1885 CE

First legal cremation in England: widowed painter Jeanette Pickersgill of London, "well known in literary and scientific circles", is cremated by the Cremation Society at Woking, Surrey. Prussian deportations: the Prussian government orders the expulsion of all ethnic Poles and Jews holding Russian citizenship, later extended to include Polish Austrian citizens. More than 30,000 people are forced across the border. The Georgia Institute of Technology is established in Atlanta, Georgia as the Georgia School of Technology.

In the 1880s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 5 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State, as a personal possession.source
  • March 26 – Prussian deportations: The Prussian government, motivated by Otto von Bismarck, expels all ethnic Poles and Jews without German citizenship from Prussia.source
  • March 31 – The United Kingdom establishes the Bechuanaland Protectorate.source
  • Full Date Unknown – Great Britain seizes Liberian territory west of the Mano River, and it becomes part of the Colony of Sierra Leone.Liberiasource
  • April 30 – A bill is signed in the New York State legislature, forming the Niagara Falls State Park.source
  • May 19 – After a three-month legislative battle in the Illinois General Assembly, John A. Logan is re-elected to the United States Senate.source
  • June 9 — Treaty of Tientsin (1885), Sino-French War endsChinasource
  • June 17 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.source
  • June 23 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
  • 29 June — Reshuffle of the Depretis government.Italysource
  • September 6 – Eastern Rumelia declares its union with Bulgaria, completing the unification of Bulgaria.source
  • September 18 – The union of Eastern Rumelia with Bulgaria is proclaimed at Plovdiv.source
  • September 28: The Saraiva-Cotegipe Law, also known as the Sexagenarian Law, is enacted, which frees slaves 60 years of age and older in the country.Brazilsource
  • September 30 – A British force abolishes the Boer republic of Stellaland, and adds it to British Bechuanaland.source
  • 22 October - The Independent Liberal Party (Chile) is established.Chilesource
  • 19 December – The city of Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, is established, and a naval base created, to increase Argentine control over southern Patagonia.Argentinasource
  • December 28 – 72 Indian lawyers, academics and journalists gather in Bombay to form the Congress Party.source
  • Iceland begins issuing its own Danish Krone banknotes.Icelandsource
  • Signing of the Treaty of Simulambuco.Portugalsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 3–4 – Sino-French War: Battle of Núi Bop – French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam.source
  • January 17 – Mahdist War in Sudan: Battle of Abu Klea – British troops defeat Mahdist forces.source
  • 5 February — Italian troops of the Corpo Speciale per l'Africa (Special Corps for Africa), commanded by Colonel Tancredi Saletta, move into Massawa in Italian Eritrea without resistance or protest from its Egyptian garrison. The outbreak of the Mahdist uprising in the Sudan had changed the political situation in the Horn of Africa. Egypt was unable to maintain its garrison in Massawa and, with British approval and using the massacre of the explorer Gustavo Bianchi in 1884 as a pretext, the government had decided to take action in December 1884. The move will eventually lead to the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889.Italysource
