Historical Events
Congo Leopold II's Possession
Feb 5 King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal colonial possession
Event of Interest
Feb 17 Otto von Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of German possessions in East-Africa
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Feb 18 Mark Twain publishes the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in the US
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Camille Chautemps, French politician (Prime Minister of France 1930, 1933-34, 1937-38), born in Paris, France (d. 1963)
- Feb 2 Aldo Palazzeschi [Giurlani], Italian writer (I cavalli bianchi), born in Florence, Italy (d. 1974)
- Feb 4 Cairine Ray Wilson, Canadian politician and diplomat (1st woman appointed to Canadian senate 1930), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1962) [1]
- Feb 7 [Harry] Sinclair Lewis, American writer and social critic (Nobel Prize in Literature 1930), born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota (d. 1951)
- Feb 9 Alban Berg, a Lulu of a composer!, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1935)
- Feb 12 Licinio Refice, Italian priest and composer (Cecilia), born in Patrica, Italy (d. 1954)
Bess Truman (1885-1982)
Feb 13 US First Lady (1945-52), born in Independence, Missouri
- Feb 14 Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian-Pakistani Prominent Muslim philosopher (d. 1949)
- Feb 15 Richard Würz, German composer, and music critic, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1965)
- Feb 21 Sacha Guitry, French actor and playwright (Deburan, The Story of a Cheat), born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1957)
- Feb 24 Bert Lytell, American actor (One Man's Family), born in New York City (d. 1954)
Chester Nimitz (1885-1966)
Feb 24 American admiral who commanded the US Pacific fleet in World War II, born in Fredericksburg, Texas
- Feb 24 Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski, Polish novelist and satirist (Black Wings), born in Rzeszów, Galicia (d. 1944)
- Feb 24 Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1939)
- Feb 24 Yosef Sprinzak, Israeli politician, first Speaker of the Knesset (1949-59) and leading Zionist, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1959)
- Feb 25 Sylvia Brett, Lady Brooke and Ranee of Sarawak, born in London, England (d. 1971)
- Feb 26 Aleksandras Stulginskis, Russian-Lithuanian politician, nationalist (President of Lithuania, 1920-26), farmer, and political prisoner (Soviet gulag, 1941-56), born in Kutaliai, Russian Empire (d. 1969)
- Feb 26 Lili Green [Alice Sally Mary], Dutch English dancer, born in Bromley, England (d. 1977)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 4 Sarah Miriam Peale, American portrait painter (General Lafayette, 1825), dies at 84
- Feb 14 Jules Vallès, French writer (b. 1832)
- Feb 15 Leopold Damrosch, German-American composer, and conductor (New York Oratorio Society; New York Symphony), dies at 52
- Feb 18 Charlotte Sainton-Dolby, English contralto and composer, dies at 61
