1902 CE
The 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée devastates Saint-Pierre in Martinique, killing nearly 30,000 and becoming one of history’s deadliest volcanic disasters; The Second Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging, bringing the Boer republics under British control; The Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra at Westminster Abbey formally begins the Edwardian era; The Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903 sees European powers blockade Venezuelan ports over debts, prompting U.S. diplomatic intervention; The Anthracite coal strike of 1902 leads to President Theodore Roosevelt mediating labor demands for higher wages and shorter workdays; The French silent film A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès premieres, becoming an iconic early cinematic work.
In the 1900s, the 20th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 30 – The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed.source
- 1 March - Presidential election: Rodrigues Alves of the Republican Party of São Paulo receives 91.7% of the vote. Francisco Silviano de Almeida Brandão is elected vice-president but dies suddenly before the start of his term of office.Brazilsource
- March 15 – The Pattani Sultanate is abolished by the Siamese authority after the last sultan of Pattani refused new administrative reforms by the Siamese.source
- May 13 – Alfonso XIII of Spain begins his reign.source
- May 20 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.source
- 28 May – Pacts of May: Chile and Argentina sign four protocols intended to improve relations and resolve territorial disputes.Argentinasource
- May 31 – The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Second Boer War, providing for the Transvaal Colony and Orange Free State to transition to self-governing British colonies.source
- June 16 – The Commonwealth Franchise Act in Australia grants women's suffrage in federal elections for resident British subjects (with certain ethnic minorities excepted), making Australia the first independent country to grant women the vote at a national level, and the first country to allow them to stand for Parliament.source
- June 30 – Italy and France sign a secret treaty whereby France agreed to back Italy's claims in Libya (Tripolitania), while Italy supported French influence in Morocco. Italy was to remain neutral in case of German aggression against France, undermining the Triple Alliance.Italysource
- July 5 – Erik Gustaf Boström returns as Prime Minister of Sweden.source
- July 8 – The United States Bureau of Reclamation is established within the U.S. Geological Survey.source
- July 11 – Lord Salisbury retires as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
- August 10 – Japanese general election: The result was a victory for the Rikken Seiyūkai party, which won 191 of the 376 seats. Voting remained restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation, although 1900 electoral reforms had reduced the figure from 15 yen, increasing the proportion of the population able to vote from 1% to 2%.Japansource
- November 1 – France attempts to neutralize Triple Alliance, signing agreement with Italy to remain neutral in Africa.source
- 20 November – The Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case 1902 (Argentina, Chile) is settled.Chilesource
- December 7 – both Britain and Germany issued ultimatums to Venezuela, even though there was still disagreement about whether to impose a pacific blockade (as the Germans wanted) or a war blockade (as the British wanted)Venezuelasource
- The first Korean Empire passports are issued to assist Korean immigration to Hawaii.source
- signing of the Mackay Treaty — a sixteen article treaty signed by the governments of Great Britain and the Chinese Qing dynasty on 5 September 1902. Under the terms of the treaty, the likin system of taxation was abolished and the first moves made to abolish extraterritoriality for foreign nationals.Chinasource
- The National Defence Party is established.Icelandsource
Conflict & Security
- January 23 – Hakkōda Mountains incident: A snowstorm in the Hakkōda Mountains of northern Honshu, Japan, kills 199 during a military training exercise.source
- 11 February – Police and universal suffrage demonstrators are involved in a physical altercation in Brussels.Belgiumsource
- March 7 – Second Boer War: Battle of Tweebosch – South African Boers win their last battle over the British Army, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.source
- March 10 – Clashes between police and Georgian workers led by Joseph Stalin leave 15 dead, 54 wounded, and 500 in prison.source
- May 6 – Qulusi-Zulu chief Sikhobobo with a 300-strong impi attacks Field-cornet Potgieter and 70 Boers while sleeping, leaving 56 Burghers and 52 Zulus dead in the Battle of Holkrans.South Africasource
- 31 May – The Second Boer War, in which Australia is involved, ends.Australiasource
- May 31 – The Second Boer War endsCanadasource
- June 2 – The coal strike of 1902 begins in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania.United Statessource
- June 7 – Italy takes in possession its concession in Tientsin from the Chinese government. Foreign powers had obtained the right to station troops to protect their legations under the terms of the 1901 Boxer Protocol after China's defeat in the intervention to put down the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.Italysource
