1886 CE

The West End Riots following a popular meeting in Trafalgar Square, London. A white mob storms a courthouse in Carroll County, Mississippi, killing 23 African Americans. The Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Elektrotechnik (Workshop for Fine Mechanics and Electronics) is founded in Baden-Württemberg, Germany by Robert Bosch. The company will later become the home appliance and power tool brand, Robert Bosch GmbH.

In the 1880s, the 19th century.

1886 at a glance

World population: about 1.48 billion Our World in Data
U.S. president: Grover Cleveland Wikidata
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, head of state: Victoria Wikidata
Canada, head of government: John A. Macdonald Wikidata

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 16 – A resolution is passed in the German Parliament to condemn the Prussian deportations, the politically motivated mass expulsion of ethnic Poles and Jews from Prussia, initiated by Otto von Bismarck.source
March 3 – The Treaty of Bucharest ends the Serbo-Bulgarian War in the Balkans.source
3 March – The Treaty of Bucharest is signed in the Romanian capital, bringing to an end the Serbo-Bulgarian War.Romania source
3 April – President Julio Argentino Roca, with the support of the agricultural elites – as well as of the London financial powerhouse, Barings Bank – fields his son-in-law, Córdoba Province Governor Miguel Juárez Celman, as the PAN candidate for president; he is elected almost unanimously.Argentina source
April 4 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the First Irish Home Rule Bill in the Parliament of the United Kingdom; it is defeated on June 8.source
April 4 - Spanish general election, 1886Spain source
12 May - Angola is incorporated as a colony.Portugal source
May 15 – Portugal and France agree to regulate the borders of their colonies in Guinea.source
23 May — First round of the 1886 Italian general election with a second round of voting on 30 May. The "ministerial" Historical Left led by Prime Minister Depretis emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 292 of the 508 seats.Italy source
July 23: The Republic of Cunani, located in present-day Amapá, is proclaimed.Brazil source
July 25 – Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
1 September: Police Force Act comes into effect, splitting the New Zealand Police Force from the standing army (and militia).New Zealand source
October 7 – Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.source
Addis Ababa is founded in the Ethiopian Empire.source
Queen Victoria grants the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to the Clunies Ross family.Australia source

Conflict & Security

January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885.source
February 6–9 – Seattle riot of 1886: Anti-Chinese sentiments result in riots in Seattle, Washington.source
February 8 – The West End Riots following a popular meeting in Trafalgar Square, London.source
March 17 – A white mob storms a courthouse in Carroll County, Mississippi, killing 23 African Americans.source
10 April – Soldiers fire on strikers in RouxBelgium source
27 May – Tellef Dahll Schweigaard, politician (born 1806)Norway source
12 July – mid-September: Belfast riots begin with the Orange Institution parades and continue sporadically throughout the summer; clashes take place between Catholics and Protestants, and also between Loyalists and police. Thirteen people are killed in a weekend of serious rioting, with an official death toll of 31 people over the period.Ireland source
12 July–mid-September – Belfast riots: Beginning with the Orange Institution parades and continuing sporadically throughout the summer, clashes take place between Catholics and Protestants, and also between Loyalists and police. Thirteen people are killed in a weekend of serious rioting, with an official death toll of 31 people over the period.United Kingdom source
August 13 – Nagasaki Incident: Chinese troops riot during shore leave in Nagasaki, Japan.source
September 4 – American Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders, with his last band of warriors, to General Nelson Miles, at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.source
September 4 – Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.United States source
4 November – Ole C. Johnson, soldier in the American Civil War (born 1838)Norway source
November – Arsenal wins the Melbourne CupAustralia source
Beginning of the tithe revolt in Denbighshire.Wales source

