Directory

1872 CE

Filipino priests José Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza, are executed in Bagumbayan Fields, Manila, Philippines by the authorities of New Spain, on charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite mutiny. Rangers F.C., founded in March as an Association football club in Glasgow (Scotland) by brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, play their first ever game on the public pitches of Glasgow Green, a 0 to 0 draw against Callander. Mexican President Benito Juarez dies of a heart attack, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada becomes interim president.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • May 10 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, although she is a year too young to qualify and does not appear on the ballot.source
  • May 15 – The New Zealand Wars end after 17 years, with the conclusion of Te Kooti's War; Maori spiritual leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuk crosses the Waikato River, and enters the territory of the Māori King Tāwhiao, where he is granted asylum.source
  • May 22 – Reconstruction: U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law, restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.source
  • July 1 – Thomas François Burgers becomes State President of the South African Republic.source
  • November 5 – 1872 United States presidential election: Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horace Greeley.source
  • November 30 – The first international Association football match to be recognised (retrospectively) by FIFA as "official" takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland; the result is Scotland 0-0 England. Earlier international football matches have already taken place in 1870, in 1871 and again in 1872 at the Oval, London.source
  • December 1 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada becomes constitutional President of Mexico.source
  • December 9 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American to govern a U.S. state.source
  • In the aftermath of the Paraguayan War, the new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, granting reparations and territorial concessions.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 20 – The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Philippine Islands.source
  • February 17 – Filipino priests José Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza, are executed in Bagumbayan Fields, Manila, Philippines by the authorities of New Spain, on charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite mutiny.source
  • May 14 – The Battle of Mañaria, near Bilbao, Spain during the Third Carlist War (1872–1876).source
  • September 1 – A group of Icaiche Maya under Marcos Canul attack the British garrison at Orange Walk Town in British Honduras.source
  • November 29 – American Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 1 – In the United States, Yellowstone National Park (once dubbed "Colter's Hell" after John Colter, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) is established as the world's first national park.source
  • July 19 – Explorer William Gosse reaches Uluru in central Australia and names it Ayers Rock.source
  • September 17 – Shiseido Pharmacy Shop, predecessor of Shiseido, a major worldwide cosmetics brand, is founded in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.source
  • November 7 – The Mary Celeste sets sail from New York; bound for Genoa, Italy.source
  • December 4 – The now-crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found (still seaworthy) by the British brig Dei Gratia in the Atlantic.source
  • December 21 – Challenger expedition: sails from Portsmouth, England, on the 4-year scientific expedition that lays the foundation for the science of oceanography.source
  • The first Marist Brothers travel to Australia.source
  • S. T. Dupont begins the manufacture of luxury leather goods in France.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.source
  • September 26 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) is established in New York City.source
  • December 3 – Assyriologist George Smith presents the first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, to a meeting of the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London.source

Economy & Finance

  • April – Japan introduces its first modern paper currency (designed by Italian engraver Edoardo Chiossone) in the form of Meiji Tsuho notes. These are initially worth up to 1 yen before higher denominations are printed/released in June and August.source
  • June 14 – Trade unions are legalised in Canada.source
  • July 1 – Schenker, predecessor of DB Schenker, the worldwide logistics and freight operator, is founded in Vienna, Austria.source
  • November 12 – Dresdner Bank is founded in Dresden, Germany.source
  • November 22 – "Spitzeder Swindle": Adele Spitzeder's pioneering Ponzi scheme in Munich collapses.source
  • Kimberly, Clark and Co. is founded in Neenah, Wisconsin, by John A. Kimberly, Charles B. Clark, Havilah Babcock and Franklyn C. Shattuck.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 5 – George Westinghouse receives a United States patent for the "failsafe" automatic railway air brake.source
  • August 22 – The Australian Overland Telegraph Line is completed, providing a telegraphic link between Australia and the rest of the world for the first time.source
  • December 1 – Responsible government is granted to Cape Colony (South Africa). Sir John Molteno, first Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope, forms the first Cape Cabinet which immediately plans to establish Cape Government Railways and take over the operation of all private railways in the Colony.source
  • Under Japan's Meiji Restoration:source

Science & Discovery

  • February 4 – A great solar flare, and associated geomagnetic storm, makes northern lights visible as far south as Cuba.source
  • May 4 – The magazine Popular Science is first published in the United States.source
  • November 27 – A meteor shower display of Andromedids is seen over France.source

Health & Medicine

  • February 22 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.source
  • July 4 – The Society of Jesus is pronounced illegal in the German Empire.source
  • October 1 – The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College begins its first academic session (the university is later renamed Virginia Tech). The first case is reported in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, of the Great Epizootic of 1872 (equine influenza, or the "horse flu") which will substantially disrupt life in North America by mid-December.source
  • A conscription law, modeled on the French version, is issued.source
  • Universal public schools are called for.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 5 – The Tichborne case is decided in London against claimant Arthur Orton (who, as a result, is convicted of perjury in 1874).source
  • November 5 – Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time (on November 18 she is served an arrest warrant, and in the subsequent trial is fined $100, which she never pays).source
  • November 13 – Claude Monet begins painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant, the painting that will give a name to Impressionism) as viewed from his hotel room at Le Havre in France.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 11 – Work begins on the Seven Sisters Colliery in South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.source
  • November 9 – Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the 2-day disaster destroys about 65 acre km2 of the city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and causes US$60 million in damage).source

