1873 CE

German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for Franco-Prussian War. German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War. Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and patents a racquet sport, which he calls sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as Stické and an ancestor of lawn tennis, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.

In the 1870s, the 19th century.

1873 at a glance

World population: about 1.36 billion Our World in Data
United States: Ulysses S. Grant (President) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
United Kingdom: Victoria (Queen); William Ewart Gladstone (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
Russian Empire: Alexander II (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
Qing dynasty: Tongzhi (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
French Third Republic: Adolphe Thiers, then Patrice de Mac-Mahon (President) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
German Empire: William I (Emperor); Otto von Bismarck (Chancellor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602

Who led every country in 1873 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

February 11 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Amadeus I, and proclaims the First Spanish Republic.source
February 12 – Emilio Castelar, the former foreign minister, becomes prime minister of the new Spanish Republic.source
March 4 – President Ulysses S. Grant begins his second term. Henry Wilson sworn in as Vice President of the United States.United States source
March 22 – Emancipation Day for Puerto Rico: Most slaves are freed.source
31 March – Supreme Court of Judicature Act reforms the judiciary, establishing the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales and abolishing the Court of Common Pleas as a separate institution and, with it, the office of attorney at law.United Kingdom source
May 1 – The use of Dutch is officially allowed in the Cape of Good Hope's parliament.South Africa source
May 23 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police (which is renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).source
July 1 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.source
July 17 – Richard Southey becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West.source
21 July - The post of Prime Minister for Norway was instituted, and Frederik Stang was the first appointed.Norway source
July 22 – Sir Benjamin Pine becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.source
July – The end of the war between the United Kingdom and Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who is involved in the trading of slaves, leads to the establishment of the Gold Coast Colony.source
August 12 – A peace treaty is signed between Imperial Russia and the Khanate of Khiva, making the khanate a Russian protectorate.source
17 August – Law allowing the use of Dutch in courts of law.Belgium source
September - The Argentine Chamber of Deputies approves the Secret Mutual Defense Treaty of 1873 and votes $6,000,000 towards the War of the Pacific.Argentina source
22 October – Bismarck negotiates the League of the Three Emperors, ensuring an alliance between Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire.Germany source
October 29 – At Dresden, Albrecht I becomes new King Albrecht I of King of Saxony, an independent state within the German Empire, upon the death of his father King Johann, who had ruled since 1854.source
November 5 – Pacific Scandal: the House of Commons of Canada passes a vote of no confidence in Sir John A. Macdonald's government.Canada source
November 7 – Alexander Mackenzie becomes the second Prime Minister of Canada.source
November 17 – Budapest, Hungary's capital, is formed from Pest, Buda and Óbuda.source
The League of the Three Emperors is created. It links the conservative monarchs of Austria-Hungary, the German Empire and the Russian Empire in an alliance against radical movements.source