- June – Venezuela Crisis of 1902–03: President Castro seizes a British ship, The Queen, on suspicion of aiding rebels, in another phase of the Venezuelan civil warVenezuelasource
- July 2 – Philippine–American War ends.source
- October 18 – Venezuela: President Castro's army overcomes rebels in seven-day battlesource
- November 15 – King Leopold II of Belgium survives an attempted assassination in Brussels by Italian anarchist Gennaro Rubino.source
- December 9 – Start of the Venezuelan crisis, in which Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims and President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by European citizens in the 1892 Venezuelan civil war.Italysource
- Moro Rebellion (started on May 3)Philippinessource
Exploration & Expansion
- February – The town of Crofton, British Columbia, is founded on Vancouver IslandCanadasource
- July 14 – Agustín Lizárraga discovers Machu Picchu, the "Lost City of the Incas".source
- July 22 – Felix Pedro discovers gold in modern-day Fairbanks, Alaska.United Statessource
- September 14–30 – Prime Minister Zanardelli undertakes a journey through Basilicata – one of the poorest regions in Italy – to see for himself the problems in the Mezzogiorno.Italysource
- 2 November – The first Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, organised and led by naturalist William Speirs Bruce, sets out from Troon in the Scotia.Scotlandsource
- November 15 – The Hanoi exhibition opens in French Indochina.source
- December 30 – Discovery Expedition: British explorers Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reach the furthest southern point reached thus far by man, south of 82°S.source
- Mahatma Gandhi arrives in Durban from Bombay.South Africasource
- Euclides da Cunha - Os SertõesBrazilsource
- Auckland Trotting Cup: Van DiemanNew Zealandsource
- 230 Welsh colonists leave Patagonia for Manitoba in Canada.Walessource
Religion & Belief
- January - Alfred Loisy writes L'évangile et l'Eglise, which inaugurates the crisis of modernism in the Catholic Church.Francesource
- 2 June – The centenary of the Congregation of Christian Brothers was celebrated with High Mass in the Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago.Irelandsource
- 29 July – St Lawrence's Church, Dingwall (Roman Catholic) opens.Scotlandsource
- 2 August – A. G. Edwards, Bishop of St Davids, is appointed Honorary Chaplain to the Denbighshire Yeomanry.Walessource
- August 9 – Coronation of Edward VII as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India at Westminster Abbey in London.source
- 9 August – coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Frederick Temple.United Kingdomsource
- 19 August – Antoon Stillemans, bishop of Ghent, consecrates the new abbey church of Dendermonde Abbey, built in Gothic Revival style.Belgiumsource
- Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)Italysource
- Heavyweight – J. Fitzsimmons (Timaru)New Zealandsource
Economy & Finance
- January – Venezuela Crisis of 1902–03: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declares a delay to any blockade due to the outbreak of another civil war in Venezuela (led by financier Manuel Matos) which raised the possibility of a more amenable government.Venezuelasource
- February 18 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the antitrust Sherman Act.source
- February 18 – U.S. President Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the antitrust Sherman Act.United Statessource
- 20 February – The Federation of Icelandic Cooperative Societies is founded.Icelandsource
- 26 March – The Prinetti Decree is approved by the Italian General Commissariat of Emigration suspending emigration to Brazil of all Italians not paying their own passage. The decree was named after the then Italian foreign affairs minister, Giulio Prinetti, and approved based on a report denouncing the terrible living conditions experienced by Italian immigrants who had become virtual serfs on the coffee plantations in the state of São Paulo, with no medical care, no school for their children, small houses, no minimum hygiene conditions, and physical violence, even the use of whips.Brazilsource
- March 26 – The Prinetti Decree is approved by the General Commissariat of Emigration suspending emigration to Brazil of all Italians not paying their own passage. The decree was named after the then Italian foreign affairs minister, Giulio Prinetti, and approved based on a report denouncing the poor living conditions experienced by Italian immigrants who had become virtual serfs on coffee plantations, with no medical care, no school for their children, small houses, no minimum hygiene conditions, and physical violence, even the use of whips.Italysource
- May 1 – Daiwa Securities founded, as predecessor name was Fujimoto Bill Broker Banking in Kitaiama, Osaka.Japansource
- June 13 – Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, predecessor of global consumer goods brand 3M, begins trading as a mining venture at Two Harbors in the United States.source
- 12 October – Jacob Andreas Michelsen, businessperson and politician (born 1821)Norwaysource
- December–February 1903 – Venezuelan crisis: Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela, in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.source
- December–February 1903 – Venezuelan crisis, in which Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.Germanysource
- The capital of French Indochina is moved from Saigon (in Cochinchina) to Hanoi (Tonkin).source
