1894 - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 8 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago causes a good deal of damage.
• January 9 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard (Lexington, Massachusetts).
• February 15 - 04:51 GMT, French anarchist Martial Boudin attempts to destroy the Royal Greenwich Observatory, London, England with a bomb.
• March 1 - Thomas McGreevy, Canadian politician and contractor, is released from prison after serving time for defrauding the government
• March 12 - For the first time Coca-Cola is sold in bottles.
• March 25 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C.
• May - outbreak of bubonic plague in the Tai Ping Shan area of Hong Kong. The disease killed a total of 2,552 people in the territory that year
• May 1 - Coxey's Army arrives in Washington D.C.
• May 11 - Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a "wildcat" (without union approval) strike in Illinois.
• May 14 - Meteor shower in Southern France
• June 23 - International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
• July 4 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
• August 1 - Declaration of war between the Qing Empire of China and the Empire of Japan, over their rival claims of influence on their common ally, the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. The event marks the start of the first Sino-Japanese War.
• September 1 - Great Hinckley Fire: A forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota kills more than 400 people.
• September 4 - In New York City, 12,000 tailors strike against sweatshop working conditions.
• October 15 - Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying - Dreyfus affair begins
• October 20 (O.S.) - November 1 (N.S.) - Russian Tsar Alexander III dies and is succeeded by his son Nicholas II.
• November 16 - Turks kill 16.000 Armenians in Kurdistan
• December 18 - Women in South Australia become the first in Australia to gain the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament.
• December 21 - Mackenzie Bowell becomes Canada's fifth prime minister.

• Western countries give up their extraterritorial rights in Japan
• Assassination of Sadi Carnot, president of France
• Tower Bridge in London opened for traffic

Births

January-March

• January 1 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian therotetical physicist († 1974)
• January 20 - Walter Piston, composer († 1976)
• January 30 - King Boris III of Bulgaria († 1943)
• January 31 - Isham Jones, jazz musician († 1956)
• February 1 - John Ford, director, producer († 1973)
• February 8 - Ludwig Marcuse, author and philosopher († 1971)
• February 10 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of Britain († 1986)
• February 11 - Alfonso Leng, composer († 1974)
• February 11 - Isaac Kolthooff chemist
• February 14 - Jack Benny, actor, comedian († 1974)
• February 28 - Ben Hecht, playwright, film writer († 1964)
• March 17 - Paul Green, novelist, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright († 1981)
• March 19 - Joe Venuti, jazz musician and violinist († 1978)
• March 19 - Moms Mabley, comedienne († 1975)

April-June

• April 10 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist, Gandhian and educationist († 1983)
• April 13 - Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia († 1973)
• April 15 - Bessie Smith, blues singer († 1937)
• April 17 - Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Soviet politician and leader.
• April 26 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi official († 1987)
• May 11 - Martha Graham, dancer, choreographer († 1991)
• May 20 - Adela Rogers St. Johns, author († 1988)
• May 27 - Dashiell Hammett, author of detective novels († 1961)
• May 31 - Fred Allen, comedian.
• June 5 - Roy Thomson, publisher († 1976)
• June 9 - Nedo Nadi, Italian fencer, winner of 6 Olympic gold medals
• June 14 - Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide of Luxembourg
• June 23 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

July-September

• July 19 - Khawaja Nazimuddin, second Prime Minister of Pakistan († 1965)
• July 26 - Aldous Huxley, author († 1963)
• August 3 - Harry Heilmann, Baseball Hall of Famer († 1951)
• August 28 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor († 1981)
• September 2 - Joseph Roth, Austrian writer († 1939)
• September 13 - J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright († 1984)
• September 13 - Julian Tuwim, Polish poet († 1953)
• September 15 - Jean Renoir, Film Director
• September 24 - Tommy Armour, professional golfer († 1968)

October-December

• October 5 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete
• October 7 - Del Lord, pioneer Hollywood director († 1970)
• October 14 - E. E. Cummings, American poet.
• October 15 - Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel († 1965)
• October 25 - Claude Cahun, Photographer and Writer (Born Lucy Schwob) († 1954)
• November 2 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist († 1976)
• November 29 - Lucille Hegamin, U.S. singer and entertainer († 1970)
• December 17 - Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
• December 20 - Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia († 1978)
• December 31 - Pola Negri, actress († 1987)

Unknown date

• Chaim Soutine, painter

Deaths

• February 4 - Adolphe Sax, instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone
• February 6 - Maria Deraismes, French feminist
• February 11 - Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera, composer
• March 30 - Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aerospace engineer
• June 3 - Karl Eduard Zachariae Expert on Byzantine Law
• June 11 - Anne Teresa Bickerton, Baroness von Wurzburg (née Lyons) (b.1815)
• October 24 - Alexander III of Russia, Tsar
• November 20 - Anton Rubinstein, pianist and composer
• November 25 - Solomon Caesar Malan, orientalist (b. 1812)
• December 3 - Robert Louis Stevenson, author
• December 12 - John Sparrow David Thompson, Canadian prime minister