Conflict & Security

January 17 – American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat the United States Army.source
January 17 – Indian Wars: The first Battle of the Stronghold is fought during the Modoc War.United States source
17 February: The Daily Southern Cross Newspaper prints a hoax report of a Russian invasion of Auckland.New Zealand source
April 2 – The Pacific Scandal breaks out.Canada source
April 15–17 – American Indian Wars: The Second Battle of the Stronghold is fought.source
April 23 – Third Carlist War EVENTS IN MADRID, SPAIN -- Brigadier General Carmona confronts the insurgents at the Madrid bullring.source
May 5 – Third Carlist War in Spain: Battle of Eraul – Carlists under General Dorregaray defeat Republicans at Eraul, near Estella.source
May 9 – Third Carlist War: The Battle of Montejurra is fought at Navarra, Spain.source
May 20 – In Chipping Norton, England, rioters attempt to free the Ascott Martyrs –16 women sentenced to imprisonment, for attempting to dissuade strikebreakers in an agricultural labor dispute.source
May 23 – North-West Mounted Police are founded to police the Northwest Territories, which then included the region today of Alberta and Saskatchewan.Canada source
May 28 – C. Laan brings order to the chaos created by the dockworker riots of Tripoli, Lebanon.source
May 28 – The city of Khiva in Turkestan falls to Imperial Russian forces, under the command of General Konstantin von Kaufman.source
June 4 – American Indian Wars: The Modoc War ends with the capture of Kintpuash (Captain Jack).source
June 4 – Indian Wars: The Modoc War ends with the capture of Kintpuash ("Captain Jack").United States source
July 9 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Alpens – Campaigning in Catalonia, a government column under General José Cabrinetty is ambushed at Alpens, 15 miles east of Berga, by Carlist forces under General Francisco Savalls. After heavy fighting, with Cabrinety killed, virtually the entire column of 800 men is killed or captured.source
September 16 – German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War.source
16 September – German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for Franco-Prussian War.France source
16 September – German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War.Germany source
27 September – Third Anglo-Ashanti War: Royal Engineers land on the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) to prepare for an attack on the Kingdom of Ashanti's ruler Kofi Karikari, who has been involved in the trading of slaves.United Kingdom source
November 7 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Montejurra – Determined to recapture the key city of Estella in Navarre, Spanish Republican General Domingo Moriones advances on the Carlists under General Joaquín Elío at nearby Montejurra. After very heavy fighting both sides claim victory, but Moriones withdraws, and Estella remains in Carlist hands. Don Carlos is present in the front line.source
December 21 – French official Francis Garnier is attacked outside Hanoi by Black Flag mercenaries fighting for the Vietnamese.source
December 22 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Bocairente – Campaigning in Valenica, Spanish Republican General Valeriano Weyler is attacked at Bocairente, northwest of Alcoy, by a greatly superior Carlist force under General José Santés. Weyler is initially driven back, losing some of his guns, but in a brilliant counter-attack he turns defeat into victory, and Santés is heavily repulsed and forced to withdraw.source
December 27 – Third Carlist War: Siege of Bilbao (until 2 May 1874) – Campaigning in Navarre, Pretender Don Carlos VII and General Joaquín Elío besiege Bilbao, held by General Ignacio del Castillo and 1,200 men. The Carlist force is ten times this number, and includes most of the troops from Navarre, Vizcaya and Álava, although a considerable force is left in Guipúzcoa. Despite defeat at nearby Somorrostro, Republican commander Marshal Francisco Serrano, supported by Generals Manuel de la Concha and Arsenio Martínez-Campos, brilliantly breaks the siege, and Concha then marches on Estella.source

Exploration & Expansion

February 20 – British naval officer John Moresby discovers the site of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and claims the land for Britain.source
May 1 – The Vienna World's Fair opens in the capital of Austria-Hungary and runs for six months, closing on October 31.source
August 30 – The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition discovers Franz Josef Land.source
3 September – The town of Cooktown, Queensland is founded after gold is discovered at the Palmer River, sparking a gold rush.Australia source
December 4 – HMS Challenger, on its worldwide marine research expedition, is officially welcomed in Cape Town.South Africa source
December 15 – Women of Fredonia, New York, march against the retail liquor dealers in town, to inaugurate the Woman's Crusade of 1873–74.source
December 26 – HMS Challenger arrives at Prince Edward Islands and contacts survey and charts the islandsSouth Africa source
Liebig's Extract of Meat Company begins producing tinned corned beef, sold under the label Fray Bentos, from the town in Uruguay where it is processed.source
Alphonse Daudet - Robert HelmontFrance source
Namaqualand – Muishondfontein to Kookfontein, 15 mi.South Africa source

Religion & Belief

April 1 – James Pope becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island for the second time, replacing Robert Haythorne.Canada source
3 May: The New Zealand Tablet begins publication in Dunedin. The newspaper was published weekly by the Catholic Church until 1996.New Zealand source
May 4 – the Roman Catholic St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry, is dedicated.Ireland source
September 1 – L. C. Owen becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Pope.Canada source
Foundation of the first women's rights organization in Sweden, the Married Woman's Property Rights Association.Sweden source
Ebenezer Thomas – Gweithiau Barddonol Eben Fardd (posthumously published)Wales source
Robert Elis (Cynddelw) – Manion HynafiaetholWales source

