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 DC 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 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.

Environmental change

• The Water Hyacinth is introduced in the US and quickly becomes an invasive species

Births

January

• January 2 - Oscar Micheaux, African American, filmmaker & author (d. 1951)
• January 12 - Texas Guinan, vaudeville performer (d. 1933)
• January 13 - Sophie Tucker, singer, comedienne, vaudeville performer (d. 1966)
• January 21 - Roger Baldwin, ACLU president, social activist (d. 1981)
• January 23 - Ralph DePalma, race car driver (d. 1956)
• January 28 - Auguste Piccard, physicist (d. 1962)
• January 31 - Theodor Heuss, politician and publicist (d. 1963)

February

• February 12 - Max Beckmann, painter and graphic artist (d. 1950)
• February 12 - Marie Vassilieff, artist (d. 1957)
• February 13 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, gold medal winner at 1908 Summer Olympics, inventor of Erector Set (d. 1961)
• February 14 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
• February 16 - Robert J. Flaherty, filmmaker (d. 1951)
• February 22 - Abe Attell, World Champion and Hall of Fame boxer (d. 1970)

March

• March 1 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (b. 1820)
• March 13 - Oskar Loerke , lyricist, narrator and essayist (d. 1941)
• March 13 - Sir Hugh Walpole, novelist (d. 1941)
• March 17 - Alcide Nunez, jazz musician (d. 1934)
• March 26 - Wilhelm Backhaus, pianist (d. 1969)

April

• April 4 - Isoroku Yamamoto, naval commander (d. 1943)
• April 6 - Walter Huston, Academy Award winning actor (d. 1950)

May

• May 1 - Henry Norwest, one of the most famous snipers of World War I(d. 1918)
• May 8 - Harry S. Truman, former President of the United States (d. 1972)
• May 10 - Olga Petrova silent film and stage actress (d. 1977)
• May 14 - Claudius Dornier, aircraft designer (d. 1969)
• May 27 - Max Brod, author (d. 1968)
• May 28 - Edvard Benes, politician (d. 1948)

July

• July 12 - Amedeo Modigliani, painter, sculptor (d. 1920)
• July 23 - Emil Jannings, actor (d. 1950)

August

• August 23 - Will Cuppy, humorist (d. 1949)

October

• October 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt, human rights activist, wife of US president (d. 1962)

November

• November 19 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (d. 1942)
• November 20 - Norman Thomas, U.S. social reformer (d. 1968)

December

• December 30 - Tojo Hideki, Japanese wartime prime minister (d. 1948)

Deaths

• January 25 - Johann Gottfried Piefke, conductor and composer
• March 21 - Ezra Abbot, American Bible scholar
• April 4 - Marie Bashkirtseff, artist
• May 12 - Bedrich Smetana, composer
• May 13 - Cyrus McCormick, inventor (b. 1809)
• June 25 - Hans Rott, composer
• July 1 - Allan Pinkerton, American detective
• July 10 - Paul Morphy, American chess player.
• November 25: Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, chemist