1891 CE

1st Prime Minister of Canada Sir John A. Macdonald wins a 4th consecutive parliamentary victory over the Liberal Party. Pope Leo XIII issued the Rerum novarum encyclical addressing the condition of the working classes and outlining the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. Garza Revolution: 60-80 followers of Catarino Garza crossed the Rio Grande from Texas into Mexico. Most are Mexican-Americans recruited locally.

In the 1890s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories.source
  • January 7 – The Inter-American Monetary Commission meets in Washington, D.C.source
  • January 10 – In France, the Irish Nationalist leaders hold a conference at Boulogne. The French government promptly takes loan.source
  • January 12 – Mahatma Gandhi passes the Bar examination in England.South Africasource
  • January 20 – Jim Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state.source
  • January 29 – Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii.source
  • January 31 – The administration of Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns after a fierce disagreement with the Historical Right about the budget.Italysource
  • February 24 – The constitution of the First Brazilian Republic is promulgated.source
  • 24 February – A new constitution is adopted by a Constitutional Congress.Brazilsource
  • March 5 – 1st Prime Minister of Canada Sir John A. Macdonald wins a 4th consecutive parliamentary victory over the Liberal Party.source
  • June 4 - United States Navy admiral George Brown convinces the Congressionalist Junta to give up the Itata.Chilesource
  • June 15 – Minas Gerais was granted in 1891.source
  • July 7 – The Home Alliance was established in Woodland, California where, initially, it was the only publication in the state that fought the legalized liquor traffic.source
  • August 27 – France and Russia conclude a defensive alliance.source
  • 31 August – Brussels Conference Act of 1890 enters into force.Belgiumsource
  • September 18 – The Chilean Civil War of 1891 ends with the suicide of deposed President José Manuel Balmaceda and victory for the Congressional party, beginning the country's Parliamentary Era.source
  • 9 December – The National Liberal Party and "Sincere Liberal" parliamentarians pass a motion of no confidence in the government.Romaniasource
  • December 17 – Drexel University is inaugurated as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in Philadelphia.source
  • Brahmin teacher and nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak begins agitation for Indian Home Rule.source
  • New Zealand Cup – British LionNew Zealandsource
  • Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891Portugalsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 1 – A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence.source
  • January 5 – A fight between the United States and Lakota people breaks out near Pine Ridge agency.source
  • January 7 – General Nelson A. Miles' forces surround the Lakota in the Pine Ridge Reservation.source
  • January 11 – 3,000 Lakotas approach Pine Ridge with a view to surrender.source
  • January 12 – Canada brings suit before the United States Supreme Court in re seizures of vessels in the Bering Sea.source
  • January 14 – Conference of Lakota chiefs with General Miles at Pine Ridge Reservation: the Lakota agree to surrender.source
  • 14 January: Bob Fitzsimmons wins the world middleweight boxing title by beating Jack (Nonpareil) Dempsey.New Zealandsource
  • January 16 – The Chilean Civil War of 1891 breaks out.source
  • January 31 – The Portuguese republican revolution breaks out, in the northern city of Porto.source
  • February – The Tobacco Protest begins in Iran.source
  • 7 March England 6–1 Ireland (in Wolverhampton)Irelandsource
  • April 23 – Chilean Civil War of 1891: Chilean ironclad Blanco Encalada is sunk at the Battle of Caldera Bay by torpedo boats. This is the first ironclad warship lost to a self-propelled torpedo.source
  • May 1 – Troops fire on a workers' May Day demonstration in support of the 8-hour workday in Fourmies, France, killing 9 and wounding 30.source
