1885

Events in 1885 40

• 1802 – 1885 Victor Hugo French novelist and poet Hugo wrote Les Miserables and Notre-Dame de Paris, combining Romantic storytelling with social critique.
• 1822 – 1885 Ulysses S. Grant 18th President — Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant (Apr 27, 1822 – Jul 23, 1885) was the 18th President 1869-1877 and commanding general of the Union Army in the Civil War. His presidency was marked by Reconstruction and a series of corruption scandals.
• 1826 – 1885 George B. McClellan (1826-1885) Died 29 October 1885, aged 58 American Civil War general who commanded the Union Army of the Potomac and later served as General-in-Chief before running unsuccessfully against Abraham Lincoln for president in 1864. He served as Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881 and died in Orange, New Jersey.
• 1832 – 1885 Jules Vallès (1832-1885) Died 14 February 1885, aged 52 French journalist and novelist who participated in the Paris Commune of 1871 and founded the newspaper Le Cri du Peuple. Known for his semi-autobiographical trilogy Jacques Vingtras, he spent years in exile in London before returning to France under a general amnesty in 1880.
• 1833 – 1885 Charles George Gordon (1833-1885) Died 26 January 1885, aged 51 British army officer known as "Gordon of Khartoum," he had earlier commanded the "Ever Victorious Army" in China and served as governor-general of the Sudan. He was killed when Mahdist forces captured Khartoum after a prolonged siege, becoming a martyr figure in Victorian Britain despite controversy over the government's delayed relief effort.
• 1844 – 1885 Louis Riel (1844-1885) Died 16 November 1885, aged 41 Métis political leader who led two rebellions against the Canadian government in defense of Métis land rights and culture, founding the province of Manitoba in the process. Convicted of treason for leading the North-West Rebellion, he was hanged in Regina, and remains a deeply contested and symbolically important figure in Canadian history.
• 1844 – 1885 Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi (1844-1885) Died 22 June 1885, aged 40 Sudanese religious leader who declared himself the Mahdi and led a successful revolt against Egyptian and British rule, capturing Khartoum in January 1885. He died of typhus just months after his victory, and the Mahdist state he founded survived under his successor until its defeat by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898.
• 1857 – 1885 Alfonso XII of Spain (1857-1885) Died 25 November 1885, aged 27 King of Spain from 1874, he restored the Bourbon monarchy after a period of revolution and republican rule and presided over a period of relative political stability under the Constitution of 1876. He died of tuberculosis at the royal palace of El Pardo, leaving his pregnant wife to become regent for their unborn son, Alfonso XIII.
• 1885 – 1935 Alban Berg (1885-1935) Died 24 December 1935, aged 50 Berg was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School whose works include the opera Wozzeck. He died of septicaemia in Vienna shortly after finishing his Violin Concerto.
• 1885 – 1965 Chester W. Nimitz (1885-1965) Died 20 February 1965, aged 79 Chester W. Nimitz was a US Navy fleet admiral who commanded Allied naval forces in the Pacific theater during World War II. He accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. He died at his home on Yerba Buena Island, California, on 20 February 1965.
• 1885 – 1966 Chester W. Nimitz (1885-1966) Died 20 February 1966, aged 80 Chester W. Nimitz commanded the US Pacific Fleet during World War II and oversaw the naval campaigns that defeated Japan. He died in California on 20 February 1966.
• 1885 – 1930 D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) Died 2 March 1930, aged 44 English novelist and poet whose works include Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. His frank treatment of sexuality and class led to censorship battles. He died of tuberculosis in Vence, France.
• 1885 – 1940 DuBose Heyward (1885-1940) Died 16 June 1940, aged 54 American author of the novel "Porgy", which became the basis of the Gershwin opera "Porgy and Bess". He also wrote the opera's libretto.
