1900 Information

Year 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. As a result, the Julian calendar was 12 days behind the Gregorian until Wednesday, February 28 (O.S. February 16) and has been 13 days behind since Thursday, March 1 (O.S. February 17). It was the 1900th year of the Anno Domini or the Common Era designation, the 900th year of the 2nd millennium, and the last year of the 19th century but the first year of the 1900s.

Events

January

Main article: January 1900

• January 1 – Hawaii asks for a delegate at the U.S. Republican National Convention.
• January 2
  • The first electric bus becomes operational in New York City.
  • U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote American trade with China.
• January 3 – The United States Census estimates the country's population to be about 70 million people.
• January 4 – Strikes in Belgium and Germany lead to mining riots.
• January 5
  • The Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
  • Dr. Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announces a theory about the cause of the Earth's magnetism.
• January 6 – Second Boer War: Boers attack the town of Ladysmith, South Africa, killing over 1,000 people.
• January 8 – President William McKinley of the United States places Alaska under military governance.
• January 9 – The first through passenger train goes from Cairo to Khartoum.
• January 14
  • The opera Tosca premieres in Rome, Italy.
  • The U.S. Senate accepts the British-German treaty of 1899, in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the American Samoa portion of the Samoan Islands.
• January 17 – Brigham H. Roberts of Utah is not seated by the U.S. House of Representatives because of his plural marriage.
• January 23 – 5,000 Austrian miners go on strike.

Second Boer War: Boers at Spion Kop, 1900

• January 24 – The Second Boer War: At the Battle of Spion Kop: Boer troops defeat the British troops.
• January 26 – The Labor League Conference opens in Sydney, Australia, with plans to form a Federal Labor Party. This is spelled "Labor" even in Australia.
• January 27 – Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
• January 29 – The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with eight founding teams.
• January 30 – Governor William Goebel of Kentucky shot by several assassins.

February

Main article: February 1900 Plaque recording the location of the formation of the British Labour Party in 1900.

• February 1 – Western Australia announced its refusal to join the Australian Federation unless it is given five more years of fiscal freedom.
• February 3
  • Governor William Goebel of Kentucky dies of wounds after being shot by several assassins on January 30. Goebel, who had prevailed in a dispute over the winner of the election in November 1899, had been sworn in on his deathbed. The former Secretary of State of Kentucky Caleb Powers is later found guilty in the conspiracy to kill Goebel.
  • Strikers in Aachen, Vienna, and Brussels demand an eight-hour working day and higher wages.
• February 5
  • The United Kingdom and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal across Central America in Nicaragua.
  • Second Boer War: The British House of Commons' vote of censure over the British government's handling of the war is defeated.
• February 6 – The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
• February 8 – Second Boer War: British troops are defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith.
• February 9 – Dwight F. Davis creates the Davis Cup tennis tournament.
• February 14
  • Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
  • Second Boer War – Battle of Paardeberg: 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
• February 15 – Second Boer War: The Siege of Kimberley is lifted.
• February 17 – Second Boer War: Battle of Paardeberg: British troops defeat the Boers.
• February 27
  • The British Labour Party is formed.
  • Second Boer War: British military leaders accept the unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
  • Ramsay MacDonald is appointed secretary of the newly formed British Labour Party.
  • FC Bayern Munich, football club, is founded.

March

Main article: March 1900

• March 2 (beginning) – Groups of officials inspect towns around Australia in order to find a location the new Federal capital.
• March 5 – Two U.S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
• March 6
  • "Baby-farmer" Ada Williams is hanged at Newgate Prison for murdering a 21-month old girl.
  • A coal mine explosion in West Virginia kills 50 miners.
• March 7 – A fire at Buckingham Palace destroys part of its roof.
• March 8 – Londoners celebrate as Queen Victoria makes a rare visit to the city.
• March 9 – Women in Germany demand the right to participate in university entrance exams.
• March 14 – The botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's Laws of Heredity.
• March 15 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
• March 16 – The British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on Crete on which the ruins of the palace of Knossos stand. He begins to unearth some of the palace three days later.
• March 24 – The Mayor of New York, Van Wyck, breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that will link Manhattan with Brooklyn.
• March 27 – The arrival of a Russian naval fleet in Korea causes concern to the Imperial Japanese government.
• March 28 – Over 1,000 tonnes of waste are removed from demolished buildings in Sydney, Australia, in areas affected by an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
• March 31 – In France, the length of a legal workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours.

