1890

Events in 1890 48

• 1801 – 1890 John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Died 11 August 1890, aged 89 John Henry Newman was an English theologian and cardinal who led the Oxford Movement before converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845. He founded the Birmingham Oratory and wrote influential works including Apologia Pro Vita Sua. He was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2019.
• 1817 – 1890 William III of the Netherlands (1817-1890) Died 23 November 1890, aged 73 William III was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg for over four decades, presiding over a period of growing parliamentary influence in Dutch politics. His death ended the personal union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg, since Luxembourg's succession law barred his daughter Wilhelmina from inheriting the grand duchy. Wilhelmina succeeded him as Queen of the Netherlands under a regency led by her mother.
• 1822 – 1890 Cesar Franck (1822-1890) Died 8 November 1890, aged 67 Cesar Franck was a Belgian-born composer and organist who spent most of his career in Paris, known for works such as the Symphony in D minor and Variations symphoniques. He was a central figure in French Romantic music and an influential teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. He died from complications following a traffic accident several months earlier.
• 1831 – 1890 Sitting Bull (1831-1890) Died 15 December 1890, aged 59 Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led resistance to US government policy and defeated General Custer's forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. He later became a symbol of Native American resistance and briefly toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He was killed by Indian Affairs police during an attempted arrest at Standing Rock, two weeks before the Wounded Knee Massacre.
• 1849 – 1890 William III King of the Netherlands William III ruled during a period of modernization and colonial expansion.
• 1853 – 1890 Vincent van Gogh Post-Impressionism · Netherlands Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who sold only one painting in his lifetime but created over 2,000 works. The Starry Night, Sunflowers and his self-portraits are among the most recognised in the world.
• 1890 – 1944 Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) Died 27 September 1944, aged 53 Canadian-born American Pentecostal evangelist and a pioneer of radio preaching. She founded the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and built Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. Her mysterious 1926 disappearance was a national sensation.
• 1890 – 1960 Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) Died 30 May 1960, aged 70 Russian poet and novelist best known for Doctor Zhivago, for which he was awarded and then forced to decline the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died at his home in Peredelkino near Moscow.
• 1890 – 1970 Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) Died 9 November 1970, aged 79 Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French forces during World War II and founder of France's Fifth Republic, died at his home in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. He had served twice as head of state, resigning the presidency in 1969.
• 1890 – 1918 Egon Schiele (1890-1918) Died 31 October 1918, aged 28 Austrian Expressionist painter Egon Schiele, known for raw, angular figurative works, died of the Spanish flu in Vienna just three days after his pregnant wife Edith succumbed to the same illness. He had studied under Gustav Klimt, who died earlier the same year. His brief career left a major mark on 20th-century figurative art.
• 1890 – 1938 Karel Čapek (1890-1938) Died 25 December 1938, aged 48 Čapek was a Czech writer whose play R.U.R. introduced the word "robot". He was a prominent critic of fascism and died a few months after the Munich Agreement.
• 1890 – 1935 Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935) Died 21 December 1935, aged 45 Tucholsky was a German-Jewish satirist and journalist and one of the sharpest critics of the Weimar Republic's right wing. He died in exile in Sweden.
• 1890 – 1922 Michael Collins (1890-1922) Died 22 August 1922, aged 31 Michael Collins, a leading figure in the Irish independence movement and negotiator of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, was shot dead in an ambush at Beal na Bla, County Cork, during the Irish Civil War. He had been commander-in-chief of the Free State's National Army. His death made him one of the most enduring martyr figures of modern Irish history.
• 1890 – 1938 Nikolai Trubetzkoy (1890-1938) Died 25 June 1938, aged 48 Trubetzkoy was a Russian linguist and a founder of the Prague School of structural phonology.
• 1890 Publication of The Golden Bough Frazer's comparative study of myth and religion appears Scottish anthropologist James George Frazer published the first edition of The Golden Bough, a comparative study of mythology, magic, and religion. The work argued that human belief systems evolved from magic through religion toward science, and it profoundly influenced literature and social anthropology. Its ideas shaped writers such as T. S. Eliot and Joseph Campbell.
• 1890 – 1949 Robert Ripley (1890-1949) Died 27 May 1949, aged 58 Robert Ripley was an American cartoonist and entrepreneur who created Believe It or Not!, a franchise of cartoons, radio programs, and museums devoted to unusual facts and oddities. The brand remains active worldwide today.
• 1890 – 1965 Stan Laurel (1890-1965) Died 23 February 1965, aged 74 Stan Laurel was an English-born comedian and actor, best known as the slighter half of the double act Laurel and Hardy. He continued writing comedy routines for years after his partner Oliver Hardy's death. He died in Santa Monica, California, on 23 February 1965.
