1897

1897 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1897 MDCCCXCVII
Ab urbe condita	2650
Armenian calendar	1346 ԹՎ ՌՅԽԶ
Assyrian calendar	6647
Baháʼí calendar	53–54
Balinese saka calendar	1818–1819
Bengali calendar	1303–1304
Berber calendar	2847
British Regnal year	60 Vict. 1 – 61 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar	2441
Burmese calendar	1259
Byzantine calendar	7405–7406
Chinese calendar	丙申年 (Fire Monkey) 4594 or 4387     — to — 丁酉年 (Fire Rooster) 4595 or 4388
Coptic calendar	1613–1614
Discordian calendar	3063
Ethiopian calendar	1889–1890
Hebrew calendar	5657–5658
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1953–1954
- Shaka Samvat	1818–1819
- Kali Yuga	4997–4998
Holocene calendar	11897
Igbo calendar	897–898
Iranian calendar	1275–1276
Islamic calendar	1314–1315
Japanese calendar	Meiji 30 (明治３０年)
Javanese calendar	1826–1827
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 12 days
Korean calendar	4230
Minguo calendar	15 before ROC 民前15年
Nanakshahi calendar	429
Thai solar calendar	2439–2440
Tibetan calendar	阳火猴年 (male Fire-Monkey) 2023 or 1642 or 870     — to — 阴火鸡年 (female Fire-Rooster) 2024 or 1643 or 871

1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1897th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 897th year of the 2nd millennium, the 97th year of the 19th century, and the 8th year of the 1890s decade. As of the start of 1897, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–March

March 4, President William McKinley

• January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City.
• January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedition against Benin.
• January 7 – A cyclone destroys Darwin, Australia.
• January 8 – Lady Flora Shaw, future wife of Governor General Lord Lugard, officially proposes the name "Nigeria" in a newspaper contest, to be given to the British Niger Coast Protectorate.
• January 22 – In this date's issue of the journal Engineering, the word computer is first used to refer to a mechanical calculation device.
• January 31 – The Czechoslovak Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.
• February 10 – Freedom of religion is proclaimed in Madagascar.
• February 16 – The French conquer the island of Raiatea and capture the rebel chief Teraupo'o, ending the Leeward Islands War and bringing all of the Society Islands under their control.
• February 18 – Benin is put to the torch by the British Army's Benin Expedition. Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin, is exiled from his kingdom and the Benin Bronzes are carried off to London.
• February 26 – The Sigma Pi fraternity is founded in Vincennes, Indiana.
• February 27 – The French military governor of Madagascar, Joseph Gallieni, exiles Queen Ranavalona III to Réunion, abolishing the monarchy the next day.
• March 13 – San Diego State University is founded.
• March 22 – Emilio Aguinaldo unseats Andrés Bonifacio at the Tejeros Convention, becoming the new head of the Filipino revolutionary group Katipunan.

April–June

• April 15
  • Drillers near Bartlesville, Oklahoma strike oil for the first time, in the designated "Indian Territory", on land leased from the Osage Indians. The gusher, at the Nellie Johnstone Number One well, leads to rapid population growth.
  • Yamaichi Securities founded in Japan; it will cease trading a hundred years later.
• April 18 – the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 Breaks out.
• April 19 – The first Boston Marathon is held in the United States, with fifteen men competing, and won by John McDermott.
• April 23 – Representatives of the Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation and U.S. Dawes Commission sign the Atoka Agreement, which becomes an important precursor for creating the State of Oklahoma.
• April 27–6 May – Greco-Turkish War of 1897: Battle of Velestino.
• April 30 – J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
• May 6 – John Jacob Abel announces the successful isolation of epinephrine (adrenaline), in a paper read before the Association of American Physicians.
• May 10 – 19 zinc miners die of carbon monoxide poisoning at Snaefell Mine on the Isle of Man.
• May 11 – A patent is awarded for the invention of the first automotive muffler, with the granting by the U.S. Patent Office of application number 582,485 to Milton Reeves and his brother Marshall T. Reeves, of the Reeves Pulley Company of Columbus, Indiana.
• May 14
  • The Stars and Stripes Forever, an American patriotic march by John Philip Sousa, is performed for the first time.
  • (or May 15) – The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) is founded in Berlin as an LGBT campaigning organization, the first such in history.
• May 19 – Oscar Wilde is released from prison in England, and goes into voluntary exile on the continent.
• May 22 – The Blackwall Tunnel, at this time the longest underwater road tunnel in the world, is opened for traffic beneath the River Thames in the East End of London by the Prince of Wales.
• May 26 – Irish-born theatrical manager Bram Stoker's contemporary Gothic horror novel Dracula is first published (in London); it will influence the direction of vampire literature for the following century.
• May 31 – On Decoration Day (later Memorial Day) the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial is dedicated in Boston. The bronze bas relief by Augustus St. Gaudens depicts the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of black Civil War soldiers.
• June 12 – 1897 Assam earthquake: An earthquake of magnitude of 8.0 rocks Assam, India, killing over 1,500 people.
• June 18 – Kyoto University is officially established in Japan.
• June 22 – The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria is celebrated in the United Kingdom. No other British monarch will celebrate such a jubilee until Elizabeth II in 2012.