April

Main article: April 1900

• April 1
  • The Irish Guards are formed by Queen Victoria.
  • King George of Greece becomes absolute monarch of Crete.
• April 4 – An anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium.
• April 14 – The Paris World Exhibition opens.
• April 22 – Battle of Kousséri: French forces secure their domination of Chad. Warlord Rabih az-Zubayr is defeated and killed.
• April 26 – The Great Lumber Fire of Ottawa–Hull kills 7 and leaves 15,000 homeless.
• April 30 – Hawaii becomes an official U.S. territory.

May

Main article: May 1900

• May 1 – An explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200.
• May 14 – The second Modern Olympic Games opens in Paris (as part of the Paris World Exhibition).
• May 17
  • Second Boer War: British troops relieve the Mafeking.
  • Boxer Rebellion: Boxers destroy 3 villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians.
• May 18 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
• May 21 – Russia invades Manchuria.
• May 23 – Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in 1863, as the first African American to have been awarded this medal.
• May 24 – Second Boer War: The British annex the Orange Free State as the Orange River Colony.
• May 28 – Boxer Rebellion: The Boxers attack Belgians in the Fengtai railway station.
• May 29 – N'Djamena, the capital city of Chad, is founded as Fort-Lamy by French commander Émile Gentil.
• May 31 – Boxer Rebellion: Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China.

June

Main article: June 1900

• June 1 – Carrie Nation begins her crusade to demolish saloons.
• June 5 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.
• June 14 – The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
• June 20 – Boxer Rebellion: Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.
• June 30 – A wharf fire at the docks in Hoboken, New Jersey owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship line spreads to German passenger ships Saale, Main, and Bremen. The fire engulfs the adjacent piers and nearby ships, killing 326 people.

July 9: Australia, founded.

July

Main article: July 1900

• July 2 – The first zeppelin flight is carried out over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
• July 5 – The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes the British Parliament.
• July 9 – Queen Victoria gives her royal assent to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act.
• July 12 – A German cruise liner, the SS Deutschland, breaks the record for the Blue Riband for the first time with an average speed of 22.4 knots.
• July 19 – The first line of the Paris Métro is opened.
• July 25 – The Robert Charles Riots break out in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• July 29 – King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

August

Main article: August 1900

• August 14 – Boxer Rebellion: An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the Europeans taken hostage.

September

Main article: September 1900

• September 8 – A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
• September 13 – Philippine-American War: Filipino resistance fighters defeat a large American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa.
• September 17 – Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat the Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
• September 25 – In the British general election, the recently formed Labour Party gains two seats. Winston Churchill is also elected to Parliament for the first time.

October

Main article: October 1900

November

Main article: November 1900

• November 3 – The first automobile show in the United States opens at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
• November 6 – U.S. presidential election, 1900: Republican incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan.

December

Main article: December 1900

• December 7 – Max Planck announces his discovery of the law of black body emission, marking the birth of quantum physics.

Date unknown

• U.S. New Haven, CT Louis Lassen of Louis' Lunch makes the first modern-day hamburger sandwich.
• Japan participates with the European powers in occupying Beijing to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.
• Kouang-Tchéou-Wan added to French Indochina.
• First Michelin Guide published.
• Civil service consists of fewer than 3,500 top officials for a population of 300 million in India.
• 4 out of every 1,000 residents of British India die of cholera each year.

