1884
1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar).
Events
January 4 - The Fabian Society is founded in London .
January 18 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
February 1 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary March 13 - The siege of Khartoum , Sudan begins (ends on January 26 , 1885 ).
April 22 - Colchester earthquake, England ; the UK 's most destructive.
May 1 - the first proclamation of eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States . May 1st, called May Day Labour Day July 5 - Germany takes possession of Cameroon .
August 5 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor .
August 10 - A severe earthquake , magnitude 5.5 , (intensity VII ) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine , and west as far as Cleveland .
October - International Meridian Conference in Washington DC fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
October 6 - United States Naval War College established in Newport, Rhode Island .
October 18 - University of Wales, Bangor (UK ) founded.
November 1 - The Irish Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Thurles, Ireland .
November 4 - U.S. presidential election : Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
November 15 - The Berlin Conference which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa begins (ends February 26 , 1885 ).
November 25 - British surgeon John Dooglee makes the first successful removal of a brain tumor .
December 1 - American Old West - Near Frisco, New Mexico (now Reserve, New Mexico ), deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
December 6 - Washington Monument was completed.
December 16 - World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana .
Bechuanaland becomes British protectorate .
Stefan-Boltzmann law reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann .
British Police officers go on armed patrol in London .
Environmental change
Births
January
January 2 - Oscar Micheaux , African American , filmmaker & author (d. 1951 )
January 12 - Texas Guinan , vaudeville performer (d. 1933 )
January 13 - Sophie Tucker , singer, comedienne, vaudeville performer (d. 1966 )
January 21 - Roger Baldwin , ACLU president, social activist (d. 1981 )
January 23 - Ralph DePalma , race car driver (d. 1956 )
January 28 - Auguste Piccard , physicist (d. 1962 )
January 31 - Theodor Heuss , politician and publicist (d. 1963 )
February
March
April
May
July
August
October
November
December
Deaths
