1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar).
Events
- January 4 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
- January 18 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
- February 1 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- March 13 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).
- April 22 - Colchester earthquake, England; the UK's most destructive.
- May 1 - the first proclamation of eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1st, called May Day or Labour Day, is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
- July 5 - Germany takes possession of Cameroon.
- August 5 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
- August 10 - A severe earthquake, magnitude 5.5, (intensity VII) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine, and west as far as Cleveland.
- October - International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
- October 6 - United States Naval War College established in Newport, Rhode Island.
- October 18 - University of Wales, Bangor (UK) founded.
- November 1 - The Irish Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Thurles, Ireland.
- November 2 - Timisoara is the first town of Europe with streets illuminated by electric light.
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
- November 15 - The Berlin Conference which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa begins (ends February 26, 1885).
- November 25 - British surgeon John Dooglee makes the first successful removal of a brain tumor.
- December 1 - American Old West - Near Frisco, New Mexico (now Reserve, New Mexico), deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
- December 6 - Washington Monument was completed.
- December 16 - World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Bechuanaland becomes British protectorate.
- Stefan-Boltzmann law reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann.
- British Police officers go on armed patrol in London.
- Mark Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Environmental change
- The Water Hyacinth is introduced in the US and quickly becomes an invasive species
Births
January-March
- January 2 - Oscar Micheaux, American filmmaker and author (d. 1951)
- January 12 - Texas Guinan, American vaudeville performer (d. 1933)
- January 13 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born singer and comedienne (d. 1966)
- January 21 - Roger Baldwin, American social activist (d. 1981)
- January 23 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (d. 1956)
- January 28 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist, balloonist, and inventor (d. 1962)
- January 31 - Theodor Heuss, German politician and publicist (d. 1963)
- February 12 - Max Beckmann, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1950)
- February 12 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
- February 13 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete and inventor (d. 1961)
- February 14 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
- February 16 - Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (d. 1951)
- February 18 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970)
- February 22 - Abe Attell, American boxer (d. 1970)
- March 1 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (b. 1820)
- March 13 - Sir Hugh Walpole, English novelist (d. 1941)
- March 17 - Alcide Nunez, American jazz musician (d. 1934)
- March 24 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- March 25 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d. 1950)
- March 26 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969)
April-December
- April 4 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
- April 6 - Walter Huston, actor (d. 1950)
- April 12 - Otto Fritz Meyerhof, Germn-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1951)
- May 1 - Henry Norwest, Canadian World War I sniper (d. 1918)
- May 8 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
- May 10 - Olga Petrova English-born actress (d. 1977)
- May 14 - Claudius Dornier, German aircraft designer (d. 1969)
- May 27 - Max Brod, Austrian author (d. 1968)
- May 28 - Edvard Beneš, Austrian politician (d. 1948)
- July 12 - Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1920)
- July 23 - Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (d. 1950)
- August 23 - Will Cuppy, American humorist (d. 1949)
- August 30 - Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- September 17 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920)
- October 11 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
- October 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962)
- November 19 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (d. 1942)
- November 20 - Norman Thomas, American social reformer (d. 1968)
- December 30 - Tojo Hideki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
Exact month/day unknown
- M. Louise Gross, American politician and lobbyist (d. 1951)
Deaths
- January 6 - Gregor Mendel, Austrian geneticist (b. 1822)
- January 25 - Johann Gottfried Piefke, German conductor and composer (b. 1815)
- March 21 - Ezra Abbot, American Bible scholar (b. 1819)
- April 4 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist (b. 1858)
- May 12 - Bedrich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
- May 13 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (b. 1809)
- June 25 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (b. 1858)
- July 1 - Allan Pinkerton, American detective (b. 1819)
- July 10 - Paul Morphy, American chess player (b. 1837)
- November 25 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (b. 1818)