Historical Events
- Dec 5 Georges Feydeaus' "L'hôtel du libre échange" premieres in Paris
- Dec 9 Roman Catholics win Parliamentary election in Belgium
- Dec 14 Day One 1st Test Cricket Aus v Eng Aust 5-346 (Giffen 161, Gregory 85)
- Dec 14 Test cricket debut of future Australian captain Joe Darling, great all-rounder Ernie Jones and outstanding England batsman Archie MacLaren; England wins 1st Test in Sydney by 10 runs
- Dec 15 Day 2 of first cricket test between Australia and England, Australia 586 runs (Gregory 201) England 3-130
- Dec 17 Cricket day 3 1T Australia v England; England 325 all out, 261 behind on 1st innings
- Dec 18 Day 4 of the 1st cricket test Australia v England, England following on 4-268, 7 in front
- Dec 20 England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1st six-day Test Cricket, Australia needed 177 to win, all out at 166 on 6th day
Mackenzie Bowell PM
Dec 21 Mackenzie Bowell becomes the 5th Prime Minister of Canada
- Dec 22 -23] Dutch coast hit by hurricane
"Prélude à L'apres-Midi d'un Faune"
Dec 22 Claude Debussy's first orchestral masterpiece "Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune" premieres in Paris
Dreyfus Court-martialed
Dec 22 French officer Alfred Dreyfus court-martialed for treason, triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism (Dreyfus later vindicated)
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 2 Warren William [Krech], American actor (The Wolf Man, Cleopatra), born in Aitkin, Minnesota (d. 1948)
- Dec 3 Bert Baston, American College Football Hall of Fame end (University of Minnesota), born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota (d. 1979)
- Dec 5 C. R. Swart, South African politician (1st State President of South Africa 1961-67), born in Winburg, Orange Free State (d. 1982)
- Dec 5 Philip K Wrigley, American baseball executive (owner Chicago Cubs 1932-77), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1977)
- Dec 8 E. C. Segar, American cartoonist (Popeye), born in Chester, Illinois (d. 1938)
- Dec 8 James Thurber, American humorist, playwright, and cartoonist (Men, Women & Dogs; The Male Animal; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), born in Columbus, Ohio (d. 1961)
- Dec 10 Earnest Haenchen, German new testament expert, born in Czarnków, Poland (d. 1975)
- Dec 10 Gertrud Kolmar, German lyric poet and writer, born in Berlin (d. 1943)
- Dec 14 Joaquin Zamacois Soler, Chilean-Spanish composer, born in Santiago de Chile, Chile (d. 1976)
- Dec 17 Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (Boston Pops), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1979)
- Dec 17 David Butler, American director (April in Paris, Calamity Jane), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1979)
- Dec 17 Hans Henny Jahnn, German playwright, born in Stellingen, Germany (d. 1959)
- Dec 17 Hans Kramers, Dutch theoretical physicist (quantum mechanics), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1952)
- Dec 17 Willem Schermerhorn, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1945-46), born in Akersloot, Netherlands (d. 1977)
- Dec 19 Ford C Frick, American Baseball HOF executive (NL President 1934-51; MLB Commissioner 1951-65), born in Wawaka, Indiana (d. 1978)
- Dec 19 Paul Dessau, German orchestral, film, and theater composer and conductor (Adventures of Casanova; Deutsches Miserere; Never Trust a Woman), born in Hamburg, German Empire (d. 1979)
- Dec 19 Yoshida Isoya, Japanese architect (modern sukiya style), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1974)
Robert Menzies (1894-1978)
Dec 20 12th Prime Minister of Australia (United Australia Party: 1939-41, Liberal: 1949-66) and its longest-serving, born in Jeparit, Victoria
- Dec 22 Mihail Andricu, Romanian pianist, composer, violinist, and music professor (Bucharest Conservatory, 1926-59), born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 1974)
- Dec 23 Arthur Gilligan, English cricketer (England captain in 1920's), born in London, England (d. 1976)
- Dec 24 Georges Guynemer, French WW I pilot, born in Paris, France (d. 1917)
- Dec 26 Antonio Molina, Filipino composer, conductor and music administrator (Ana Maria, Hatinggabi), born in Quiapo, Manila, Captaincy General of the Philippines (d. 1980)
- Dec 26 Jean Toomer, American writer (d. 1967)
- Dec 27 Paul Costello, American rower (Olympic gold double sculls 1920, 24, 28), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1986)
- Dec 28 Andre de Meulemeester, Belgian World War I fighter ace known as the "Eagle of Flanders" with 11 known kills and 19 unconfirmed, born in Bruges, Belgium (d. 1973)
- Dec 28 Ed Healey, American NFL player (Rock Island Independents, Chicago Bears), born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1978)
- Dec 31 Ernest John Moeran, English composer, born in London Borough of Hounslow, United Kingdom (d. 1950)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 3 Joseph Schadde, Flemish architect (Antwerp Stock exchange), dies at 76
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Dec 3 Scottish novelist (Treasure Island; Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 45
- Dec 5 Chief Gall, Sioux chief, commander at the Battle of Little Bighorn (b. 1840)
- Dec 7 Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat (built Suez Canal), dies at 89
- Dec 8 Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (b. 1821)
- Dec 8 Willem Jan Frans Nuyens, Dutch physician and Roman Catholic historian, dies at 71
John Thompson (1845-1894)
Dec 12 4th Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative: 1892-94), dies of a sudden heart attack at 49
- Dec 13 Sarah Parker Remond, African-American abolitionist, dies at 68
- Dec 18 Erastus Flaval Beadle, American publisher (Beadle's Dime Novels), dies at 73
- Dec 29 Christina Rossetti, English poet (Winter Rain, Passing Away), dies at 64
- Dec 30 Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American reformer who campaigned for temperance and women’s rights, dies at 76
- Dec 31 Thomas J Stieltjes, mathematician (Stieltjes-integral), dies at 38
