1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). In the ISO 8601 calendar, 1875 is defined as the year the Convention du Mètre was originally signed, by way of a reference year.

Events

January - April

• January 1 - Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British Railway companies followed Midland's lead during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
• January 12 - Kwang-su becomes emperor of China.
• February 25 - The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes were forced by the U.S. Calvary under command of Brigadier General George Crook to walk at gunpoint from the Arizona's Verde Valley, now occpied by the towns of Camp Verde and Clarkdale and the cities of Cottonwood and Sedona to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes were not allowed to return to the Verde Valley until 1900.
• February 27 - Newton Booth, 11th Governor of California resigns, having been elected Senator. Lieutenant Governor of California Romualdo Pacheco becomes acting Governor. He is later replaced by elected governor William Irwin.
• March 3 - The first performance of Bizet’s Carmen at the Opéra Comique, Paris
• March 3 - The first organized indoor game of ice hockey was played between two pick-up teams at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal.

May - August

• May 7 - SS Schiller wrecks on rocks off the Isles of Scilly.
• May 17 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
• May 20 - Convention du Mètre signed in Paris.
• August 25 - Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel.

September - December

• September 1 - A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.
• September 7 - An Egyptian invasion of Ethiopia fails when Emperor Yohannes IV defeats an army led by Werner Munzinger in the Battle of Agurdat.
• November 9 - Indian Wars: In Washington, D.C., Indian Inspector E.C. Watkins issues a report stating that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are hostile to the United States (the Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought in Montana the next year).
• November 16 - Battle at Gundet - Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes defeats another Egyptian army
• December 4 - Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then to Spain.
• December 9 - Massachusetts Rifle Association, "America's Oldest Active Gun Club" is formed.

Unknown date

• Wimbledon: Henry Cavendish Jones convinced the "All England Croquet Club" to replace a croquet court with a lawn tennis court.
• Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed between Japan and Russia.
• Tong wars begin in San Francisco
• The Theosophical Society was founded in New York by Helena Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others.
• The Arya Samaj was founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda.
• Hibernian_F.C., were founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Births

January

• January 5 - James Stuart Blackton, American film producer (d. 1941)
• January 7 - Thomas J. Hicks, American runner (d. 1963)
• January 9 - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and socialite (d. 1942)
• January 11 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (d. 1956)
• January 14 - Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician, philosopher, and musician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1965)
• January 15 - Tom Burke, American runner (d. 1929)
• January 22 - D. W. Griffith, American film director (d. 1948)

February

• February 2 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (d. 1962)
• February 4 - Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)
• February 21 - Jeanne Calment, Oldest person in recorded history (d. 1997)

March

• March 7 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (d. 1937)
• March 26 - Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (d. 1965)
• March 30 - Jonathan Campbell, American film pioneer (d. 1942)

April

• April 1 - Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)
• April 2 - Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (d. 1940)
• April 4 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
• April 5 - Mistinguett, French singer (d. 1956)
• April 8 - King Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
• April 15 - James J. Jeffries, American boxer (d. 1953)
• April 18 - Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, Abdruschin, author (d. 1941)

May

• May 11 - Harriet Quimby, American pilot (d. 1912)
• May 12 - Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian philosopher (d. 1949)
• May 23 - Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr., Automobile Industrialist (d. 1966)

June, July, August

• June 6 - Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobe Prize laureate (d. 1955)
• June 12 - Sam De Grasse, Canadian actor (d. 1953)
• June 24 - Diedrich Westermann, German linguist (d. 1956)
• June 28 - Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (d. 1941)

July

• July 26 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
• July 26 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)

August

• August 15 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English composer (d. 1912)
• August 21 - Winnifred Eaton, Canadian author (d. 1954)
• August 27 - Katharine McCormick, American suffragist (d. 1967)

September

• September 1 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (d. 1950)
• September 3 - Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian automotive engineer (d. 1951)

October

• October 1 - Eugeen Van Mieghem, Belgian painter (d. 1930)
• October 12 - Aleister Crowley, British occultist (d. 1947)
• October 23 - Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist (d. 1946)

December

• December 4 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (d. 1926)
• December 5 - Arthur Currie, Canadian military leader (d. 1933)
• December 19 - Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife (d. 1948)
• December 25 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Austrian Catholic cardinal (d. 1955)

Deaths

• January 23 - Charles Kingsley, English writer (b. 1819)
• February 22 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
• February 22 - Sir Charles Lyell, British geologist (b. 1797)
• March 1 - Tristan Corbière, French poet (b. 1845)
• April 25 - the 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
• May 17 - John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States (b. 1821)
• June 2 - Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (b. 1806)
• June 3 - Georges Bizet, French composer (b. 1836)
• June 4 - Eduard Mörike, German poet (b. 1804)
• June 25- Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
• July 30 - George Pickett, American Confederate General (b. 1825)
• July 31 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
• August 4 - Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
• August 10 - Karl Andree, German geographer (b. 1808)
• August 17 - Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
• September 22 - Charles Bianconi, Italian-Irish entrepreneur (b. 1786)
• October 10 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (b. 1817)
• October 12 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (b. 1827)
• October 24 - Jacques Paul Migne, French priest, theologian, and publisher (b. 1800)
• November 7 - Werner Munzinger, Swiss adventurer (b. 1832)
• November 22 - Henry Wilson, Vice President of the United States (b. 1812)
• November 24 - William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American businessman (b. 1792)

1875

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