29th January » Liliuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
31st January » History of Portugal (1834–1910) or History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republicanism called republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
10th March » Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
17th March » SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson 1886 6 in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.
1st April » The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago known as Chicago, Illinois.
5th May » The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky or Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
11th May » The Ōtsu incident: Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Imperial Russia (later Nicholas II) suffers a critical head injury during a sword attack by Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzō. He is rescued by Prince George of Greece and Denmark.
16th August » The Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila called Basilica of San Sebastian in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed.
18th August » 1891 Martinique hurricane known as Major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.
24th August » Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
1st October » In California, Stanford University opens its doors.
22nd December » Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.
Famous Birthdays in 1891
1st January » Sampurnanand, Indian politician (d. 1969)
2nd January » Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
4th January » Edward Brooker, Australian politician, 31st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1948)
7th January » Zora Neale Hurston, American anthropologist and author (d. 1960)
8th January » Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics e.g Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
8th January » Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
8th January » Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972)
9th January » August Gailit, Estonian author (d. 1960)
10th January » Heinrich Behmann, German mathematician (d. 1970)
15th January » Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)
15th January » Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938)
20th January » Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (d. 1967)
22nd January » Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher and politician (d. 1937)
24th January » Walter Model, German field marshal (d. 1945)
26th January » Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1973)
26th January » August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (d. 1942)
26th January » Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon (d. 1976)
27th January » Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian journalist and author (d. 1967)
28th January » Bill Doak, American baseball player (d. 1954)
29th January » Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina (d. 1975)
29th January » R. Norris Williams, Swiss-American tennis player (d. 1968)
4th February » M. A. Ayyangar, Indian politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
4th February » Jüri Lossmann, Estonian runner (d. 1984)
7th February » Ann Little, American actress (d. 1984)
9th February » Ronald Colman, English actor (d. 1958)
11th February » J. W. Hearne English cricketer (d. 1965)
13th February » Kate Roberts (author) called Kate Roberts, Welsh author (d. 1985)
13th February » Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)
15th February » Dino Borgioli, Italian tenor (d. 1960)
16th February » Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist (d. 1967)
17th February » Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician (d. 1965)
22nd February » Vlas Chubar, Russian politician (d. 1939)
23rd February » Harold Horder, Australian rugby player (d. 1978)
27th February » David Sarnoff, Belarusian-American businessman and journalist, founded RCA (d. 1971)
3rd March » Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens (d. 1949)
3rd March » Federico Moreno Torroba, Spanish composer (d. 1982)
4th March » Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (d. 1961)
4th March » Lois W., American activist, co-founder of Al-Anon (d. 1988)
14th September » Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1983)
16th September » Karl Dönitz, German admiral and politician, List of German presidents known as President of Germany (d. 1980)
16th September » Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Austrian-German spy (d. 1972)
22nd September » Hans Albers, German actor and singer (d. 1960)
26th September » Charles Münch, French violinist and conductor (d. 1968)
28th September » Myrtle Gonzalez, American actress (d. 1918)
6th October » Hendrik Adamson, Estonian poet and educator (d. 1946)
12th October » Edith Stein, Polish nun, philosopher, and saint (d. 1942)
13th October » Irene Rich, American actress (d. 1988)
20th October » Samuel Flagg Bemis, American historian and author (d. 1973)
20th October » James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics called Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
22nd October » Parker Fennelly, American comedian and actor (d. 1988)
24th October » Rafael Trujillo, Dominican soldier and politician, 36th President of the Dominican Republic (d. 1961)
24th October » Brenda Ueland, American journalist, author, and educator (d. 1985)
25th October » Charles Coughlin, Canadian-American priest and radio host (d. 1979)
28th October » Ormer Locklear, American pilot (d. 1920)
29th October » Fanny Brice, American actress and singer (d. 1951)
2nd November » David Townsend (art director) or David Townsend, American art director and set decorator (d. 1935)
10th November » Carl Stalling, American pianist and composer (d. 1972)
11th November » Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player and manager (d. 1954)
14th November » Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine e.g Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
15th November » W. Averell Harriman, American politician, 48th Governor of New York (d. 1986)
15th November » Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (d. 1944)
25th November » Ōnishiki Uichirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 26th Makuuchi Yokozuna or Yokozuna (d. 1941)
26th November » Scott Bradley, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1977)
28th November » Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino journalist, jurist, and politician (d. 1949)
2nd December » Otto Dix, German painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
2nd December » Charles H. Wesley, American historian and author (d. 1987)
3rd December » Thomas Farrell (general) known as Thomas Farrell, American general (d. 1967)
5th December » Paul Kogerman, Estonian chemist and academic (d. 1951)
9th December » Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet and critic (d. 1917)
10th December » Nelly Sachs, German-Swedish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize in Literature called Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
19th December » Juhan Kallaste, Estonian cleric and actor (d. 1999)
19th December » Edward Bernard Raczyński called Edward Bernard Raczynski, former Polish government-in-exile Presidents named President-in-exile of Poland (d. 1993)
21st December » John William McCormack, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1980)
24th December » Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky, Russian illustrator (d. 1970)
25th December » Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-Australian cricketer (d. 1980)
26th December » Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980)
Famous Deaths in History for 1891
4th January » Antoine Labelle, Canadian priest (b. 1833)
5th January » Emma Abbott, American soprano (b. 1849)
16th January » Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
17th January » George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)