World population

• World population: 1,650,000,000
  • Africa: 133,000,000
  • Asia: 947,000,000
    • Japan: c. 45,000,000
  • Europe: 408,000,000
  • Latin-America: 74,000,000
  • Northern America: 82,000,000
  • Oceania: 6,000,000

Births

January

• January 1 – Xavier Cugat, Cuban bandleader (d. 1990)
• January 2 – William Haines, American actor (d. 1973)
• January 4 – James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
• January 5 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
• January 9 – Richard Halliburton, American adventurer and writer (d. 1939)
• January 16 – Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
• January 23 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor and organist (d. 1988)
• January 24 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist and evolutionary biologist (d. 1975)
• January 26 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
• January 27 – Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
• January 28 – Rajagopala Tondaiman, King of Pudukkottai (d. 1950)
• January 30 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)

February

• February 4 – Jacques Prévert, French lyricist and author (d. 1977)
• February 5 – Adlai Stevenson, American politician (d. 1965)
• February 11 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
• February 12 – Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
• February 22 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (d. 1983)
• February 25 – Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., American inventor of the drive-in theatre (d. 1975)
• February 28 – Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)

March

• March 4 – Herbert Biberman, American screenwriter and film director (d. 1971)
• March 7 – Lorimer Dods, Australian medical pioneer (d. 1981)
• March 9 – Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
• March 13 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1971)
• March 19 – Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)
• March 23 – Erich Fromm, German-born psychologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
• March 29 – John McEwen, Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
• March 31 – Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1974)

April

• April 2 – Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer (d. 1942)
• April 3
  • Albert Ingham, English mathematician (d. 1967)
  • Albert Walsh, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958)
• April 5 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
• April 8 – Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979)
• April 16 – Polly Adler, Russian author (d. 1962)
• April 21 – Hans Fritzsche, German Nazi official (d. 1953)
• April 25 – Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
• April 26 – Charles Richter, American geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
• April 27 – August Koern, Estonian statesman and diplomat (d. 1989)
• April 28 – Maurice Thorez, French Communist Leader (d. 1964)
• April 30 – Cecily Lefort, English World War II heroine (d. 1945)

May

• May 1 – Ignazio Silone, Italian author (d. 1978)
• May 2 – A.W. Lawrence, a British leading authority on classical sculpture and architecture (d. 1991)
• May 6 – Zheng Ji, Chinese nutritionist and biochemist (d. 2010)
• May 12 – Helene Weigel, Austrian actress (d. 1971)
• May 23 – Hans Frank, German Nazi official (d. 1946)
• May 27 – Uładzimir Zylka, Belarusian poet (d. 1933)
• May 28 – Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1939)

June

• June 3
  • Rolland Fisher, American temperance activist (d. 1982)
  • Leo Picard, German-born Israeli geologist (d. 1997)
• June 4 – George Watkins, American baseball player (d. 1970)
• June 5 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• June 7 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist (d. 1963)
• June 15 – Paul Mares, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1949)
• June 17 – Martin Bormann, German Nazi official (d. 1945)
• June 25 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Viceroy of India (d. 1979)
• June 29 – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (d. 1944)

July

• July 4 – Robert Desnos, French poet (d. 1945)
• July 6 – Frederica Sagor Maas, American playwright, essayist, and author
• July 13 – George Lewis, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1968)
• July 23 – John Babcock, last surviving World War I veteran of the Canadian military (d. 2010)
• July 29 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)

August

• August 3 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist (d. 1945)
• August 4 – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen consort of George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
• August 6 – Cecil H. Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (d. 2003)
• August 10 – Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
• August 11
  • Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (d. 1994)
  • Alexander Mosolov, Russian composer (d. 1973)
• August 18 – Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (d. 1964)
• August 19
  • Colleen Moore, American actress (d. 1988)
  • Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (d. 1976)
• August 22 – Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
• August 25 – Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
• August 26 – Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)

September

• September 3 – Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (d. 1986)
• September 6 – W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (d. 1979)
• September 12 – Eric Thiman, English composer (d. 1975)
• September 18 – Thomas Darden, American Rear admiral, 37th Governor of American Samoa (d. 1961)
• September 22 – Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (d. 1985)
• September 23 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-born American sculptor (d. 1988)
• September 29 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, President of Mexico (d. 1983)
• September 29 – Auguste van Pels, German-Dutch mother of Peter van Pels, housemate of Anne Frank (d. 1945)

