Year 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). [edit] Events of 1879 [edit] January–March - January – The current constitution of The State of California, USA is ratified.
- January 1 – The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The Greenback is valued the same as gold for the first time since the Civil War.
- January 2 – Fred Spofforth claims the first Hat-trick in test cricket.
- January 11 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
- January 22 – Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Isandlwana: Zulu troops massacre British troops. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting.
- February 12 – At New York City's Madison Square Garden, the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
- February 14 – At Antofagasta, Chile, Chilean troops disembark in this port, then Bolivian. This is the beginning of the War of the Pacific between Chile and the joint forces of Peru and Bolivia.
- February 15 – Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
- February 22 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
- February 27 – The discovery of saccharin is announced.
- March 3 – The United States Geological Survey is created.
- March 12 – Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Intombe: A British force over one-hundred strong is ambushed and destroyed by Zulu forces.
- March 13 – The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria, marries Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia.
- March 28 – Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Hlobane: British forces suffer a defeat.
- March 29 – Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
[edit] April–June [[Media:]] [edit] July–September [edit] October–December [edit] Undated [edit] Literature The following are references to 1879 in literature: [edit] Births [edit] January–June - January 1 – E. M. Forster, English writer (d. 1970)
- January 3 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957)
- January 10 – Bobby Walker, Scotish footballer (d. 1930)
- January 12 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (d. 1968)
- January 12 – Calbraith Perry Rodgers, American pioneer aviator, made first transcontinental U.S. flight (d. 1912)
- January 13 – Melvin Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (d. 1961)
- January 20 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (d. 1968)
- January 28 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (d. 1953)
- February 22 – J. N. Brønsted, Danish chemist (d. 1947)
- February 26 – Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- March 8 – Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- March 14 – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- March 26 – Othmar Ammann, Swiss-born engineer (d. 1965)
- March 27 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourgeois-born painter/photographer (d. 1973)
- March 30 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
- April 9 – Thomas Meighan, American stage & screen actor (d. 1936)
- April 16 – Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (d. 1961)
- April 20 – Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
- April 26 – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- April 29 – Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961)
- May 6 – Bedřich Hrozny´, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
- May 17 – Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926)
- May 19
- May 22 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born stage and film actress (d. 1945)
- May 23 – Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966)
- May 25 – Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Canadian-born statesman and newspaper publisher (d. 1964)
- May 27 – Lucile Watson, stage & screen actress (d. 1962)
- June 3 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist (d. 1940)
- June 7 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (d. 1963)
- June 7 – Knud Rasmussen, Greenlander explorer (d. 1933)
- June 10 – Rafael Erich, Prime minister of Finland (d. 1946)
[edit] July–December - July 1 – Léon Jouhaux, French labour leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1954)
- July 5 – Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist and musicologist (d. 1959)
- July 9 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer, musicologist and conductor (d. 1936)
- July 22 – Janusz Korczak (pen-name of Henryk Goldszmit), Polish-Jewish children's author, pediatrician, and child pedagogist (born 1878 or 1879#Births)) (d. 1942)
- August 8 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1919)
- August 13 – John Ireland, English composer and organist (d. 1962)
- August 15 – Ethel Barrymore, American stage & film actress (d. 1959)
- August 21 – Claude Grahame White, British aviation pioneer (d. 1959)
- August 30 – Fritzi Scheff, actress and singer, (d. 1954)
- August 31 – Emperor Taishō, 123rd Emperor of Japan (d. 1926)
- September 2 – An Jung-geun, assassin of the Japanese politician, Ito Hirobumi (d. 1910)
- September 6
- September 14 – Margaret Sanger, American birth control advocate (d. 1966)
- September 15 – Joseph Lyons, Premier of Tasmania and Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
- September 20 – Victor Sjöström, Swedish film actor and director (d. 1960)
- September 25 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer, father of Philippine national language and grammar (d. 1963)
- September 27 – Hans Hahn, Austrian mathematician (d. 1934)
- October 2 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)
- October 3 – Warner Oland, Swedish-born actor (d. 1938)
- October 5 – Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1970)
- October 9 – Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
- October 21 – Joseph Canteloube, French composer and singer (d. 1957)
- October 29 – Franz von Papen, German Chancellor and diplomat (d. 1969)
- November 4 – Will Rogers, American humorist (d. 1935)
- November 7 – Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (d. 1940)
- November 10
- November 26 – Charles W. Goddard, playwright and screenwriter (d. 1951)
- December 4 – Nagai Kafu, Japanese writer (d. 1959)
- December 10 – Jouett Shouse, American politician (d. 1968)
- December 12 – Laura Hope Crews, American stage & film actress (Aunt PittyPat) (d. 1942)
- December 13 – Eleanor Robson Belmont aka Eleanor Robson, stage actress & philanthropist (d. 1979)
- December 18 – Paul Klee, Swiss artist (d. 1940)
- December 18 – Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator (d. 1953)
- December 27 – Sydney Greenstreet, British stage & screen actor (d. 1954)
- December 28 – Billy Mitchell, U.S. general and military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)
- December 29 – Florence Mary Taylor, Australia's first female architect (d. 1969)
- date unknown
[edit] Deaths [edit] January–June - January 8 – Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara (b. 1793)
- February 11 – Honoré Daumier, French caricaturist and painter (b. 1808)
- February 23 – Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
- February 25 – Charles Peace, British criminal (executed) (b. 1832)
- March 1 – Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (b. 1825)
- March 2 – John Eberhard Faber, pencil manufacturer (b. 1822)
- March 27
- March 30 – Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher (b. 1815)
- April 30 – Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (b. 1788)
- June 1 – Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, son of French Emperor Napoleon III (b. 1856)
[edit] July–December [edit] References - ^ Steiner, Rudolf (1994) [1917]. Christopher Bamford. ed. The Archangel Michael. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press. ISBN 0-88010-378-7.
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