Historical Events
- Aug 2 San Francisco Public Library opens with 5,000 volumes
Event of Interest
Aug 9 Henry Morton Stanley's party reaches Boma, Congo, after 999 days, losing half of its 228 members
Battle of the Big Hole
Aug 10 Battle of the Big Hole: US Army led by Colonel John Gibbon fights the Nez Perce led by Chief Joseph and Looking Glass in Montana, both sides suffer heavy casualties causing the Nez Perce to continue their long fighting retreat
- Aug 11 American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Mars's moon Deimos
Thomas Edison's Phonograph
Aug 12 To his amazement, Thomas Edison records himself reciting "Mary had a little lamb" on his just completed cylinder phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders [1]
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (lived under the rule of 6 monarchs and 24 British Prime Ministers), born in Middlesbrough, England (d. 1993)
- Aug 1 Jan van den Tempel, Dutch politician (SDAP), born in Willemstad, North Brabant (d. 1955)
- Aug 4 Dame Laura Knight, English impressionist artist, born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England (d. 1970)
- Aug 5 Tom Thomson, Canadian painter, born in Claremont, Ontario (d. 1917)
- Aug 6 Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (Senate Majority Leader), born in Lewiston, Maine (d. 1952)
- Aug 7 Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (Olympic gold men's singles 1908; 10 x World C'ship gold), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1949)
- Aug 9 Gamzat Tsadasa, Avar-Russian poet, born in Tsada, Dagestan, Russian Empire (d. 1951)
- Aug 10 Frank Marshall, American chess player (US Champion 1909-36), born in New York City (d. 1944)
- Aug 10 Rudolf Hilferding, Austrian-German Marxist economist (SPD Minister of Finance), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1941)
- Aug 11 Adolph M. Christianson, justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court (d. 1954)
- Aug 16 Karl Hoschna, Tin Pan Alley-era composer (Every Little Movement), born in Kuschwarda, Bohemia (d. 1911)
- Aug 25 Joshua L. Cowen, American inventor (electric train), born in New York City (d. 1965)
- Aug 26 Harriet Ware (Krumbhaar), American concert pianist, composer (Women's Triumphal March; The Rose Is Red; The Varying Shore), and music educator, born in Waupun, Wisconsin (d. 1962)
Charles Rolls (1877-1910)
Aug 27 British aviator and auto manufacturer who co-founded Rolls Royce, born in Berkeley Square, London
- Aug 27 Ernst Wetter, Member of the Swiss Federal Council, born in Töss, Winterthur, Switzerland (d. 1963)
- Aug 27 Lloyd C. Douglas, American novelist (The Big Fisherman), born in Columbia City, Indiana (d. 1951)
- Aug 29 Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England (d. 1943)
- Aug 31 Lizzie Arlington, American baseball pitcher (first woman to play professional men's baseball 1898 Reading Coal Heavers), born in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania (d. 1919)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 2 James Douglas, British-Canadian fur trader and politician (1st Governor of British Columbia 1858-64) called "The Father of British Columbia", dies of a heart attack at 73
- Aug 3 Karl Georg Lickl, Austrian pianist, physharmonica (type of harmonium) player, and composer, dies at 75
- Aug 3 William Butler Ogden, American real estate investor, politician (1st Mayor of Chicago, 1837-38), railroad executive (president of Union Pacific, 1862-63), and philanthropist, dies at 72
- Aug 5 Gustavus, Crown Prince of Sweden, dies at 77
- Aug 12 James Drummond, Scottish historical painter, (b. 1816)
Brigham Young (1801-1877)
Aug 29 American religious leader (Latter-day Saints), dies of peritonitis at 76
- Aug 30 Raphael Semmes, American Rear Admiral (Confederate Navy), dies at 67
