What Happened in August 1887

Historical Events

  • Aug 2 Chester A. Hodge of Beloit, Wisconsin, patents 'spur' barbed wire
  • Aug 10 Excursion train crashes killing 101. (Chatsworth, Illinois)

Event of Interest

Aug 19 Dmitri Mendeleev makes a solo ascent by balloon to an altitude of 11,500 feet (3.5 km) above Klin, Russia to observe an eclipse

US Men's Tennis Open

Aug 30 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport R.I.: Richard Sears wins 7th straight US singles title; beats Henry Slocum 6-1, 6-3, 6-2


1887 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Aug 2 Tommy Ward, South African cricket wicket-keeper (23 Tests, 32 dismissals, 2 x 50; Transvaal), born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan (d. 1936)

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)

Aug 3 British WW I poet (Lithuania, The Soldier), born in Rugby, England

  • Aug 5 Reginald Owen, British actor (Mary Poppins, Sherlock Holmes), born in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England (d. 1972)
  • Aug 6 Dudley Benjafield, British racing driver, born in Edmonton, London (d. 1957)
  • Aug 7 (Charles Luckyth) "Luckey" Roberts, stride pianist and composer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1968) [various sources dispute year - 1887 to 1895] [1]
  • Aug 7 Henny Eman, Aruban politician who founded the Aruban People's Party, born in Aruba (d. 1957)
  • Aug 8 Esme Percy, British actor (Murder!, Pygmalion, Old Spanish Custom), born in London, England (d. 1957)
  • Aug 8 Malcolm Keen, British actor (The Lodger, The Manxman, The Murder Party), born in Bristol, England (d. 1970)
  • Aug 8 Ullrich Haupt, Prussian actor (Morocco, Du Barry-Woman of Passion), born in Falkenburg, Pomerania, Germany (d. 1931)
  • Aug 9 Abraham Schierbeek, Dutch biologist (Swammerdam), born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 1974)

Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961)

Aug 12 Austrian physicist and Nobel Laureate (wave mechanics), born in Vienna, Austria

  • Aug 13 Julius Freed [Fried], American namesake and co-founder of Orange Julius fast food chain, born in Montana (d. 1952)
  • Aug 14 Marija Leiko, Latvian film actress (Falscher Start), born in Riga, Russian Empire (d. 1937)
  • Aug 17 Charles I, last ruler of Austria-Hungary (1916-18), born in Persenbeug Castle, Austria (d. 1922)

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

Aug 17 Jamaican-born black nationalist who began the back-to-Africa movement among US African Americans, born in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica

  • Aug 18 Nico J. Polak, Dutch economist, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1948)
  • Aug 23 Jo Sternheim, Dutch actor and playwright (Fatherland), born in Amsterdam (d. 1956)
  • Aug 24 Harry Hooper, American Baseball HOF right fielder (World Series 1912, 15, 16, 18 Boston Red Sox), born in Bell Station, California (d. 1974)
  • Aug 25 (Olav) Fartein Valen, Norwegian composer, pianist, polyglot, and rosarian, born in Stavanger, Norway (d. 1952)
  • Aug 26 Luis Abraham Delgadillo, Nicaraguan pianist and composer (Inca Symphony), born in Managua (d. 1961)
  • Aug 27 James Finlayson, Scottish-American stage and silent and "talkie" film actor (Laurel and Hardy films), born in Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland (d. 1953)
  • Aug 28 Daniel Zamudio, Colombian organist, composer and folklorist, born in Bogotá, Colombia (d. 1952)
  • Aug 30 Adam Kuckhoff, German writer and resistance fighter, born in Aachen, Germany (d. 1943)
  • Aug 31 Friedrich A Paneth, Austrian-British chemist, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1958)
Born in 1887

Famous Deaths

  • Aug 1 Joseph Rainey, American politician, 1st African American in US House of Representatives (1870-1879), dies at 55
  • Aug 8 Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier, dies at 79
  • Aug 14 Richard Jefferies, English naturalist and essayist, dies of tuberculosis at 38
  • Aug 17 Franz Commer, German composer, dies at 74
  • Aug 18 Orson Squire Fowler, American phrenologist and lecturer, dies at 77
  • Aug 19 Alvan Clark, American astronomer and maker of the Dearborn Observatory telescope, the largest telescope in the world at the time, dies at 83
  • Aug 20 Jules Laforgue, French poet (Les Complaintas), dies at 27
  • Aug 27 Wilhelm Volkmar, German composer, dies at 74