1875

Events

• Wimbledon: Henry Cavendish Jones convinced the "All England Croquet Club" to replace a croquet court with a lawn tennis court.
• Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed between Japan and Russia.
• January 12 - Kwang-su becomes emperor of China.
• May 17 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby
• September 1 - A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.
• November 9 - Indian Wars: In Washington, D.C., Indian Inspector E.C. Watkins issues a report stating that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are hostile to the United States (the Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought in Montana the next year).
• December 4 - Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then Spain.

Year in topic

• 1875 in literature
• 1875 in science
• 1875 in music

Births

• January 9 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, sculptor, socialite (+ 1942)
• January 14 - Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician, philosopher, and musician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1952 (+ 1965)
• January 15 - Tom Burke, American runner
• January 22 - D. W. Griffith, director
• February 11 - Sara Wennerberg-Reuter, composer
• February 26 - Hans Böckler, unionist and politician (+ 1951)
• March 7 - Maurice Ravel, composer (+ 1937)
• March 26 - Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (+ 1965)
• April 1 - Edgar Wallace, writer (+ 1932)
• April 2 - Walter Chrysler, automobile pioneer (+ 1940)
• April 4 - Pierre Monteux, conductor
• April 5 - Mistinguett, French cabaret singer
• April 8 - Albert I of Belgium
• April 15 - James J. Jeffries, world heavyweight boxing champion (+ 1953)
• May 11 - Harriet Quimby, first licensed female pilot in the United States (d. 1912)
• June 12 - Sam De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood actor (+ 1953)
• June 24 - Diedrich Westermann, German linguist (+ 1956)
• June 28 - Henri Lebesgue, mathematician (+ 1941)
• August 21 - Winnifred Eaton, author (+ 1954)
• September 1 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, author
• October 1 - Eugeen Van Mieghem, painter
• October 12 - Aleister Crowley, British occultist (+ 1947)
• October 23 - Gilbert N. Lewis, physical chemist
• December 5 - Arthur Currie, Canadian military leader (+ 1933)
• Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya

Deaths

• January 23 - Charles Kingsley, English writer
• February 22 - Sir Charles Lyell, British geologist.
• May 17 - John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States
• June 3 - Georges Bizet, French composer
• August 4 - Hans Christian Andersen, writer.
• August 17 - Wilhelm Bleek, linguist
• September 22 - Charles Bianconi, Italian-Irish entrepreneur.
• November 22 - Henry Wilson, United States Vice President
• November 24 - William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American business tycoon

Heads of State

see Heads of State in 1875