Exploration & Expansion

17 January – the Anglo-Irish writers cousins Somerville and Ross first meet, at Castletownshend.Ireland source
11 May – the International Exhibition of Navigation, Commerce and Industry in Liverpool is opened by Queen Victoria.United Kingdom source
21 June – Natal – Estcourt to Ladysmith, 45 mi 21 ch.South Africa source
1-30 June - Numerous Norwegian emigrants arrived in North American ports aboard transatlantic steamships, including New York, Quebec, Boston, Philadelphia, and Halifax.Norway source
September – Lieutenant William Henn, R.N. of the Royal Northern Yacht Club with Galatea challenges unsuccessfully for the America's Cup in New York Harbor.Scotland source
The main gold reef on the Witwatersrand is discovered, giving birth to Ferreira's Camp, later to be named Johannesburg.South Africa source
December 17 – English adventurer Thomas Stevens concludes the first circumnavigation by bicycle in Yokohama, having set out on his penny-farthing from San Francisco in 1884.source
The village of Skorenovac is founded in Serbia, mostly by Székely Hungarians.source
Pierre Loti - Pêcheur d'IslandeFrance source
Trinomali or Tiruvannamalai, a cheftian town, an ancient mart and the headquarters of the taluk of same name in South Arcot district in Madras Presidency was constituted as municipality. It was shifted to North Arcot district later. After independence, the city and few taluks of North Arcot district separated as new district with Trinomali as headquarters.India source

Religion & Belief

3 January – Andreas Grimelund, bishop (born 1812)Norway source
25 January – The first assembly of the Federal Council of Australasia is held in Hobart.Australia source
March 1 – The Anglo-Chinese School is founded by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham on Amoy Street in Singapore.source
4 April – Henri-Charles Lambrecht consecrated coadjutor bishop of GhentBelgium source
April 6 – The settlement of Vancouver, British Columbia, is incorporated.source
April 24 – Father Augustine Tolton, the first Roman Catholic priest from the United States to identify himself publicly as African American, is ordained in Rome.source
April 24 – Father Augustine Tolton, the first Roman Catholic priest from the U.S. to identify himself publicly as African American, is ordained in Rome.United States source
19 May - Creation of the Duke of Albuquerque title.Portugal source
June 3 – Uganda Martyrs: Charles Lwanga, 12 other Catholic boys and men, and 9 Anglicans, are burned (and another Catholic speared) to death, at the orders of Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda in Namugongo.source
June 7 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau becomes the first Canadian cardinalCanada source
August 19 – The Christian Union (Church of God) is established in Monroe County, Tennesseesource
September 9 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is signed.source
Kirkjubólskirkja was constructed.Iceland source
Monarch – Umberto I (1878–1900)Italy source

