What Happened in January 1900

Historical Events

The 42nd Parallel

Jan 1 1st date in John dos Passos' USA trilogy (The 42nd Parallel)

Jan 1 British protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria are established
Jan 1 Compulsory education in Netherlands goes into effect
Jan 2 E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montreal)
Jan 2 US Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China

Schluck und Jau

Jan 3 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Schluck und Jau," premieres in Berlin

Dramatist, Author and Nobel Laureate Gerhart Hauptmann

Jan 5 Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule
Jan 6 Boers attack at Ladysmith, about 1,000 killed or injured

Second Boer War

Jan 10 British generals Frederick Roberts and Herbert Kitchener reach Cape Town during the Second Boer War

General and Secretary of War Horatio Kitchener

Jan 12 Utopian Freeland Colony founded on Whidbey Island, in Washington State, US

Tosca

Jan 14 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Tosca" premieres in Rome

Jan 16 The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands
Jan 16 The US gains control over Tutuila in Samoa and several smaller Pacific islands
Jan 18 Jan Blockx's "Tÿl Uilenspiegel" premieres in Brussels
Jan 21 The second contingent of Canadian troops sails from Halifax to fight in South Africa against the Boers
Jan 24 Battle of Spion Kop: South African Boers defeat the British army after it attempts to cross the Tugela River and relieve the besieged city Ladysmith
Jan 24 Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, forms in England

When We Dead Awaken

Jan 26 Henrik Ibsen's play "Naar vi Dode Vaaguer" (When We Dead Awaken) premieres in Stuttgart

Jan 27 Foreign diplomats in Peking, China, write formal notes of protest demanding that the Chinese Government stop the Boxes and other groups leading attacks on Westerners and Christians.
Jan 27 Social Democrat Party of America (Debs' party) holds 1st convention
Jan 29 American League organized in Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Minneapolis
Jan 31 Final report of the USA's Philippine Commission is released, favoring territorial government for the islands with home rule in local affairs, but with US assumptions of ultimate responsibility for the government.

Events in 1900

Famous Birthdays

Jan 1 Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (Vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania, 1939-41), who issued thousands of travel visas to imperiled Jews, born in Kozuchi Town, Empire of Japan (d. 1986)
Jan 1 Hubert van Doorne, Dutch auto manufacturer (DAF Trucks), born in America, Dutch Limburg, Netherlands (d. 1979)
Jan 1 Xavier Cugat, Spanish American bandleader (married Abbe Lane, and Charo), born in Girona, Catalonia (d. 1990)
Jan 2 William Haines, American actor (Fast Life, Little Annie Rooney), born in Staunton, Virginia (d. 1973)
Jan 3 Dorothy Arnzer, American pioneering Hollywood film director (1st woman to direct a sound film), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1979)
Jan 3 Maurice Jaubert, French composer, born in Nice, France (d. 1940)
Jan 4 James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
Jan 5 Paula Ludwig, Austrian-German poet, born in Vorarlberg, Austria (d. 1974)
Jan 5 Yves Tanguy, French surrealist painter, born in Paris, France (d. 1955)
Jan 6 Pierre-Octave Ferroud, French composer (Sarabande, Jeunesse), born in Chasselay, Rhône, France (d. 1936)
Jan 6 Queen Maria of Yugoslavia [Maria of Romania], Queen consort of Yugoslavia (1922-34), born in Gotha, German Empire (d. 1961)
Jan 7 John Brownlee, Australian operatic baritone (Metropolitan Opera, 1937-57), born in Geelong, Victoria (d. 1969)
Jan 8 Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French modernist-abstract painter, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1969)
Jan 9 Joseph Frederick Wagner, American conductor and composer, born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1974)
Jan 9 Richard Halliburton, American adventurer (presumed dead 1939), born in Brownsville, Tennessee (d. 1939)
Jan 11 Wilbur De Paris, American swing and Dixieland jazz trombone player, born in Crawfordsville, Indiana (d. 1973)

