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1878
Year
1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar, the 1878th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 878th year of the 2nd millennium, the 78th year of the 19th century, and the 9th year of the 1870s decade. As of the start of 1878, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
1878
Events
January–March
Europe after the
Congress of Berlin in 1878 and the territorial and political rearrangement of the Balkan Peninsula.
April–June
July–September
- July 4 – A match race between champion thoroughbred racehorses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty draws more than 30,000 fans to Louisville, and inspires the folk song, "Molly and Tenbrooks".
- July 13 – The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia, Montenegro and Romania completely independent, confirms the autonomy of Bulgaria, makes Cyprus a British possession, and allows Austria-Hungary to garrison the Bosnia Vilayet.
- August 9 – The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring more than 70.
- August 26 – Uyedineniya Island is discovered in the Kara Sea, by Norwegian explorer Captain Edvard Holm Johannesen.
- September 3 – Over 640 die, when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle, in the River Thames.
- September 12 – Cleopatra's Needle is erected in London, having arrived in England on January 21.
- September 20 – The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, is founded.
October–December
- October 1 – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, in the United States.
- October 14 – The world's first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England.
- October 17 – John A. Macdonald returns to office, as Prime Minister of Canada.
- October 31 – A fire destroys the Eldkvarn gristmill mill in Stockholm, Sweden.
- November 17 – The first assassination attempt is made against Umberto I of Italy by anarchist Giovanni Passannante, armed with a dagger. The King survives with a slight wound in one arm. Prime minister Benedetto Cairoli blocks the aggressor, receiving a leg injury.
- November 21 – The Second Anglo-Afghan War commences, when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.
- November 26 – American-born artist James McNeill Whistler's libel case against English critic John Ruskin, over a review of the painting Nocturne in Black and Gold - The Falling Rocket, (in which Whistler is described as "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face"),[2] is decided in the High Court of Justice in London. Whistler wins a farthing in nominal damages and only half of the costs, leading to his bankruptcy, and alienates patrons.[3]
- December 7 – The United States territory of New Mexico is linked to the rest of the nation by railroad for the first time, as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates a newly completed line through the Raton Pass.[4]
- December 25 – Stella Maris Church in Sliema, Malta becomes a parish, seceding from the Parish of St. Helen's in Birkirkara.
Date unknown
Births
January–June
- January 4
- January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
- January 9 – John B. Watson, American psychologist (d. 1958)
- January 11 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general, politician and President of Greece (d. 1952)
- January 12 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian-born author (d. 1952)
- January 16 – Harry Carey, American actor (d. 1947)
- January 20 – Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (d. 1968)
- January 22 – Constance Collier, English stage, screen actress (d. 1955)
- January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
- January 25 – Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
- February 1 – Milan Hod?a, Slovak politician, champion of regional integration in Europe (d. 1944)
- February 2 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer, architect (d. 1955)
- February 3 – Gordon Coates, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
- February 5 – André Citroën, French automobile manufacturer (d. 1935)
- February 8 – Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (d. 1965)
- February 14 – K?ki Hirota, 21st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
- February 16
- February 18 – Kate Gordon, American psychologist (d. 1963)
- February 21 – The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of Auroville, India (d. 1973)
- February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
- February 28 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
- March 4
- March 5 – P. D. Ouspensky, Russian mathematician (d. 1947)
- March 7 – Boris Kustodiev, Soviet painter and designer (d. 1927)
- March 16
- March 20 – Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz (d. 1927)
- March 22 – Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919)
- March 26 – Henry Gullett, Australian politician (d. 1940)
- March 31 – Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
- April 1 – C. Ganesha Iyer, Ceylon Tamil Philologist (d. 1958)
- April 4 – Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek admiral (d. 1958)
- April 6
- April 24 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958)
- April 28
- April 30 – W?adys?aw Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (d. 1948)
- May 2 – Roy Atwell, American actor, comedian and composer (d. 1962)
- May 3 – Jean Chiappe, French civil servant (d. 1940)
- May 10 – Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
- May 13 – Julia Dean, American stage and film actress (d. 1952)
- May 16 – Taylor Holmes, American actor (d. 1959)
- May 21 – Glenn H. Curtiss, American aviation pioneer (d. 1930)
- May 22 – The Great Gama, Punjabi wrestler (d. 1960)
- May 25 – Bill Robinson, African-American tap dancer (d. 1949)
- May 27 – Anna Cervin, Swedish artist (d. 1972)
- May 28 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d. 1945)
- June 1 – John Masefield, English poet, novelist (d. 1967)
- June 3 – Barney Oldfield, American automobile racer, pioneer (d. 1946)
- June 5 – Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1923)
- June 12 – James Oliver Curwood, American writer, conservationist (d. 1927)
- June 20 – Will Mastin, American vaudevillian (d. 1975)
- June 22 – John Burton Cleland, Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist (d. 1971)
- June 27 – He Xiangning, Chinese revolutionary, feminist, politician, painter and poet (d. 1972)
July–December
- July 1 – Gino Meneghetti, Italian thief (d. 1976)