Display in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee on Alma Place in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Ulster

July–September

• July 11 – S. A. Andrée's Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897 begins. The ill-fated expedition to fly over the Arctic results in the death of the entire team within months.
• July 17 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle
• July 25 – Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush, where he will write his first successful stories.
• July 26–August 2 – Siege of Malakand: British troops are besieged by Pashtun tribesmen in Malakand, on the Northwest frontier of British India (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).
• July 31 – Mount Saint Elias, the second highest peak in the United States and Canada, is first ascended.
• August 10 – At the Bayer pharmaceutical company, pharmacist Felix Hoffmann successfully synthesizes acetylsalicylic acid, after isolating a compound from a plant of the Spiraea family; the company markets it under the brand name "Aspirin".
• August 21 – The Olds Motor Vehicle Co. is founded in Lansing, Michigan, by Ransom E. Olds.
• August 29 – The First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland.
• August 31 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor of the movie projector.

October 6, Ethiopian flag.

• September 1 – The Tremont Street subway is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
• September 10 – Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
• September 11 – After months of searching, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
• September 12 – Battle of Saragarhi: Twenty-one Sikhs of the 36th Sikhs regiment of the British Indian Army defend an army post to the death, against 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen, in the Tirah Campaign on the Northwest frontier of the British Raj (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).
• September 20 – Greece and Turkey sign a peace treaty to end the Greco-Turkish War.

October: USS Baltimore in Hawaii

• September 21 – Francis P. Church responds (anonymously) to a letter to the editor of The Sun (New York City) that is known as the famous "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter.

October–December

• October 5 – After a long siege, Brazilian government troops take Canudos in north Brazil, crushing Antônio Conselheiro and his followers.
• October 6 – Ethiopia adopts the tricolor flag: green is for the land, yellow for gold, and red is symbolic of strength and the blood shed.
• October 12
  • The Korean Empire is proclaimed, marking the end of the Joseon dynasty after just over 500 years.
  • The city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil is created. The construction of the second Brazilian planned city is completed successfully; an immigration of 1,000,000 people is estimated.
  • USS Baltimore (Cruiser # 3, later CM-1) is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
• October 13 – HMS Canopus, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, is launched at Portsmouth, England; she will be deployed widely in World War I.
• October 23 – The Kappa Delta sorority is founded in Farmville, Virginia.
• November 1 – Juventus FC is founded as an association football club in Turin.
• November 25 – Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy.
• December 9 – The first issue of the feminist newspaper La Fronde is published by Marguerite Durand in Paris.
• December 12
  • The comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids debuts in the New York Journal.
  • Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is incorporated.
• December 14 – Pact of Biak-na-Bato: The Philippine Revolution is settled, with Spanish promises to reform.
• December 28 – The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
• December 30 – Natal annexes Zululand.

Date unknown

• The first electric bicycle is invented.
• Karl Lueger becomes mayor of Vienna.
• Zhejiang University is founded in China.
• Émile Durkheim publishes his classic study Suicide.
• The pan-African anthem "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("God Bless Africa") is composed as a Xhosa hymn by South African teacher Enoch Sontonga.
• Dos Equis beer is first brewed in Mexico, in anticipation of the new century. "Dos equis" is Spanish for "two x", a reference to the 20th Century (XX in Roman numerals)
• Alexander Scriabin publishes his Piano Sonata no. 2 "Sonata-Fantasia" in G sharp minor

