Historical Events
- Apr 1 Hampton Institute opens
- Apr 3 A Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever - a 50-foot tidal wave
- Apr 7 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and only federal politician
- Apr 10 British defeat King of Abyssinia at Magdala
A German Requiem
Apr 10 First performance of Johannes Brahms' choral composition "A German Requiem"
- Apr 11 The Shogunate is abolished in Japan
Ethiopian Emperor Commits Suicide
Apr 13 Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala and Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II commits suicide
Famous Birthdays
- Apr 1 Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (Cyrano de Bergerac), born in Marseille, France (d. 1918)
- Apr 2 Eduard Jacobs, Dutch cabaret artist, born in Amsterdam (d. 1914)
- Apr 4 Felipe G. Calderon, Filipino lawyer, politician, educator, and co-author of Malolos Constitution (of the First Philippine Republic), born in Santa Cruz de Malabon, Cavite, Philippines (d. 1908)
- Apr 5 Flooi Du Toit, South African cricketer (one Test South Africa 1892), born in Jacobsdal, Orange Free State (d. 1909)
George Arliss (1868-1946)
Apr 10 British Academy Award-winning actor (Disraeli; Devil; Green Goddess), born in London, England
- Apr 12 Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, born in Matsuyama, Iyo Province, Japan (d. 1918)
- Apr 13 John Blackwood McEwen, Scottish classical composer, born in Hawick, Scotland (d. 1948)
- Apr 14 Peter Behrens, German architect, born in Hamburg, North German Confederation (d. 1940)
- Apr 17 Karel Rudolph Gallas, Dutch lexicographer (French Dictionary), born in Amsterdam (d. 1956)
- Apr 18 Didericus van Epen, Dutch genealogist (Dutch Patriarch), born in Amsterdam (d. 1930)
- Apr 19 Max Von Schillings, German composer and conductor (Der Pfeifertag), born in Düren, Germany (d. 1933)
- Apr 21 Robert Herrick, American novelist (Common lot), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 1938)
- Apr 22 Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, 4th and last child of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elisabeth of Bavaria, born in Ofen (Buda), Austria-Hungary (d. 1924)
- Apr 22 José Vianna da Motta, Portuguese composer, born in São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe (d. 1948)
- Apr 25 John Bevins Moisant, American pioneer aviator, first to cross English Channel with passenger and a cat, killed in New Orleans whose present day airport was originally name for him, born in Kankakee, Illinois (d. 1910)
- Apr 26 Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, English newspaper (Daily Mail and Daily Mirror), born in London, England (d. 1940)
- Apr 28 Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (Voronoi diagram), born in Zhuravki, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1908)
- Apr 28 Joel Engel, Russian musicologist (Jewish Folksongs), composer "Numi Numi"), and music publisher, born in Berdyansk, Russian Empire (d. 1917)
Famous Weddings
Brigham Young
Apr 7 American religious leader Brigham Young weds his 53rd wife, American actress and future polygamy critic Anna Webb (24), in Salt Lake City, Utah
Famous Deaths
- Apr 3 Franz Berwald, Swedish composer, dies of pneumonia at 71
- Apr 7 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist and Father of Confederation, assassinated at 42
- Apr 13 Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, commits suicide at 50
- Apr 21 Henry James O'Farrell, Australian would-be assassin of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
