Historical Events
Stanley Departs
Feb 10 Henry Morton Stanley departs for the Congo
- Feb 12 1st artificial ice rink in North America at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- Feb 12 News about British loss at Battle of Isandlwana to Zulu attack (Anglo-Zulu War) reaches London
- Feb 14 Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
- Feb 15 US Congress authorizes women lawyers to practise before Supreme Court
- Feb 18 Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha
Statue of Liberty
Feb 18 Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi is awarded a patent for his design for the Statue of Liberty
Wonder of Woolworths Begins its Meteoric Rise
Feb 22 First "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" opened by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Utica, New York. It fails almost immediately.
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 3 Charles Follis "The Black Cyclone", American football halfback (1st black pro player Shelby Blues 1902-06), born in Cloverdale, Virginia (d. 1910)
- Feb 5 Edward Rigby, British actor (Star Look Down, Young & Innocent), born in Ashford, Kent, England (d. 1951)
- Feb 6 Carl Ramsauer, German physicist (Ramsauer-Townsend effect), born in Oldenburg, Germany (d. 1879)
- Feb 6 Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Chilean educator, lawyer, and politician (President of Chile, 1938-41; Senator for Concepción, 1921-27), born in Pocuro, Chile (d. 1941)
- Feb 9 Jacques Bainville, French historian, essayist and journalist, born in Vincennes, France (d. 1936)
- Feb 9 [Carl] Natanael Berg, Swedish composer, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1957)
- Feb 10 Franz Carl Bornschein, American composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1948)
- Feb 11 Jean Gilbert [Max Winterfeld], German composer, born in Hamburg, German Empire (d. 1942)
- Feb 13 Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter and poet, born in Hyperbad, India (d. 1949)
- Feb 17 Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American novelist and social reformer (managed 1st US adult education program, helped conscientious objectors), born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 1958)
- Feb 22 Norman Lindsay, Australian artist and novelist (The Magic Pudding), born in Creswick Victoria (d. 1969) [1]
- Feb 23 Agnes Arber, English biologist and philosopher (Mind & the Eye, 1st woman botanist elected to the Royal Society), born in London, England (d. 1960)
- Feb 24 Herman Teirlinck, Belgian writer (Sun), born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Belgium (d. 1967)
- Feb 25 Otakar Ostrcil, Czech composer, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic) (d. 1935)
- Feb 26 Frank Bridge, English violinist, composer, conductor and tutor of Benjamin Britten, born in Brighton, England (d. 1941)
- Feb 27 José Sancho Marraco, Spanish composer, organist and chapel master (Cathedral of Barcelona, 1923-57), born in La Garriga, Spain (d. 1960)
- Feb 28 James "Soup" Perkins, American jockey (Kentucky Derby 1985; winningest jockey in America 1895), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1911)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 11 Honoré Daumier, French caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, dies at 70
- Feb 11 Willem Josephus van Zeggelen, Dutch author, dies at 67
- Feb 21 Pieter van Bosse, Dutch politician, Liberal Minister of Finance, dies at 69
- Feb 23 Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and statesman (Minister of War), dies at 75
