1881
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'''1881''' was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).
Events
January - April
January 16-January 24 - Siege of Geok Tepe - Russian troops under general Skobeleff defeat Turkomans
January 24 - William Edward Forster, the chief secretary for Ireland, introduces his Coercion Bill - it goes through a long debate before it is accepted February 2
January 25 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company
February 5 - Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated.
February 13 - First issue of the feminist newspaper ''La Citoyenne'' is published by Hubertine Auclert.
February 19 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all ethanol|alcoholic beverages.
March 4 - Rutherford B. Hayes|Rutherford Birchard Hayes is succeeded as President of the United States by James Garfield|James Abram Garfield.
March 12 - Andrew Watson makes his Scotland national football team|Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.
March 13 - Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. He is succeeded by his son, Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III.
March 16 - Fenian Brotherhood|Fenian dynamiters hit Mansion House in London.
April 21 - The University of Connecticut is founded as the Storrs Agricultural School.
April 25 - Caulfield Grammar School is founded in Melbourne, Australia.
April 28 - Billy the Kid escapes from New Mexico jail.
May - August
May 12 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a France|French protectorate.
May 21 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
May 21 - The United States Tennis Association is established by a small group of tennis club members.
June 12 - The USS Jeannette (1878)|USS ''Jeannette'' is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
July 1 - General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organisation, came into effect.
July 2 - James Garfield|James Abram Garfield, President of the United States is shot by lawyer Charles J. Guiteau|Charles Julius Guiteau. He survives the assassination attempt but he suffers from infection of his wound.
July 4 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
July 20 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
September - December
September 5 - The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km²) and kills 282 people.
September 19 - James Garfield|James Abram Garfield, President of the United States dies due to an infected wound caused by an assassin's bullet and is succeeded by Vice President Chester Alan Arthur.
October 26 - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona | Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona|Cochise County, Arizona, United States|USA.
October 29 - ''The Judge'' (US magazine) first published.
November 19 - A meteorite struck earth near the village of Großliebenthal, a few kilometers southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.
December 8 - At least 620 die in fire at Ring Theatre, Vienna
Unknown date
Founding of the Pali Text Society
University College Dublin is established in Ireland
The United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) is founded, and the first U.S. Tennis Championships are played.
Founding of the League of the Three Emperors
''London Evening News'' begins publication
Some Vatican City|Vatican archives opened to scholars for the first time
Abilene, Texas is founded.
Leyton Orient F.C. is Founded
Births
January 6 - Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)
January 9 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)
January 17 - Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
January 31 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
February 12 - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
March 17 - Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
March 23 - Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
March 23 - Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
March 25 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)
March 25 - Mary Gladys Webb, English writer (d. 1927)
May 1 - Mary MacLane, Canadian-born feminist writer (d. 1929)
June 17 - Tommy Burns, Canadian-born boxer (d. 1955)
July 4 - Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (d. 1968)
July 27 - Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)
July 30 - Smedley Butler, U.S. general (d. 1940)
August 6 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1955)
August 19 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
August 20 - Edgar Guest, English poet (d. 1959)
September 8 - Harry Hillman, American athlete (d. 1945)
September 16 - Clive Bell, English art critic (d. 1964)
September 17 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (d. 1955)
October 1 - William Boeing, American engineer and airplane manufacturer (d. 1956)
October 11 - Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist (d. 1973)
October 15 - P. G. Wodehouse, English-born writer (d. 1975)
October 22 - Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
October 25 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (d. 1973)
November 14 - Nicholas Schenck, Russian-born film studio executive (d. 1969)
November 24 - Al Christie, Canadian-born director and producer (d. 1951)
November 25 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)
December 24 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
Antoni Józef Śmieszek, Polish Egyptologist and linguist (d. 1943)
William Temple (archbishop)|William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1944)
Hiram Wesley Evans, American leader of KKK and prohibitionist, (d. 1966)
Kemal Atatürk, founder and the first President of Turkey (d. 1938)
Deaths
January 3 - Anna McNeill Whistler, Whistler's mother (b. 1804)
January 21 - Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1802)
February 5 - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish writer and historian (b. 1795)
February 9 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist (b. 1821)
March 13 - Czar Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
March 28 - Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer (b. 1839)
April 19 - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
May 24 - Samuel Palmer, English artist (b. 1805)
June 6 - Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (b. 1820)
July 17 - Jim Bridger, American explorer and trapper (b. 1804)
July 18 - Billy the Kid, American gunslinger (b. 1859)
September 7 - Sidney Lanier, American writer (b. 1842)
September 19 - James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1831)
September 22 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (b. 1831)
October 3 - Orson Pratt, American religious leader (b. 1811)
October 31 - George W. DeLong|George DeLong, American naval officer and explorer (starvation) (b. 1844)
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