  • February 23 – Sino-French War: Battle of Đồng Đăng – France gains an important victory over China, in the Tonkin region of modern-day Vietnam.source
  • February 26 – The Berlin Conference ends and the Scramble for Africa begins.South Africasource
  • 3 March – The New South Wales Contingent, consisting of an infantry battalion and an artillery battalion, leaves Sydney to fight in the Sudan Campaign.Australiasource
  • March 24 — Battle of Bang Bo (Zhennan Pass)Chinasource
  • March 26 – The North-West Rebellion in Canada by the Métis people, led by Louis Riel, begins with the Battle of Duck Lake.source
  • March 26 – Louis Riel and the Métis battle the North-West Mounted Police at Duck LakeCanadasource
  • March 30 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident, which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.source
  • April 2 – Frog Lake Massacre: Cree warriors led by Wandering Spirit kill 9 settlers at Frog Lake in the Northwest Territories.source
  • April 14 – Sino-French War: A French victory at Kép causes China to withdraw its forces from Tonkin, in the final engagement of the conflict.source
  • May 2 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Cut Knife – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win their largest victory over Canadian forces.source
  • May 5 - Liberian general election, 1885Liberiasource
  • May 9–12 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Batoche – Canadian government forces inflict a decisive defeat on Métis rebels, bringing an end to their part in the rebellion.source
  • June 3 – Battle of Loon Lake: The Canadian North-West Mounted Police and allies force a party of Plains Cree warriors to surrender in the last skirmish of the North-West Rebellion, and the last battle fought on Canadian soil.source
  • July 28 – Louis Riel's trial for treason begins in Regina.source
  • August 29 – John L. Sullivan becomes first World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.United Statessource
  • September 2 – The Rock Springs massacre occurs in Rock Springs, Wyoming; 150 white miners attack their Chinese coworkers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.source
  • November 14–28 – Serbo-Bulgarian War: Serbia declares war against Bulgaria, but is defeated in the Battle of Slivnitsa on November 17–19.source
  • November 27 – St. Helena Anti-Chinese League is formed in Napa County, California.source
  • November – The Third Anglo-Burmese War begins.source
  • The Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association is established in the United Kingdom, to provide charitable assistance.source
  • Indian Army Pension Deficiency Act (British statute)Indiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 9 – The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.source
  • February 26 – The final act of the Berlin Conference regulates European colonization and trade, in the "scramble for Africa".source
  • 26 February – The final act of the Berlin Conference regulates European colonization and trade in Africa.Germanysource
  • 2 May – World Exhibition in Antwerp opens (to 2 November)Belgiumsource
  • 2 September – Cape Eastern – Molteno to Aliwal North, 69 mi 35 ch.South Africasource
  • 21 December – Natal – Merrivale to Estcourt, 61 mi 50 ch.South Africasource
  • The Geographical Society of Australasia sent an expedition to the Fly River region of Papua New Guinea, naming and exploring the Strickland River.Australiasource
  • The Berlin Conference for regulating European colonization and trade in AfricaPortugalsource
  • Date unknown - Creation of the Wahlström & WidstrandSwedensource

Religion & Belief

  • March 7 – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid is founded.source
  • March 7 - founding of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of MadridSpainsource
  • 22 March — Construction of the Monument to honour Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy, (Vittoriano) begins in Rome (1885–1911). The solemn ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the Vittoriano took place on 22 March 1885 in the presence of King Umberto I of Savoy. To erect the Vittoriano it was necessary to proceed with numerous expropriations and extensive demolitions of the buildings that were on the site. The overall aim was also to make Rome a modern European capital that would rival Berlin, Vienna, London and Paris by overcoming the centuries-old urban planning of Papal Rome. In this context, the Vittoriano would have been the equivalent of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, London's Admiralty Arch and the Opéra Garnier in Paris: these buildings all share a monumental and classical appearance that metaphorically communicates the pride and power of the nation of which they are the symbol.Italysource
  • 18 April – Scottish Catholic Observer first published as The Glasgow Observer.Scotlandsource
  • 25 April – The Romanian Orthodox Church is recognised as an autonomous Metropolis by Joachim IV of Constantinople.Romaniasource
  • 2 August – William Walsh is consecrated as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, an office he will hold until his death in 1921.Irelandsource
  • 17 August – the post of Secretary for Scotland is revived to be in charge of the Scottish Office, Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, being the first appointee.Scotlandsource
  • Monarch – Umberto I (1878–1900)Italysource
  • Daniel James (Gwyrosydd) – Caneuon GwyrosyddWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • May – The Depression of 1882–85 ends.United Statessource
  • July 16 – BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary), a worldwide mining and natural gas producer is founded in New South Wales, Australia.source
  • July 20 – The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 was enacted. The act imposed a $50 head tax on Chinese immigrants, with the exceptions of diplomats, government representatives, tourists, merchants, "men of science", and students. The act came after a big wave of Chinese immigrants going to Canada.Canadasource
  • July – Japan Brewery, predecessor of Kirin Holdings, is founded in Yokohama, Japan.source
  • 10 August – BHP, later to become the world's largest mining company, is registered as a company in Victoria.Australiasource
  • October 12 – The city of Fresno, California, is incorporated.source
  • The Danish Union of Joiners is established.Denmarksource
  • The National Bank (Landsbanki) is founded in Reykjavik.Icelandsource
  • East India Unclaimed Stock Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • Auckland Cup winner: Nelson (Australian owned)New Zealandsource
  • Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the constituencies of Denbighshire, Glamorganshire, North and South Monmouthshire are among those disestablished.Walessource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 20 – American inventor LaMarcus Adna Thompson patents a roller coaster.source
  • February 16 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The index stands at a level of 62.76, and represents the dollar average of 14 stocks: 12 railroads and two leading American industries.source
  • March 3 – A subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), is incorporated in New York.source
  • 24 March – Hugh Victor McKay patents stripper-harvester.Australiasource
  • April 3 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent, for his single-cylinder, water-cooled engine design.source
  • 3 April – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his 1-cylinder water-cooled engine design.Germanysource
  • May 20 – The first public train departs Swanage railway station, on the newly built Swanage Railway in England.source
  • July 14 – Sarah E. Goode is the first African-American woman to apply for and receive a patent, for the invention of the hideaway bed.source
  • July 15 – The Reservation at Niagara Falls opens, enabling access to all for free. Thomas V. Welch is the first Superintendent of the Park.source
  • July 20 – The Football Association recognises professional players in England.source
  • 1 August: The New Zealand Industrial Exhibition opens in WellingtonNew Zealandsource
  • August 29 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for the Daimler Reitwagen, regarded as the first motorcycle, which he has produced with Wilhelm Maybach.source
  • 1 October – DSB is founded through the merger of the state-owned Zealand Railway Company and Jutland-Funen Railway Company.Denmarksource
  • October 10 – The largest ever explosion for a non-military purpose is set off in the East River of New York City as part of a scheme for the removal of Hell Gate rocks by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.source
  • October 13 – The Georgia Institute of Technology is established in Atlanta, Georgia as the Georgia School of Technology.United Statessource
  • November 7 – Canadian Pacific Railway: At Craigellachie, British Columbia, the last spike is driven on a railway extending across Canada. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald considers the project to be vital to Canada, due to the exponentially greater potential for military mobility.source
  • November 7 – The Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie, British Columbia. John A. Macdonald receives a telegram announcing that the first train from Montreal in Quebec is approaching the Pacific.Canadasource
  • November 28 – The railway line from Cape Town to Kimberley is completed.South Africasource
  • December 1 – Dr Pepper is served for the first time (as acknowledged by the U.S. Patent Office; the exact date of Dr. Pepper's invention is unknown).source
  • Michigan Technological University (originally Michigan Mining School) opens its doors for the first time, in the future Houghton County Fire Hall.source
  • Karl Benz produces the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in Mannheim (Germany), regarded as the first automobile (patented and publicly launched the following year).source
  • Bicycle Playing Cards are first produced in the United States.source
  • John Kemp Starley demonstrates the Rover safety bicycle in Coventry (England), regarded as the first practical modern bicycle.source
  • Belgian State Railways Type 6 steam locomotive taken into use.Belgiumsource

Science & Discovery

  • 26 February – A speed skating duel at Frognerkilen between Axel Paulsen and Renke van der Zee was attended by between 20,000 and 30,000 spectators.Norwaysource
  • 14 March Scotland 8–2 Ireland (in Glasgow)Irelandsource
  • August 19 – S Andromedae, the only supernova seen in the Andromeda Galaxy so far by astronomers, and the first ever noted outside the Milky Way, is discovered.source
  • 12 September – Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord is the world's highest scoring unrigged professional Association football match. An official score of Dundee Harp 35–0 Aberdeen Rovers is recorded in a separate match on the same day.Scotlandsource
  • Martha, the last Passenger pigeon was bornsource
  • Evidence By Commission Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • New Zealand Cup winner: FusiladeNew Zealandsource

