jul 16 Many negro miners in Alabama killed by striking white miners
- Jul 16 Treaty of Aoki-Kimberley signed between Japan & England
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
Jul 17 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Joshua Pim retains his title beating 2-time champion Wilfred Baddeley 10-8, 6-2, 8-6
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jul 17 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Blanche Bingley-Hillyard beats Edith Austin 6-1 6-1 for her 3rd of 6 Wimbledon singles titles
- Jul 20 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago, having ended Pullman strike
- Aug 2 Death duties 1st introduced in Britain
- Aug 2 Dutch Society for Women Suffrage gets royal charter
- Aug 14 Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge demonstrates wireless telegraphy (radio) using Morse code at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford University
- Aug 16 Indian chiefs from the Sioux & Onondaga tribes met to urge their people to renounce Christianity & return to their old Indian faith
- Aug 17 Phils get 36 hits, Sam Thompson hits for cycle beating Louisville 29-4
Natal Indian Congress
Aug 22 Mahatma Gandhi forms the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in order to fight discrimination against Indian traders in the British Colony of Natal in South Africa
- Aug 25 -26] Balinese troops assault Dutch army, 97 killed
- Aug 25 Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet
- Aug 26 Netherlands Social-Democratic Worker's party (SDAP) forms
- Aug 27 Congress passes Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which includes a graduated income tax later struck down by the Supreme Court
- Aug 27 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport R.I.: Defending champion Robert Wrenn beats Irishman Manliff Goodbody 6-8, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
- Aug 30 British explorer Frederick Lugard begins his expedition to Niger
- Aug 31 Phillies outfielder Billy Hamilton equals George Gore's MLB single game stolen bases record with 7 steals in 10-8 win vs Washington Senators in Philadelphia
- Aug 31 The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act passed by Richard Seddon’s Liberal government, making New Zealand the first country in the world to outlaw strikes in favour of compulsory arbitration
- Sep 1 A wildfire destroys the town of Hinckley, Minnesota, killing 438 people
- Sep 2 -3] Amsterdam Municipal theater opens
- Sep 2 Forest fires destroy Hinckley Minnesota: about 600 die
- Sep 4 In NYC, 12,000 tailors went on strike protesting against sweat shops
- Sep 8 Employed by Thomas Edison, William K.L. Dickson films first boxing match at West Orange, New Jersey, an exhibition between world heavyweight champion James J. Corbett and Peter Courtney
- Sep 10 London taxi driver George Smith is the first to be fined for drunk driving
- Sep 14 Hottentotten uprising in Southwest Africa fails
- Sep 15 Japan defeats China in Battle of Ping Yang
- Sep 27 Aqueduct racetrack opens in NY
- Sep 28 Simon Marks & Tom Spencer open Penny Bazaar in Manchester
- Oct 1 Civic organization, Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben founded in Omaha, Nebraska
- Oct 1 First meeting of The Owl Club of Cape Town
Event of Interest
Oct 15 Captain Alfred Dreyfus arrested and accused of espionage in France
- Oct 17 Ohio national guard kills 3 lynchers while rescuing a black man
Event of Interest
Oct 26 German Emperor Wilhelm II fires chancellor Leo von Caprivi and Prime Minister of Prussia Botho zu Eulenburg
Tsar Nicholas II
Nov 1 Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia after the death of his father, Tsar Alexander III
Diphtheria Vaccine
Nov 1 Vaccine for diphtheria announced by Dr Émile Roux of Paris
- Nov 5 Frederick Lugards expedition reaches Nikki
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Nov 5 Richard Strauss' tone poem "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" premieres
- Nov 10 Fred Lugard signs accord with king Lafia "Absalamu" of Nikki
- Nov 12 Lawrence Hargrave, Australian aeronautical pioneer and inventor of the box kite, linked four huge box kites together and flew - but remained attached to the ground by piano wire
- Nov 16 6,000 Armenians massacred by Turks in Kurdistan
- Nov 16 French captain Henri Decoeurs troops reach Nikki, West Africa
- Nov 17 Daily Racing Form founded
Killer Holmes Arrested
Nov 17 Serial killer H. H. Holmes is arrested in Boston after being tracked there from Philadelphia by the Pinkertons
- Nov 18 Richard Outcault's early comic strip "Origin of a New Species" published in World
- Nov 19 1st mushroom on a stamp (China 1 & 5 Ap)
- Nov 19 Dutch troops occupy & plunders palace of Tjakra Negara, Lombok
- Nov 20 US intervenes in Bluefields, Nicaragua
- Nov 25 Greenback (Independent) Party organizes in Indianapolis
- Nov 26 King Lafia "Absalamu" of Nikki signs accord with France
- Nov 29 3rd Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 18-0 in Montgomery
- Dec 5 Georges Feydeaus' "L'hôtel du libre échange" premieres in Paris
- Dec 9 Roman Catholics win Parliamentary election in Belgium
- Dec 14 Day One 1st Test Cricket Aus v Eng Aust 5-346 (Giffen 161, Gregory 85)
- Dec 14 Test cricket debut of future Australian captain Joe Darling, great all-rounder Ernie Jones and outstanding England batsman Archie MacLaren; England wins 1st Test in Sydney by 10 runs
- Dec 15 Day 2 of first cricket test between Australia and England, Australia 586 runs (Gregory 201) England 3-130
- Dec 17 Cricket day 3 1T Australia v England; England 325 all out, 261 behind on 1st innings
- Dec 18 Day 4 of the 1st cricket test Australia v England, England following on 4-268, 7 in front
- Dec 20 England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1st six-day Test Cricket, Australia needed 177 to win, all out at 166 on 6th day
Mackenzie Bowell PM
Dec 21 Mackenzie Bowell becomes the 5th Prime Minister of Canada
- Dec 22 -23] Dutch coast hit by hurricane
"Prélude à L'apres-Midi d'un Faune"
Dec 22 Claude Debussy's first orchestral masterpiece "Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune" premieres in Paris
- Dec 22 French officer Alfred Dreyfus court-martialed for treason, triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism (Dreyfus later vindicated)
- Dec 22 United States Golf Association forms in New York
- Dec 24 Scheveningse fishing boats destroyed by storm
- Dec 25 1st midwestern football team to play on west coast, University of Chicago defeats Stanford 24-4 at Palo Alto, CA in football
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists