Events
January&ndash;March
January 1
Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar.
The California Penal Code goes into effect.
January 17 – American Indian Wars – Modoc War – First Battle of the Stronghold: Modoc Indians defeat the United States Army.
February 11 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Amadeus I, and proclaims the First Spanish Republic.
February 12
Emilio Castelar, the former foreign minister, becomes prime minister of the new Spanish Republic.
The Coinage Act of 1873 in the United States is signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant; coming into effect on April 1, it ends bimetallism in the U.S., and places the country on the gold standard.
February 20
The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco.
British naval officer John Moresby discovers the site of Port Moresby, and claims the land for Britain.
March 3 – Censorship: The United States Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.
March 4 –  Ulysses S. Grant is sworn in for a second term, as President of the United States.
March 15 – The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity is founded at the Massachusetts Agricultural College.
March 22 – Emancipation Day for Puerto Rico: Slaves are freed (with a few exceptions).
March 26 – First Aceh Expedition: A Dutch military expedition is launched to bombard Banda Aceh, capital of the Aceh Sultanate (in modern-day Indonesia), beginning the Aceh War.
March 29 – The Rio Tinto Company is formed in Spain, following the February 17 purchase of the Rio Tinto Mine from the Spanish government, by a British investment group.
April&ndash;June
April 1 – British ocean liner  sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547.
April 4 – The Kennel Club, the world's first kennel club, is founded in the United Kingdom.
April 15–17 – American Indian Wars: The Second Battle of the Stronghold is fought.
April 19 – In Richmond, Rhode Island, 11 people perish in a train derailment, due to a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch (now Wood River Junction).
May – Henry Rose exhibits barbed wire at an Illinois county fair, which is taken up by Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish, who invent a machine to mass-produce it.
May 5 – Third Carlist War – Battle of Eraul: Carlists under General Dorregaray defeat Republicans at Eraul, near Estella.
May 9
Der Gründerkrach: The Wiener Börse (Vienna stock exchange) crash in Austria-Hungary ends the Gründerzeit, and heralds the global Panic of 1873 and Long Depression.
The Battle of Montejurra at Navarra, Spain, is fought during the Third Carlist War.
May 20
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive United States patent#139121, for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants.
Levi Strauss & Co. begin manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.
In Chipping Norton, England, rioters attempt to free the Ascott Martyrs –16 women sentenced to imprisonment, for attempting to dissuade strikebreakers.
May 23
The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police (which is renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).
The Preakness Stakes horse race is run for the first time in Baltimore.
May 27
Classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovers Priam's Treasure.
May 28
C. Laan brings order to the chaos created by the dockworker riots of Tripoli, Lebanon.
The city of Khiva falls to Imperial Russian forces, under the command of General Konstantin von Kaufman.
June Unknown date – Ochanomizu Women's University founded in Japan (then the Tokyo Women's Normal School).
June 4 – American Indian Wars: The Modoc War ends with the capture of Kintpuash (Captain Jack).
June 9 – Alexandra Palace in London is destroyed by fire, only a fortnight after its opening.
July&ndash;September
July – The end of the war between the United Kingdom and Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who is involved in the trading of slaves, leads to the establishment of the Gold Coast Colony.
July 1 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.
July 5 – New Rush in Griqualand West, South Africa is renamed Kimberley.Roberts, Brian.
1976.
Kimberley, turbulent city.
Cape Town: David Philip, p 115
July 9 – Third Carlist War – Battle of Alpens: Campaigning in Catalonia, a government column under General José Cabrinety is ambushed at Alpens, 15 miles east of Berga, by Carlist forces under General Francisco Savalls.
After heavy fighting, with Cabrinety killed, virtually the entire column of 800 men is killed or captured.
July 17 – Richard Southey becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West.The British Empire: Griqualand West Administrators (Accessed on 16 April 2017)
July 21 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West (US$3,000 from the Rock Island Express).
July 22 – Sir Benjamin Pine becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.
August 4 – American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the Seventh Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the first time with the Sioux, near the Tongue River (only 1 man on each side is killed).
August 12 – A peace treaty is signed between Imperial Russia and the Khanate of Khiva, making the khanate a Russian protectorate.
August 30 – The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition discovers Franz Josef Land.This Day in History .
Accessed 22 November 2013.
September 15 – The International Meteorological Organization (IMO) is established.
September 16 – German troops leave France, upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War.
September 17 – The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, later Ohio State University, opens its doors with 25 students, including 2 women.
September 18 – The New York stock market crash triggers the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression.
September 25 – Classes begin at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.
October&ndash;December
October – The Long Depression begins in the United States.
October 6
The County Carlow Football Club (rugby union) is founded in Ireland.
Third Carlist War – Battle of Mañeru: In continued campaigning in Navarre, Spanish Republican General Domingo Moriones meets a Carlist force under Nicolás Ollo at Mañeru, near Puente de la Reina, in a hard-fought but indecisive action.
While both sides claim victory, the Carlists are said to have had the advantage, and a month later Moriones is repulsed in a costly assault further west, against Estella.
November 6 – The Halifax Rugby League Club is founded in England.
November 7
Alexander Mackenzie becomes the second Prime Minister of Canada.
Third Carlist War – Battle of Montejurra: Determined to recapture the key city of Estella in Navarre, Spanish Republican General Domingo Moriones advances on the Carlists under General Joaquín Elío at nearby Montejurra.
After very heavy fighting both sides claim victory, but Moriones withdraws, and Estella remains in Carlist hands.
Don Carlos is present in the front line.
November 10 – Establishment of the Home Ministry in Japan, introducing police services of the Empire of Japan on the European model.
November 17 – Budapest, Hungary's capital, is formed from Pest, Buda and Óbuda.
November 18–21 – Irish Home Rule movement: The Home Government Association reconstitutes itself as the Home Rule League.
November 22 – , on passage from New York to France, collides with Scottish 3-masted iron clipper Loch Earn and sinks in 12 minutes with the loss of 226 lives.
December –  Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and patents a racquet sport, which he calls sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as Stické, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.
December 15 – Women of Fredonia, New York march against the retail liquor dealers in town, to inaugurate the Woman's Crusade of 1873–74.
December 16 – The Heineken Brewery is founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
December 19 (December 7 OS) – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasia The Tempest, composed between August and October, is premiered, in Moscow.
December 21 – Francis Garnier is attacked outside Hanoi by Black Flag mercenaries fighting for the Vietnamese.
December 22 – Third Carlist War – Battle of Bocairente: Campaigning in Valenica, Spanish Republican General Valeriano Weyler is attacked at Bocairente, northwest of Alcoy, by a greatly superior Carlist force under General José Santés.
Weyler is initially driven back, losing some of his guns, but in a brilliant counter-attack he turns defeat into victory, and Santés is heavily repulsed and forced to withdraw.
December 23 – The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is founded, in Hillsboro, Ohio.
December 27 – Third Carlist War – Siege of Bilbao (until 2 May 1874): Campaigning in Navarre, Pretender Don Carlos VII and General Joaquín Elío besiege Bilbao, held by General Ignacio del Castillo and 1,200 men.
The Carlist force is ten times this number, and includes most of the troops from Navarre, Vizcaya and Álava, although a considerable force is left in Guipúzcoa.
Despite defeat at nearby Somorrostro, Republican commander Marshal Francisco Serrano, supported by Generals Manuel de la Concha and Arsenio Martínez-Campos, brilliantly breaks the siege, and Concha then marches on Estella.
Date unknown
The League of the Three Emperors is created.
It links the conservative monarchs of Austria-Hungary, the German Empire and the Russian Empire in an alliance against radical movements.
Founding of:
Toronto Argonauts, the oldest professional sports team still playing in North America.
Royal Montreal Club in Montreal, the first permanent golf club in North America.
Liebig's Extract of Meat Company begins producing tinned corned beef, sold under the label Fray Bentos, from the town in Uruguay where it is processed.
Coors Brewing Company begins making beer in Golden, Colorado.
The Swedish arms company Aktiebolaget (AB) Bofors-Gullspång, better known as Bofors, is founded.
In Mexico, the Veracruz–Mexico City railroad is completed.
Nine Pekin ducks are imported to Long Island (the first in the United States).
The Married Woman's Property Rights Association is founded in Sweden.
Konishiya Rokubei, as predecessor of Konica Minolta, a digital office machine brand on worldwide, founded in Tokyo, Japan.