Health & Medicine

  • 15 January — A law to the redevelopment the city of Naples is approved after a devastating cholera outbreak in 1884 due to extremely poor sanitary conditions. The law provided the needed 100 million lire for the renewal of the city. The radical transformation of the city called risanamento intended to improve the sewerage infrastructure and replace the most clustered areas, considered the main cause of insalubrity, with large and airy avenues.Italysource
  • 26 March – Prussian deportations: the Prussian government orders the expulsion of all ethnic Poles and Jews holding Russian citizenship, later extended to include Polish Austrian citizens. More than 30,000 people are forced across the border.Germanysource
  • 20 May — The sixth International Sanitary Conference opened in Rome convened by the Italian government as a result of the outbreak of cholera in the country in 1884.Italysource
  • June – Former president Nicolás Avellaneda travels to France with his wife, seeking medical treatment for nephritis. The treatment is unsuccessful and 48-year-old Avellaneda, Argentina's youngest-ever president, dies at sea on the return journey.Argentinasource
  • July 6 – Louis Pasteur and Émile Roux successfully test their rabies vaccine. The patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.source
  • Frances Hoggan is the first woman doctor registered in Wales.Walessource

Crime & Justice

  • February 23 – An English executioner fails after several attempts to hang John Babbacombe Lee, sentenced for the murder of his employer Emma Keyse; Lee's sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.source
  • 23 February – The executioner at HM Prison Exeter fails after several attempts to hang John 'Babbacombe' Lee, sentenced for the murder of his employer Emma Keyse; Lee's sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.United Kingdomsource
  • July 20 – The trial of Louis Riel begins in Regina, District of AssiniboiaCanadasource
  • September 18 – Five Chinese people were lynched outside of Pierce City in the Idaho Territory of the United States.source
  • October 22 – The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council refuses to hear Riel's appealCanadasource
  • Théo van Rysselberghe, Portrait of Octave MausBelgiumsource
  • Fernand Khnopff, Portrait of Jeanne KéferBelgiumsource
  • Winners: Distillery 2–0 Limavady AlexanderIrelandsource
  • New Zealand Derby winner: StonyhurstNew Zealandsource
  • 1884–85 and 1885–86 Scottish Cups (Association football)Scotlandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 24 – Irish rebels damage Westminster Hall and the Tower of London with dynamite.source
  • 24 January – Irish terrorists damage Westminster Hall and the Tower of London with dynamite.Irelandsource
  • 18 June – Clifton Hall Colliery disaster: an explosion kills 178 in Salford.United Kingdomsource
  • September 15 – A train wreck of the P. T. Barnum Circus kills giant elephant Jumbo, at St. Thomas, Ontario.source
  • 17 October – Caulfield Cup when 16 of the 44 horses competing fell, resulting in the death of 25-year-old jockey Donald Nicolson.Australiasource

Climate & Environment

  • February 28 – February concludes without having a full moon.source
  • 10 June – breed standard for Highland cattle first defined (in Inverness) and herd book first produced.Scotlandsource
  • Winter morning after rain, Gardiner's CreekAustraliasource
  • Banff Hot Springs Reserve is established. It will be renamed Rocky Mountains Park in 1887– the first national park in Canada– and then Banff National Park in 1930.Canadasource

