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January 16-January 24 - Siege of Geok Tepe - Russian troops under general Skobeleff defeat Turkomans

January 24 - William Edward Forster, the chief secretary for Ireland, introduces his Coercion Bill - it goes through a long debate before it is accepted February 2

January 25 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company

February 2 - Parkfield Earthquake

February 5 - Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated.

February 13 - First issue of the feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is published by Hubertine Auclert.

February 19 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

March 4 - Rutherford Birchard Hayes is succeeded as President of the United States by James Abram Garfield.

March 12 - Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.

March 13 - Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. He is succeeded by his son, Alexander III.

April 14 - Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight erupted in El Paso, Texas

April 21 - The University of Connecticut is founded as the Storrs Agricultural School.

April 25 - Caulfield Grammar School is founded in Melbourne, Australia.

April 28 - Billy the Kid escapes from New Mexico jail.

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May 12 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.

May 21 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.

May 21 - The United States Tennis Association is established by a small group of tennis club members.

June 12 - The USS ''Jeannette'' is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.

July 1 - General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organisation, came into effect.

July 2 - James Abram Garfield, President of the United States is shot by lawyer Charles Julius Guiteau. He survives the assassination attempt but he suffers from infection of his wound.

July 4 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.

July 20 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.

3 August - Pretoria Convention peace treaty signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and Britain

August 27 - A hurricane hits Florida and Carolinas; about 700 die

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September 5 - The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km²) and kills 282 people.

September 12 - Francis Howell High School (Howell Institute) opens making it the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River.

September 19 - US President James A. Garfield dies. Vice President Chester Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States.

October 26 - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona, USA.

October 29 - The Judge (US magazine) first published.

November 11 - The Clarkson Memorial in Wisbech was completed and unveiled to the public.

November 19 - A meteorite struck earth near the village of Großliebenthal, a few kilometers southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.

December 5 - The 47th US Congress (1881-83) convenes

December 8 - At least 620 die in fire at Ring Theatre, Vienna

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Edward Rudolf founded the 'Church of England Central Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays' (now The Children's Society)

Founding of the Pali Text Society

University College Dublin is established in Ireland

The United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) is founded, and the first U.S. Tennis Championships are played.

Founding of the League of the Three Emperors

London Evening News begins publication

Some Vatican archives opened to scholars for the first time

Abilene, Texas is founded.

Leyton Orient F.C. is Founded.

Minto, North Dakota is Founded.

Rafaela, Argentina is Formed.

Culford School a public school in Suffolk, United Kingdom is founded.

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January 1 - Vajiravudh, King of Thailand (d. 1925)

January 9 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)

January 9 - Giovanni Papini, Italian essayist, poet, and novelist (d. 1956)

January 17 - Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)

January 31 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)

February 12 - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)

March 4 - Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (d. 1948)

March 4 - Maude Fealy, American stage and film actor (d. 1971)

March 17 - Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)

March 23 - Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)

March 23 - Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)

March 25 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)

March 25 - Mary Gladys Webb, English writer (d. 1927)

May 19 - Official birthday of Kemal Atatürk First Turkish President (d. 1938)

June 17 - Tommy Burns, Canadian-born boxer (d. 1955)

July 4 - Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (d. 1968)

July 27 - Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)

July 30 - Smedley Butler, U.S. general (d. 1940)

August 6 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1955)

August 19 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)

August 20 - Edgar Guest, English poet (d. 1959)

September 8 - Harry Hillman, American athlete (d. 1945)

September 16 - Clive Bell, English art critic (d. 1964)

September 17 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (d. 1955)

October 1 - William Boeing, American engineer and airplane manufacturer (d. 1956)

October 11 - Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist (d. 1973)

October 15 - P. G. Wodehouse, English-born writer (d. 1975)

October 22 - Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)

October 25 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (d. 1973)

November 14 - Nicholas Schenck, Russian-born film studio executive (d. 1969)

November 24 - Al Christie, Canadian-born director and producer (d. 1951)

November 25 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)

December 24 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)

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Unknown

Kemal Atatürk, founder and the first President of Turkey (d. 1938)
Antoni Józef Śmieszek, Polish Egyptologist and linguist (d. 1943)
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1944)
Hiram Wesley Evans, American leader of KKK and prohibitionist (d. 1966)

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Deaths

January 3 - Anna McNeill Whistler, Whistler's mother (b. 1804)
January 21 - Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1802)
February 5 - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish writer and historian (b. 1795)
February 9 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist (b. 1821)
March 13 - Czar Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
March 28 - Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer (b. 1839)
April 19 - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
May 24 - Samuel Palmer, English artist (b. 1805)
June 6 - Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (b. 1820)
July 17 - Jim Bridger, American explorer and trapper (b. 1804)
July 18 - Billy the Kid, American gunslinger (b. 1859)
September 7 - Sidney Lanier, American writer (b. 1842)
September 19 - James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1831)
September 22 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (b. 1831)
October 3 - Orson Pratt, American religious leader (b. 1811)
October 31 - George DeLong, American naval officer and explorer (starvation) (b. 1844)