• 1890 – 1974 Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) Died 28 June 1974, aged 84 Vannevar Bush was an American engineer who directed the US Office of Scientific Research and Development during the Second World War, overseeing the early atomic bomb effort. His 1945 essay "As We May Think" anticipated hypertext and the modern computer.
• 1890 – 1963 Adolphe Menjou (1890-1963) American actor, a byword for suave elegance on screen from A Woman of Paris to Paths of Glory.
• 1890 – 1975 Marjorie Main (1890-1975) American character actress, Ma Kettle in The Egg and I and its sequels.
• 1890 Forth Bridge opens Cantilever railway bridge spans the Firth of Forth The Forth Bridge, a cantilever railway bridge spanning the Firth of Forth in Scotland, opened to traffic. At the time it was the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world and remains a landmark of Victorian engineering. It was formally opened by the Prince of Wales.
• 1890 – 1986 Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986) Died 8 November 1986, aged 96 Soviet statesman who served as foreign minister under Stalin and lent his name to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. He was later expelled from the Communist Party leadership by Khrushchev during de-Stalinization. He was readmitted to the party shortly before his death.
• 1890 Dismissal of Otto von Bismarck Kaiser Wilhelm II forces out the Iron Chancellor Kaiser Wilhelm II forced Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to resign after nearly three decades in power, following disputes over social policy and the Kaiser's desire for direct control. Bismarck, architect of German unification, retired to his estate at Friedrichsruh. His departure marked a turning point toward a more assertive and erratic German foreign policy.
• 1890 First Pan-American Conference concludes Washington meeting founds the International Union of American Republics The first International Conference of American States concluded in Washington, D.C., establishing the International Union of American Republics and its secretariat. The organization later evolved into the Pan American Union and, in 1948, the Organization of American States. The conference aimed to promote trade and prevent conflict among Western Hemisphere nations.
• 1890 – 1966 Herbert Marshall (1890-1966) English actor with a celebrated voice, the suave star of Trouble in Paradise and The Letter.
• 1890 – 1949 Frank Morgan (1890-1949) American actor, the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz.
• 1890 Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty signed Germany and Britain trade Heligoland for African territory Germany and Britain signed the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, exchanging the North Sea island of Heligoland for German recognition of British claims over Zanzibar and parts of East Africa. The agreement helped define colonial spheres of influence during the Scramble for Africa. It gave Germany a strategic naval outpost near its own coast.
• 1890 Japan holds first general election Vote establishes the Imperial Diet's lower house Japan held its first general election for the House of Representatives under the Meiji Constitution, with voting restricted to a small class of male taxpayers. The vote established the framework for the Imperial Diet, Japan's first modern national legislature. It marked a major step in Japan's transition toward constitutional government.
• 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act signed First US federal law against monopolies President Benjamin Harrison signed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first US federal law aimed at limiting monopolies and cartels. It became the foundation of American antitrust law, later used against Standard Oil and other large trusts. The act prohibited contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that restrained trade.
• 1890 Wyoming becomes a US state First state admitted with women's suffrage Wyoming was admitted to the Union as the 44th US state. It entered as the first state to grant women the right to vote, a policy its territorial legislature had maintained since passing suffrage in 1869. The state is nicknamed the Equality State because of this legacy.
• 1890 Cecil Rhodes becomes Prime Minister of the Cape Colony Mining magnate takes political control in southern Africa Cecil Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, using the position to expand British and his own commercial interests in southern Africa. His government pursued policies that curtailed the political rights of Black African voters and extended British control northward. He remained in office until 1896.
• 1890 – 1995 Rose Kennedy (1890-1995) Died 22 January 1995, aged 104 Rose Kennedy was the matriarch of the Kennedy family and mother of President John F. Kennedy, Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy, and their siblings. She outlived four of her nine children, including three who died violently. She was widely known for her longevity and her role in one of America's most prominent political families.
• 1890 Revolucion del Parque uprising in Buenos Aires Armed revolt against President Juarez Celman Armed civilians and dissident army officers rose up in Buenos Aires against the government of President Miguel Juarez Celman, whose administration was mired in corruption and economic crisis. Government forces put down the revolt militarily, but the uprising forced Juarez Celman's resignation weeks later. The revolt led to the founding of the Radical Civic Union, a major Argentine political party.
