Historical Events
Symphony No. 4
Feb 20 Conductor Hans Richter leads the Vienna Philharmonic in premiere of Anton Bruckner's "Symphony No. 4", in Vienna, Austria-Hungary
- Feb 24 China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
- Feb 24 De Lesseps' Company begins work on Panama Canal
- Feb 26 -27] Natal: British troops under Major General Colley occupy Majuba Hill
- Feb 26 P&O's SS Ceylon begins world's 1st round-the-world pleasure cruise from Liverpool
- Feb 27 Battle at Amajuba: South African Boers vs British army under General Colley
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 José Ignacio Quintón, Puerto-Rican composer (El coquí; Requiem por Angel Mislán), born in Caguas, Puerto Rico (d. 1925)
- Feb 1 Tip Snooke, South African cricket all-rounder and captain (26 Tests, 35 wickets), born in St Mark's, Eastern Cape, South Africa (d. 1966)
- Feb 2 Karl Frederick, American pistol shooter (Olympic gold 1920), born in Chateaugay, New York (d. 1963)
- Feb 4 Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
- Feb 4 Kliment Voroshilov, Russian politician and army officer (Marshal of the Soviet Union, President of the Supreme Soviet 1953-60), born in Bakhmut Russian Empire (d. 1969)
- Feb 5 Frederick Lonsdale, British playwright (Balkan Princess), born in St Helier, Jersey (d. 1954)
- Feb 6 Karl Weigl, Austrian-American pianist, composer (Apocalyptic Symphony), and educator, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1949)
- Feb 8 (William) Crickett Smith, American ragtime, and jazz cornetist and trumpeter (James Reese Europe's Clef Club; Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolics; Louis Mitchell's Jazz Kings), and bandleader, born in Emporia, Kansas (d. 1944)
- Feb 11 Arthur Davison, American businessman (co-founder of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 1950)
- Feb 12 Anna Pavlova, Russian prima ballerina and choreographer (Diaghilew, Dying Swan), born in St Petersburg, Russia (d. 1931)
- Feb 13 Eleanor Farjeon, English writer (Martin Pippin), born in London, England (d. 1965)
- Feb 14 Otto Selz, German psychologist, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1943)
- Feb 14 William John Gruffydd, Welsh poet and scholar, born in Gorffwysfa, Bethel, Wales (d. 1954)
- Feb 16 Maurits Uyldert, Dutch poet and writer (Youth of a Poet) (d. 1966)
- Feb 19 Armin Knab, German lawyer, jurist, composer (Eichendorff-cycle), and educator, born in Oberaurach, Bavaria, Kingdom of Germany (d. 1951)
- Feb 19 Evert Gorter, Dutch children's pioneering paediatrician (founder of Dutch medical child care), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1954)
- Feb 19 Paul Zech, German writer, born in Briesen, Western Prussia (d. 1946)
- Feb 20 Pedro Muñoz Seca, Spanish comic playwright (Don Mendo's Revenge), born in Cadiz, Spain (d. 1936)
- Feb 22 James Reese Europe, American ragtime and early jazz arranger, composer, and bandleader in New York, and with the military in France during WWI, born in Mobile, Alabama (d. 1919) [1] [2]
- Feb 22 Joseph B. Ely, American politician (d. 1956)
- Feb 23 Titus Brandsma, Dutch Roman Catholic priest, philosopher (spoke out against Nazi ideology), martyr, and saint, born in Oegeklooster, Netherlands (d. 1942)
- Feb 25 William Z. Foster, American labor organizer and Communist Presidential candidate (1924, 1928 and 1932), born in Taunton, Massachusetts (d. 1961)
- Feb 27 Bertus Brouwers, Dutch mathematician and philosopher (founder of modern topology), born in Overschie, Netherlands (d. 1966)
- Feb 27 Sveinn Bjornsson, Danish-Icelandic politician (1st president of Iceland 1944-52 and poet (Figur ild), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1952)
Famous Deaths
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
Feb 5 Scottish historian and essayist (The French Revolution), dies in London at 85
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
Feb 9 Russian novelist (Crime and Punishment, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man) who helped shape literary modernism and existentialism, dies from a pulmonary haemorrhage at 59