Economy & Finance

February 12 – The Coinage Act of 1873 in the United States is signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. Coming into effect on April 1, it ends bimetallism in the U.S., and places the country on the gold standard.source
March 29 – The Rio Tinto Company is formed in Spain, following the February 17 purchase of the Rio Tinto Mine from the Spanish government by a British investment group.source
March – Robert Fleming & Co. founded by Robert Fleming in Dundee as a series of investment trusts including the Scottish American Investment Company (co-founded with William Menzies)Scotland source
5 May – The Scandinavian Monetary Union, a monetary union with Sweden, is formed, pegging the countries' currencies to each other.Denmark source
5 May - The Scandinavian Monetary Union is founded. Swedish krona becomes the currency, replacing the riksdaler, in the effort to create a central, trans-national currency in Scandinavia.Sweden source
May 9 – Der Gründerkrach: The Wiener Börse (Vienna stock exchange) crash in Austria-Hungary ends the Gründerzeit, and heralds the global Panic of 1873 and Long Depression.source
18 May – Law allowing the formation of limited liability companies.Belgium source
July 9 – The government of Otto von Bismarck in a united Germany introduces the gold mark, a unified currency to replace the various legal tender of the nation-states of the German Confederation..source
September 18 – The New York stock market crashes as the Jay Cooke & Company investment firm declares bankruptcy, triggering the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression.source
September 18 – The New York stock market crash triggers the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression.United States source
November 8 – Winnipeg incorporated as a city.Canada source
December 16 – The Heineken Brewery is founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.source
The Swedish arms company Aktiebolaget (AB) Bofors-Gullspång, better known as Bofors, is founded.source
The Married Woman's Property Rights Association is founded in Sweden.source
Konishiya Rokubei, predecessor of the Konica Minolta worldwide imaging brand, is founded in Tokyo, Japan.source
The Baden gulden, the Bavarian gulden, the Bremen thaler, the Hamburg mark, the Hesse-Kassel vereinsthaler, the Mecklenburg vereinsthaler, the Prussian vereinsthaler, the Saxon vereinsthaler, the South German gulden and the Württemberg gulden are all abolished and replaced with the new single currency of the German Empire, the German gold mark.Germany source
Government Savings Promotion ActIndia source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 - Japan begins using the Gregorian calendar.Japan source
13 January – Convention with The Netherlands for building water defences on the Zwin comes into effect.Belgium source
March 1 – E. Remington and Sons of Ilion, New York, start production of the first practical typewriter.United States source
May 20 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive United States patent 139121, for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. begins manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.source
May – Henry Rose exhibits barbed wire at an Illinois county fair, which is taken up by Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish, who invent a machine to mass-produce it.source
August 20 – Prime Minister John Molteno authorises construction of the new Cape Eastern railway line from East London.South Africa source
December – Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and patents a racquet sport, which he calls sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as Stické and an ancestor of lawn tennis, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.source
December: The Onehunga Branch railway line from Auckland to Onehunga (via Newmarket, Ellerslie, and Penrose) is opened.New Zealand source
In Mexico, the Veracruz–Mexico City railroad is completed.source
Coors Brewing Company begins making beer in Golden, Colorado.source
Demonstration of an electric tram operated on Miller's line at Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky.source
Frankfurt South station is opened.Germany source
The first Icelandic postage stamps were published in Iceland.Iceland source
Indian Railway Companies Act (British statute)India source