Economy & Finance

23 May – Romania introduces a tariff on imported goods to protect local industry, which leads to Austria-Hungary introducing new custom duties on imports and the Romanian-Austro-Hungarian customs war. It lasts until December 1893.Romania source
1 July – The national bank (Landsbanki) begins operations.Iceland source
September – Avon Products, a worldwide cosmetics and household brand is founded by David H. McConnell in New York City, United States.source
15 November – Robert Bosch GmbH is founded.Germany source
28 December – Peder Sather, banker and philanthropist (born 1810)Norway source
Scotch whisky distiller William Grant & Sons is founded.source
Yorkshire Tea is established in Harrogate, England.source
Johnson & Johnson, which becomes a multinational brand, begins manufacturing healthcare products in New Jersey, United States.source
Food product and processing brand Del Monte Foods is founded in California, United States.source
Auckland Cup – Nelson (Australian owned)New Zealand source
Burmah Oil founded as the Rangoon Oil Company in Glasgow by David Sime Cargill.Scotland source
Undated – Arthur Hinds & Company, later Barnes & Noble booksellers, is founded in New York City.United States source
The corporation of the Borough of Holt is dissolved.Wales source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 26 - The Hokkaidō Agency opens, with its main office in Sapporo and branch offices in Hakodate and Nemuro.Japan source
January 29 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen (built in 1885).source
February 14 – The first trainload of oranges leaves Los Angeles via the United States transcontinental railroad.source
March 16 – A law establishing the Kiel Canal is adopted in the German Empire.source
March 20 – William Stanley Jr. demonstrates the first commercial alternating current generator and transformer system in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.source
March 29 – Wilhelm Steinitz becomes the first recognized World Chess Champion.source
March – Gottlieb Daimler assembles his first automobile, in Germany.source
May 4 – Emile Berliner starts work that leads to the invention of the gramophone.source
May 10 – Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that corporations have the same rights as living persons.source
May 29 – John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (in The Atlanta Journal).source
7 June — Palermo Centrale railway station, the main railway station of Palermo, capital of Sicily, is opened.Italy source
June 12 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria is detained as part of a deposition, drowning the following day under mysterious circumstances. Because his brother Otto lacks mental capacity, their uncle Luitpold (until 1912) serves as regent. Six weeks later, Ludwig's unfinished Neuschwanstein Castle is opened to the public.source
June 13 – A large log jam forms on the St. Croix River near Taylors Falls, Minnesotasource
July 3 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen.source
July 9 – American inventor Charles Martin Hall files a patent for his inexpensive method of refining aluminium (discovered on February 23); independently and near-simultaneously discovered in France by Paul Héroult it becomes known as the Hall–Héroult process.source
July 23 – Steve Brodie is reported to have made a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge, a claim subsequently disputed.source
13 August – Alexandru Ciurcu demonstrates the first boat powered by a jet engine. It travelled for 15 minutes.Romania source
September 21 – American physicist William Stanley Jr. patents the first practical alternating current transformer device, the induction coil.source
October 11 – The Standard Bank of South Africa opens the first bank in Ferreira's Camp.South Africa source
October 28 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, in New York Harbor. The ensuing spontaneous celebration in New York City leads to the first ticker tape parade.source
November 14 – German inventor Friedrich Soennecken first develops the hole puncher, a type of office tool capable of punching small holes in paper.source
14 November – Friedrich Soennecken files his patent for his holepunch Papierlocher für Sammelmappen.Germany source
November 15 – The Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Elektrotechnik (Workshop for Fine Mechanics and Electronics) is founded in Baden-Württemberg, Germany by Robert Bosch. The company will later become the home appliance and power tool brand, Robert Bosch GmbH.source
18–29 March – Series of strikes and disturbances in industrial areas of WalloniaBelgium source
Mohawk men of the Caughnawaga Reserve in Quebec are trained to help build a bridge across the St. Lawrence River, beginning a tradition of high steel construction work among the Iroquois.Canada source
Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical UniversityRussia source

Science & Discovery

6 February – German chemist Clemens Winkler discovers chemical element Germanium.Germany source
24 February - At Raukleiv’s first Siljordsskirendet, Johannes Nordgården falls at a 27 m world record, and Olaf Bergland later sets the official record at 25.5 m.Norway source
May 8 – American pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola'.source
May 8 – Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola'.United States source
November 11 – Heinrich Hertz verifies the existence of electromagnetic waves, at the University of Karlsruhe.source
December 14 – Yoho National Park establishedCanada source
unknown date: The Brazilian arboreal mouse (Rhagomys rufescens) is described for the first time by zoologists.Brazil source
A supplementary session of the Althing was first held in 1886.Iceland source
New Zealand Cup – Spade GuineaNew Zealand source
The publication of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor DostoyevskyRussia source

Health & Medicine

March 11 - Anandi Gopal Joshi becomes the first Indian-born woman to graduate from medical school.source
2 April – Christian Halvorsen Svenkerud, politician (born 1798)Norway source
May 29 – Pharmacist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (advertisement in the Atlanta Journal).United States source
October – Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women founded by Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake.Scotland source
The Norwegian Medical Association is established.Norway source
Rhoda Broughton – Doctor CupidWales source

