1894

Events in 1894 45

• 1802 – 1894 Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) Died 20 March 1894, aged 91 Kossuth led Hungary's 1848-49 struggle for independence from the Habsburg Empire and served as its regent-president before its defeat. He spent his final decades in exile, mainly in Italy, remaining a symbol of Hungarian nationalism. His death in Turin prompted mass mourning and a huge funeral procession in Budapest.
• 1805 – 1894 Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894) Died 7 December 1894, aged 89 De Lesseps was the French diplomat who developed the Suez Canal, completed in 1869. His later attempt to build a Panama Canal ended in financial collapse and scandal that damaged his reputation. He died at his estate in France two years after the Panama Canal Company's failure was exposed.
• 1821 – 1894 Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) Died 8 September 1894, aged 73 Helmholtz was a German physicist and physician who made foundational contributions to thermodynamics, optics, acoustics, and the physiology of perception. He formulated an early statement of the conservation of energy. He died in Charlottenburg near Berlin.
• 1829 – 1894 Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) Died 20 November 1894, aged 64 Rubinstein was a Russian pianist and composer who founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and was regarded as one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his era. His pupils included Tchaikovsky. He died at Peterhof, near Saint Petersburg.
• 1830 – 1894 Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) Died 29 December 1894, aged 64 Rossetti was an English poet best known for Goblin Market and the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter. She was a central figure among the Pre-Raphaelite circle through her brother, the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She died of cancer in London.
• 1837 – 1894 Sadi Carnot (1837-1894) Died 25 June 1894, aged 56 Carnot was President of France when he was stabbed by an Italian anarchist, Sante Geronimo Caserio, during a visit to Lyon on 24 June 1894, and died of his wounds the next day. His assassination was part of a wave of anarchist violence across Europe in the 1890s. He was succeeded as president by Jean Casimir-Perier.
• 1839 – 1894 Walter Pater (1839-1894) Died 30 July 1894, aged 54 Pater was an English essayist and critic whose writing on aesthetics, notably Studies in the History of the Renaissance, influenced the Aestheticism and Decadent movements. His prose style shaped younger writers including Oscar Wilde. He died suddenly of heart failure in Oxford.
• 1845 – 1894 Alexander III of Russia (1845-1894) Died 1 November 1894, aged 49 Alexander III ruled the Russian Empire as an autocrat who reversed many of his father's liberal reforms and pursued Russification policies. He died of kidney disease at Livadia Palace in Crimea. His son Nicholas II succeeded him as the last Tsar of Russia.
• 1850 – 1894 Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Died 3 December 1894, aged 43 Stevenson was a Scottish novelist whose works, including Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, became enduring classics of world literature. He spent his final years in Samoa for his health, where he was greatly admired by the local population. He died suddenly of a suspected cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Vailima.
• 1857 – 1894 Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) Died 1 January 1894, aged 36 Hertz was a German physicist who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell, laying the groundwork for radio technology. He died of a genetic vasculitis condition in Bonn. The unit of frequency, the hertz, is named in his honor.
• 1894 – 1963 Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) Died 22 November 1963, aged 69 Aldous Huxley was an English writer best known for the dystopian novel Brave New World. He spent his later years in California writing about psychedelics, mysticism and human potential. His death was overshadowed by the assassination of John F. Kennedy on the same day.
• 1894 – 1943 Boris III of Bulgaria (1894-1943) Died 28 August 1943, aged 49 Boris III was tsar of Bulgaria from 1918, and he aligned his country with the Axis. He refused to deport Bulgaria's Jews to German death camps. He died suddenly soon after a stormy meeting with Hitler.
• 1894 – 1961 Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) Died 10 January 1961, aged 66 American writer of hardboiled detective fiction, author of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. He was jailed in 1951 for refusing to testify before a grand jury about his political associations and died of lung cancer in New York.
• 1894 – 1972 Edward, Duke of Windsor (1894-1972) Died 28 May 1972, aged 77 As King Edward VIII, he abdicated the British throne in 1936 to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, one of the most famous royal scandals of the twentieth century. He lived most of the rest of his life in France with the title Duke of Windsor. He died of throat cancer in Paris.
• 1894 – 1956 Fred Allen (1894-1956) Died 17 March 1956, aged 61 American comedian and radio personality known for his sharp wit and his long-running radio program, The Fred Allen Show. His mock feud with fellow comedian Jack Benny became one of the most famous running gags in radio history. He died of a heart attack in New York City.