  • 1 May – Fusillade de Fourmies, nine killed and thirty wounded when troops fire on workers' May Day demonstration in support of eight-hour workday in Fourmies.Francesource
  • May 11 – Ōtsu incident: Tsesarevich Nikolay Alexandrovich (the future Czar Nicholas II) of Russia survives an assassination attempt while visiting Japan.source
  • July 3 - The vessel Maipo arrived in Iquique with arms and munitions for the Congressionalist JuntaChilesource
  • 3 November – President Fonseca dissolves the National Congress and declares a "state of emergency".Brazilsource
  • November 11 – Jindandao Incident: The Chinese Juu Uda League in Inner Mongolia massacres tens of thousands of Mongols, before being suppressed by government troops in late December.source
  • December 26 – The Mexican Army is attacked by Garza's followers in a raid from San Ygnacio, TexasMexicosource
  • Jindandao incident, a rebellion by a Chinese secret society called Jindandao (金丹道), who rose in revolt in Inner Mongolia in November 1891 and massacred 150,000 Mongols before being suppressed by government troops in late December.Chinasource
  • Football – The Welsh Cup is won by Shrewsbury Town.Walessource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 19 – A British Royal Navy squadron is ordered to Chile.source
  • January 27–May 2 – The Jamaica International Exhibition is held.source
  • March 3 – The Ocean Mail Act of 1891 is passed by the Fifty-first United States Congress, providing subsidies to steamships for the carrying of mails between US and foreign ports.United Statessource
  • September 15 – Garza Revolution: 60-80 followers of Catarino Garza crossed the Rio Grande from Texas into Mexico. Most are Mexican-Americans recruited locally.Mexicosource
  • October – Eugène Dubois finds the first fragmentary bones of Pithecanthropus erectus (later redesignated Homo erectus), or "Java Man", at Trinil on the Solo River.source
  • November - Opening of the Belmond Reid's Palace hotel, in Funchal, Madeira.Portugalsource
  • 28 December – Transvaal – Mozambique border near Komatipoort to Malelane, 33 mi.South Africasource
  • Icelandic Police began operating in places outside of ReykjavíkIcelandsource
  • 3 miles – Derisley Wood (Canterbury)New Zealandsource
  • Eastern journey of Nicholas IIRussiasource
  • date unknown – The South Wales and Monmouthshire Training School of Cookery and the Domestic Arts opens in Cardiff.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • January 12 – St. Mary's Cathedral is dedicated in San Francisco.source
  • January 13 – In California, Leland Stanford (Rep.) re-elected Senator.United Statessource
  • May 15 – Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical Rerum novarum, on the rights and duties of capital and labor, resulting in the creation of many Christian Democrat parties throughout Europe.source
  • May 15 – Pope Leo XIII issued the Rerum novarum encyclical addressing the condition of the working classes and outlining the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism.Italysource
  • May – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claims to be the Promised Messiah (the second coming of Jesus) and the Mahdi awaited in Islam.source
  • June 23 – establishment of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chihuahua, Roman Catholic Diocese of Cuernavaca, Roman Catholic Diocese of Saltillo, Roman Catholic Diocese of Tehuantepec and Roman Catholic Diocese of TepicMexicosource
  • 8–12 September – Catholic Congress in MechelenBelgiumsource
  • The Legislative Council of New Brunswick is abolished.Canadasource
  • Anti-missionary riots in Wuhu, two Chinese nuns walking the streets, anointing the holy water on children, and onlookers began to harasses the nuns and took them to the police. The nuns were returned to the Roman Catholic mission. People were not satisfied and called for a riot against the Roman Catholic mission.Chinasource
  • Savile Cup winners – ChristchurchNew Zealandsource
  • Pui de lei ("Lion Cubs") is written and published by Ioan S. Nenițescu as part of a compilation entitled Pui de lei. Poesii eroice și naționale ("Lion cubs. Heroic and national poems").Romaniasource