Births

January–February

Marion Davies

Ludwig Erhard

Judith Anderson

Marian Anderson

• January 3
  • Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
  • Pola Negri, Polish-born American actress (d. 1987)
• January 5 – Kiyoshi Miki, Japanese philosopher, critic, scholar and professor (d. 1945)
• January 6 – Ferenc Szálasi, 37th prime minister of Hungary (d. 1946)
• January 8 – Dennis Wheatley, English writer (d. 1977)
• January 9 – Walter Küchenmeister, German writer and resistance fighter against the Nazis (d. 1943)
• January 11
  • Georges Stuttler, French footballer (d. 1976)
  • Hayne D. Boyden, American naval aviator and aviation pioneer (d. 1978)
  • Bernard DeVoto, American historian and author (d. 1955)
  • August Heissmeyer, German Nazi SS-Obergruppenführer (d. 1979)
• January 14
  • Hasso von Manteuffel, German general, politician (d. 1978)
  • Wasif Jawhariyyeh, Palestinian composer, oud player, poet and chronicler (d. 1972)
• January 19 – Natacha Rambova, American film personality and fashion designer (d. 1966)
• January 22 – Arthur Greiser, German Nazi Party politician (d. 1946)
• January 23
  • Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian political leader, led the Indian National Army (d. 1945?)
  • Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect, anti-Nazi activist (d. 2000)
• January 24 – Muhammad Shafi, Pakistani Sunni Islamic scholar (d. 1976)
• January 25
  • George Godfrey, American boxer (d. 1947)
  • Blind Willie Johnson, American gospel blues singer and guitarist (d. 1945)
• January 26
  • Yakov Alksnis, Soviet aviator, commander of the Red Army Air Forces (d. 1938)
  • Beulah Ream Allen, American nurse and physician during World War II (d. 1989)
• January 27 – Karel Lamač, Czech director (d. 1952)
• January 28 – Ivan Stedeford, British industrialist (d. 1975)
• February 1 – Denise Robins, British romance novelist (d. 1985)
• February 4 – Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1977)
• February 5
  • Miyuki Ishikawa, Japanese serial killer (d. 1987)
  • Philip Jessup, American diplomat, scholar, and jurist (d. 1986)
  • Dirk Stikker, Dutch politician and diplomat (d.1979)
• February 6 – Lepke Buchalter, American mob boss and head of Murder, Inc., (d. 1944)
• February 7 – Max Newman, British mathematician and codebreaker (d. 1984)
• February 8 – Zakir Husain, Indian politician, 3rd President of India (d. 1969)
• February 9 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian aviator famous for his trans-Pacific flight (d. 1935)
• February 10
  • Judith Anderson, Australian-born British actress (d. 1992)
  • John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
  • Leonid Govorov, Soviet military commander (d. 1955)
• February 16 – Bill Lange, American basketball and football player and coach (d. 1953)
• February 19 – Elizabeth Rummel, German-Canadian mountaineer and environmental activist (d. 1980)
• February 20 – Ivan Albright, American painter, sculptor and print-maker (d. 1983)
• February 21 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-born American actress (d. 1979)
• February 22 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish and Soviet Red Army general and statesman (d. 1947)
• February 25
  • Peter Llewelyn Davies, British publisher, inspiration for Peter Pan (d. 1960)
  • Helen Jerome Eddy, American actress (d. 1990)
• February 27
  • Marian Anderson, African-American contralto (d. 1993)
  • Ferdinand Heim, World War II German general (Scapegoat of Stalingrad) d. 1977)

