1885

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s

Years: 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 - 1885 - 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890

Events

• January 4 - The first successful appendectomy is performed (Dr. William Grant[?]; patient was Mary Gartside).
• January 20 - L.A. Thompson[?] patents the roller coaster.
• January 26 - Troops loyal to the Mahdi conquer Khartoum
• February 5 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
• February 9 - The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.
• February 18 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time
• February 21 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated
• March 3 - A subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company[?], American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), is incorporated in New York.
• March 31 - The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
• May 12 - The four day Battle of Batoche[?], pitting rebel French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
• July 6 - Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies. The patient is Joseph Meister; a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.

• Change of US presidency from Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) to Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)
• The North-West Rebellion took place and was put down in Canada (March to May).
• W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan's The Mikado

Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy

• 1885 in literature:

Births

• January 11 - Alice Paul[?], women's rights activist
• January 21 - Umberto Nobile[?], politician and airship designer (+ 1978)
• January 27 - Eduard Künneke[?], composer (+ 1953)
• January 27 - Jerome Kern, composer (+ 1945)
• January 29 - Leadbelly
• February 7 - Sinclair Lewis, novelist
• February 9 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer
• February 9 - Anita Ree[?], painter (+ 1933))
• February 13 - Bess Truman[?], First Lady, wife of President Harry S Truman
• February 21 - Sacha Guitry[?], dramatist, writer, director, actor (+ 1957)
• February 24 - Chester Nimitz, United States admiral (+ 1966)
• March 6 - Ring Lardner, writer (+ 1933)
• March 31 - Pascin, the "Prince of Montparnasse"
• April 1 - Wallace Beery, actor (+ 1949)
• April 3 - Allan Dwan, pioneer film director ( + 1981)
• April 4 - Arthur Murray, dancer
• May 7 - George 'Gabby' Hayes[?], actor (+ 1969)
• May 14 - Otto Klemperer, conductor
• June 22 - Milan Vidmar, Slovene electrical engineer and chess player (+ 1962).
• September 11 - D.H. Lawrence, author
• September 22 - Ben Chifley, Australian Prime Minister
• October 7 - Niels Bohr, Danish physicist

Deaths

• April 2 - Justo Rufino Barrios, Central American leader
• May 22 - Victor Hugo, author
• November 16 - Louis Riel, controversial Canadian figure (hanged for treason)
• November 25 - King Alfonso XII of Spain