October

• October 1 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (d. 1966)
• October 6 – Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)
• October 7 – Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi official and SS head (d. 1945)
• October 30 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)

November

• November 4 – Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (d. 1954)
• November 5
  • Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
  • Natalie Schafer, American actress (d. 1991)
• November 6 – Hugh Prosser, American actor (d. 1952)
• November 8
  • Charlie Paddock, American athlete (d. 1943)
  • Margaret Mitchell, American writer (Gone With The Wind) (d. 1949)
• November 11
  • Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
  • Frederick Lawton, 9th Director of the Office of Management and Budget (d. 1975)
• November 13 – David Marshall Williams, American inventor (d. 1975)
• November 14 – Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)
• November 16 – Nikolai Pogodin, Soviet playwright (d. 1962)
• November 22 – Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and novelist (d. 1980)
• November 25 – Rudolf Höß, German Nazi official (d. 1947)

December

• December 3
  • Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
  • Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• December 4 – John Axon, British railwayman (d. 1957)
• December 6 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (Bewitched) (d. 1974)
• December 10 – Dominic Costa, Australian politician (d. 1976)
• December 12 – Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)
• December 20 – Marinus van der Goes van Naters, Dutch politician (d. 2005)

Deaths

January–June

• January 20 – John Ruskin, English writer and social critic (b. 1819)
• January 31 – John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman and boxer (b. 1844)
• February 18 – Clinton L. Merriam, American politician (b. 1824)
• March 6
  • Gottlieb Daimler, German inventor and automotive pioneer (b. 1834)
  • Carl Bechstein, German piano maker (b. 1826)
• March 10 – Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, Danish composer (b. 1805).
• April 5
  • Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
  • Osman Nuri Paşa, Ottoman military leader (b. 1832)
• April 12 – James Richard Cocke, American physician, homeopath, and a pioneer hypnotherapist (b. 1863).
• April 17 – George Curry, Wild West robber (Wild Bunch) (shot) (b. 1864)
• April 19 – James Dawson, Australian activist (b. 1806)
• April 22 – Amédée-François Lamy, French soldier (b. 1858) (killed in battle)
• April 24 – George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, British politician (b.1823)
• April 30 – Casey Jones, American railway engineer (b. 1863)
• May 1 – Mihály Munkácsy, Hungarian painter (b. 1844)
• May 9 – Carl Brosbøll, Danish author (b. 1816)
• May 18 – Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
• June 2
  • Samori Ture, West African empire-builder (b. 1830)
  • Clarence Cook, American critic and writer (b. 1828)
• June 3 – Mary Kingsley, English explorer and writer (b. 1862)
• June 5 – Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
• June 11 – Belle Boyd, American Confederate spy and actress (b. 1843)
• June 19 – Princess Josephine of Baden (b. 1813)

July–December

• July 5 – Henry Barnard, American educationalist (b. 1811)
• July 8 – Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist (b. 1820)
• July 29 – Umberto I, King of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1844)
• July 31 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria (b. 1844)
• August 7 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German Social Democratic politician (b. 1826)
• August 10 – Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1832)
• August 12 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player (b. 1836)
• August 16 – José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)
• August 23 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
• August 25 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and writer (b. 1844)
• September 23
  • William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (b. 1816)
  • Arsenio Martínez Campos, Spanish revolutionary (b. 1831)
• September 29 – Samuel Fenton Cary, American politician (b. 1814)
• October 15 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
• October 20 – Charles Dudley Warner, American writer (b. 1829)
• October 22 – John Sherman, American politician (b.1823)
• October 28 – Max Müller, German philologist and Orientalist (b. 1823)
• November 22 – Sir Arthur Sullivan. English composer (b. 1842)
• November 30 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)

References

• Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events...1900 (1901), vast compendium of data; global coverage online edition
• Herbert C. Fyfe, Pearson's Magazine, July 1900: How Will The World End?
• 1900 Coin Pictures

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