What Happened in May 1873

Historical Events

Blue Jeans

May 20 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans with copper rivets

May 23 1st Preakness Stakes: G. Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland
May 23 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force forms (it didn't get the "Royal" until 1904)
May 23 Postal cards sold in San Francisco for 1st time

Alexandra Palace Opens

May 24 Alexandra Palace opens on Queen Victoria's 54th birthday with a grand celebration including concerts, recitals and fireworks

Queen of the United Kingdom Queen Victoria

May 24 Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit" ("The King Has Spoken") premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris

Priam's Treasure

May 27 Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's Treasure" a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia

Events in 1873

Famous Birthdays

May 3 Nicoline Magdalene Roll Anker, Norwegian author (Kvinnen og Den), born in Møre og Romsdal, Norway (d. 1942)
May 3 Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian politician and general, born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 1945)
May 4 Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director, born in Bathurst, New Brunswick Canada (d. 1940)
May 5 Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist and assassin of US President William McKinley, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1901)
May 7 Clarence Dickinson, American composer, born in Lafayette, Indiana (d. 1969)
May 8 Henry Leveson-Gower, English cricket batsman and captain (3 Tests; Surrey CCC, Oxford University CC), born in Titsey Place, Surrey, England (d. 1954)
May 9 Anton Cermak, American politician (44th Mayor of Chicago, 1931-33), born in Kladno, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) (d. 1933)

Howard Carter (1873-1939)

May 9 British archaeologist and egyptologist who found King Tutankhamun's tomb, born in London

May 9 Lilian Mary Baylis, English theatrical manager (Old Vic & Sadler's Wells Theater), born in London (d. 1937)
May 10 Carl Eldh, Swedish artist and sculptor, born in Östhammar Municipality, Sweden (d. 1954)
May 10 Jan Kalf, Dutch art historian and literary scholar (Monument Conservation), (d. 1954)
May 15 Nikolay Tcherepnin, Russian composer of ballets, born in St Petersburg, Russia (d. 1945)
May 17 Dorothy M. Richardson, English novelist (Pilgrimage), born in Abington, Berkshire (d. 1957)
May 17 Henri Barbusse, French novelist (Le Feu), born in Asnieres, France (d. 1935)
May 19 Federico Gerdes, Peruvian pianist, composer, and educator (founder and first director of the National Conservatory of Music, 1909-26), born in Tacna, Peru (d. 1953)
May 21 Emil Ermatinger, Swiss literature historian, born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland (d. 1953)
May 21 Everard Verachtert, Flemish linguist (I Can Speak Dutch Nicely pamphlet) (d. 1955)
May 21 Hans Berger, German neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and inventor of electroencephalography (EEG), born in Neuses, German Empire (d. 1941)
May 23 Leo Baeck, German rabbi (President of World Union for Progressive Judaism), born in Lissa, German Empire (d. 1956)
May 26 C.G.N. de Vooys, Dutch translator and founder (New Taalgids), born in Gouda, Netherlands (d. 1955)
May 26 Olaf Gulbransson, Norwegian artist, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1958)

Born in 1873

Famous Deaths

David Livingstone (1813-1873)

May 1 Scottish explorer who was famously found by Henry Morton Stanley in Africa, dies allegedly of malaria and internal bleeding caused by dysentery at 60

May 4 William Holmes McGuffey, American professor (wrote elementary school McGuffey Readers - 120 million copies sold), dies at 72
May 6 José Antonio Páez, President of Venezuela (1830-35), dies at 82
May 7 Salmon P. Chase, American politician and jurist (Senator and Governor of Ohio, US Chief Justice 1864-73), dies at 65

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

May 8 English philosopher, political economist and utilitarian, dies of erysipelas at 66

May 13 Kaspar Masek, Czech-Slovenian composer, dies at 79
May 14 Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and writer (b. 1797)
May 15 Alexandru Ioan Cuza, 1st Prince of united Romania (land reform, emancipated peasants), dies in exile at 53
May 20 George-Étienne Cartier, French Canadian statesman (joint Prime Minister of Canada 1858-62), dies of Bright's Disease at 60
May 22 Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist (Betrothed), dies at 88
May 26 August Conradi, German organist and composer, dies at 51