Historical Events
- Dec 2 Association of Football Players' and Trainers' Union (English Professional Football Players' Association) is formed by Charlie Roberts and Billy Meredith in Manchester, England
Burns vs. Moir
Dec 2 Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns retains his title; KOs Englishman Gunner Moir in 10th round at the National Sporting Club, Covent Garden, London
Talk of the Town
Dec 3 George M. Cohan's musical "Talk of the Town" premieres in NYC
- Dec 6 Coal mine explosions in Monongah, West Virginia kills 361
- Dec 7 Eugene Corri becomes 1st referee in a boxing ring
- Dec 7 The First Egyptian Nationalist Congress meets under the leadership of Mustafa Kamil Pasha
- Dec 8 King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
- Dec 9 First Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington, Delaware, post office)
Mahler Departs Vienna
Dec 9 Gustav Mahler departs Vienna for America
Kipling's Nobel for Literature
Dec 10 Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so
- Dec 10 The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected.
- Dec 11 New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire
- Dec 13 George Gunn scores 119 on Test debut v Australia SCG
German Emperor Visits Amsterdam
Dec 13 German Emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam
- Dec 14 The schooner Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Scilly Isles in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
- Dec 15 In Persia, the Shah leads a coup de'etat against the liberal Prime Minister Nasir ul-Mulk and imprisons him, but a popular uprising forces the Shah to restore Nasir ul-Mulk soon after
Great White Fleet Sails
Dec 16 As a gesture of the US's new presence as a world power, President Theodore Roosevelt sends the 'Great White Fleet' on a round-the-world cruise, visiting ports internationally
- Dec 16 Eugenia Farrar is the 1st to sing over a wireless radio broadcast, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York
- Dec 17 Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan
- Dec 19 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania
- Dec 20 Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91
- Dec 21 Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
- Dec 22 Saint-Saëns'/Fokine's ballet "Le Cygne" premieres in St Petersburg
- Dec 23 1st all-steel passengar railroad coach completed, Altoona, Pennsylvania
- Dec 30 Abraham Mills' Mills Committee declares baseball was invented in 1839 by future American Civil War general Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York; widely disproven, now known as 'the Doubleday myth'
- Dec 31 For 1st time, a ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year
- Dec 31 Gustav Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Alex Wilson, Canadian athlete (Olympic silver 800m, 2 x bronze 400m, 4x400m relay 1932), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1994)
- Dec 1 Joel Fluellen, American actor (Porgy and Bess, Burning Cross, Learning Tree), born in Monroe, Louisiana (d. 1990)
- Dec 3 Andrew Hutchings, British trade union leader (d. 1996)
- Dec 3 Connee Boswell, American jazz singer (The Boswell Sisters; Pete Kelly's Blues), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1976)
- Dec 3 Machito [Francisco "Frank" Grillo], Latin jazz musician and creator of Cu-bop and salsa music (Afro-Cubans), born in Havana, Cuba - NB: birth date and location disputed (d. 1984)
- Dec 4 Jo Boer, Dutch painter and author (Catharina & the Magnolias), born in Surabaya, Indonesia (d. 1993)
- Dec 5 Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian physicist (Contribution to the discovery of the pion or pi-meson decay), born in Fossombrone, Pesaro, Italy (d. 1993)
- Dec 5 Lin Biao, Chinese Communist Marshal during the Civil War and party leader, born in Huanggang, Hubei, Qing Empire (d. 1971)
- Dec 6 Giovanni Ferrari, Italian soccer midfielder (44 caps; US Alessandria, Juventus, Internazionale) and manager (Italy 1958–59, 1960–62), born in Alessandria, Italy (d. 1982)
- Dec 8 Tony Aubin, French composer (Actaeon; Sinfonie Romantique), conductor, and educator (Paris Conservatory, 1944-77), born in Paris (d. 1981)
- Dec 9 Fried Walter [Schmidt], German light music and operetta composer, born in Ottendorf-Okrilla, Germany (d. 1996)
- Dec 9 Noel Walton Bott, British engineer (father of wave energy), (d. 1996)
- Dec 10 Amedeo Nazzari [Buffa], Italian actor (Nights of Cabiria; Chains; Caravaggio), born in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy (d. 1979)
- Dec 10 Lucien Laurent, French footballer (scored the first ever FIFA World Cup goal), born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France (d. 2005)
- Dec 10 Michael Blankfort, American writer, producer and director, born in New York City (d. 1982)