• 1885 Eastman introduces roll film Flexible photographic film replaces glass plates George Eastman's company began selling paper-based roll film in 1885, allowing cameras to hold multiple exposures without fragile glass plates. The innovation simplified photography considerably and laid groundwork for Eastman's Kodak camera, launched two years later, and eventually for motion picture film.
• 1885 – 1957 Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957) Died 12 May 1957, aged 71 Austrian-born actor and director known for silent films such as Greed and for his acting role in Sunset Boulevard. His extravagant, perfectionist directing style made him a legendary and controversial figure in early Hollywood.
• 1885 – 1933 Faisal I of Iraq (1885-1933) Died 8 September 1933, aged 48 Leader of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans, he was briefly king of Syria and then the first king of Iraq from 1921. He led Iraq to independence and League of Nations membership in 1932.
• 1885 – 1962 Karen Blixen (1885-1962) Died 7 September 1962, aged 77 Danish author Karen Blixen, who wrote under the pen name Isak Dinesen, died on September 7, 1962. She is best known for her memoir "Out of Africa," recounting her years running a coffee farm in Kenya. Her writing blended memoir, folklore, and fiction.
• 1885 – 1944 Mineichi Koga (1885-1944) Died 31 March 1944, aged 58 Japanese admiral who became commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet after Isoroku Yamamoto's death. He was killed when his flying boat crashed in a typhoon near the Philippines. His death was kept secret for weeks.
• 1885 – 1962 Niels Bohr (1885-1962) Died 18 November 1962, aged 77 Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist who won the 1922 Nobel Prize for his contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, died on November 18, 1962. He was a central figure in the development of modern physics and later advocated for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. His institute in Copenhagen trained generations of leading physicists.
• 1885 – 1933 Ring Lardner (1885-1933) Died 25 September 1933, aged 48 American sportswriter and short-story writer known for his satirical baseball stories. His best-known book is You Know Me Al.
• 1885 – 1941 Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) Died 25 October 1941, aged 56 Robert Delaunay was a French painter who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay, founded Orphism, a colourful style of abstraction. He died in Montpellier.
• 1885 – 1958 Sacha Guitry (1885-1958) Died 24 July 1958, aged 73 Guitry was a prolific French actor, playwright, and filmmaker who wrote well over a hundred plays and directed numerous films. He was a dominant figure of French theater and early cinema for decades.
• 1885 – 1951 Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) Died 10 January 1951, aged 65 Lewis was an American novelist and the first writer from the United States to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 1930. His satirical novels, including Main Street, Babbitt, and Elmer Gantry, critiqued American middle-class conformity and hypocrisy. He died in Rome of complications from alcoholism.
• 1885 – 1939 Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939) Died 18 September 1939, aged 54 Witkacy was a Polish playwright, painter, novelist and philosopher and one of the major figures of the interwar avant-garde. He fled east after the German invasion. He took his own life on hearing of the Soviet invasion.
• 1885 – 1955 Theda Bara (1885-1955) Died 7 April 1955, aged 69 Theda Bara was an American silent film actress and one of the earliest sex symbols of the movie industry, celebrated for vamp roles such as in the 1917 film Cleopatra. Most of her films are now lost. She died of cancer in Los Angeles.
• 1885 – 1949 Wallace Beery (1885-1949) Died 15 April 1949, aged 64 Wallace Beery was an American film actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Champ in 1931. He was one of the highest-paid stars of early Hollywood sound cinema.
• 1885 Fall of Khartoum Mahdist forces storm the besieged Sudanese capital After a ten-month siege, Mahdist forces under Muhammad Ahmad broke through the defenses of Khartoum on 26 January 1885. The British-appointed governor, Major-General Charles Gordon, was killed, and the relief expedition sent to save him arrived two days too late. The fall shocked Victorian Britain and became one of the defining imperial controversies of the era.
• 1885 – 1982 Bess Truman (1885-1982) Died 18 October 1982, aged 97 Former First Lady of the United States as wife of President Harry Truman. She died in Independence, Missouri, having lived longer than any other First Lady to that time.
