What Happened in April 1894

Historical Events

  • Apr 5 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville, Penn

Bruckner's 5th Symphony

Apr 9 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz, Austria-Hungary, abridged and re-orchestrated by conductor Franz Schauk without the composer's approval

  • Apr 12 British & Belgian secret accord on dividing Central Africa

Edison's Kinetoscope

Apr 14 1st public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures)

Werther

Apr 19 Jules Massenet's opera "Werther" premieres in NYC

  • Apr 20 136,000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase

Arms and the Man

Apr 21 George Bernard Shaw's play "Arms and the Man" premieres in London becoming his first public success

  • Apr 22 The very first Venice Biennale opens in Venice, Italy, as a biennial exhibition of Italian art [1]

World Record 100km

Apr 24 French cyclist Henri Desgrange rides 100km in a world record time of 2:39:18

  • Apr 24 Lave Cross becomes 1st Philadelphia Phillies player to hit for the cycle in 22-5 win over the Bridegrooms at Eastern Park, Brooklyn
  • Apr 29 The 500-strong Commonwealth of Christ (Coxey's Army) arrives in Washington, D.C., to protest against unemployment; Coxey arrested for trespassing at Capitol
1894 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Apr 2 Rudolph Cleveringa, Dutch anti-nazi lawyer and professor of Law at Leiden University, born in Appingedam, Netherlands (d. 1980)

Walter Mittelholzer (1894-1937)

Apr 2 Swiss aviation pioneer (Swiss Air) and aerial photographer, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland [1]

  • Apr 6 Gertrude Baines, American supercentenarian who was the oldest person in the world and the last person known to be born in 1894, born in Shellman, Georgia (d. 2009)
  • Apr 7 Gerald Brenan, English writer (The Spanish Labyrinth), born in Sliema, Malta (d. 1987)
  • Apr 9 Edmund Jenkins, American clarinetist and composer (Charlestonia; Afram), born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1926) [1]
  • Apr 9 Ernest Kanitz, Austrian-American composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1978)
  • Apr 10 Ben Nicholson, English painter and sculptor (Circle), born in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England (d. 1982)
  • Apr 10 Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator, born in Pilani, Rajputana, India (d. 1983)
  • Apr 12 Francisco Craveiro Lopes, 12th President of Portugal (1951-58), born in Lisbon, Portugal (d. 1964)
  • Apr 12 Fred Barratt, English cricket fast bowler (5 Tests, 5 wickets; Nottinghamshire CCC), born in Annesley, England (d. 1947)
  • Apr 13 Ludvig Irgens-Jensen, Norwegian composer, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1969)
  • Apr 15 Bessie Smith, American blues singer known as the "Empress of the Blues" (recorded over 200 songs), born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (d. 1937)

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)

Apr 15 First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953-64), born in Kalinovka, Russia

  • Apr 20 Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch poet and linguistic (spelling), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1953)
  • Apr 23 Basil Sydney, British actor (Hamlet, Jassy, Simba, Farmer's Wife), born in St. Osyth, Essex, England (d. 1968)
  • Apr 23 Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport, American boogie-woogie and blues musician, born in Anniston, Alabama (d. 1955)
  • Apr 23 George Renevant [Georges de Cheux], French actor (Moulin Rouge, Scotland Yard, Comrade X), born in Paris, France (d. 1969)
  • Apr 24 Gustav Schmidt, German army general, born in Germany (d. 1943)

Rudolf Hess (1894-1987)

Apr 26 German Nazi official (Deputy Fuhrer who dramatically escaped to Britain in 1941), born in Alexandria, Egypt

  • Apr 27 George Petty, American pin-up artist, born in Abbeville, Louisiana (d. 1975)
  • Apr 27 Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian-American, pianist, conductor, musicologist (Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns; Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians), and composer, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1995)
Born in 1894

Famous Deaths

  • Apr 8 Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Indian novelist (Mrinalini, Anandamath), dies at 55
  • Apr 11 Constantin Lipsius, German architect (b. 1832)
  • Apr 14 Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German poet, dies at 78