Historical Events
- Jan 3 Meiji Restoration returns authority to Japan's emperors
- Jan 4 Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" is first serialized in "All the Year Round" owned by Charles Dickins
- Jan 7 Arkansas constitutional convention meets in Little Rock
- Jan 7 Mississippi constitutional convention meets in Jackson
- Jan 9 Last convict ship the Hougoumont arrives in Fremantle, ending 80 years of penal transportation to Australia [1]
- Jan 14 North Carolina constitutional convention meets in Raleigh
- Jan 14 South Carolina constitutional convention meets with a black majority
- Jan 16 Refrigerator car patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit
- Jan 20 Florida constitutional convention meets in Tallahassee
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 1 Snitz Edwards [Edward Neumann], Hungarian-American stage and silent film actor ("Phantom of the Opera"; "College"), born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (d. 1937)
- Jan 2 Arthur Gore, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1901, 08-09), born at Lydhurst, England (d. 1928)
- Jan 3 Franz Cumont, Belgian religious historian and archaeologist (cult of Mithra), born in Aalst, Belgium (d. 1947)
- Jan 6 Vittorio Monti, Italian composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1922)
- Jan 7 Mark Lidzbarski, Polish-German philologist, born in Płock, Russian Empire (d. 1928)
- Jan 8 Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer, proved Einstein right about light bent by gravity, born in Measham, England (d. 1939)
- Jan 9 S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (d. 1939)
- Jan 11 Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher and educator (President of Peking University), born in Shaoxing, China (d. 1940)
- Jan 14 Catharina Anna Maria de Savornin Lohman, Dutch author (Belief), born in Assen, Netherlands (d. 1930)
- Jan 15 Noe Zhordania, Georgian journalist and politician (Prime Minister, 1918-21; government-in-exile leader, 1921-53), born in Lanchkhuti, Kutais Governorate, Imperial Russia (now Georgia) (d. 1953) [some sources give birthday as March 21]
- Jan 16 Cyril Metodej Hrazdira, Czech composer and conductor, born in Rájec nad Svitavou, Moravia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1926)
- Jan 19 Bob McLeod, Australian cricket medium pace bowler (6 Tests, 12 wickets, BB 5/53; Victoria), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1907)
- Jan 19 Gustav Meyrink, Austrian writer (The Golem), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1932)
Felix Hoffmann (1868-1946)
Jan 21 German chemist (synthesized aspirin and heroin), born in Ludwigsburg, Germany [1]
- Jan 23 Juventino Rosas, Mexican composer and violinist, born in Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas, Mexico (d. 1894)
- Jan 27 Cato Engelen-Sewing, Dutch soprano prima donna (Dutch Opera), born in Amsterdam (d. 1961)
- Jan 28 Frederic Lamond, Scottish composer, pupil of Liszt, born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1948)
- Jan 28 Julian Aguirre, Argentine composer, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1924)
- Jan 31 Theodore W. Richards, American chemist (1st American to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for atomic weights 1914, awarded 1915), born in Germantown, Pennsylvania (d. 1915)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 3 Moritz Hauptmann, German composer, dies at 75
- Jan 7 William Batchelder Bradbury, American composer, dies at 51
- Jan 11 Henry Haywood Bell, U.S. Rear Admiral (Union Navy), dies at 59
- Jan 22 Moritz Ganz, German composer and cellist, dies at 61
- Jan 28 Adalbert Stifter, Austrian author (Witiko) and painter, commits suicide at 62