• 1894 – 1940 Isaac Babel (1894-1940) Died 27 January 1940, aged 45 Soviet writer of "Red Cavalry" and "Odessa Stories". The NKVD arrested him in 1939 on invented charges of espionage and shot him in Moscow after a brief trial.
• 1894 – 1974 Jack Benny (1894-1974) Died 26 December 1974, aged 80 Jack Benny was an American comedian whose radio and television programs made him one of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century. His deadpan timing and running gags shaped generations of American comedy.
• 1894 – 1961 James Thurber (1894-1961) Died 2 November 1961, aged 66 American writer and cartoonist best known for his work in The New Yorker, including the short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." His humorous prose and drawings made him one of the leading American humorists of his era.
• 1894 – 1939 Joseph Roth (1894-1939) Died 27 May 1939, aged 44 Roth was an Austrian novelist and journalist who wrote Radetzky March about the decline of the Habsburg monarchy. He fled Germany in 1933. He died in poverty in Paris.
• 1894 – 1941 Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) Died 14 August 1941, aged 47 Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger condemned to starvation at Auschwitz. He was killed by lethal injection and canonised in 1982.
• 1894 Steinitz loses title to Lasker End of the Steinitz era Emanuel Lasker defeated Steinitz convincingly in a match played across New York, Philadelphia and Montreal, ending Steinitz's 28-year reign as the world's best player.
• 1894 – 1974 Walter Brennan (1894-1974) Died 21 September 1974, aged 80 Walter Brennan was an American character actor who won three Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, more than any other male performer. He appeared in over 200 films across a career spanning five decades.
• 1894 – 1962 e.e. cummings (1894-1962) Died 3 September 1962, aged 67 American poet e.e. cummings, known for his unconventional syntax and typography, died of a stroke on September 3, 1962. His experimental style made him one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century. He published over 900 poems during his career.
• 1894 Manchester Ship Canal opens Inland Manchester becomes a seaport The Manchester Ship Canal opened to shipping on 1 January 1894, connecting Manchester to the Irish Sea and allowing ocean-going vessels to reach the city directly. Queen Victoria formally opened it in May 1894. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects of the Victorian era and transformed Manchester into a major port.
• 1894 – 1963 ZaSu Pitts (1894-1963) American actress, the tragic heroine of Greed who became a much-loved comedian.
• 1894 Franco-Russian Alliance formalized Republican France and Tsarist Russia align against Germany The military convention between France and Russia, signed in 1892, was formally ratified in early January 1894, creating a defensive alliance against the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. It ended France's diplomatic isolation following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The alliance became a cornerstone of the European system that shaped the alignments of the First World War.
• 1894 – 1978 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) Died 8 November 1978, aged 84 Rockwell was an American painter and illustrator best known for his decades of cover art for The Saturday Evening Post depicting idealized scenes of everyday American life. He died at his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
• 1894 – 1986 Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) Died 29 December 1986, aged 92 British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, overseeing decolonisation in Africa and a period of postwar prosperity at home. He coined the phrase "wind of change" in a landmark speech to the South African parliament. He was made Earl of Stockton shortly before his death.
• 1894 Coxey's Army marches on Washington Unemployed workers demand public works relief Jacob Coxey led a march of unemployed workers from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., arriving on 1 May 1894 to demand a federal public works program. The demonstration was one of the first organized protest marches on the U.S. capital. Coxey and other leaders were arrested for walking on the Capitol lawn.
• 1894 Edison's Kinetoscope parlors open The first commercial motion-picture venue opens in New York The first Kinetoscope parlor, showing short films through Thomas Edison's peep-hole viewing device, opened on Broadway in New York City on 14 April 1894. Viewers paid to watch brief moving images individually rather than as a projected shared screening. The parlors were an early step toward the commercial cinema industry that emerged in the following decade.
• 1894 – 1971 Nikita Khrushchev De-Stalinisation and the Cuban Missile Crisis Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 15, 1894 – September 11, 1971) led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. He denounced Stalin's cult of personality, launched Sputnik, and navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was removed in a coup by Politburo colleagues in 1964.