- De'Longhi home appliance brand is founded in Treviso, Italy.source
- Daniels Linseed, predecessor of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a global livestock, commodities trading, food processing brand, is founded in Minnesota, United States.source
Technology & Infrastructure
- January 1 – Nathan Stubblefield demonstrates his wireless telephone device in the U.S. state of Kentucky.source
- February 15 – The Berlin U-Bahn underground is opened.source
- April 11 – Tenor Enrico Caruso makes the first million-selling recording, for the Gramophone Company in Milan.source
- 12 May – The first telegram sent by wireless telegraphy is received in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
- May 29 – 1902 Ontario general election: G. W. Ross's Liberals win a second consecutive majority. Margaret Haile runs as a candidate of the Canadian Socialist League in Toronto North, becoming the first woman ever to stand in a provincial election.Canadasource
- June 15 – The New York Central Railroad inaugurates the 20th Century Limited passenger train between Chicago and New York City.source
- 12 July – The first of the Neuquén–Cipolletti bridges on the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway opens to traffic. The first locomotive to pass over it is number 205, driven by Antonio Mazzarolo.Argentinasource
- August 22 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first American President to ride in an automobile, a Columbia Electric Victoria through Hartford, Connecticut.source
- October 17 – First Cadillac completed, sold and sent to Buffalo, New Yorksource
- 3 November – Postmaster-General James Drake opens a submarine telegraph cable from Southport, Queensland to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, completing a British Empire communications line.Australiasource
- 15 November – The Ofoten Line opened.Norwaysource
- December 10 – The first Aswan Dam on the Nile is completed.source
- December 17 – The Commercial Telegraph Agency (TTA, Torgovo-Telegrafnue Agenstvo), predecessor of TASS, is officially established under the Ministry of Finance at Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire.source
- December 17 – A transmission from the wireless transmitting station of the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, became the world's first radio message to cross the Atlantic from North America.Italysource
- December 21 – Newfoundland - Guglielmo Marconi sends wireless messages across the Atlantic.source
- December - The Russian News Agency TASS begins life as the Commercial Telegraph Agency (TTA, Torgovo-Telegrafnoe Agentstvo).Russiasource
- Construction of the Paul Doumer Bridge, linking both sections of Hanoi, is completed.source
- The Natal Government Railways places ten Class F 4-6-4 Baltic type tank steam locomotives in service, the first known locomotive in the world to be designed and built as a Baltic. In 1912 they will be designated Class E on the SAR.South Africasource
Science & Discovery
- April 13 – A new land speed record of 74 mph is set in Nice, France, by Léon Serpollet driving a steam car.source
- May 15 – It is claimed that in a field outside Grass Valley, California, Lyman Gilmore achieves flight in a powered airplane (a steam-powered glider). There is no surviving evidence to verify this claim.United Statessource
- May 22 – The White Star Liner SS Ionic is launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.source
- 22 May – The White Star Liner SS Ionic was launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.Irelandsource
- 22 May – the White Star Liner SS Ionic is launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.United Kingdomsource
- July 1 – Philippine Organic Act enacted into law.Philippinessource
- 1 August – New Idea magazine is first published.Australiasource
- September 1 – The first science fiction film, the silent A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune), is premièred at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France, by actor/producer Georges Méliès, and proves an immediate success.source
- 1 September – The first science fiction film, the trick film A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune), is premièred at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris by actor/producer Georges Méliès, and proves an immediate success.Francesource
- William Bayliss and Ernest Starling make the first discovery of a hormone, secretin.United Kingdomsource
- Oliver Heaviside proposes existence of the Kennelly–Heaviside layer.United Kingdomsource
Health & Medicine
- January 1 – The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's first registered nurse.source
- 8 January – The Great National Convention took place in the Round Room of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Motions were passed regarding coercion, the Irish language and evicted tenants.Irelandsource
- February – A commission on yellow fever announces that the disease is carried by mosquitoes.United Statessource
- April 14 – The first J. C. Penney department store opens in Kemmerer, Wyoming.United Statessource
- 10 December – Ronald Ross wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of combating it".United Kingdomsource
Crime & Justice
- 6 January – Lars Hertervig, painter (born 1830)Norwaysource
- March 10 – A Circuit Court decision in the United States ends Thomas Edison's monopoly on 35 mm movie film technology.source