March–April

Lefty O'Doul

Princess Mary

• March 1 – Shoghi Effendi, Ottoman Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1957)
• March 3 – José E. Romero, Filipino politician (d. 1978)
• March 4 – Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player, restaurateur (d. 1969)
• March 5
  • Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (d. 1960)
  • Gunta Stölzl, German textile artist (d. 1983)
• March 7 – Henry Channon, American-born British politician (d. 1958)
• March 8 – Josep Pla, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1981)
• March 9 – Karoly Grosz, Hungarian–American illustrator of film posters (d. 1952)
• March 11 – Henry Cowell, American avant-garde composer (d. 1965)
• March 13 – Richard Hildebrandt, German Nazi politician and SS-Obergruppenführer (d. 1951)
• March 16
  • Flora Eldershaw, Australian novelist, critic, and historian (d. 1956)
  • Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
• March 17 – Barbu Solacolu, Romanian poet and social scientist (d. 1976)
• March 18 – John Langdon-Davies, British writer (d. 1971)
• March 19
  • Betty Compson, American actress (d. 1974)
  • Moms Mabley, American stand-up comedian and actress (d. 1975)
• March 21
  • Eugene Borden, French-American actor (d. 1971)
  • Johnny Ertle, Hungarian-American boxer (d. 1976)
• March 23
  • Leslie Andrew, New Zealand soldier (d. 1969)
  • John Lighton Synge, Irish mathematician and physicist (d. 1995)
• March 24
  • Wilhelm Reich, Austrian psychotherapist (d. 1957)
  • Theodora Kroeber, American writer and anthropologist (d. 1979)
• March 25
  • Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet, writer and public activist (d. 1937)
  • John Laurie, Scottish actor (d. 1980)
• March 27 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1958)
• March 28
  • Frank Hawks, American aviator (d. 1938)
  • Sepp Herberger, German football coach (d. 1977)
• March 31 – Oto Iskandar di Nata, Indonesian politician (d. 1945)
• April 4 – John Kotelawala, Sri Lankan statesman and 3rd Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1980)
• April 7
  • Erich Löwenhardt, German World War I fighter ace (d. 1918)
  • Walter Winchell, American broadcast journalist (d. 1972)
  • Michael Musmanno, American jurist, politician, and naval officer (d. 1968)
• April 8
  • Herbert Lumsden, British general (d. 1945)
  • Helen Gandy, American secretary to Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1988)
• April 10
  • Prafulla Chandra Sen, Indian politician and Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1990)
  • Miles Browning, American Navy officer (d. 1954)
• April 13 – Werner Voss, German World War I fighter ace (d. 1917)
• April 15 – Iida Chōko, Japanese actress (d. 1972)
• April 17
  • Thornton Wilder, American dramatist (d. 1975)
  • Thomas Ryum Amlie, American politician (d. 1973)
  • Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian guru of nondualism (d. 1981)
• April 19
  • Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese supercentenarian, world's longest lived man, last surviving man born in the 19th century and last surviving person born in 1897 (d. 2013)
  • Vivienne Segal, American actress (d. 1992)
• April 20 – Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Indian Vedic scholar and longevity claimant (d. 2020)
• April 21 – A. W. Tozer, American Protestant pastor (d. 1963)
• April 23 – Lester B. Pearson, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1972)
• April 24
  • Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican general, politician, and 45th President of Mexico, 1940-1946 (d. 1955)
  • Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist and fire prevention engineer (d. 1941)
• April 25
  • Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, British princess (d. 1965)
  • Merritt A. Edson, American marine corps general (d. 1955)
  • Fletcher Pratt, American writer and historian (d. 1956)
• April 26
  • Eddie Eagan, American boxer, bobsledder (d. 1967)
  • Douglas Sirk, German film director (d. 1987)

• April 29 – Mainie Jellett, Irish painter (d. 1944)

May–June

Einar Gerhardsen

Odd Hassel

Anthony Eden

Paavo Nurmi

• May 2 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
• May 3 – Musa Alami, Palestinian nationalist and politician (d. 1984)
• May 4
  • Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa, United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (d. 1981)
  • Pixinguinha, Brazilian composer, arranger, flutist, and saxophonist (d. 1973)
• May 5 – Kenneth Burke, American literary theorist, poet, essayist, and novelist (d. 1993)
• May 8 – Philip La Follette, American politician (d. 1965)
• May 10 – Einar Gerhardsen, 15th prime minister of Norway (d. 1987)
• May 11
  • Kurt Gerron, German-Jewish actor and film director (d. 1944)
  • George Murdock, American anthropologist (d. 1985)
• May 12
  • Earle Nelson, American serial killer and rapist (d. 1928)
  • Ross Gunn, American physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project (d. 1966)
• May 14
  • Sidney Bechet, American-born jazz saxophonist (d. 1959)
  • Robert Bartini, Hungarian-Soviet aircraft designer and scientist (d. 1974)
  • Ed Ricketts, American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher (d. 1948)
• May 15 – Vernon Treatt, Australian lawyer, soldier, Rhodes Scholar and politician (d. 1984)
• May 17
  • Laura Bromwell, American stunt pilot (d. 1921)
  • Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
• May 18 – Frank Capra, American film producer, director and writer (d. 1991)
• May 19 – Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
• May 25 – Alan Kippax, Australian cricketer (d. 1972)
• May 26 – Ernie O'Malley, Irish republican and writer (d. 1957)
• May 27 – John Cockcroft, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• May 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (d. 1957)
• June 2 – Tan Malaka, Indonesian teacher, philosopher, founder of Struggle Union and Murba Party, guerilla and fighter (d. 1949)
• June 3 – Memphis Minnie, American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter (d. 1973)
• June 5 – Charles Hartshorne, American philosopher, theologian and ornithologist (d. 2000)
• June 6
  • Georgios Grivas, Greek Cypriot officer of the Hellenic Army and founder and leader of Organization X, EOKA and EOKA B (d. 1974)
  • Jane Haining, Scottish missionary and recipient of Righteous Among the Nations (d. 1944)
• June 7
  • Kirill Meretskov, Soviet military officer, Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1968)
  • George Szell, Hungarian conductor (d. 1970)
  • Lampião, Brazilian bandit leader (d. 1938)
• June 8
  • John G. Bennett, British mathematician (d. 1974)
  • Mariano Suárez, 27th president of Ecuador (d. 1980)
• June 9 – Sylvia Breamer, Australian actress (d. 1943)
• June 10 – Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
• June 11 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian revolutionary (H.R.A. founder) (d. 1927)
• June 12
  • Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1977)
  • Alexandre Tansman, Polish composer, pianist and conductor (d. 1986)
• June 13 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (d. 1973)
• June 16 – Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
• June 19
  • Cyril N. Hinshelwood, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
  • Moe Howard, American comedian, actor (The Three Stooges) (d. 1975)
  • Hans Baur, Adolf Hitler's German pilot during the political campaigns of the early 1930 (d. 1993)
  • Sándor Szathmári, Hungarian writer, mechanical engineer, and Esperantist (d. 1974)
• June 20 – Alexander Andries Maramis, Indonesian politician and National Hero of Indonesia (d. 1977)
• June 22
  • Norbert Elias, German sociologist (d. 1990)
  • Edmund A. Chester, American broadcaster, journalist (d. 1973)
• June 24 – Daniel K. Ludwig, American businessman; billionaire philanthropist (d. 1992)
• June 26 – Viola Dana, American actress (d. 1987)
• June 27 – Otto Braun, German poet (d. 1918)