- Dec 10 Rumer Godden, English author (Thursday's Children), born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England (d. 1998)
- Dec 11 Norbert Rosseau, Belgian composer, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1975)
- Dec 12 Fred Elizalde, Spanish Filipino composer, born in Manila, Philippines (d. 1979)
- Dec 12 Frederik van Heek, Dutch sociologist, born in Enschede, Netherlands (d. 1987)
- Dec 12 Roy Douglas, English composer and arranger (Tomorrow We Live-At Dawn We Die), born in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England (d. 2015)
- Dec 15 Gordon Douglas [Brickner], American film director (Our Gang; Laurel and Hardy; Young At Heart; Way...Way Out; Tony Rome; They Call Me Mister Tibbs!), born in New York City (d. 1993)
Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012)
Dec 15 Brazilian architect (Brasilia), born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Dec 16 Barbara Kent, Canadian actress (Lonesome, Flesh and the Devil), born in Gadsby, Alberta, Canada (d. 2011)
- Dec 16 Ray C. Bliss, American Republican party figure (Chairman Republican National Committee 1965-69), born in Akron, Ohio (d. 1981)
- Dec 16 Syd Curnow, South African cricket batsman (7 Tests, HS 47; Transvaal), born in Benoni, South Africa (d. 1986)
- Dec 18 Bill Holland, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1949; runner-up 1947, 48, 50), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1984)
- Dec 18 Christopher Fry, English playwright (Ring Around the Moon), born in Bristol, England (d. 2005)
- Dec 19 Jimmy McLarnin, Irish boxer (NYSAC, NBA, The Ring welterweight world champion 1933-35; International Boxing HOF), born in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland (d. 2004)
- Dec 20 Paul Francis Webster, American lyricist ("Love Is A Many Splendored Thing"; "The Shadow Of Your Smile"; "I Got It Bad, And That Ain't Good"), born in New York City (d. 1984)
- Dec 21 Garmt Stuiveling, Dutch poet and literary (Poet in Love), born in Stroobos, Netherlands (d. 1985)
- Dec 22 Peggy Ashcroft [Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft], British actress (Dear Brutus, Happy Days), born in Croydon, Surrey, England (d. 1991)
- Dec 22 Yoshio Hasegawa, Japanese composer, born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1981)
- Dec 23 Avraham Stern, Polish-born Zionist leader (d. 1942)
- Dec 23 Don McNeill, American Radio and TV host (Don McNeill TV Club), born in Galena, Illinois (d. 1996)
- Dec 23 Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean writer and poet (d. 2005)
- Dec 24 I. F. Stone, American journalist (IF Stone's Weekly), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1989)
Cab Calloway (1907-1994)
Dec 25 American singer, bandleader ("Minnie the Moocher"; "The Jumpin' Jive"), writer, radio host, and actor (The Blues Brothers), born in Rochester, New York
- Dec 25 Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (d. 1988)
- Dec 25 Mike Mazurki, Austrian-American actor and professional wrestler (Some Like It Hot, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World), born in Tarnopol, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1990)
- Dec 27 Conrad L. Raiford, Goodwill Ambassador (d. 2002)
- Dec 27 Eddie Wilcox, American jazz pianist, arranger, and bandleader (Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra), born in Method, North Carolina (d. 1968)
- Dec 27 Emile de Strijker, Belgian philosopher (d. 1978)
- Dec 27 Nils-Eric Ringbom, Finnish composer, born in Turku, Finland (d. 1978)
- Dec 27 Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and writer (d. 1999)
- Dec 27 Willem Van Otterloo, Dutch cellist, composer, and conductor (Residentie Orkest, 1949-73; Melbourne Symphony, 1967-70; Sydney Symphony, 1971-77), born in Winterswijk, Netherlands (d. 1978)
- Dec 28 Roman Palester, Polish composer (The Weichsel), born in Śniatyń, Poland (d. 1989)
- Dec 29 James Gardner, British museum & exhibition designer, born in Hendon, London (d. 1995)
- Dec 30 Christine Auwen, Dutch model, singer and actress (Haghezangers), born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (d. 1983)
- Dec 30 Robert Grant Ferris, British politician (d. 1996)
Famous Deaths
William Thomson (1824-1907)
Dec 17 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish mathematical physicist (Kelvin Scale) and engineer (transatlantic telegraph), dies of a chill at 83
- Dec 21 Oskar Lassar, German dermatologist (electrophysical therapy, advocated for public bath houses), dies at 58
- Dec 23 Pierre Janssen, French astronomer, discovered helium, dies at 83
- Dec 24 Isidor Feinstein "Izzy" Stone, journalist (IF Stone's Weekly), dies
- Dec 31 Jules de Trooz, Belgium politician and Prime Minister of Belgium (1907), dies in office at 50