- August 1 – The conviction of the former Deputy from Palermo, Raffaele Palizzolo, for the murder in 1893 of Emanuele Notarbartolo, former mayor of Palermo and former director general of the Banco di Sicilia, is hailed as a big blow against the Sicilian Mafia. The Assize Court in Bologna convicted Palizzolo and two others to 30 years of imprisonment.Italysource
- August 24 – A statue of Joan of Arc is unveiled in Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier, the French town which she stormed in 1429.source
- 24 August – A statue of Joan of Arc is unveiled in Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier, the town which she stormed in 1429.Francesource
- 13 September – Harry Jackson becomes the first British person to be convicted on the basis of fingerprint evidence.United Kingdomsource
- October 10 – Altona schoolhouse shootingCanadasource
- October 16 – The first Borstal (youth offenders' institution) opens in Borstal, Kent, U.K.source
- November 30 – The second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, Harvey Logan ("Kid Curry"), is captured after a shootout with lawmen in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is sentenced to a $5,000 fine and 20 years hard labor for robbery but escapes custody in 1903.source
- November 30 – On the American frontier, the second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, Harvey Logan ("Kid Curry"), is captured after a shootout with lawmen in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is sentenced to a $5,000 fine and 20 years hard labor for robbery but escapes custody in 1903.United Statessource
- James White wins the Wynne Prize with his bronze sculpture In Defence of the FlatAustraliasource
- Sir Henry Walford Davies – Three Jovial HuntsmenWalessource
Disasters & Accidents
- January 8 – A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17 people, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains and the banning of steam locomotives in New York City.source
- January 8 – A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains.United Statessource
- February 9 – Fire levels 26 city blocks of Jersey City, New Jersey.United Statessource
- 5 April – The original Ibrox disaster: a stand at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow collapses during an England versus Scotland football match. 25 people die and 517 are injured.Scotlandsource
- 5 April – the first Ibrox disaster: a stand at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow collapses during an England versus Scotland football match. 25 people die and 517 are injured.United Kingdomsource
- July 1 – Ray Knight stages the first Raymond Stampede in Raymond, Alberta. This was the first use of the word stampede in the name of a rodeo. The Raymond Stampede is now Canada's oldest rodeoCanadasource
- July 10 – The Rolling Mill Mine disaster in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kills 112 miners.source
- July 14 – St Mark's Campanile in Venice collapses.source
- July 14 – St Mark's Campanile, the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, one of the most recognizable symbols of the city, collapses.Italysource
- 31 July – A coal gas explosion kills 96 in the Mount Kembla mining disasterAustraliasource
- August 1 – 100 miners die in a pit explosion in Wollongong, Australia.source
- October 21 – A five-month strike by the United Mine Workers in the United States ends.source
- 28 October – The SS Ventnor sinks off the coast of Hokianga with the loss of 13 lives. The ship was carrying the remains of 499 Chinese men, most of whom had been involved in the Otago gold rush, back to China.New Zealandsource
Climate & Environment
- January 23 – The Aomori Infantry, Eighth Division begin their snow march toward the Hakkōda Mountains. 199 soldiers die when a blizzard hits (known as the Snow March to Mt. Hakkoda).Japansource
- April 19 – The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.source
- April – Averaged over Australia, the driest month on record with only 3.74 mm. Over half the continent was absolutely rainless and less than 3 percent outside Tasmania had more than 10 mm.Australiasource
- May 7 – La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent erupts, devastating the northern portion of the island and killing 2,000 peoplesource
- May 8 – Mount Pelée in Martinique erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000.source
- 8 May – 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique.Francesource
- James Stevenson-Hamilton is appointed warden of the Sabie Game Reserve.South Africasource
- August 22 – A 7.7 earthquake shakes the border between China and Kyrgyzstan killing 10,000 people.source
- August 30 – Mount Pelée again erupts in Martinique, destroying the town of Le Morne-Rouge and causing 1,000 deaths.source
- September 26 – A violent cyclone hits the east coast of Sicily. The town of Catania is flooded; 300 lives are lost in Modica. The Cathedral of Belpasso was partly destroyed burying worshippers in the ruins. 600 people were reported dead.Italysource
- October 24 – One of the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century occurs at Santa María in Guatemala; over 6,000 people die.source
- James Stevenson-Hamilton is appointed the first warden of the Sabie Game Reserve.South Africasource
- As a culmination of the Federation Drought, this was by raw totals the driest calendar year averaged over Australia since 1890 with only 314.46 mm (though by area-averaged mean decile it was only eleventh driest).Australiasource
