1871
1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).
Events
January - April
May - August
September - December
October 8 - Three major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago , Illinois , Peshtigo, Wisconsin , and Holland, Michigan
The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous of these, burning 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) in one day, eventually destroying about 17,450 buildings, and killing about 250 people while leaving another 90,000 homeless.
The Peshtigo Fire burns 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) across six counties in one day and kills 1,200 to 2,500 people, making it the deadliest in United States history.
The Holland Fire destroys at least two towns.
October 20 - The Royal Regiment of Artillery formed the first regular Canadian army units when they created two batteries of garrison artillery which eventually became The Royal Canadian Artillery .
October 27 - The Comte de Chambord refuses to be crowned 'King Henry V of France' until France abandons its tricolour and returns to the old bourbon flag.
November 10 - Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji , near Lake Tanganyika , and greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
November 17 - The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York .
December 10 - The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck tries to ban Catholics from the political stage by introducing harsh laws concerning the separation of church and state .
Unknown date
Births
January 17 - David Earl Betty of the North Sea and of Brooksby , British admiral (d. 1936 )
January 30 - Wilfred Lucas , actor (d. 1940 )
February 4 - Friedrich Ebert , president of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925 )
February 18 - Harry Brearley , inventor of stainless steel (d. 1948 )
March 1 - Ben Harney , US composer and ragtime pianist, is born. (d. 1938 )
March 5 - Rosa Luxemburg , politician (d. 1919 )
March 27 - Heinrich Mann , narrator, dramatist and essayist (d. 1950 )
May 3 - Walter Robinson Parr , British preacher
May 6 - Christian Morgenstern , author (d. 1914 )
May 27 - Georges Rouault , painter and graphic artist (d. 1958 )
July 17 - Lyonel Charles Feininger , German painter
July 25 - Richard Ernest Turner , Canadian lieutenant of the of the Royal Canadian Dragoons , awarded with the Victoria Cross for bravery during the Second Boer War .
August 19 - Orville Wright of the Wright brothers , American co-inventor of the airplane
August 25 - Ross Winn , anarchist writer and publisher
August 29 - Albert Lebrun , French politician (d. 1950 )
September 24 - Lottie Dod , English athlete
September 26 - Winsor McCay , United States comic creator and animator (d. 1934 )
September 27 - Grazia Deledda , Sardinian writer - Nobel prize (d. 1936 )
October 30 - Paul Valéry , French poet (d. 1945 )
December 9 - Joe Kelley , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1943 )
December 12 - Umenosuke Bessho , Japanese writer (d. 1945 )
December 13 - Emily Carr , Canadian writer
Guangxu , Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China
Deaths
