1881
| 1881 in topic: |
| Subjects: Archaeology – Architecture – |
| Art – Literature (Poetry) – Music – Science |
| Sports – Rail Transport |
| Countries: Australia – Canada – China – France – Germany – Ireland – Mexico – Netherlands – New Zealand – Norway – South Africa – Spain – UK – USA |
| Leaders: State leaders – Colonial governors |
| Category: Establishments – Disestablishments |
| Births – Deaths – Works |
1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).
1881 was a palindrome year (The next palindrome year was 1991).
Events of 1881
January–March
April–June
July–September
- July 1 – General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organization, comes into effect.
- July 2 – James Garfield, President of the United States, is shot by lawyer Charles Julius Guiteau. He survives the shooting but suffers from infection of his wound, dying on September 19.
- July 4 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
- July 14 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
- 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.
- July 23 – The Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.
- August 3 – The Pretoria Convention peace treaty is signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and Britain.
- August 27 – The fifth hurricane of the Atlantic season hits Florida and the Carolinas, killing about 700.
- 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 12 – Francis Howell High School (Howell Institute) in St. Charles, Missouri, and Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas open on the same day, putting them in a tie for the title of the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River.
- September 19 – U.S. President James A. Garfield dies eleven weeks after being shot. Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States.
October–December
Undated
- Kinshasa is founded by Henry Morton Stanley as a trading outpost called Léopoldville.
- New York City's oldest independent school for girls, the Convent of the Sacred Heart New York (91st Street), is founded.
- Edward Rudolf founds the 'Church of England Central Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays' (now The Children's Society).
- The Pali Text Society is founded.
- 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.
- The League of the Three Emperors is resurrected.
- Some Vatican archives are opened to scholars for the first time.
- Abilene, Texas is founded.
- The Newcastle United F.C. is founded as the Stanley F.C., with a further name change to Newcastle East End F.C. a few months later.
- The Leyton Orient F.C. is founded.
- Minto, North Dakota is founded.
- Rafaela, Argentina is formed.
- Culford School, a public school in Suffolk, United Kingdom, is founded.
Births
January–June
- January 1 – Vajiravudh, King of Thailand (d. 1925)
- January 9
- Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)
- Giovanni Papini, Italian essayist, poet, and novelist (d. 1956)
- January 17 – Antoni Lomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
- January 21 – Arch McCarthy, American baseball player (d. unknown)
- January 31 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- February 12 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
- February 17 – Beth Streeter Aldrich, American writer (d. 1954)
- February 28 – Otto Dowling, United States Navy Captain, and the 25th Governor of American Samoa (d. 1946)
- March 4
- Maude Fealy, American stage and film actor (d. 1971)
- Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American writer (d. 1965)
- Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (d. 1948)
- March 9 – Ernest Bevin, British labour leader, politician, and statesman (d. 1951)
- March 10 – Thomas Quinlan (impresario) (d. 1951)
- March 17 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- March 23
- March 25
- April 14 – Husain Salaahuddin, Famous Mahl writer (d. 1948)
- May 13 – Lima Barreto, Brazilian writer (d.1922)
- May 14 – G. Murray Hulbert, American politician (d. 1950)
- May 19 – Official birthday of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first President of Turkey (d. 1938)
- May 20 – Władysław Sikorski, Polish general and politician (d. 1943)
- June 17 – Tommy Burns, Canadian-born boxer (d. 1955)
- June 26 – Ya'akov Cohen, Israeli poet (d. 1960)
July–December
- July 2 – Royal H. Weller, American politician (d. 1929)
- July 4 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (d. 1968)
- July 27 – Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)
- July 30 – Smedley Butler, U.S. general (d. 1940)
- August 3 – Nathan Post, 7th and 10th Governor of American Samoa (d. 1938)
- August 6 – Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1955)
- August 12 – Cecil B. DeMille, American film director and producer (d. 1959)
- August 19 – Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
- August 20 – Edgar Guest, English poet (d. 1959)
- September 5 – Otto Bauer, Austrian Social Democratic politician (d. 1938)
- September 8 – Harry Hillman, American athlete (d. 1945)
- September 11 – Asta Nielsen, Danish silent film star (d. 1972)
- September 12 – Daniel Jones, British phonetician (d. 1967)
- September 15 – Ettore Bugatti, Italian Car Designer, Founder of Bugatti Automobiles (d. 1947)
- September 16 – Clive Bell, English art critic (d. 1964)
- September 17 – Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (d. 1955)
- September 26 – Hiram Wesley Evans, Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard (d. 1966)
- October 1 – William Boeing, American engineer and airplane manufacturer (d. 1956)
- October 11 – Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist (d. 1973)
- October 15
- October 22 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- October 25 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (d. 1973)
- October 26 – Margaret Wycherly, English stage actress (d. 1956)
- October 28 – Vin Coutie, Australian footballer
- November 4 – Gaby Deslys, French dancer & actress (d. 1920)
- November 5 – George A. Malcolm, American jurist & educator (d. 1961)
- November 14 – Nicholas Schenck, Russian-born film studio executive (d. 1969)
- November 15 – Franklin Pierce Adams, American Poet, columnist (d. 1960)
- November 24 – Al Christie, Canadian-born director and producer (d. 1951)
- November 25
- November 28 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer (d. 1942)
- December 5 – René Cresté, French actor and director (d. 1922)
- December 3 – Henry Fillmore, American composer (d. 1956)
- December 12 – Doris Keane, American stage actress (d. 1945)
- December 24 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
Deaths
January–June
- January 3 – Anna McNeill Whistler, James Whistler's mother and subject of his painting (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)
- February 14 – Fernando Wood, New York City Mayor (b. 1812)
- March 13 – Czar Alexander II of Russia (assassinated) (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)
- May 25 – Giuseppe Maria Giulietti, Italian explorer (b. 1847)
- June 6 – Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (b. 1820)
July–December