Economy & Finance

  • January 15 – Foundation of Critica Sociale by Filippo Turati and Anna Kuliscioff, the most influential Marxist review in Italy from 1891 to 1898, tackling all the serious public problems of 1890s: banking scandals, repression of the Fasci Siciliani unrest, the colonial war in Africa, and food riots.Italysource
  • 11 February - Establishment of the Mozambique Company.Portugalsource
  • 13 April - Howard Moffat founds newspaper Daily Commercial News, which runs for 108 years before merging with Lloyd's List Australia Weekly to form Lloyd's List DCN.Australiasource
  • May 29 – In the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Giovanni Bovio proposes the abandonment of the African expansion policy, but his proposal, supported only by the Extreme Left, is rejected on 6 June.Italysource
  • August Thyssen and Joseph Thyssen found German steel company Thyssen.Germanysource
  • September 29 – Thyssen, predecessor of the Thyssen Krupp worldwide conglomerate, is founded in Duisburg, Germany.source
  • A predecessor of the Japanese personal care brand Lion Corporation is founded as Kobayashi Tomijirō Shōten (小林富次郎商店).source
  • 16–22 August – International Socialist Labor Congress of BrusselsBelgiumsource
  • International Electrotechnical Exhibition in Frankfurt am MainGermanysource
  • Belfast Celtic F.C. is founded.Irelandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 5 – A fight between railway strikers and police breaks out at Motherwell, Scotland.source
  • 13 January – The first public phonograph performance in New Zealand is made at Christchurch.New Zealandsource
  • January 15 – Scottish railway strikers attempt to wreck a train near Greenock, Scotland.source
  • March 18 – The London–Paris telephone system officially opens.source
  • April 1 – The London–Paris telephone system is opened to the general public.source
  • May 1 – The first Fascio dei lavoratori (Workers League) is founded by Giuseppe De Felice Giuffrida in Catania, Sicily.source
  • May 31 N.S. (May 19 O.S.) – In the Kuperovskaya district of Vladivostok, a grand ceremonial inauguration of construction work on the Trans-Siberian Railway is carried out by the Tsesarevich Nikolay Alexandrovich, and a religious service held.source
  • 13 June – The first official train arrives at Bartolomeu railway station, the station having been inaugurated on 6 June.Romaniasource
  • June 21 – The first long-distance transmission of alternating current is made, from the Ames power plant near Telluride, Colorado, by Lucien and Paul Nunn.source
  • June 21 – First long-distance transmission of alternating current by the Ames power plant near Telluride, Colorado by Lucien and Paul Nunn.United Statessource
  • June – The clipper ship Cromdale is completed. She is the last fully rigged ship built for the Australian wool trade.source
  • August 5 – The first American Express traveler's cheque is cashed.source
  • September 22 – The first hydropower plant of Finland is commissioned along the Tammerkoski rapids in Tampere, Pirkanmaa.source
  • September 28 – Club Atlético Peñarol is founded in Montevideo, under the name of the CURCC (Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club).source
  • November 28 – The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is organized in St. Louis, Missouri.source
  • December 10 – The Calgary and Edmonton Railway opens, connecting Edmonton to the national railway network for the first time.Canadasource
  • Philips founded in Eindhoven, Netherlands, for the production of carbon-filament lamps and other electro-technical products.source
  • Michelin patents the removable pneumatic bicycle tire.source
  • Production of the Swiss Army Knife by Victorinox begins.source
  • Mail Ships Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • Opening of the original line of the Funicular dos Guindais, in Porto.Portugalsource
  • Construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad BeginsRussiasource
  • Thirty 5th Class 4-6-0 tender locomotives in mainline service on all three Cape Systems.South Africasource

Science & Discovery

  • March 3 – The International Copyright Act of 1891 is passed, by the 51st United States Congress.source
  • March 3 – The International Copyright Act of 1891 is passed by the Fifty-first United States Congress.United Statessource
  • May 7 - Itata Incident: The Itata leaves San Diego for ChileChilesource
  • May 20 – Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope is first displayed at Edison's Laboratory, for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs.source
  • June 1 – The Johnstown Inclined Plane opens in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.source
  • 12 August Godfrey Shaw sets the first (unofficial) world record by a New Zealander. He runs 57.2 seconds for 440 yards hurdles at the Isle of Man.New Zealandsource
  • September – Hugh Munro publishes the first table of mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal; these become known as the Munros.Scotlandsource
  • December 22 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.source
  • Nikola Tesla invents the Tesla coil.source
  • Gustave Moreau becomes a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.Francesource
  • The modern taximeter is invented by German Friedrich Wilhelm Gustav Bruhn.Germanysource
  • The Fischer projection is devised by Hermann Emil Fischer.Germanysource
  • Standish James O'Grady publishes Finn and his Companions.Irelandsource