Science & Discovery

January 1 – Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar.source
July 5 – New Rush in Griqualand West, South Africa, is renamed Kimberley.source
July 5 – New Rush in Griqualand West is renamed Kimberley after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley.South Africa source
Nine Pekin ducks are imported to Long Island (the first in the United States).source
Hermann von Helmholtz is awarded the Copley Medal "for his researches in physics and physiology".Germany source
The armoured frigate SMS Preußen is launched.Germany source
Edinburgh Evening News first publishedScotland source
Lexicographer James Murray publishes Dialect of the Southern Counties of ScotlandScotland source

Health & Medicine

February 20 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco.source
March 3 – Censorship: The United States Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.source
March 3 – Censorship: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.United States source
18 June – Alice Vickery passes the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's examination, becoming the first qualified female pharmacist in the U.K.United Kingdom source
Émile Zola - Le Ventre de ParisFrance source
Jules Verne - Le Pays des fourruresFrance source
The Cape Government establishes the first district boarding schools to educate children from rural areas while education is standardised at the Cape.South Africa source
Eliza Daniel Stewart organizes the Woman's Temperance League in Osborn, Ohio.United States source
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is admitted to membership of the British Medical Association. As the Association votes against the admission of further women in 1878, she remains the only woman member for nineteen years.United Kingdom source

Crime & Justice

January 1 – The California Penal Code goes into effect.source
10 July – Paul Verlaine shoots at Arthur Rimbaud, slightly injuring him.Belgium source
July 21 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West (US$3,000 from the Rock Island Express).source
July 21 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West (US$3,000 from the Rock Island Express).United States source
8 August – Paul Verlaine sentenced to two years in prison for injuring Arthur Rimbaud with a fire arm.Belgium source
9 October – The first recorded sheepdog trial in the UK takes place at Bala.Wales source
15 November – statue to Greyfriars Bobby erected in EdinburghScotland source
30 December – Elizabeth Woolcock is hanged at the Adelaide Gaol, the only woman to be executed in South Australia.Australia source
Georges Bizet - Jeux d'enfants (Petite Suite)France source
Extradition Act (British statute)India source

Disasters & Accidents

22 January – Northfleet, carrying emigrants for Tasmania, sinks at anchor off Dungeness after being rammed by a Spanish steamship with the death of 293 and 86 survivors.United Kingdom source
1 March – The sailing ship Chacabuco sinks off the Great Orme with the loss of 24 lives.Wales source
April 1 – The British ocean liner RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 people.source
April 1 – The SS Atlantic is wrecked off Peggys Cove.Canada source
1 April – the White Star liner RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, 547 die.United Kingdom source
April 19 – In Richmond, Rhode Island, 11 people perish in a train derailment, due to a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch (modern-day Wood River Junction).source
June 9 – Alexandra Palace entertainment venue in London is destroyed by fire, only a fortnight after its opening.source
9 June – Alexandra Palace entertainment venue in north London is destroyed by fire only a fortnight after its opening.United Kingdom source
October 2 – The British ship SS Ismailia, an Anchor Line steamer that departed from New York on September 30 with 52 people disappears while en route to Glasgow.source
November 22 – SS Ville du Havre, on passage from New York to France, collides with Scottish 3-masted iron clipper Loch Earn in mid-Atlantic and sinks in 12 minutes with the loss of 226 lives.source
9 December – More than 1,000 striking gold miners attack police and Chinese workers brought in to Clunes, Victoria to break the strike.Australia source
Genocide that reduced the population of Yunnan by at least 5 millionChina source

Climate & Environment

19 July – Surveyor William Gosse names "Ayers Rock" after the premier of South Australia Henry Ayers (later changed to its Indigenous name, Uluru).Australia source
August 25 – A cyclone hits Cape Breton Island, killing 500 and causing much damage.Canada source
Late August: A cyclone hits the South Island east coast, wrecking several ships.New Zealand source