Jan 12 Vaino Hannikainen, Finnish composer, born in Jyväskylä, Finland (d. 1960)
Jan 13 Yasuji Kiyose, Japanese composer, born in Yokkaichi, Oita Prefecture, Japan (d. 1981)
Jan 15 Caesar Domela, Dutch painter (Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis son), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1992)
Jan 16 Edith Frank, mother of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, born in Aachen, Germany (d. 1945)
Jan 17 George Sperti, American inventor (Preparation H), born in Covington, Kentucky (d. 1991)
Jan 17 Olga Maria Nicolis di Robilant, Portuguese patron of the arts, born in Turin, Italy (d. 1996)
Jan 20 Boris Semyonovich Shekhter, Russian composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1961)
Jan 20 Colin Clive, British actor (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love), born in St Malo, France (d. 1937)
Jan 20 Doris Deane [Dibble], American silent film actress (Stupid, But Brave), born in Wisconsin (d. 1974)
Jan 22 Franz Salmhofer, Austrian conductor (Vienna State Opera, 1945-54), and composer (mostly of ballet and opera), born in Vienna (d. 1975)
Jan 22 Juan Tizol, Puerto Rican jazz trombonist (Duke Ellington), and composer ("Caravan"; "Perdido"), born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico (d. 1984)
Jan 23 Mary Philips, American actress (Farewell to Arms, Incendiary Blonde), born in New London, Connecticut (d. 1975)
Jan 23 Ralph Graves, American actor (Dirigible, Extra Girl, Flight, Dream Street), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1977)
Jan 23 William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor and organist, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (d. 1988)
Jan 25 Donalee Tabern, American scientist and inventor of Pentothal - world's most widely used anesthetic, born in Bowling Green, Ohio (d. 1974) [1]

Jan 25 Mildred Dunnock, American actress (Baby Doll, Nun's Story), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1991)
Jan 25 Theodosius Dobzhansky, Russian-American genetist, evolutionary biologist and author (Mankind Evolving), born in Nemyriv, Russian Empire (d. 1975)
Jan 25 Yojiro Ishizaka, Japanese writer, born in Hirosaki, Japan (d. 1986)
Jan 26 Karl Ristenpart, German conductor, born in Kiel, Germany (d. 1967)
Jan 27 Hyman G. Rickover, US Admiral (father of modern nuclear navy, at 63 years the longest serving US naval officer), born in Maków Mazowiecki, Congress Poland (d. 1986)
Jan 28 A. A. M. Stols, Dutch publisher (History of Ecuador), born in Maastricht, Netherlands (d. 1973)
Jan 28 Alice Neel, American artist (d. 1984)
Jan 28 Hermann Kesten, German writer (Allert de Lange), born in Pidvolochysk, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1996)
Jan 28 Michael Head, British organist, pianist, and composer, born in Eastbourne, England (d. 1976)
Jan 29 Marco Tajcevic, Serbian composer, born in Osijek, Austria-Hungry (d. 1984)
Jan 29 Willem Hussem, Dutch painter and poet (Coastline, Lookout on Sea), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1974)
Jan 30 Isaak Iosifovich Dunayevsky, Soviet operetta & film composer, born in Lokhvitsa, Russian Empire (d. 1955)
Jan 30 Martita Hunt, Argentine-born English actress (Man in Grey, Great Expectations), born in Buenos Aires (d. 1969)
Jan 30 Sandy Powell, English comedian, born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England (d. 1982)
Jan 31 Betty Parsons, American artist and art dealer, born in New York City (d. 1982)

Born in 1900

Famous Deaths

Jan 3 Edwin George Monk, English church organist and composer, dies at 80
Jan 8 Billy Bates, English cricket all-rounder (15 Tests, 5 x 50, 50 wickets, BB 7/28, hat-trick 1883; Yorkshire CCC), dies from pneumonia at 44
Jan 20 John Ruskin, English writer (Dearest Mama Talbot), dies of flu at 81
Jan 20 R. D. Blackmore, English novelist (Norie, Lorna Doone), dies at 74