Culture & Society
- January 29 – The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C., to promote scientific research with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.source
- February 12 – The 1st Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance takes place in Washington, D.C.source
- March 8 – Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 is premiered in Helsinki.source
- April 2 – The Electric Theatre, the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.source
- May 29 – The London School of Economics is opened by Lord Rosebery.source
- June 26 – Edward VII institutes the Order of Merit, an order bestowed personally by the British monarch on up to 24 distinguished Empire recipients.source
- 1 July - The Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding opens in Mykolayiv, Ukraine, under the name of Mykolayiv Industrial Technical School.Russiasource
- July 21 – Fluminense Football Club is founded in Rio de Janeiro.source
- 13 September – The Ranfurly Shield is first awarded to Auckland in recognition of their unbeaten record for the season.New Zealandsource
- September 15 – Dai-ichi Life was founded in Kyobashi region, Tokyo.Japansource
- 17 September – Opera singer Nellie Melba arrives in Brisbane for her first Australian tour after 16 years in Europe.Australiasource
- October 14 – Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Servillia premieres in St. Petersburgsource
- 26 October - The first season of competitive football in Brazil concludes with a victory for São Paulo Athletic Club.Brazilsource
- November 10 – Bocconi University is founded by Ferdinando Bocconi in Milan.Italysource
- November 16 – A newspaper cartoon depicting U.S. President "Teddy" Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub inspires creation of the first teddy bear by Morris Michtom in New York City.source
- date unknown – The Paz Palace, Buenos Aires, is commissioned by José C. Paz, the proprietor of the city's then-second most-circulated newspaper, La Prensa.Argentinasource
- Establishment of the Club Internacional de Foot-ballPortugalsource
Births
- January 9 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish Roman Catholic priest and saint (died 1975)source
- January 31 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (died 1968)source
- February 4 – Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (died 1974)source
- February 20 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (died 1984)source
- February 27 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968)source
- March 24 – Thomas E. Dewey, American politician (died 1971)source
- June 24 – Juan Antonio Yanes, professional baseball pioneer (died 1987)Venezuelasource
- July 28 – Karl Popper, Austrian-born British philosopher (died 1994)source
- July 31 – Gubby Allen, Australian-born English cricketer, cricket administrator (died 1989)source
- August 8 – Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984)source
- August 19 – J. B. L. Reyes, jurist (died 1994)Philippinessource
- 13 September – Richard Paul Lohse, painter (died 1988)Switzerlandsource
- September 21 – Luis Cernuda, Spanish poet (died 1963)source
- September 24 – Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Shia cleric, 1st Supreme Leader of Iran (died 1989)source
- December 5 – Strom Thurmond, American politician (died 2003)source
- 12 December - Juan Alberto Montes, surveyor and historian (died 1986)Argentinasource
- December 19 – Ralph Richardson, English actor (died 1983)source
- December 23 – Charan Singh, 5th Prime Minister of India (died 1987)source
Deaths
- February 27 – Breaker Morant, Australian soldier (executed) (born 1864)source
- February 27 – Australian officers Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.source
- March 26 – Cecil Rhodes, British imperialist (born 1853)source
- May 12 – Brazilian aeronaut Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão and Georges Saché, his French mechanic, are killed when Severo's airship Pax catches fire and explodes a little over 1,000 ft above Paris. Severo and Saché are both killed upon impact with the ground.source
- 31 May - Rufina, daughter of Eugenio Cambaceres (born 1883; possible victim of premature burial)Argentinasource
- May – Harriet Abbott Lincoln Coolidge, American philanthropist, author and reformer (born 1849)source
- June 18 – Samuel Butler, British author (born 1835)source
- July 4 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian religious leader (born 1863)source
- September 5 – Rudolf Virchow, German scientist, politician (born 1821)source
- September 19 – Shiloh Baptist Church stampede: 115 people are killed in a crush at a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, following a mistaken alarm of fire after an address by Booker T. Washington.source
- September 23 – John Wesley Powell, American explorer (born 1834)source
- September 29 – Émile Zola, French author (born 1840)source
- 22 October – Walter Hauser, politician (born 1837)Switzerlandsource
- October 26 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist (born 1815)source
- December 3 – Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (born 1833)source
- December 7 – Thomas Nast, American caricaturist, cartoonist (born 1840)source
- December 17 – Martín Tovar y Tovar, artist (born 1827)Venezuelasource
- December 20 – Kitabgi, Persian general.Iransource