Events January January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. January 5–9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is published in New York and London. 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. January 18 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. January 29 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen (built in 1885).
February February 6–9 – Seattle riot of 1886: Anti-Chinese sentiments result in riots in Seattle, Washington. February 8 – The West End Riots following a popular meeting in Trafalgar Square, London. February 11 – The Anti-Chinese League of the City of Napa, California, is formed. February 14 – The first trainload of oranges leaves Los Angeles via the United States transcontinental railroad.
March March 1 – The Anglo-Chinese School is founded by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham on Amoy Street in Singapore. March 3 – The Treaty of Bucharest ends the Serbo-Bulgarian War in the Balkans. March 11 - Anandi Gopal Joshi becomes the first Indian-born woman to graduate from medical school. March 16 – A law establishing the Kiel Canal is adopted in the German Empire.Gesetz, betreffend die Herstellung des Nord-Ostseekanals [Law concerning the Creation of the Kiel Canal] (16 March 1886) RGBl 58 (Germany). March 17 – A white mob storms a courthouse in Carroll County, Mississippi, killing 23 African Americans. March 20 – William Stanley Jr. demonstrates the first commercial alternating current generator and transformer system in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. March 23 – Tchaikovsky’s Manfred symphony premieres in Moscow, Russia. March 29 – Wilhelm Steinitz becomes the first recognized World Chess Champion. March – Gottlieb Daimler assembles his first automobile, in Germany.
April 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. April 6 – The settlement of Vancouver, British Columbia, is incorporated. 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. April – The Swedish Dress Reform Society is established.
May
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. May 4 – Emile Berliner starts work that leads to the invention of the gramophone. May 8 – American pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola'. May 10 – Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that corporations have the same rights as living persons. May 15 – Portugal and France agree to regulate the borders of their colonies in Guinea. May 17 – Motherwell Football Club is founded in Scotland. May 29 – John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (in The Atlanta Journal).
June 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. 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.
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. 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. June 13 The Great Vancouver Fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia. A large log jam forms on the St. Croix River near Taylors Falls, Minnesota June 25 – Arturo Toscanini makes his conducting debut, with an Italian opera company visiting Rio de Janeiro. June 30 – The Royal Holloway College for women is opened by Queen Victoria, near London, England.
July July 3 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen. 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. July 23 – Steve Brodie is reported to have made a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge, a claim subsequently disputed. July 25 – Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
August August 13 – Nagasaki Incident: Chinese troops riot during shore leave in Nagasaki, Japan. August 19 – The Christian Union (Church of God) is established in Monroe County, Tennessee August 20 – A massive hurricane demolishes the town of Indianola, Texas. August 31 – The 7.0 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.
September September 1 – Grasshopper Club Zürich is founded as the first football club in the Swiss city of Zürich by English students. 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. September 9 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is signed. September 21 – American physicist William Stanley Jr. patents the first practical alternating current transformer device, the induction coil. September – Avon Products, a worldwide cosmetics and household brand is founded by David H. McConnell in New York City, United States.
October October 7 – Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba. October 24 – The British merchant vessel Normanton sinks off the coast of Japan, triggering the Normanton incident. 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.
November
November 1 – The biggest Buddhist boys' school in Sri Lanka, Ananda College, is founded in Colombo. 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. November 11 – Heinrich Hertz verifies the existence of electromagnetic waves, at the University of Karlsruhe. November 14 – German inventor Friedrich Soennecken first develops the hole puncher, a type of office tool capable of punching small holes in paper. 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. November 30 – The Folies Bergère stages its first revue in Paris. 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.
December 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. 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.
Date unknown Addis Ababa is founded in the Ethiopian Empire. The village of Skorenovac is founded in Serbia, mostly by Székely Hungarians. Scotch whisky distiller William Grant & Sons is founded. Yorkshire Tea is established in Harrogate, England. Johnson & Johnson, which becomes a multinational brand, begins manufacturing healthcare products in New Jersey, United States. Food product and processing brand Del Monte Foods is founded in California, United States. Emily Ruete publishes her landmark memoir, Memoirs of an Arabian Princess: An Autobiography. Bedford Rugby Club is formed in England.
Births
January–February
January 2 Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English polar explorer with the Terra Nova expedition and author of The Worst Journey in the World (d. 1959) Florence Lawrence, Canadian-born American actress (d. 1938) Elise Ottesen-Jensen, Norwegian-Swedish feminist (d. 1973) January 5 – Markus Reiner, Israeli scientist (d. 1976) January 7 – Amedeo Maiuri, Italian archaeologist (d. 1963) January 11 George Zucco, English–born American character actor (d. 1960) Chester Conklin, American actor (d. 1971) January 13 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer, comedian (d. 1966) January 14 – Hugh Lofting, English-born American author (d. 1947) January 17 – Joe Masseria, Italian-born American gangster (d. 1931) January 25 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (d. 1954) January 27 – Frank Nitti, Italian-born American gangster (d. 1943) January 28 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese electrical engineer (d. 1976) January 31 – Alfonso López Pumarejo, 14th and 16th President of Colombia (d. 1959) February 2 – Frank Lloyd, English-born American film director, scriptwriter and producer (d. 1960) February 4 – Edward Sheldon, American playwright (d. 1946) February 7 – Yehezkel Abramsky, Russian-born British rabbi (d. 1976) February 8 – Charlie Ruggles, American actor (d. 1970) February 12 – Margarita Fischer, American silent film actress (d. 1975) February 19 – José Abad Santos, Filipino jurist, lawyer (d. 1942) February 22 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian artist and poet (d. 1980) February 27 – Hugo Black, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1971)
March–April
March 1 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian-born painter (d. 1980) March 2 Vittorio Pozzo, Italian football player and manager (d. 1968) Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, German general (d. 1974) Willis H. O'Brien, American stop motion animator, Academy Award winner (d. 1962) March 3 R. O. Morris, British composer (d. 1948) James Friskin, Scottish-American pianist and composer (d. 1967) Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (d. 1968) March 4 – Kazimierz Świtalski, Polish diplomat, politician, soldier and military officer, 18th Prime Minister of Poland (d. 1962) March 5 Dong Biwu, acting Chairman of China, communist revolutionary (d. 1975) Paul Radmilovic, Welsh Olympic medallist in water polo and swimming (d. 1968) March 6 Saburō Kurusu, Japanese diplomat (d. 1954) Nella Walker, American actress, vaudevillian (d. 1971) March 7 Virginia Pearson, American silent film actress (d. 1958) René Thomas, French racing driver (d. 1975) March 8 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1972) March 9 – Robert L. Eichelberger, American general (d. 1961) March 11 – Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Polish politician, Marshal of Poland (d. 1941) March 13 – John “Home Run” Baker, American baseball player, Hall of Famer (d. 1963) March 14 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964) March 17 – Princess Patricia of Connaught, granddaughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1974) March 18 Edward Everett Horton, American actor (d. 1970) Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German U-boat ace (d. 1941) Kurt Koffka, German psychologist (d. 1941)