July–August

Plaek Phibunsongkhram

Tadeusz Reichstein

• July 1
  • Bert Schneider, Canadian boxer (d. 1986)
  • Tom Barry, Irish guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (d. 1980)
• July 3 – Hansa Jivraj Mehta, Indian activist, educator, and writer (d. 1995)
• July 5 – Mogens Wöldike, Danish conductor (d. 1988)
• July 8 – Isabelino Gradín, Uruguayan footballer and athlete (d. 1944)
• July 9
  • Albert Coady Wedemeyer, American general (d. 1989)
  • Enid Lyons, Australian politician (d. 1981)
• July 10
  • John Gilbert, American actor (d. 1936)
  • Legs Diamond, Irish-American gangster (d. 1931)
  • Karl Plagge, German military officer who rescued Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania (d. 1957)
• July 11 – Bull Connor, American civil rights opponent (d. 1973)
• July 12 – Stig Hansson Ericson, Swedish Navy naval officer (d. 1985)
• July 13 – Jewel Carmen, American silent film actress (d. 1984)
• July 14 – Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Thai field marshal, prime minister, and dictator (d. 1964)
• July 20 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-born chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1996)
• July 21
  • Edmund Heines, German Nazi politician and Deputy to Ernst Röhm (d. 1934)
  • Max Kase, American newspaper writer and editor (d. 1974)
• July 24 – Amelia Earhart, American aviator (d. 1937)
• July 26 – Paul Gallico, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1976)
• July 28 – James Fairbairn, Australian pastoralist, aviator, and politician (d. 1940)
• July 29 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British WWII general (d. 1983)
• July 30 – Red Hynes, American anti-communist and anti-labor police officer (d. 1952)
• August 4 – José Nucete Sardi, Venezuelan historian and diplomat (d. 1972)
• August 5
  • Aksel Larsen, Danish politician (d. 1972)
  • Joan Beauchamp Procter, British zoologist (d. 1931)
• August 6
  • Josef Charvát, Czech doctor and endocrinologist (d. 1984)
  • Lorenza Jordan Cole, American concert pianist and music educator (d. 1994)
• August 8 – William M. Callaghan, American Navy officer (d. 1991)
• August 10 – Jack Haley, American actor (d. 1979)
• August 11
  • Enid Blyton, British children's writer (d. 1968)
  • Käthe Haack, German actress (d. 1986)
• August 15 – Jane Ingham, English botanist and scientific translator (d. 1982)
• August 16
  • Carlo Del Prete, Italian aviator (d. 1928)
  • Hersch Lauterpacht, Ukrainian-born international lawyer (d. 1960)
  • Marjorie Barnard, Australian writer, critic, historian and librarian (d. 1987)
  • Bob Fothergill, American professional baseball player (d. 1938)
• August 19 – Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer (d. 1990)
• August 22
  • Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (d. 1986)
  • Nick Lucas, American jazz singer and guitarist (d. 1982)
• August 28 – Wilhelm Nowack, German economist and politician (d. 1990)
• August 26 – Yun Posun, 2nd president of South Korea (d. 1990)
• August 31 – Fredric March, American actor (d. 1975)