• 1890 First execution by electric chair William Kemmler dies at Auburn Prison William Kemmler became the first person executed by electric chair, at Auburn Prison in New York. The execution was botched and drew widespread criticism, intensifying the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over alternating and direct current power. It established the electric chair as a method of capital punishment in the United States.
• 1890 – 1976 Man Ray (1890-1976) Died 18 November 1976, aged 86 Man Ray, the American visual artist associated with the Dada and Surrealist movements, died in Paris. He was renowned for his innovative photographic techniques, including the 'rayograph', and for his portraits of fellow artists and celebrities. He had spent most of his career living and working in France.
• 1890 – 1976 Agatha Christie (1890-1976) Died 12 January 1976, aged 85 Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist known for detective fiction featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, died at her home in Wallingford, England. She remains the best-selling novelist of all time, with over two billion copies of her books sold worldwide. Her play The Mousetrap was already the longest continuously running show in theatre history.
• 1890 Woodruff Manifesto issued Mormon Church advises against new plural marriages Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints president Wilford Woodruff issued a manifesto formally advising members to stop performing new plural marriages. The declaration responded to intensifying federal prosecution of polygamists under the Edmunds-Tucker Act. It paved the way for Utah's eventual admission as a US state.
• 1890 McKinley Tariff Act signed US raises import duties to protect domestic industry President Benjamin Harrison signed the McKinley Tariff Act, raising average import duties to nearly 50 percent to protect American industry. The steep tariff increase raised consumer prices and contributed to Republican losses in the 1890 and 1892 elections. It was named for its chief sponsor, Congressman William McKinley.
• 1890 Yosemite National Park established Congress protects the Sierra Nevada wilderness around Yosemite Valley President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation establishing Yosemite National Park in California, protecting the Sierra Nevada landscape surrounding the earlier state-managed Yosemite Grant. The campaign was driven partly by naturalist John Muir's advocacy for wilderness preservation. Yosemite became one of the first national parks in the United States.
• 1890 – 1977 Groucho Marx (1890-1977) Died 19 August 1977, aged 86 Groucho Marx was an American comedian and film star, the wisecracking leader of the Marx Brothers. His stage persona of round glasses, greasepaint moustache, and rapid-fire wit remained instantly recognizable decades after his film career ended.
• 1890 – 1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower 34th President — WWII Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower (Oct 14, 1890 – Mar 28, 1969) was the 34th President 1953-1961 and Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in WWII. He ended the Korean War, built the Interstate Highway System and warned against the "military-industrial complex".
• 1890 Baring crisis shakes London finance Barings Bank nearly collapses over Argentine debt Barings Bank, one of London's most prominent merchant banks, came close to collapse after overexposure to Argentine debt. The Bank of England organized an emergency rescue fund among leading banks to prevent a wider financial panic. The crisis strained investor confidence in Argentine and Latin American securities for years afterward.
• 1890 – 1948 Wilhelmina Queen during World War II Queen Wilhelmina became a symbol of Dutch resistance during World War II.
• 1890 First Imperial Diet of Japan convenes Japan's first modern national parliament opens The first Imperial Diet of Japan convened in Tokyo, comprising an elected House of Representatives and an appointed House of Peers. It was the first modern national parliament in Asia, established under the Meiji Constitution promulgated the previous year. The Diet's opening marked Japan's formal entry into constitutional governance.
• 1890 – 1976 Fritz Lang (1890-1976) Died 2 August 1976, aged 85 Fritz Lang, the Austrian-German filmmaker known for Metropolis and M, died in Los Angeles. He was a central figure of German Expressionist cinema before emigrating to Hollywood to escape Nazi Germany. His films influenced science fiction and film noir for decades afterward.
• 1890 Irish Parliamentary Party splits over Parnell Committee Room 15 debates divide Irish nationalists The Irish Parliamentary Party split after its leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, was named in a divorce scandal involving Katharine O'Shea. A majority of MPs voted to depose him as chairman during the Committee Room 15 debates. The rupture badly damaged the Irish Home Rule movement for years.
• 1890 Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades premieres Opera based on Pushkin opens at the Mariinsky Theatre Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades, based on a story by Alexander Pushkin, premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. The opera became one of Tchaikovsky's most celebrated works and a staple of the Russian operatic repertoire. It was composed in collaboration with his brother Modest, who wrote the libretto.
• 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre US troops kill Lakota Ghost Dance followers in South Dakota US Army troops of the 7th Cavalry killed several hundred Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The massacre followed the killing of Chief Sitting Bull two weeks earlier and effectively ended the Ghost Dance movement and armed Native American resistance on the Great Plains. It is widely regarded as the last major confrontation of the American Indian Wars.