Culture & Society

  • February 18 – Mark Twain publishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the United States.United Statessource
  • February 20 – The Richmond Football Club is officially formed at the Royal Hotel in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria.source
  • February 21 – United States President Chester A. Arthur dedicates the Washington Monument.source
  • March 14 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Mikado opens, at the Savoy Theatre in London.source
  • March 26 – First legal cremation in England: widowed painter Jeanette Pickersgill of London, "well known in literary and scientific circles", is cremated by the Cremation Society at Woking, Surrey.source
  • April 11 – Luton Town Football Club is created by the merger of (Luton) Wanderers F.C. and Luton Excelsior F.C. in England.source
  • April 22 – Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 is premiered at St James's Hall in London with the composer himself conducting.source
  • May 2 – Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time in the United States.source
  • 13 May – Aalborg Boldspilklub is founded.Denmarksource
  • 1 June: The Cambridge News starts publication. It is produced three times a week. The newspaper closed in 1889.New Zealandsource
  • June 2 – Dunfermline Athletic F.C. is officially formed at the Old Inn, Dunfermline, Scotland.source
  • 5 June - The Academia Chilena de la Lengua is founded.Chilesource
  • September 8 – Saint Thomas Academy is founded in Minnesota.source
  • September 12 – Arbroath F.C. defeats Bon Accord F.C. in Scotland, 36-0, the highest score ever in professional football.source
  • October 3 – Millwall F.C. is founded by workers on the Isle of Dogs in London, as Millwall Rovers.source
  • October 13 – The Georgia Institute of Technology is established in Atlanta as the Georgia School of Technology.source
  • October 25 – Brahms's Symphony No. 4 is premiered in Meiningen, Germany, with the composer himself conducting.source
  • 3 November – Sheet Anchor wins the Melbourne Cup.Australiasource
  • Chuo Law College, as predecessor of Chuo University, founded in Kanda, Tokyo, Japan.source
  • The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, designed by William Le Baron Jenney, is completed. With ten floors and a fireproof weight-bearing metal frame, it is regarded as the first skyscraper.source
  • John Ormsby publishes his new English translation of Don Quixote, acclaimed as the most scholarly made up to that time. It will remain in print through the 20th century.source
  • Camp Dudley, the oldest continually running boys' camp in the United States, is founded.source
  • Canada outlaws the potlatch ceremony among Northwest Coast tribes. The law, often ignored, is repealed in 1951.Canadasource
  • Fra Kristiania-Bohêmen, novel by Hans Jæger, is first published.Norwaysource
  • Date unknown - Johanna Hedén founded Göteborgs Barnmorskesällskap (The Gothenburg Midwifery Association), the first union for women in Sweden.Swedensource

Births

Deaths

  • January 13 – Schuyler Colfax, 17th Vice President of the United States (born 1823)source
  • January 26 – Mahdist War in Sudan: Troops loyal to Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad conquer Khartoum; British commander Charles George Gordon is killed.source
  • January 26 – Charles "Chinese" Gordon, British general (killed in battle) (born 1833)source
  • March 12 - Próspero Fernández OreamunoCosta Ricasource
  • 8 April – Constantin Alexandru Rosetti, literary and political leader (born 1816).Romaniasource
  • April 25 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (born 1836)source
  • May 22 – Victor Hugo, French author (born 1802)source
  • July 23 – Ulysses S. Grant, 63, American Civil War general, 18th President of the United States (born 1822)source
  • August – Aga Khan II, Iranian religious leader (born 1830)source
  • September 15 – Jumbo, African elephant, star attraction in P. T. Barnum's circus (train accident) (born 1861)source
  • October 1 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, British politician and philanthropist (b.1801)source
  • October 29 – George B. McClellan, American Civil War general, politician (born 1826)source
  • November 16 – Louis Riel, Canadian-American leader (executed) (born 1844)source
  • November 16 – Louis Riel, Canadian rebel leader of the Métis, is executed for high treason.source
  • 24 November – Nicolás Avellaneda, 8th President of Argentina (born 1837)Argentinasource
  • November 25 – Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st Vice President of the United States (born 1819)source
  • Before November 1 – More than 24,000 Christians are killed, 225 churches burnt, seventeen orphanages and ten convents destroyed in Cochinchina (modern-day Vietnam).source
  • ? – Nader Mirza Qajar, Qajar writer.Iransource