September–October

Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco

Walter Pidgeon

William Faulkner

• September 1 – Mary Cover Jones, American developmental psychologist (d. 1987)
• September 3
  • James Hanley, British novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1985)
  • Corry Tendeloo, Dutch lawyer, feminist, and politician (d. 1956)
• September 5 – Morris Carnovsky, American actor (d. 1992)
• September 6 – Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Brazilian painter (d. 1967)
• September 7 – Al Sherman, Russian-born American Tin Pan Alley songwriter (d. 1973)
• September 8
  • Jimmie Rodgers, American singer (d. 1933)
  • Ivan Borkovský, Czechoslovakian archaeologist (d. 1976)
• September 10
  • Otto Strasser, German Nazi politician (d. 1974)
  • Georges Bataille, French philosopher and intellectual (d. 1962)
• September 12 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1956)
• September 13 – Michel Saint-Denis, French-born actor, theatre director, drama theorist and radio broadcaster (d. 1971)
• September 15
  • Kurt Daluege, German Nazi officer, war criminal (d. 1946)
  • I. I. Chundrigar, Pakistani politician and the sixth prime minister of Pakistan (d. 1960)
• September 16 – Battling Siki, Senegalese boxer (d. 1925)
• September 18 – Francis Stewart Briggs, Australian aviator (d. 1966)
• September 20 – Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, 26th President of Brazil (d. 1967)
• September 22 – Frank O'Connor, American actor, rancher, and painter (d. 1979)
• September 23
  • Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
  • Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (d. 1994)
• September 25 – William Faulkner, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)
• September 26
  • Pope Paul VI (d. 1978)
  • Arthur Rhys-Davids, British World War I fighter ace (d. 1917)
• September 28 – Harry Beadles, Welsh professional footballer (d. 1958)
• September 30 – Alfred Wintle, British army officer, eccentric (d. 1966)
• October 2
  • Bud Abbott, American comedian, actor and producer (d. 1974)
  • V. R. Parton, English chess player and chess variant inventor (d. 1974)
• October 3
  • Louis Aragon, French author (d. 1982)
  • Ruth Muskrat Bronson, Cherokee poet, educator and Indian rights activist (d. 1982)
• October 5
  • Elise Bartlett, American actress (d. 1947)
  • Yank Levy, Canadian soldier, socialist, and military instructor (d. 1965)
• October 6 – Ngô Đình Thục, Vietnamese Catholic Archbishop of Huế (d. 1984)
• October 7
  • Elijah Muhammad, African-American co-founder of the Nation of Islam (d. 1975)
  • Charles Chauvel, Australian filmmaker, producer, actor and screenwriter (d. 1959)
• October 8
  • Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian-American film, theatre director (d. 1987)
  • Cleon Throckmorton, American painter, theatrical designer, producer, and architect (d. 1965)
• October 12 – Jane Ace, American radio actress and comedian (d. 1974)
• October 13 – Raymond Pace Alexander, African-American judge (d. 1974)
• October 15 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian statesman (d. 1960)
• October 17 – Ștefana Velisar Teodoreanu, Romanian novelist, poet and translator (d. 1995)
• October 19 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist (d. 1994)
• October 20 – Yi Un, Korean Crown Prince (d. 1970)
• October 28 – Edith Head, American costume designer (d. 1981)
• October 29
  • Joseph Goebbels, German Nazi propagandist (d. 1945)
  • Hilmar Reksten, Norwegian shipping magnate (d. 1980)
• October 30 – Agustín Lara, Mexican composer and interpreter of songs and boleros (d. 1970)

