Explore 369 historical events from 1870–1879.
Thomas William Burgess was the second person to successfully complete a swim of the English Channel after Matthew Webb, following sixteen attempts. Burgess was British but spent mo…
Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (died 1950)
Theodore Payne, was an English horticulturist, gardener, landscape designer, and botanist. His best known work was done over his adult life in Southern California.
Theodore Payne, English-American gardener and botanist (died 1963)
George Lyndon Carpenter was an Australian writer who was the fifth General of The Salvation Army from 1939 to 1946.
George Carpenter, American 5th General of The Salvation Army (died 1948)
Alexander Loyd served one term as mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1840 until 1841 for the Democratic Party.
Alexander Loyd, American carpenter and politician, 4th Mayor of Chicago (born 1805)
John Baker was an early South Australian pastoralist and politician. He was the second Premier of the colony of South Australia, succeeding Boyle Travers Finniss; however, he only …
John Baker, English-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of South Australia (born 1813)
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld was a German painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Ren…
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter and illustrator (born 1794)
James Gordon Bennett Sr. was a British-born American businessman who was the founder, editor and publisher of the New York Herald and a major figure in the history of American news…
James Gordon Bennett, Sr
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke was a Dutch liberal statesman, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. Thorbecke is best known for heading the commission that draf…
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, Dutch historian, jurist, and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1798)
Norman Macleod was a Scottish clergyman and author who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1869/70.
Norman MacLeod, Scottish minister and author (born 1812)
Élie Frédéric Forey was a Marshal of France.
Élie Frédéric Forey, French general (born 1804)
The Camp Grant massacre, on April 30, 1871, was an attack on Pinal and Aravaipa Apaches who surrendered to the United States Army at Camp Grant, Arizona, along the San Pedro River.…
The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully-professional sports league in baseball…
The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana
The United States expedition to Korea, known in Korea as the Shinmiyangyo, or simply the Korean Expedition, was an American military action in Korea that took place predominantly o…
Sinmiyangyo: Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 US Marines in a naval attack on Han River forts on Kanghwa Island, Korea
Edmund John Millington Synge, popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, and collector of folklores. As a key figure of the Irish Literary Revival durin…
John Millington Synge, Irish author, poet, and playwright (died 1909)
Sir Sydney John Chapman KCB CBE was an English economist and civil servant. He was Chief Economic Adviser to HM Government from 1927 to 1932.
Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (died 1951)
Lorne Campbell Currie was a British sailor who represented his country at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Meulan, France. With crew John Gretton, Linton Hope and Algernon Maudslay. Cur…
Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (died 1926)
The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian W…
French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting
A rack railway is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with thi…
Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi
The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian W…
The Paris Commune falls after two months
The Universities Tests Act 1871 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished religious "Tests" and allowed Roman Catholics, non-conformists and non-Christians t…
The Universities Tests Act 1871 allows students to enter the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religi
Seakle Greijdanus was a Reformed theologian in the Netherlands, who first served in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and later in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (…
Seakle Greijdanus, Dutch theologian and scholar (died 1948)
Emiliano Chamorro Vargas was a Nicaraguan military figure and politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1917 to 1 January 1921. He was a member of the Conserva…
Emiliano Chamorro Vargas, President of Nicaragua (died 1966)
Francois Auguste Victor Grignard was a French chemist who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the eponymously named Grignard reagent and Grignard reaction, both of which are i…
Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935)
Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern was a German writer and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while…
Christian Morgenstern, German author and poet (died 1914)