- July 3 – George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor and writer (d. 1942)
- July 8 - Jimmy Quinn, Scottish footballer (d. 1945)
- July 10 – Otto Freundlich, German painter, sculptor (d. 1943)
- July 12
- July 16 – Andreas Hermes, German agricultural scientist, politician (d. 1964)
- July 17 – Mabel Van Buren, American actress (d. 1947)
- July 24 – Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (d. 1957)
- August 1
- August 2 – Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, Princess of Sweden (d. 1958)
- August 4 – Ernest Lundeen, American lawyer, politician (d. 1940)
- August 9 – Eileen Gray, Irish architect, furniture designer (d. 1976)
- August 10 – Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957)
- August 13 – Harold Clarke Goddard, American professor, Shakespearean scholar (d. 1950)
- August 19 – Manuel L. Quezon, 2nd President of the Philippines (d. 1944)
- August 20 – Maria Assunta Pallotta, Italian Roman Catholic religious professed and blessed (d. 1905)
- August 27 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general, anti-Bolshevik leader (d. 1928)
- August 28 – George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
- August 31 – Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
- September 2 – Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (d. 1946)
- September 5 – Robert von Lieben, Austrian physicist (d. 1913)
- September 9 – Sergio Osmena, 4th President of the Philippines (d. 1961)
- September 13 – Matilde Moisant, American pilot (d. 1964)
- September 14 – Ion Farris, American politician, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (d. 1934)
- September 18
- September 20 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968)
- September 22 – Shigeru Yoshida, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1967)
- September 24 – C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947)
- October 1 – Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher, economist (d. 1950)
- October 2 – Richard Spikes, African-American inventor (d. 1963)
- October 9 – Robert Warwick, American stage, screen actor (d. 1964)
- October 12 – Karl Buresch, 9th Chancellor of Austria (d. 1936)
- October 15 – Paul Reynaud, Prime Minister of France (d. 1966)
- October 16 – Maxie Long, American athlete (d. 1959)
- October 17 – Louise Dresser, American actress (d. 1965)
- October 29 – Alexander von Falkenhausen, German general (d. 1966)
- October 30 – Arthur Scherbius, German electrical engineer, mathematician, cryptanalyst and inventor (d. 1929)
- November 1 – Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959)
- November 8 – Dorothea Bate, British archaeologist and pioneer of archaeozoology (d. 1951)
- November 14
- November 17 – Grace Abbott, American social worker, activist (d. 1939)
- November 23
- Ernest Joseph King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations (COMINCH-CNO) during World War II (d. 1956)
- Frank Pick, British transport administrator, designer (d. 1941)
- November 27 – William Orpen, Irish artist (d. 1931)
- December 1 – Nathaniel Baldwin, American inventor, supporter of the early Mormon fundamentalist movement (d. 1961)
- December 10 – C. Rajagopalachari, Indian politician, freedom fighter (d. 1972)
- December 18 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
- December 25
- December 28 – Nikolai Bryukhanov, Soviet statesman, political figure who served as People's Commissar of Finances (d. 1938)
- December 31
Deaths
January–June
- January 5 – Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, 6th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1804)
- January 8 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
- January 9 – King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
- January 18 – Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (b. 1788)
- February 7 – Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
- February 11 – Gideon Welles, American politician (b. 1802)
- February 18 – John Tunstall, American rancher, merchant, first man killed in the Lincoln County War (b. 1853)
- February 19 – Charles-François Daubigny, French painter (b. 1817)
- February 26 – Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (b. 1818)
- March 8 – Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (b. 1802)
- March 20 – Julius von Mayer, German physician, physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics (b. 1814)
- March 27 – Sir George Gilbert Scott, British architect (b. 1811)
- April 4 – Richard M. Brewer, American gunslinger, cowboy (b. 1850)
- April 5 – Buckshot Roberts, American buffalo hunter who killed Richard M. Brewer (shot) (b. 1831)
- April 8 – Henrietta Treffz, Austrian soprano, first wife of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818)
- April 11 – Robert Wentworth Little, British occultist (b. 1840)
- April 12 – William M. Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)
- April 25 – Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
- May 12 – Anselme Payen, French chemist (b. 1795)
- May 13 – Joseph Henry, American scientist (b. 1797)
- May 14 – ?kubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai, later leader of the Meiji restoration (b. 1830)
- May 28 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
- June 5 – Ernst von Bibra, German scientist (b. 1806)
- June 6
- June 12
- June 27 – Sidney Breese, U.S. senator from Illinois, father of the Illinois Central Railroad (b. 1800)
July–December
- July 1 – Catherine Winkworth, English translator of hymns (b. 1827)
- July 17 – Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
- July 23 – Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian pathologist, philosopher and politician (b. 1804)
- August 13 – Henry James Montague, English-born actor (b. 1844)
- August 16 – Richard Upjohn, English-American architect (b. 1802)
- August 26 – Mariam Baouardy, Syrian Discalced Carmelite and Melkite Greek Catholic nun and saint, canonized (b. 1846)
- August 30 – James Geiss, English businessman (b. 1820)
- September 7 – Mehmed Ali Pasha, Prussian-born Ottoman military leader (b. 1827)
- October 4 – Dora Hand, dance hall singer, actress (b.1844)
- October 20 – Hiram Paulding, American admiral (b. 1797)
- November 20 – William Thomas, Welsh poet (b. 1832)
- November 28 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805)
- December 10 – Henry Wells, American businessman (b. 1805)
- December 14 – Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1843)
- December 18 – W H Payne, actor and mime artist (b. 1804)
- December 25 – Henry K. Hoff, American admiral (b. 1809)
In fiction
References
Further reading