What Happened in March 1881

Historical Events

Mar 4 California becomes 1st state to pass plant quarantine legislation

James A. Garfield

Mar 4 James A. Garfield inaugurated as the 20th President of the United States of America

Mar 4 Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson begin their 1st case together in "A Study in Scarlet"

Boer War Ceasefire

Mar 4 South African politician Paul Kruger accepts ceasefire during First Boer War

3rd President of the South African Republic Paul Kruger

Mar 7 Southern University opens in New Orleans
Mar 12 Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain

Alexander II

Mar 13 Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by members of far-left terror group 'People's Will' who throw a bomb at him in the city of St. Petersburg

The Greatest Show on Earth

Mar 18 Barnum & Bailey Circus, traveling as "The Greatest Show on Earth", debuts at Madison Square Garden in New York City following the merger of two existing circus groups [1]

Circus Showman and Businessman P. T. Barnum

Circus Showman and Businessman James Anthony Bailey

Mar 23 Boers & Britain sign peace accord; end 1st Boer war
Mar 23 Gas lamp sets fire to Théâtre Municipal” opera house in Nice, France; 70 die, and building completely destroyed
Mar 25 43rd Grand National: Irish jockey Tommy Beasley wins his second consecutive GN aboard 11/2 co-favourite Woodbrook
Mar 26 Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again
Mar 27 Rioting takes place in Basingstoke, Hampshire in England, to protest against the Salvation Army's daily vociferous promotion of rigid Temperance
Mar 28 "Greatest Show On Earth" formed by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey

Events in 1881

Famous Birthdays

Mar 4 Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (d. 1948)
Mar 4 Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American writer (Pulitzer Prize 1933), born in Clifton, Tennessee (d. 1965)
Mar 4 Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian revolutionary, army officer, Macedonian freedom fighter, and teacher, born in Novo Selo, Ottoman Empire (d. 1924)
Mar 9 Ernest Bevin, British Minister of Labour (1940-45) and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1945-51), born in Winsford, Sommerset, England (d. 1951)
Mar 10 Thomas Quinlan, British opera impresario, born in Bury, England (d. 1951)
Mar 12 Daniel Hoan, American politician (longest Socialist administration in the US as Mayor of Milwaukee 1916-40), born in Waukesha, Wisconsin (d. 1961)
Mar 12 Gunnar Nordström, Finnish physicist (d. 1923)
Mar 13 Balthazar Huibrecht Verhagen, Dutch dramatist and writer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1950)
Mar 17 Kristian Elster, Norwegian author (Less bror Harris), born in Trondheim, Norway (d. 1947)
Mar 17 Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
Mar 18 Oliver Seibert, Canadian hall of fame hockey player (elected 1963), born in Berlin, Ontario (d. 1944)
Mar 18 Paul Le Flem, French composer and music critic, born in Radon, France (d. 1984)
Mar 20 Eugène Schueller, French chemist, founder of L'Oréal, born in Paris, France (d. 1957)
Mar 21 Herman Sandby, Danish cellist and composer, born in Kundby, Denmark (d. 1965)

Hans Wilsdorf (1881-1960)

Mar 22 German businessman and founder of Rolex and Tudor, born in Kulmbach, Bavaria

Mar 23 Egon Petri, Dutch classical pianist, born in Hanover, Germany (d. 1962)
Mar 23 Hermann Staudinger, German chemist and plastics researcher (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1953 for polymers), born in Worms, Germany (d. 1962)
Mar 23 Roger Martin du Gard, French novelist (Les Thibault, 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France (d. 1958)

Béla Bartok (1881-1945)

Mar 25 Hungarian pianist, composer (Concerto for Orchestra), and ethnomusicologist, born in Nagyszentmiklós, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary

Mar 25 Mary Webb, English writer (Gone to Earth), born in Leighton, England (d. 1927)
Mar 26 Guccio Gucci, Italian founder of Gucci fashion house, born in Florence, Italy (d. 1953)

Born in 1881