1884

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1850s  1860s  1870s  – 1880s –   1890s   1900s   1910s
Years:	1881 1882 1883 – 1884 – 1885 1886 1887

Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1884

January - March

• January 4 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
• January 5 - Princess Ida premieres at the Savoy Theatre.
• January 18 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Iesu Grist (Jesus Christ) Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
• February 1 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
• February 7 - Diocese of Madrid-Alcalá is founded.
• March 13 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).

April - June

• April 22 - Colchester earthquake, England; the UK's most destructive.
• May 1 - the first proclamation of eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1st, called May Day or Labour Day, is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
• June 4 - Estonian flag is consecrated as the flag of the Estonian Students Society.

July - September

• July 5 - Germany takes possession of Cameroon.
• July 23 - Today's Courier recorded the first tennis tournaments held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall, Leamington Spa, England.
• August 5 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbour.
• August 10 - A severe earthquake, magnitude 5.5, (intensity VII) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine, and west as far as Cleveland.
• September 5 - Staten Island Academy is founded.

October - December

• October - International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
• October 6 - United States Naval War College is established in Newport, Rhode Island.
• October 18 - University of Wales, Bangor (UK) founded.
• October 22 - The first woman receives a degree from an Irish university. The degree is granted by the Royal University of Ireland.
• November 1 - The Irish Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Thurles, Ireland.
• November 2 - Timişoara is the first town of Europe with streets illuminated by electric light.
• November 4 - United States presidential election: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
• November 15 - The Berlin Conference which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa begins (ends February 26, 1885).
• December 1 - American Old West - Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
• December 6 - Washington Monument was completed.
• December 16 - World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Undated

• Stefan-Boltzmann law reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann.
• Mark Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• First ascent made of Castle Mountain by geologist Arthur Philemon Coleman.
• The water hyacinth is introduced in the U.S. and quickly becomes an invasive species.
• Parliamentarism is introduced in Norway.
• Yellow Crane Tower was last burned in Wuhan.

Derby County Football Club was formed

Leicester City Football Club was formed

Births

1884 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1884 MDCCCLXXXIV
Ab urbe condita	2637
Armenian calendar	1333 ԹՎ ՌՅԼԳ
Assyrian calendar	6634
Bahá'í calendar	40–41
Bengali calendar	1291
Berber calendar	2834
British Regnal year	47 Vict. 1 – 48 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar	2428
Burmese calendar	1246
Byzantine calendar	7392–7393
Chinese calendar	癸未年十二月初四日 (4520/4580-12-4) — to — 甲申年十一月十五日 (4521/4581-11-15)
Coptic calendar	1600–1601
Ethiopian calendar	1876–1877
Hebrew calendar	5644–5645
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1940–1941
- Shaka Samvat	1806–1807
- Kali Yuga	4985–4986
Holocene calendar	11884
Igbo calendar
- Ǹrí Ìgbò	884–885
Iranian calendar	1262–1263
Islamic calendar	1301–1302
Japanese calendar	Meiji 17 (明治17年)
Juche calendar	N/A (before 1912)
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 12 days
Korean calendar	4217
Minguo calendar	28 before ROC 民前28年
Thai solar calendar	2427

January - June

• January 12 - Texas Guinan, American vaudeville performer (d. 1933)
• January 13 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born singer and comedian (d. 1966)
• January 21 - Roger Nash Baldwin, American social activist (d. 1981)
• January 23 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (d. 1956)
• January 28 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist, balloonist, and inventor (d. 1962)
• January 31 - Theodor Heuss, German politician and publicist (d. 1963)
• February 10 - Frederick Hawksworth, GWR Chief mechanical engineer. (d. 1976)
• February 12
  • Max Beckmann, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1950)
  • Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
• February 13 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete and inventor (d. 1961)
• February 14 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
• February 16 - Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (d. 1951)
• February 18 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970)
• February 22 - Abe Attell, American boxer (d. 1970)
• March 6 - R. Williams Parry, Welsh poet (d. 1956)
• March 13 - Sir Hugh Walpole, English novelist (d. 1941)
• March 17 - Alcide Nunez, American jazz musician (d. 1934)
• March 24 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
• March 25 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d. 1950)
• March 26 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969)
• April 4 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
• April 6 - Walter Huston, actor (d. 1950)
• April 12 - Otto Fritz Meyerhof, German-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1951)
• April 12 - Tenby Davies, Welsh half-mile world champion runner (d. 1932)
• May 1 - Henry Norwest, Canadian World War I sniper (d. 1918)
• May 8 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
• May 10 - Olga Petrova, English-born actress (d. 1977)
• May 14 - Claudius Dornier, German aircraft designer (d. 1969)
• May 27 - Max Brod, Austrian author (d. 1968)
• May 28 - Edvard Beneš, Austrian politician (d. 1948)

July - December

• July 12 - Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1920)
• July 15 - Phraya Manopakorn Nititada, Thailand's First Prime Minister (d. 1948)
• July 18 - Alberto di Jorio, former head of the Vatican Bank and secretary of the 1958 conclave (d. 1979)
• July 23 - Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (d. 1950)
• August 8 - Sara Teasdale, American poet (d. 1933)
• August 10 - Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (d. 1935)
• August 23 - Will Cuppy, American humorist (d. 1949)
• August 30 - Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• September 17 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920)
• September 24 - İsmet İnönü, Turkish soldier, statesman and the second President of Turkey.(d. 1973)
• September 24 - Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (d. 1953)
• October 7 - Major Harold Geiger, U.S. Army aviation pioneer (d. 1927)
• October 11 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
• October 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962)
• November 20 - Norman Thomas, American social reformer (d. 1968)
• December 3 - Walther Stampfli, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1965)
• December 30 - Tojo Hideki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
• date unknown
  • M. Louise Gross, American politician and lobbyist (d. 1951)
  • Richard Spikes, African American inventor (d.1962)

Deaths

January - June

• January 6 - Gregor Mendel, Czech geneticist (b. 1822)
• January 25 - Johann Gottfried Piefke, German conductor and composer (b. 1815)
• March 1 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (b. 1820)
• March 21 - Ezra Abbot, American Bible scholar (b. 1819)
• April 4 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist (b. 1858)
• April 6 - Emanuel Geibel, poet and dramatist (b. 1815)
• April 24 - Marie Taglioni, ballerina (b. 1804)
• May 12 - Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
• May 13 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (b. 1809)
• June 25 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (b. 1858)

July - December

• July 1 - Allan Pinkerton, American detective (b. 1819)
• July 10 - Paul Morphy, American chess player (b. 1837)
• July 15 - Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley, diplomat (b. 1804)
• October 4 - Leona Florentino, Filipina poet (b. 1849)
• October 18 - William VIII, Duke of Brunswick (b. 1806)
• November 16 - František Chvostek, Moravian physician (b. 1835)
• November 25 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (b. 1818)
• December 1 - William Swainson (lawyer), second, and last, Attorney-General (New Zealand) of the Crown Colony of New Zealand (b. 1809)
• December 20 - Domenico Consolini, Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1806)