What Happened in February 1884

Historical Events

  • Feb 1 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published
  • Feb 7 Canadian Rugby Football Union forms
  • Feb 18 General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum

Event of Interest

Feb 18 Russian police seize all copies of Leo Tolstoy's book "What I Believe In"

  • Feb 19 "Enigma Outbreak" of over 60 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana kill hundreds, if not over a thousand (hence the "enigma") people

Treaty of Interest

Feb 26 British & Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II


1884 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Feb 1 Bradbury Robinson Jr., American football pioneer (threw first legal forward pass at a game at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin 1906), born in Bellevue, Ohio (d. 1949)
  • Feb 1 Rosey Rowswell, American MLB broadcaster (Pittsburgh Prates 1936-54), born in Alton, Illinois (d. 1955)
  • Feb 1 Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer and Soviet dissident (We), born in Lebedyan, Russian Empire (d. 1937)
  • Feb 2 Julius Deutsch, Austria politician and general in the Spanish republican army, born in Lackenbach, Austria-Hungary (d. 1968)
  • Feb 4 Rolland Beaumont, South African cricket batsman (5 Tests; Transvaal), born in Newcastle, Natal, South Africa (d. 1958)
  • Feb 8 Reginald "Snowy" Baker, Australian boxer (Olympic silver middleweight 1908), rugby union halfback (2 caps) and actor (The Sword of Valor), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1953)
  • Feb 9 Frederik Gerretson [Geerten Gossaert], Dutch poet and politician, born in Kralingen, Netherlands (d. 1958)
  • Feb 10 Billy Evans, American Baseball HOF umpire (American League 1906-27; at age 22, youngest umpire in MLB history), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1956)
  • Feb 10 Frederick Hawksworth, GWR Chief mechanical engineer. (d. 1976)
  • Feb 10 Ranji Hordern, Australian cricket spin bowler (7 Tests, 46 wickets, BB 7/90; NSW CA), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1938)
  • Feb 11 Alfonso Leng, Chilean dentist and composer (Doloras), born in Santiago, Chile (d. 1974)
  • Feb 12 Johan Laidoner, Estonian military commander (d. 1953)
  • Feb 12 Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
  • Feb 12 Max Beckmann, German painter and graphic artist, born in Leipzig, German Empire (d. 1950)
  • Feb 14 Hezekiah M. Washburn, American Presbyterian Congo missionary, born in Brooksville, Bracken, Kentucky (d. 1972)
  • Feb 14 Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet, born in Burgas, Bulgaria (d. 1974)

Alfred Carlton Gilbert (1884-1961)

Feb 15 American inventor and businessman who invented the Erector Set, one of the most popular toys of all time, born in Salem, Oregon

  • Feb 16 Robert Flaherty, American filmmaker and the father of documentary film (Nanook of the North), born in Iron Mountain, Michigan (d. 1951)
  • Feb 17 Arthur Vanderpoorten, Belgian politician (Minister of Internal Affairs 1940), born in Puurs, Belgium (d. 1945)
  • Feb 18 Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970)
  • Feb 18 Burton "Burt" Mustin, American actor (All in the Family, The Andy Griffith Show), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1977)
  • Feb 22 Abe Attell, American boxer known as "The Little Hebrew" and World Featherweight Champion (1906-12), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1970)
  • Feb 23 Frank Cellier, British actor (Quiet Wedding, Big Blockade), born in Surbiton, Surrey, England (d. 1948)
  • Feb 23 Herman Courtens, Belgian painter, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1956)
  • Feb 26 Dina Appeldoorn, Dutch pianist and composer, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1938)
  • Feb 26 Hildo Krop, Dutch modernistic sculptor, born in Steenwijk, Netherlands (d. 1970)
  • Feb 29 Alfred Sendrey, American composer and musicologist, born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1976)
Born in 1884

Famous Deaths

  • Feb 8 Arnold Henry Guyot, Swiss-American geologist, geographer and meteorologist, dies at 76
  • Feb 12 Aaron Bernstein, German Jewish writer (Young Germany), dies at 72
  • Feb 14 Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, 1st wife of Theodore Roosevelt, dies of Bright's disease at 22
  • Feb 21 John Pike Hullah, English composer, dies at 71
  • Feb 23 Jimmy Tambo, Australian aboriginal, US circus attraction, dies at 23