• 1885 Washington Monument dedicated Ceremony marks completion of the obelisk honoring the first US president The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. was formally dedicated on 21 February 1885, more than three decades after construction began and was halted for lack of funds. At the time of completion it was the tallest structure in the world. It opened to the public in 1888.
• 1885 General Act of the Berlin Conference signed European powers set rules for the partition of Africa Representatives of fourteen European and American powers concluded the Berlin West Africa Conference on 26 February 1885, establishing principles for colonial claims in Africa. The act recognized King Leopold II's personal control over the Congo Free State and formalized the free navigation of the Congo and Niger rivers. It became a foundational document of the "Scramble for Africa."
• 1885 North-West Rebellion Métis and Cree resistance against Canadian expansion Led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont, Métis settlers and allied Cree bands rose against the Canadian government in present-day Saskatchewan, beginning with the Duck Lake skirmish on 26 March 1885. Canadian militia forces defeated the rebels at the Battle of Batoche in May, and the last resistance ended in early June. The uprising's suppression led directly to Riel's trial and execution.
• 1885 – 1969 George Hayes (1885-1969) American actor, the whiskered sidekick Gabby of countless westerns.
• 1885 Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor The disassembled monument reaches the United States from France The French steamer Isère delivered the Statue of Liberty, packed in over two hundred crates, to New York Harbor on 17 June 1885. The gift from France required a further year of fundraising and construction before the completed statue was dedicated on its pedestal on Bedloe's Island. It would go on to become one of the most recognized monuments in the world.
• 1885 Pasteur administers first rabies vaccine to a human Joseph Meister becomes the first person successfully treated for rabies On 6 July 1885, Louis Pasteur treated nine-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog, with a series of injections of his experimental rabies vaccine. The boy survived, marking the first successful human application of a vaccine against rabies and a landmark in the history of immunology.
• 1885 Congo Free State proclaimed Leopold II establishes personal rule over the Congo basin On 1 August 1885, Belgian King Leopold II formally proclaimed the Congo Free State as his private possession, distinct from Belgium itself. The territory, nominally governed for humanitarian and free-trade purposes under the Berlin Act, became notorious over the following two decades for forced labor and atrocities committed to extract rubber and ivory.
• 1885 Canadian Pacific Railway completed Last spike driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia On 7 November 1885, Canadian Pacific Railway director Donald Smith drove the last spike at Craigellachie, completing Canada's first transcontinental railway. The line fulfilled a promise made to British Columbia upon its entry into confederation and bound the young country together from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
• 1885 Third Anglo-Burmese War British forces conquer Upper Burma and depose King Thibaw British troops invaded the Kingdom of Ava in November 1885, advancing rapidly up the Irrawaddy River and capturing the capital Mandalay within two weeks. King Thibaw Min surrendered and was exiled, and Upper Burma was annexed to British India on 1 January 1886, completing Britain's conquest of Burma.
• 1885 Daimler builds the Reitwagen First internal combustion motorcycle is tested near Stuttgart Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built the Petroleum Reitwagen, a wooden-framed vehicle powered by a single-cylinder gasoline engine, completing it in the autumn of 1885. Daimler's son rode it on a test run near Cannstatt in November, making it the first vehicle recognized as a motorcycle.
• 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War Serbia attacks Bulgaria over its unification with Eastern Rumelia King Milan of Serbia declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November 1885 after Bulgaria's unification with Eastern Rumelia upset the regional balance of power. Bulgarian forces repelled the invasion and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Slivnitsa before an armistice ended the fighting on 28 November.
• 1885 Indian National Congress founded Delegates meet in Bombay to found what becomes India's leading nationalist party The Indian National Congress held its first session in Bombay from 28 to 31 December 1885, bringing together Indian intellectuals and reformers under the guidance of retired British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume. Initially a forum for moderate political dialogue with colonial authorities, it grew into the principal vehicle of the Indian independence movement in the following decades.