November–December

Quentin Roosevelt

Hermione Gingold

• November 2 – Richard Russell Jr., American politician (d. 1971)
• November 3 – Allan Adair, British army general (d. 1988)
• November 4
  • Dmitry Pavlov, Soviet general (d. 1941)
  • Janaki Ammal, Indian botanist (d. 1984)
• November 7 – Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (d. 1953)
• November 8 – Dorothy Day, American journalist, social activist and anarchist (d. 1980)
• November 9 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
• November 12 – Milward Simpson, American politician, governor and senator from Wyoming (d. 1993)
• November 13 – Tilly Edinger, German-American paleontologist (d. 1967)
• November 15
  • Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, Bt, English author (d. 1988)
  • Aneurin Bevan, Welsh politician (d. 1960)
• November 16 – Choudhry Rahmat Ali, Pakistani nationalist and politician (d. 1951)
• November 17 – Wilbert Hamilton, Canadian politician (d. 1964)
• November 18 – Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
• November 19
  • Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of American President Theodore Roosevelt, killed in action as fighter pilot (d. 1918)
  • Lloyd K. Garrison, American lawyer (d. 1991)
• November 21
  • Aubrey Devine, American football and basketball player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1981)
  • Vito Genovese, Italian-American mobster and the leader of the Genovese crime family (d. 1969)
• November 22 – Rudolf Roessler, German anti-Nazi spy (d. 1958)
• November 23 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Bengali author (d. 1999)
• November 24 – Lucky Luciano, Sicilian-American Mafia boss Salvatore Lucania (d. 1962)
• November 25 – Chu Ki-chol, Korean Presbyterian minister and martyr (d. 1944)
• November 26
  • Robert Accard, French footballer (d. 1971)
  • Theodore Lukits, Romanian-American painter. (d. 1992)
• November 30
  • Virginia Henderson, American nurse theorist (d. 1996)
  • L. Taylor Hansen, American writer (d. 1976)
  • Lee Morse, American singer-songwriter, composer, guitarist, and actress (d. 1954)
• December 2
  • Dean Alfange, American politician (d. 1989)
  • Rewi Alley, New Zealand writer and political activist (d. 1987)
  • Mary Elwyn Patchett, Australian writer, beautician, dietician (d. 1989)
• December 3 – William Gropper, American cartoonist (d. 1977)
• December 5
  • Gershom Scholem, German-born Israeli Jewish philosopher, historian (d. 1982)
  • Nunnally Johnson, American screenwriter, film director, producer and playwright (d. 1977)
• December 9 – Hermione Gingold, English actress (d. 1987)
• December 11
  • George Francis, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1942)
  • Opal Whiteley, American nature writer and diarist (d. 1992)
• December 12
  • Dorothy McKibbin, American Manhattan Project manager (d. 1985)
  • Lillian Smith, American writer and social critic (d. 1966)
• December 13 – Drew Pearson, American columnist (d. 1969)
• December 14
  • Kurt Schuschnigg, 11th Chancellor of Austria (d. 1977)
  • Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d. 1995)
• December 17 – Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr., American diplomat (d. 1961)
• December 18 – Fletcher Henderson, American musician (d. 1952)
• December 22 – Vojtěch Jarník, Czech mathematician (d. 1970)
• December 24 – Lazare Ponticelli, Italian-French supercentenarian; last surviving officially recognized French veteran of the First World War (d. 2008)
• December 25 – Thyra J. Edwards, African-American educator, social worker, journalist, and activist (d. 1953)
• December 26 – Willy Corsari, Dutch writer, actress and composer (d. 1998)
• December 28 – Ivan Konev, Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1973)
• December 31
  • Rhys Williams, Welsh actor (d. 1969)
  • Orry-Kelly, Australian-American costume designer (d. 1964)

Date unknown

• Abd-al Karim, Afghan emir (d. 1927)
• Nisar Muhammad Yousafzai, Afghan revolutionary and decorated War Hero of the Afghan War of Independence (d. 1937)
• Ernest Buckmaster, Australian artist (d. 1968)
• Lena Gurr, American artist (d. 1992)
• He Zhuguo, Chinese general (d. 1985)
• Halyna Kuzmenko, Ukrainian teacher and anarchist revolutionary (d. 1978)
• Musso, Indonesian revolutionary and leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia (d. 1948)
• Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk and self-immolator (d. 1963)