Health & Medicine

  • January 19 – General Miles officially announces the end of the native outbreak and congratulates his troops.source
  • April 5 – Census in the United Kingdom: 15.6 million people live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, and cities of 20,000 or more account for 54% of the total English population.source
  • July 30 – The Springboks rugby union team of South Africa play their first international test match against the Lions team of the British Isles, and lose by 4–0.source
  • 30 July – The Springbok Rugby team plays its first international test match against the Lions team of the British Isles and win by 4–0.South Africasource
  • October 27 – The Nicotera Regulation, by interior minister Giovanni Nicotera, made prostitution in Italy fully legal in private houses, with strict regulations. A system of sifilicomi (hospitals for sex workers) was also set up, under the belief that they were the main sources of spreading venereal diseases. Although prostitutes found this regulated system oppressive, they developed ways to resist it.Italysource
  • 3 December – A sudden deterioration is noted in the health of Pedro II.Brazilsource
  • James Ensor, The Man of SorrowsBelgiumsource

Crime & Justice

  • February 14 – In the FA Cup quarter-final in English association football, a goal is deliberately stopped by handball on the goal line. An indirect free kick is awarded, since the penalty kick, proposed the previous year by William McCrum, has not yet been implemented. This event probably changes public opinion on the penalty kick, seen previously as an Irishman's motion.source
  • March 14 – In New Orleans, a lynch mob storms the Old Parish Prison, and lynches 11 Italians arrested but found innocent of the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy.source
  • March 14 – In New Orleans, a lynch mob storms the Old Parish Prison and lynches 11 Italian Americans who had been found not guilty of the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy.United Statessource
  • May 6 - Itata Incident: the steamer Itata is detained in San Diego on orders of United States State Department official John W. FosterChilesource
  • June 25 – Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes appears in The Strand Magazine (London) for the first time, in the issue dated July.source
  • September 14 – The first penalty kick is awarded in an Association football match: John Heath scores it for Wolverhampton Wanderers in England.source
  • September 29 – Thomas McGreevy is expelled from the House of Commons due to corruption.Canadasource
  • 16 November–27 February 1892 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West show is resident at the former East End Exhibition Buildings in Glasgow.Scotlandsource
  • Fernand Khnopff, I lock my door upon myselfBelgiumsource
  • Ballinger Belt – Private C. Kruse (Wanganui Rifles)New Zealandsource
  • Swedish Saw Mill Industry Workers UnionSwedensource
  • Charles Ashton – Bywyd ac Amserau yr Esgob MorganWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 11 – In Mahoning Valley, Ohio, sixteen blast furnaces shut down, putting 10,000 men out of work.source
  • January 27 – Mammoth Mine disasterUnited Statessource
  • February 21 – Springhill, Nova Scotia suffers a serious mining disaster.source
  • February 21 – The first Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 125.Canadasource
  • March 17 – The British steamship SS Utopia, carrying Italian migrants to New York, sinks in the inner harbor of Gibraltar after collision with the battleship HMS Anson, killing 564.source
  • 17 March – the British steamship SS Utopia sinks in the inner harbour of Gibraltar after collision with the battleship HMS Anson, killing 564.United Kingdomsource
  • 10 May – Dock strikes in Antwerp and Ghent in support of coalminers in Wallonia.Belgiumsource
  • 2–20 May – Miners' strike in Liège, spreading to other parts of Wallonia.Belgiumsource

Climate & Environment

  • January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a declaration regarding the famine in the western counties of Ireland.source
  • March 3 – Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, predecessor of Shoshone National Forest, in Wyoming is established as the first United States National Forest.United Statessource
  • March 9–12 – The Great Blizzard of 1891 in the south and west of England leads to extensive snow drifts and powerful storms off the south coast, with 14 ships sunk, and approximately 220 deaths attributed to the weather conditions.source
  • March 30 – Shoshone National Forest is established in Wyoming, the first U.S. National Forest.United Statessource
  • 23 June – An earthquake strikes Port Waikato.New Zealandsource
  • October 16 – White River National Forest is established in Colorado.United Statessource
  • October 28 – The 8.0 Ms Mino–Owari earthquake strikes the Gifu region of Japan. This oblique-slip event kills over 7,200, injures more than 17,000, and creates fault scarps that still remain visible.source
  • 9–12 March – the Great Blizzard of 1891 in the south and west of England leads to extensive snow drifts and powerful storms off the south coast, with 14 ships sunk and approximately 220 deaths attributed to the weather conditions.United Kingdomsource
  • 1–28 February – the driest month in the EWP series with an average of only 3.6 mm.United Kingdomsource