Culture & Society

27 February - The Santiago Severín Library is founded.Chile source
March 15 – The Phi Sigma Kappa student fraternity is founded at the Massachusetts Agricultural College.source
April 4 – The Kennel Club, the world's first kennel club, is founded in the United Kingdom.source
May 14 – The Ohrigstad area is proclaimed a public gold field after gold is discovered in the Selati River.South Africa source
May 23 – The Preakness Stakes horse race is run for the first time in Baltimore.source
May 27 – Classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovers Priam's Treasure.source
31 May – Priam's Treasure was discovered by classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.Germany source
September 15 – The International Meteorological Organization (IMO) is established.source
September 17 – The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, later Ohio State University, opens its doors with 25 students, including 2 women.source
September 25 – Classes begin at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.source
November 18–21 – Irish Home Rule movement: The Home Government Association reconstitutes itself as the Home Rule League.source
November – 1873 Newfoundland general election.Canada source
December 19 (December 7 OS) – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasia The Tempest, composed between August and October, is premiered, in Moscow.source
December 23 – The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is founded, in Hillsboro, Ohio.source
27 December – Formal opening of the Bourse Palace.Belgium source
Royal Montreal Club in Montreal, the first permanent golf club in North America.source
Toronto Argonauts (football), the oldest professional sports team still playing in North America.source
Itu Convention, first Republican Convention in Brazil in Itu, 18 AprilBrazil source
Skautafélag Reykjavíkur is founded.Iceland source
The Auckland and Thames football clubs adopt rugby union, having previously played association football.New Zealand source

Births

January 2 – Thérèse of Lisieux, Catholic saint, mystic (died 1897)source
February 3 – Hugh Trenchard, British military aviation pioneer (died 1956)source
February 25 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (died 1921)source
March 22 - Julieta Lanteri, Italian Argentine physician, freethinker, and women's rights activist (died 1932).Argentina source
March 29 – Ali Mojuz, Iranian Azerbaijani poet.Iran source
April 1 (N.S.)/March 20 (O.S.) – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist and composer (died 1943)source
April 7 – John McGraw, American baseball player, manager (died 1934)source
April 13 – John W. Davis, American politician, diplomat, and lawyer (died 1955)source
May 28 – D. D. Sheehan, Irish politician (died 1948)source
July 20 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviation pioneer (died 1932)source
20 July - Alberto Santos-DumontBrazil source
31 July – Domingos Oliveira, politician, military officer (died 1957)Portugal source
August 26 – Lee de Forest, American inventor (died 1961)source
September 1 – João Ferreira Sardo, Portuguese presbyter and founder of Gafanha da Nazaré (died 1925)source
October 30 – Dave Gallaher, New Zealand rugby union football player (died 1917)source
October 30 – Francisco I. Madero, 33rd president of Mexico (died 1913)source
December 7 – Willa Cather, American novelist (died 1947)source
December 30 – Al Smith, American politician, Democratic presidential candidate (died 1944)source

Deaths

January 9 – Napoleon III, last Emperor of the French (born 1808)source
January 18 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, English novelist (born 1803)source
February 7 – Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish writer (born 1814)source
February 18 – Vasil Levski, Bulgarian revolutionary (executed) (born 1837)source
April 2 – Malek Jahan Khanom, Regent of Persia, Qajar queen mother and princess.Iran source
April 13 – Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan.source
April 18 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (born 1803)source
May 1 – David Livingstone, Scottish explorer of Africa (born 1813)source
May 6 – José Antonio Páez, first president of Venezuela (born 1790)source
May 7 – Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States (born 1808)source
May 7 – John Stuart Mill, British philosopher (born 1806)source
May 22 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist (born 1785)source
9 June - Francisco Javier Ovalle BezanillaChile source
August 4 – American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the Seventh Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the first time with the Sioux, near the Tongue River (only 1 man on each side is killed).source
August 23 - Félix de la Peña, politician (born 1807 in Argentina, 1807)Argentina source
September 17 – Alexander Berry, Scottish adventurer, Australian pioneer (born 1781)source
December 14 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born geologist, naturalist (born 1807)source
Amélie of Leuchtenberg, Empress of Brazil, died in Lisbon (born 1812).Portugal source