• 1894 – 1987 Rudolf Hess (1894-1987) Died 17 August 1987, aged 93 Hess was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party until his solo flight to Scotland in 1941 in an attempt to negotiate peace with Britain. He was convicted at the Nuremberg trials and served as the last prisoner at Spandau Prison in Berlin. He died there, apparently by suicide.
• 1894 – 1957 Norma Talmadge (1894-1957) American actress, one of the biggest stars of silent film.
• 1894 Pullman Strike Nationwide rail boycott paralyzes American railroads Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company near Chicago walked out on 11 May 1894 over wage cuts, and the American Railway Union under Eugene Debs launched a sympathy boycott of Pullman cars nationwide. The strike halted rail traffic across much of the country until federal troops were deployed in July to break it. Debs was jailed, and the episode became a landmark in American labor history.
• 1894 Gandhi founds Natal Indian Congress A young lawyer organizes Indians in South Africa Mohandas Gandhi founded the Natal Indian Congress on 22 May 1894 to fight discrimination against Indian immigrants in the British colony of Natal. It was Gandhi's first political organization and marked the beginning of his activism. The methods he developed there later shaped his campaigns in South Africa and India.
• 1894 Uganda declared British protectorate Britain formalizes control over the Buganda kingdom and surrounding territory Britain declared a formal protectorate over Uganda on 18 June 1894, extending the informal control it had exercised since the Imperial British East Africa Company's charter lapsed. The protectorate incorporated the kingdom of Buganda and neighboring territories. It laid the administrative foundation for colonial Uganda, which gained independence in 1962.
• 1894 International Olympic Committee founded Pierre de Coubertin's congress plans the revival of the Olympic Games Delegates meeting at the Sorbonne in Paris founded the International Olympic Committee on 23 June 1894, at a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin. The committee set out to revive the ancient Olympic Games as a modern international sporting event. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens two years later.
• 1894 Republic of Hawaii proclaimed A provisional government becomes a formal republic Following the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani, the Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed on 4 July 1894 with Sanford Dole as president. The republic governed the islands until their annexation by the United States in 1898. It remained internationally recognized despite the controversial circumstances of its founding.
• 1894 First Sino-Japanese War begins China and Japan go to war over Korea Japan and Qing China formally declared war on 1 August 1894 after weeks of fighting over influence in Korea, following naval and land clashes in late July. The conflict exposed the weakness of Qing forces and ended in a decisive Japanese victory the following year. It marked Japan's emergence as a modern military power and reshaped the balance of power in East Asia.
• 1894 – 1984 J.B. Priestley (1894-1984) Died 14 August 1984, aged 89 English novelist, playwright, and broadcaster J.B. Priestley, author of works including An Inspector Calls and The Good Companions, died in Warwickshire, England.
• 1894 – 1979 Jean Renoir (1894-1979) Died 12 February 1979, aged 84 French film director Jean Renoir, son of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and maker of classics including La Grande Illusion and The Rules of the Game, died in Beverly Hills. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in cinema history. He died on 12 February 1979.
• 1894 Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia Alexander III dies, ending an era of autocratic stability Tsar Alexander III died of kidney disease at Livadia Palace on 1 November 1894, and his son Nicholas II succeeded him as Emperor of Russia. Nicholas was ill-prepared for the role and would become the last Tsar, abdicating during the 1917 revolution. His accession set in motion the final chapter of the Romanov dynasty.
• 1894 Sun Yat-sen founds Revive China Society An exile in Hawaii launches a movement to overthrow the Qing dynasty Sun Yat-sen founded the Revive China Society in Honolulu on 24 November 1894, dedicated to overthrowing the Qing dynasty and modernizing China. It was one of the first organized revolutionary groups of its kind and a forerunner of the alliance that later toppled the Qing in 1911. Sun would go on to become known as the father of modern China.
• 1894 – 1979 Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979) Died 10 July 1979, aged 84 Arthur Fiedler, longtime conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, died in Brookline, Massachusetts. He led the orchestra for half a century, popularizing classical and light orchestral music for mass American audiences through recordings and outdoor concerts. He died on 10 July 1979.
• 1894 Alfred Dreyfus convicted of treason A wrongful conviction ignites years of national crisis in France Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer, was convicted by a French military court on 22 December 1894 of passing secrets to Germany and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. The conviction, based on forged evidence, was later shown to be a miscarriage of justice driven by antisemitism. The Dreyfus Affair went on to divide French society for over a decade.