Historical Events
- Aug 2 George A. Wheeler is granted a US patent for a prototype of the escalator
Event of Interest
Aug 4 Queen Wilhelmina and Emma open Merwede Canal between Amsterdam and the Rhine
Murder of Interest
Aug 4 Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother are murdered with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts; Borden is later arrested, tried and acquitted
- Aug 13 US black newspaper "Afro-American" begins publishing from Baltimore
Fourth Gladstone Ministry
Aug 15 4th & last British government of William Gladstone forms
David Beatty Promoted
Aug 25 British naval officer David Beatty is promoted to lieutenant
- Aug 27 NYC's Metropolitan Opera House (opened in 1883) catches fire; takes two years to restore
- Aug 30 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, R.I.: Three straight US singles titles to Oliver Campbell; beats Fred Hovey 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 Constant Burniaux, Belgian writer (The Abandoned) and art historian (Temps Inquiets), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1975)
- Aug 2 Jack L. Warner [Jacob Warner], Canadian-American film executive and president of the Warner Bros. Studios, born in London, Ontario, Canada (d. 1978)
- Aug 2 John Kieran, American columnist and author (Natural History of NYC), born in New York City (d. 1981)
- Aug 3 Oscar van Hemel, Belgian-Dutch violinist and composer, born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1981)
- Aug 4 Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman, Dutch composer, born in Rotterdam (d. 1971)
- Aug 6 Edmund "Hoot" Gibson, American rodeo champion, western actor, director, and producer (Horse Soldier, Last Outlaw), born in Tekamah, Nebraska (d. 1962)
- Aug 9 Charles Delaney, American actor (Air Police, Lonesome Trail), born in New York City (d. 1959)
- Aug 11 Archie Wiles, West Indian cricketer (d. 1957)
- Aug 11 Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese novelist (d. 1962)
- Aug 11 Hugh MacDiarmid (pen name for Christopher Murray Grieve), Scottish poet (leader of the Scottish literary renaissance), born in Langholm, Scotland (d. 1978)
- Aug 11 Wladyslaw Anders, Polish army general (WWI and WWII), and politician (Parliament-in exile), born in Krośniewice–Błonie, Russian Empire (now Poland) (d. 1970)
- Aug 12 Ray Schalk, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (World Series 1917; Chicago White Sox) and manager (Chicago White Sox 1927-28), born in Harvel, Illinois (d. 1970)
- Aug 14 Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji [Leon Dudley Sorabji], Parsi-British pianist and composer (Opus clavicembalisticum), born in Chingford, Essex (d. 1988)
- Aug 14 Tommy Scott, West Indian cricket spin bowler (8 Tests, 22 wickets; Jamaica), born in Kingston, Jamaica (d. 1961)
- Aug 15 Knud Jeppesen, Danish organist, composer, educator (Royal Danish Academy, 1920-47; Aarhus University, 1946-57), and musicologist (La frottola), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1974)
- Aug 15 Louis Victor de Broglie, French quantum physicist (studied electrons, Nobel Prize for Physics, 1929), born in Dieppe, France (d. 1987)
- Aug 16 Harold Foster, Canadian-American cartoonist (Prince Valian), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (d. 1982)
- Aug 16 Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (Felix the Cat), born in Union City, New Jersey (d. 1983)
- Aug 21 Charles Vanel, French actor and director (Wages of Fear), born in Rennes, France (d. 1989)
- Aug 22 Percy Fender, English cricket all-rounder (13 Tests, 29 wickets, BB 5/90, HS 60; Sussex CCC, Surrey CCC, MCC), born in London, England (d. 1985)
- Aug 23 Valdemar Eiberg, Danish jazz pioneer, saxophonist, and bandleader ("I've Got a Cross-Eyed Papa"), born in Kolding, Denmark (d. 1965)
- Aug 31 Claire DuBrey, American actress (Lightnin' in the Forest), born in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho (d. 1993)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 1 George Baird Hodge, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 64
- Aug 9 Matthias de Vries, Dutch linguist (spelling), dies at 71
- Aug 11 Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician (b. 1813)
- Aug 19 František Zdeněk Skuherský, Czech composer, dies at 62
- Aug 23 Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian military officer and the 1st President of Brazil (1889-91), dies at 65
