Historical Events
Song of the Fates
Dec 10 Johannes Brahms' choir and orchestra piece "Gesang der Parzen" (Song of the Fates) premieres in Basel
Iolanthe
Dec 11 Boston's Bijou Theatre, 1st American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity holds its 1st performance, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "Iolanthe"
Fedora
Dec 11 Victorien Sardous play "Fedora" with Sarah Bernhardt premieres in Paris
Stanley Returns From the Congo
Dec 14 Henry Morton Stanley returns to Brussels from the Congo
First Christmas Lights
Dec 22 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 3 Nandalal Bose, Indian pioneering modern artist (illustrated Constitution of India), born in Haveli Kharagpur, British India (d. 1966)
- Dec 7 Warren Bardsley, Australian cricket batsman (41 Tests, 6 x 100, 14 x 50, HS 193no; NSWCA), born in Warren, Australia (d. 1954)
- Dec 8 Manuel Ponce, Mexican composer (Estrellita), born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico (d. 1948)
- Dec 9 Joaquín Turina, Spanish pianist and composer (Rima), born in Seville, Spain (d. 1949)
- Dec 10 Otto Neurath, Austrian-British philosopher (Foundation of Social Sciences), born in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1945)
Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947)
Dec 11 American politician and Mayor of New York City (Republican: 1933-45), born in New York City
- Dec 11 Max Born, German physicist (quantum mechanics, Nobel 1954), born in Breslau, Germany (d. 1970)
- Dec 11 Subramania Bharati, Indian poet and independence activist, born in Ettayapuram, Tirunelveli district, British India (d. 1921)
Jack Hobbs (1882-1963)
Dec 16 English cricket batsman (61 Tests, 5,410 runs @ 56.94, 15 x 100s; leading 1st-class run-scorer [61,760] and century-maker [199]; Surry), born in Cambridge, England
- Dec 16 Walther Meissner, German physicist (Meissner effect), born in Berlin, German Empire (d. 1974)
- Dec 16 Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist, (Psalmus Hungaricus; Hary Janos), born in Kecskemét, Hungary (d. 1967)
- Dec 19 Ralph DePalma, Italian-American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1915; American AAA Dirt Track C'ships 1908, 09, 10, 11; International Motorsports Hall of Fame), born in Biccari, Italy (d. 1956)
- Dec 19 Walter Braunfels, German composer (Die Vögel -The Birds), born in Frankfurt am Main (d. 1954)
- Dec 28 Arthur Eddington, English astrophysicist, cosmologist and mathematician (stars), born in Kendal, Westmorland, England (d. 1944)
Lili Elbe (1882-1931)
Dec 28 Danish transgender woman, former painter, and 1st identifiable recipient of sex reassignment surgery (autobiography: Man into Woman), born in Vejle, Denmark
- Dec 31 Ben A. Jones, American horse trainer (US Champion trainer by earnings 1941, 43, 44, 52; Kentucky Derby x 6 including Citation, Whirlaway), born in Parnell, Missouri (d. 1961)
- Dec 31 David Cohen, Dutch historian and chairman of the Jewish Council, born in Deventer, Holland (d. 1967)
Famous Weddings
Nellie Melba
Dec 22 Australian soprano Nellie Melba (21) weds Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong in Brisbane; separate in 1883, marriage dissolved in 1900
Famous Deaths
- Dec 3 Archibald Campbell Tait, First Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury (1868-82), dies at 70
- Dec 6 Alfred Escher, Swiss politician and railroad entrepreneur (b. 1819)
- Dec 6 Anthony Trollope, English novelist and poet (Barchester Towers), dies at 67
- Dec 12 Robert Morris, 1st successful African American lawyer and abolitionist, dies at 59
- Dec 31 Leon Michel Gambetta, French attorney and 37th Prime Minister of France (1881-82), dies at 44
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
80-89
Over 90