Culture & Society

  • 3 January – The first edition of Unirea, the newspaper of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, is published.Romaniasource
  • January 5 – The Australian shearers' strike, that leads indirectly to the foundation of the Australian Labor Party, begins.source
  • 5 January - The 1891 Australian shearers' strike begins, which leads to the formation of the Australian Labor Party.Australiasource
  • January 9 – The great shoe strike in Rochester, New York is called off.source
  • 29 January – Funeral of Prince Baudouin of Belgium.Belgiumsource
  • February 15 – Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) sports club is founded in Stockholm, Sweden.source
  • March 12 – Djurgårdens IF (DIF) sports club is founded in Stockholm.source
  • April 1 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.source
  • April 12 – The first official game in the Association football league of Argentina (1891 Argentine Primera División) is held in Caballito, Buenos Aires.source
  • May 1 – The first official Fascio dei Lavoratori was founded on Labour Day in Catania by Giuseppe de Felice Giuffrida. In Rome a rally organized by socialists and anarchists to celebrate the May 1 (International Workers' Day) claim of an eight-hour workday ends with a wave of arrests.Italysource
  • May 5 – The Music Hall in New York (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.source
  • October 1 – Skansen is established as the world's first open-air museum by Artur Hazelius, on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden.source
  • October 1 – Stanford University in California opens its doors.source
  • 9 December – Despite government repression, a popular gathering in memory of the deceased emperor occurred takes place, organized by the Marquis of Tamandaré, Viscount of Ouro Preto, Viscount of Sinimbu, Baron of Ladário, Carlos de Laet, Alfredo d' Escragnolle Taunay, Rodolfo Dantas, Afonso Celso and Joaquim Nabuco.Brazilsource
  • Seattle University is established as the Immaculate Conception school.source
  • New Mexico Military Institute is founded (as Goss Military Institute) in Roswell, New Mexico Territory.source
  • James Naismith invents basketball in the United States.source
  • 23–24 January – 1891 European Figure Skating Championships in HamburgGermanysource
  • High jump – tie J. Hume (Wellington) and E. Laurie (Auckland)New Zealandsource
  • The first tour of the British and Irish Lions to South Africa takes place. The touring side presents the Currie Cup to Griqualand West, the province that produces the best performance on the tour.South Africasource

Births

  • January 7 – Zora Neale Hurston, African-American writer, anthropologist, ethnographer (died 1960)source
  • January 24 – Walter Model, German field marshal (died 1945)source
  • March 19 – Earl Warren, American politician and Chief Justice of the United States (died 1974)source
  • April 14 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian jurist and politician (died 1956)source
  • April 23 – Sergei Prokofiev, Soviet composer (died 1953)source
  • May 15 – Nipo T. Strongheart, Native American filmmaker (died 1966)source
  • June 9 – Cole Porter, American composer, songwriter (died 1964)source
  • 21 July – Lasar Segall, Jewish painter, engraver and sculptor, died in Lithuania (died 1957)Brazilsource
  • August 17 – Dulcie Mary Pillers, English medical illustrator (died 1961)source
  • September 12 – Pedro Albizu Campos, advocate of Puerto Rican independence (died 1965)source
  • September 16 – Karl Dönitz, German admiral, briefly President of Germany (died 1980)source
  • October 12 - Fumimaro Konoe, prime minister during World War II (died 1945)Japansource
  • 22 October – Dumitru S. Panaitescu, literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction writer known as Perpessicius (died 1971).Romaniasource
  • October 24 – Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (died 1961)source
  • November 14 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1941)source
  • November 15 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (died 1944)source
  • December 7 – Farah Sprague, Qajar Iranian-born American lecturer.Iransource
  • December 10 – Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, British field marshal (died 1969)source

Deaths