Climate & Environment

  • March 26 – The 7.4–7.9 Lone Pine earthquake shakes eastern California, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme); 27 people are killed and 56 injured.source

Culture & Society

  • February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on the Gold Coast, from the Netherlands.source
  • February 13 – Rex, the most famous parade on Mardi Gras, parades for the first time in New Orleans for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia.source
  • February 20 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.source
  • March 4 – The Boston Globe is founded in Boston, Massachusetts, as the largest newspaper of the New England region.source
  • March 9 – Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett found the South Bend Tribune newspaper in the United States.source
  • March 16 – 1872 FA Cup Final: In the first ever final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest football competition, Wanderers F.C. defeat Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.source
  • April 10 – The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.source
  • May 22 – Georges Bizet's comic opera Djamileh is premièred at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, France.source
  • May – Rangers F.C., founded in March as an Association football club in Glasgow (Scotland) by brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, play their first ever game on the public pitches of Glasgow Green, a 0 to 0 draw against Callander.source
  • June 15 – Thomas Hardy anonymously publishes his novel Under the Greenwood Tree in England.source
  • July 4 – Tsukuba University is founded in Japan, as a teacher training college.source
  • July 15 – Hochi Mail News, later Hochi Daily News, a Japanese language newspaper, is first published in Tokyo, although it changes coverage from general news to a sports newspaper from December 1949.source
  • October 15 – Tongzhi, The 8th Emperor of the Qing dynasty marries Lady Alute (Empress Jiashun)source
  • October 16 – University College Wales (later to become Aberystwyth University) begins its first academic session.source
  • November 11 – U.S. government geologist Clarence King reveals the diamond hoax in Wyoming.source
  • November 16 – The first ever Metropolitan Police strike in London.source
  • December 14 – President Ulysses S. Grant establishes the San Carlos Apache Reservation, in southeastern Arizona.source
  • Essendon Football Club is founded in Melbourne, Australia.source
  • The Kolozsvári Egyetem, predecessor of the University of Szeged, is founded.source
  • Summer: Swedish teacher, scholar, folklorist and museum director Artur Hazelius begins the Scandinavian-etnographic collection, which becomes the foundation to the Nordic Museum and Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm.source

Births

  • January 23 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903)source
  • February 5 – Mateo García de los Reyes, Spanish admiral and minister of the navy, organizer and first chief of the Spanish Navy submarine force (d. 1936)source
  • March 23 – Michael Joseph Savage, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1940)source
  • May 18 – Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970)source
  • June 5 – Ladislas Lazaro, U.S. Representatives from Louisiana (d. 1927)source
  • June 6 – Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) (d. 1918)source
  • August 15 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, writer and mystic (d. 1950)source
  • September 20 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (d. 1958)source
  • October 11 – Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)source
  • October 12 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)source
  • October 15 – Edith Wilson, First Lady of the United States (d. 1961)source
  • November 1 – Louis Dewis, Belgian Post-Impressionist painter (d. 1946)source
  • December 16 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Imperial Russian Lieutenant General (d. 1947)source
  • December 26 – Norman Angell, English politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1967)source

Deaths

  • January 9 – Henry Halleck, American general (b. 1815)source
  • February 4 – John L. Burns, American veteran of the War of 1812, civilian combatant for the Union Army during the American Civil War. (b. 1793)source
  • March 12 – Zeng Guofan (traditional Chinese: 曾國藩 ), Chinese official, military general and Confucian scholar (b. 1811)source
  • March 20 – William Wentworth, Australian explorer (b. 1790)source
  • April 1 – Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)source
  • July 18 – Mexican President Benito Juarez dies of a heart attack, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada becomes interim president.source
  • September 10 – Avram Iancu, Romanian Transylvanian insurgent (b. 1824)source
  • September 18 – Upon the death of King Charles XV and IV of Sweden-Norway, he is succeeded as King of both crowns by his brother Oscar II.source
  • October 10 – William H. Seward, 24th United States Secretary of State (b. 1801)source
  • November 6 – George Meade, American Civil War general (b. 1815)source
  • November 23 – Sir John Bowring, British colonial administrator, 4th Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1792)source
  • November 28 – Mary Somerville, British mathematician (b. 1780)source
  • November 29 – Horace Greeley, American newspaper editor, Democratic presidential candidate (b. 1811)source
  • November 29 – Horace Greeley, President Ulysses S. Grant's opponent in this year's U.S. presidential election, dies. His electoral votes are divided among several candidates.source