Deaths

January–June

Johannes Brahms

Andrés Bonifacio

Minna Canth

Louis Brière de l'Isle

• January 1 – Joseph S. Skerrett, American admiral (b. 1833)
• January 9 – Thomas Gwyn Elger, English astronomer (b. 1836)
• January 25 – Albion P. Howe, Union Army general (b. 1818)
• January 30 – Robert Themptander, 4th prime minister of Sweden (b. 1844)
• February 1 – Jeanne Merkus, Dutch deaconess, guerilla soldier and political activist (b. 1839)
• February 4 – Charles Bendire, U.S. Army captain, ornithologist (b. 1836)
• February 15 – Dimitrie Ghica, 10th prime minister of Romania (b. 1816)
• February 17 – Edmund Colhoun, American admiral (b. 1821)
• February 19 – Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician (b. 1815)
• March 6 – Sir Thomas Elder, Australian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1818)
• March 9 – Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, Iranian teacher, writer (b. 1838)
• March 10 – Savitribai Phule, Indian social reformer and poet (b. 1831)
• March 11 – Henry Drummond, Scottish evangelical writer, lecturer (b. 1851)
• March 19 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, Irish-born traveler (b. 1810)
• April 1 – Jandamarra, Australian Aboriginal insurrectionist (b. c. 1873)
• April 3 – Johannes Brahms, German composer (b. 1833)
• April 8 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postal director (b. 1831)
• April 10 – Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1851)
• April 30 – A. Viola Neblett, American activist, suffragist, women's rights pioneer (b. 1842)
• May 3 – Sir Frederick Knight, British politician (b. 1812)
• May 4 – Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria (b. 1847)
• May 7
  • Ion Ghica, 3-time prime minister of Romania (b. 1816)
  • Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale (b. 1822)
• May 10 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary (b. 1863)
• May 12 – Minna Canth, Finnish writer and social activist (b. 1844)
• May 21 – Gregorio Luperón, Dominican revolutionary leader (b. 1839)
• May 23 – Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, Indian rajah (b. 1850)
• June 17 – Sebastian Kneipp, German priest and naturopath (b. 1821)
• June 19 – Louis Brière de l'Isle, French general (b. 1827)

July–December

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Jan Heemskerk

• July 1 – Ropata Wahawaha, New Zealand Māori military leader (b. c.1820)
• July 6
  • Tommy Burns, English diver (b. 1867 or 1868)
  • Celia Barrios de Reyna, First Mother of the Nation of Guatemala (b. 1834)
• August 8
  • Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, incumbent Prime Minister of Spain and historian (assassinated) (b. 1828)
  • Viktor Meyer, German chemist (b. 1848)
• August 17 – Sir William Jervois, British military engineer and diplomat (b. 1821)
• August 24
  • Sébastien Lespès, French admiral (b. 1828)
  • Mutsu Munemitsu, Japanese statesman, diplomat (b. 1844)
• August 31 – Louisa Lane Drew, English-born American actress, theater manager (b. 1820)
• September 9
  • Richard Holt Hutton, English writer, theologian (b. 1826)
  • Ferenc Pulszky, Hungarian politician (b. 1814)
• September 20 – Louis Pierre Mouillard, French artist and aviation pioneer (b. 1834)
• September 21 – Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (b. 1819)
• September 27
  • Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French military leader (b. 1816)
  • George M. Robeson, American politician (b. 1829)
• September 30 – Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, French Roman Catholic and Discalced Carmelite nun, saint (b. 1873)
• October 2 – Edward Maitland, British writer (b. 1824)
• October 3 – Yamaji Motoharu, Japanese general (b. 1841)
• October 9
  • John M. B. Clitz, American admiral (b. 1821)
  • Jan Heemskerk, Dutch politician, 16th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1818)
• October 13 – William Daniel, American temperance movement leader (b. 1826)
• October 19 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
• October 26 – John J. Robison, American politician in Michigan (b. 1824)
• October 27
  • Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (b. 1833)
  • Carlos Antúnez González, Chilean politician (b. 1847)
  • Alexander Milton Ross, Canadian abolitionist, naturalist (b. 1832)
• October 28 – Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead, British colonial governor (b. 1824)
• October 29 – Henry George, American economist (b. 1839)
• November – Francisco Gonzalo Marín, Cuban poet, freedom fighter (b. 1863)
• November 1 – John Chard, British Army officer (b. 1847)
• November 3 – Thomas Lanier Clingman, American "Prince of Politicians" (b. 1812)
• November 13 – Ernest Giles, Australian explorer (b. 1835)
• November 15 – Lucinda Barbour Helm, American women's religious activist (b. 1839)
• November 17 – George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (b. 1820)
• November 18 – Sir Henry Doulton, English pottery manufacturer (b. 1820)
• November 19 – William Seymour Tyler, American educator, historian (b. 1810)
• November 23 – Étienne Stéphane Tarnier, French obstetrician (b. 1828)
• December 14 – Robert Simpson, Scottish-Canadian businessman (b. 1834)
• December 16 – Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)
• December 19 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet (b. 1861)
• December 28 – William Corby, American Catholic priest (b. 1833)

Date unknown

Isidora Goyenechea

• Isidora Goyenechea, Chilean industrialist, mine owner (b. 1836)

Further reading

• 1897 Annual Cyclopedia (1898) highly detailed coverage of "Political, Military, and Ecclesiastical Affairs; Public Documents; Biography, Statistics, Commerce, Finance, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Mechanical Industry" for year 1897; massive compilation of facts and primary documents; worldwide coverage; 824 pp