Crime & Justice

16 March – it is announced in the House of Commons to acclamation that John Constable's painting The Hay Wain (1821) has been presented to the National Gallery in London by collector Henry Vaughan and hung there today.United Kingdom source
20 July – Thor Larsen, gymnast and Olympic silver medallistNorway source
Félicien Rops, The Beach in HeistBelgium source
The Thorvaldsen Exhibition Medal is awarded to Viggo Johansen for the painting Evening talk.Denmark source
Winners: Distillery 1–0 Limavady AlexanderIreland source
Homosexuality is criminalized.Portugal source
Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and historical fiction Kidnapped are both first published.Scotland source
The keeper of the Mumbles lighthouse is swept out to sea and drowned.Wales source

Disasters & Accidents

30 January – SS Fulmar sinks off Kilkee with the loss of all 17 aboard.Ireland source
11 February — The Berti Law, named after Domenico Berti, Minister of Education in the Depretis V government (or officially: Law no. 3657), set the minimum age for admission to work in quarries, mines, and factories, at nine years, the minimum age for night work at twelve years and indicated a maximum of eight hours' work for them. However, the provisions in the law were not actually enforced until the Carcano Law was issued in 1902, thanks to which – for the first time – action was taken to support the protection of underage workers.Italy source
11 April: Sinking of the steamer Taiaroa near the mouth of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River with the loss of 34 lives.New Zealand source
30 May – The SS Ly-Ee-Moon sinks off Green Cape, New South Wales, with the loss of 71 persons.Australia source
June 13 – The Great Vancouver Fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.source
June 13 – Great Vancouver FireCanada source
15 October – 20 people are drowned when the sailing ship Malleny is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl.Wales source
15 October – 18 people are drowned when the sailing ship Teviotdale is wrecked on Cefn Sidan Sands in Carmarthenshire.Wales source
October 24 – The British merchant vessel Normanton sinks off the coast of Japan, triggering the Normanton incident.source
9 December – Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster.United Kingdom source

Climate & Environment

18 May — Eruption on the southern flank of the Mount Etna volcano on Sicily, following a powerful summit explosion. The eruption builds a row of pyroclastic cones, the largest of which is named Monte Gemmellaro (in honour to the Gemmellaro family of volcanologists from Catania who studied Etna in the 19th century). A lava stream comes very close to Nicolosi. Eruptions continue to 7 June 1886.Italy source
June 10 – The Mount Tarawera volcano erupts in New Zealand, resulting in the deaths of over 150 people and the destruction of the famous Pink and White Terraces.source
10 June: Eruption of Mount Tarawera volcano results in the deaths of ~150 people and the (wrongly assumed) destruction of the famous Pink and White Terraces, an error corrected by 2017 research disclosing the locations of the Pink and White Terraces around today's lake.New Zealand source
August 20 – A massive hurricane demolishes the town of Indianola, Texas.source
August 31 – The 6.9–7.3 Mw Charleston earthquake affects southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Sixty people are killed and damage is estimated at $5–6 million.United States source
November – The extremely harsh winter of 1886–87 in the United States begins, killing tens of thousands of cattle on the Great Plains of North America.source
25 December – great snow storm in London.United Kingdom source
Japanese knotweed is recorded at Maesteg - the first record of it growing wild in the UK.Wales source
The rivers Mawddach, Dee and Taff all flood.Wales source

