Historical Events
- Dec 5 Anti-semite Hermann Ahlwardt elected to Germany's Reichstag
John Thompson Elected
Dec 5 John Thompson becomes the 4th Prime Minister of Canada.
Bruckner's 8th Symphony
Dec 18 Anton Bruckner's 8th Symphony premieres at the Vienna Musikverein, with Hans Richter leading the Vienna Philharmonic
The Nutcracker
Dec 18 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" premieres in Saint Petersburg, Russia, now the world's most performed ballet; his final opera "Isolanta" also premieres
- Dec 20 Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse, NY
- Dec 26 Alberto Franchetti's opera "Cristoforo Colombo" opens at La Scala Teatro in Milan, Italy
- Dec 27 Biddle University beats Livingstone College 5-0 in 1st black college football game, in Salisbury, North Carolina
- Dec 27 Foundation Stone of Cathedral of St John laid (NYC)
- Dec 30 Dr Miles V Lynk, physician, publishes 1st Black medical journal
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Charlie Bachman, American College Football Hall of Fame guard and coach (Notre Dame, Florida, Michigan State), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1985)
Francisco Franco (1892-1975)
Dec 4 Spanish general and dictator (1936-75), born in Ferrol, Galicia, Spain
- Dec 5 Cyril Ring, American actor (I Wake Up Screaming, The Barber Shop), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1967)
- Dec 6 Lina Carstens, German actress (Homeland, Broken Jug), born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 1978)
- Dec 6 Osbert Sitwell, English poet, writer (Out of the Flame), born in London, England (d. 1969)
- Dec 7 Nora Nicholson, British actress (Blue Lagoon, Crow Hollow), born in Leamington, England (d. 1973)
- Dec 7 Stuart Davis, American modernist painter, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1964)
- Dec 8 Herbert "Bert" Hinkler, Australian aviator who made first solo flight from England to Australia (1928), born in Bundaberg, Queensland (d. 1933)
- Dec 12 Herman Potočnik, Slovenian rocket engineer, born in Pula, Austria-Hungary (d. 1929)
- Dec 13 Brand Dirck Ochse, Dutch filmmaker and co-founder (Polygoon), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1958)
- Dec 15 David Guion, American composer (Home on the Range), born in Ballinger, Texas (d. 1981)
J. Paul Getty (1892-1976)
Dec 15 American oil magnate and billionaire (Getty Oil), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Dec 15 José María Castro, Argentine composer, born in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires (d. 1964)
- Dec 16 Cameron Prud'Homme, American actor (The Rainmaker), born in Auburn, New York (d. 1967)
- Dec 17 Sam Barry, American collegiate basketball, football and baseball coach (University of Southern California, 1929-50), born in Aberdeen, South Dakota (d. 1950)
- Dec 19 Gerald Nye, American politician and Republican US Senator from North Dakota (1925-1945), born in Hortonville, Wisconsin (d. 1971)
- Dec 21 Amy Key Clarke, English mystical poet and writer, born in England, United Kingdom (d. 1980)
Walter Hagen (1892-1969)
Dec 21 American golfer (11 major titles, US Open 1914, 19), born in Rochester, New York
- Dec 25 Rebecca West [Cicely Isabel Fairfield], English author (Meaning of Treason), born in London (d. 1983)
- Dec 27 Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian Royal Flying Corps WWI flying ace, born in Brussels, Ontario (d. 1917)
- Dec 27 Feliks Roderyk Labunski, Polish pianist, composer and educator (Triptych Champétre), born in Ksawerynow, Russian Poland (d. 1979)
- Dec 29 Emory Parnell, American vaudeville performer and character actor (Life of RIley; County Fair; Falcon films; Ma and Pa Kettle movies), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota (d. 1979)
- Dec 30 Jaromír Fiala, Czech composer, born in Postoloprty, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1967)
- Dec 30 John Litel, American actor (Jezebel, Virginia City, My Hero), born in Albany, Wisconsin (d. 1972)
- Dec 31 Jason Robards Sr, American actor (Acapulco, Isle of the Dead), born in Hillsdale, Michigan (d. 1963)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 1 Joseph Lippens, Belgian official in Congo, murdered at 37 during the Congo Arab war
- Dec 1 Lucius E. Polk, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 59
- Dec 2 Jay Gould, American railroad developer and speculator, dies at 56
- Dec 3 Afanasy Fet, Russian poet, dies at 71
- Dec 3 William Bonaparte, grandson of Lucien, dies
Werner von Siemens (1816-1892)
Dec 6 German inventor (siemens electrical conductance unit) and industrialist (Siemens corporation), dies at 75
