1880
| Years: 1877 1878 1879 – 1880 – 1881 1882 1883 | |
| Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s – 1880s – 1890s 1900s 1910s | |
| Centuries: 18th century – 19th century – 20th century 1880 in topic: Lists of leaders: | |
1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).
Table of contents |
Events
January – April
- January 1 – Construction of the Panama Canal begins
- January 9 – The Great Gale of 1880 strikes areas in Oregon and Washington.
- February 1 – First edition of The Stage published
- February 2 – The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana
- February 13 – Thomas Edison becomes the second person to observe the Edison Effect.
- February 17 – Bomb explodes in Winter Palace dining room but the tzar Alexander II survives because he was late for dinner
- March 10 – Members of the Salvation Army land in the United States and begin operations.
- April 22 ? Benjamin Disraeli resigns.
May – August
- May 13 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
- June 29 – France annexes Tahiti
- July 1 – First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada.
- July 16 – First woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada – Dr. Emily Howard Stowe.
September – December
- October – terrible winter storm in North America, the "Blizzard of 1880".
- October 15 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
- November – James Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock in the U.S. presidential election
- November 11 – Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly is hung in Melbourne.
- November 22 – Vaudeville actress Lillian Russell makes her debut at Tony Pastor's Theatre in New York City.
- December 30 – The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger becomes its first president.
Unknown date
- Discovery of piezoelectricity by Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie.
- Completion of Cologne cathedral.
- Founding of Science by Thomas Edison.
- Cocaine isolated
- The British recognise Abdur Rahman Khan as amir of Afghanistan
Births
- January 6 – Tom Mix, American actor (d. 1940)
- January 17 – Mack Sennett, Canadian director and producer (d. 1960)
- January 26 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (d. 1964)
- January 28 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (d. 1970).
- January 29 – W.C. Fields, English actor (d. 1946)
- February 5 – Gabriel Voisin, French aviation pioneer (d. 1973)
- February 8 – Franz Marc, German artist (d. 1916)
- February 12 – John L. Lewis, American labor union leader (d. 1969)
- February 21 – Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
- February 22 – Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)
- March 1 – Giles Lytton Strachey British writer and biographer (d. 1932)
- March 10 – Bronco Billy Anderson, American actor (d. 1971)
- March 13 – Frank Thieß, writer (d. 1977)
- March 30 – Sean O'Casey, Irish writer (d. 1964)
- April 13 – Charles Christie, Canadian-born film studio owner (d. 1955)
- April 18 – Sam Crawford, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1968)
- May 6 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
- May 14 – B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born financial publisher (d. 1954)
- May 25 – Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist (d. 1967)
- May 29 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936)
- June 6 – W.T. Cosgrave, Irish politician (d. 1965)
- June 27 – Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for the deaf and blind (d. 1968)
- July 5 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (d. 1940)
- July 24 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-born composer (d. 1959)
- August 6 – Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964)
- August 8 – Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1961)
- August 10 – Robert L. Thornton, American businessman, philanthropist, and mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1964)
- August 22 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (d. 1944)
- August 26 – Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet (d. 1918)
- August 31 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (d. 1962)
- September 14 – Archie Hahn, American athlete (d. 1955)
- September 22 – Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (d. 1958)
- November 6 – Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (d. 1942)
- December 11 – - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951).
- December 31 – George C. Marshall, American general (d.1959)
- Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, American equestrian (d. 1925)
- Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (d. 1920)
- Abd al-Aziz IV, Sultan of Morocco
- Gar Wood, American motorboat racer (d. 1971)
Deaths
- January 8 – Joshua A. Norton, self-anointed Emperor Norton I of the United States of America (b. 1811)
- March 31 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (b. 1835)
- May 4 – Edward Clark, Confederate Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
- May 8 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
- July 7 – Lydia Child, American novelist and abolitionist (b. 1802)
- August 17 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810)
- October 4 – Jacques Offenbach, German-born composer (b. 1819)
- November 11 – Ned Kelly, Australian bush ranger (hanged)
- December 22 – George Eliot, English writer (b. 1819)
Categories: 1880