Culture & Society

January 5–9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is published in New York and London.source
January 18 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.source
February 11 – The Anti-Chinese League of the City of Napa is formed.source
March 23 – Tchaikovsky’s Manfred symphony premieres in Moscow, Russia.source
April – The Swedish Dress Reform Society is established.source
May 1 – A general strike begins in the United States, which escalates on May 4 into the Haymarket affair in Chicago, and eventually wins the eight-hour day for workers.source
May 17 – Motherwell Football Club is founded in Scotland.source
June 2 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House (Washington, D.C.), becoming the only President of the United States to wed in the executive mansion. She is 27 years his junior.source
12 June – William Spence chairs a meeting of shearers in Ballarat, Victoria at which the Australian Shearers Union is formed, an ancestor of the Australian Workers' Union.Australia source
15 June - Chilean presidential election, 1886Chile source
June 25 – Arturo Toscanini makes his conducting debut, with an Italian opera company visiting Rio de Janeiro.source
June 30 – The Royal Holloway College for women is opened by Queen Victoria, near London, England.source
8 July – Royal decree establishing Royal Flemish Academy of Language and LiteratureBelgium source
September 1 – Grasshopper Club Zürich is founded as the first football club in the Swiss city of Zürich by English students.source
November 1 – The biggest Buddhist boys' school in Sri Lanka, Ananda College, is founded in Colombo.source
November 3 – In the British Raj, what will become one of the biggest boys' schools in Pakistan, Aitchison College, Lahore, is founded under the auspices of Sir Charles Umpherston Aitchison.source
November 30 – The Folies Bergère stages its first revue in Paris.source
December 11 – London Association football club Arsenal, founded as Dial Square by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, play their first match (on the Isle of Dogs). The club is renamed Royal Arsenal soon afterwards, supposedly on December 25.source
20 December – William, Prince of Hohenzollern renounces his heirship to the throne in favour of his younger brother Ferdinand.Romania source
Bedford Rugby Club is formed in England.source
Emily Ruete publishes her landmark memoir, Memoirs of an Arabian Princess: An Autobiography.source
Neuschwanstein Castle is completed.Germany source
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration ActIndia source
Completion of the Monument to the Restorers, in Restauradores Square, Lisbon.Portugal source
Grasshopper Football Club is founded.Switzerland source

Births

January 25 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (died 1954)source
February 27 – Hugo Black, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1971)source
March 24 – Edward Weston, American photographer (died 1958)source
10 May – Karl Barth, Protestant theologian (died 1968)Switzerland source
May 17 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (died 1941)source
May 26 – Al Jolson, American entertainer (died 1950)source
6 June – Salvador Mazza, epidemiologist (died 1946)Argentina source
June 10 – Sessue Hayakawa, actor (died 1973)Japan source
June 18 – George Mallory, English climber (died 1924)source
June 25 – Henry H. Arnold, American general, aviation pioneer (died 1950)source
July 5 – Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, 30th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 1988)source
August 20 – Paul Tillich, German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, theologian (died 1965)source
September 8 – Siegfried Sassoon, British poet (died 1967)source
September 14 – Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (died 1948)source
October 16 – David Ben-Gurion, Polish-born first Prime Minister of Israel (died 1973)source
2 November – Gheorghe Tătărescu, twice prime minister, between 1934 and 1937 and between 1939 and 1940 (died 1957).Romania source
November 15 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (died 1951)source
December 18 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (died 1961)source

Deaths

16 January — Amilcare Ponchielli, opera composer (born 1834)Italy source
1 February – Juan Esteban Pedernera, acting president in 1861 (born 1796)Argentina source
February 9 – Winfield Scott Hancock, Union general of the American Civil War, Democratic political candidate (born 1824)source
March 9 – William S. Clark, American chemist, agricultural educator (born 1826)source
April 7 – Mirza Yusuf Ashtiani, Iranian politician.Iran source
April 27 – Henry Hobson Richardson, American architect (born 1838)source
May 15 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (born 1830)source
May 23 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (born 1795)source
June 13 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria (born 1845)source
June 21 – Daniel Dunglas Home, Scottish medium (born 1833)source
19 July - Cesário Verde, poet (born 1855)Portugal source
July 31 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer (born 1811)source
August 4 – Samuel J. Tilden, 25th Governor of New York, 1876 Democratic Party presidential nominee (born 1814)source
August 16 – Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Indian spiritual figure (born 1836)source
August 31 – The 7.0 Mw Charleston earthquake affects southeastern South Carolina, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme); 60 people are killed, and damage is estimated at $5–6 million.source
November 18 – Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States (born 1829)source
November 20 – William Bliss Baker, American painter (born 1859)source
December 26 – John A. Logan, American soldier, political leader (born 1826)source