Births
January&ndash;March
January 2 – Thérèse of Lisieux, Catholic saint, mystic (d. 1897)
January 4 – Blanche Walsh, American stage, screen actress (d. 1915)
January 7 – Adolph Zukor, Austrian-born film studio pioneer (d. 1976)
January 8 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian politician (d. 1953)
January 9 – Thomas Curtis, American athlete (d. 1944)
January 10 – George Orton, Canadian athlete (d. 1958)
January 12 – Spyridon Louis, Greek runner (d. 1940)
January 20 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
January 28 – Colette, French writer (d. 1954)
January 29 – Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, Italian mountaineer, explorer and admiral (d. 1933)
January 30 – Vassily Balabanov, administrator, Provincial Governor of Imperial Russia (d. 1947)
January 31 – Melitta Bentz, German entrepreneur who invented the coffee filter in 1908 (d. 1950)
February 2 – Maurice Tourneur, French film director (d. 1961)
February 3
Hugh Trenchard, British military aviation pioneer (d. 1956)
Karl Jatho, German aviation pioneer (d. 1933)
February 4 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)
February 7 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (d. 1912)
February 13
Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass opera singer (d. 1938)
Red Wing, Native American silent film actress (d. 1974)
February 15 – Hans von Euler-Chelpin, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
February 19 – Louis Feuillade, French film director (d. 1925)
February 22 – Carrie Langston Hughes, African-American writer and actress (d. 1938)
February 25 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (d. 1921)
February 28 – William McMaster Murdoch, Officer of Titanic (d. 1912)
March 3 – William Green, American labor leader (d. 1952)
March 11 – David Horsley, English-born film executive (d. 1933)
March 19 –  Max Reger, German composer (d. 1916)
March 29 – Billy Quirk, American actor (d. 1926)
April&ndash;June
April 1 (N.S.)/March 20 (O.S.) – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1943)
April 4 – Gyula Peidl, 23rd Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1943)
April 7 –  John McGraw, American baseball player, manager (d. 1934)
April 10 – Kyösti Kallio, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1940)
April 13 – John W. Davis, American politician, diplomat, and lawyer (d. 1955)
April 19 – Sydney Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1967)
April 20 – Gombojab Tsybikov, Russian explorer (d. 1930)
April 22 – Ellen Glasgow, American writer (d. 1945)
April 23 – Theodor Körner, President of Austria (d. 1957)
April 25
Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer and novelist (d. 1956)
Félix d'Herelle, French-Canadian microbiologist (d. 1949)
May 4 – Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (d. 1940)
May 5 – Leon Czolgosz, assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (d. 1901)
May 9 – Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)
May 15 – Oskari Tokoi, Finnish socialist and the Chairman of the Senate of Finland (d. 1963)Tokoi, Oskari (1873-1963) - Kansallisbiografia (in Finnish)
May 17
Henri Barbusse, French novelist, journalist (d. 1935)
Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (d. 1957)
May 21 – Hans Berger, German neurologist (d. 1941)
May 28 – D. D. Sheehan, Irish politician (d. 1948)
June 3 – Otto Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1961)
June 15 – Leonora Cohen, British suffragette and trade unionist (d. 1978)
June 24 – Hugo Simberg, Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist (d. 1917)PAINTER HUGO SIMBERG 1873 - 1917 – Pantheon
June 28 – Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1944)
June 29 – Monroe Dunaway Anderson, Founder of Anderson, Clayton and Company; "Father of Texas Medical Center" (d. 1939)
July&ndash;September
July 1
Alice Guy-Blaché, French-American filmmaker (d. 1968)
Andrass Samuelsen, 1st Prime Minister of Faroe Islands (d. 1954)
July 3 – Prince Yamashina Kikumaro, Japanese prince (d. 1908)
July 6 – Dimitrios Maximos, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1955)
July 8 – Carl Vaugoin, 7th Chancellor of Austria (d. 1949)
July 12 – Oscar von Sydow, 18th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1936)
July 20 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviation pioneer (suicide) (d. 1932)
July 22 – James Cousins, Irish writer (d. 1956)
August 5 – Joseph Russell Knowland, American politician, newspaperman (d. 1966)
August 10 – William Ernest Hocking, American philosopher (d. 1966)
August 13
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, South African author (d. 1932)
Christian Rakovsky, Bulgarian revolutionary, Russian Bolshevik and Soviet diplomat, journalist, physician, and essayist (executed) (d. 1941)
August 17 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
August 18 – Otto Harbach, American lyricist (d. 1963)
August 20 – William Henry Bell, 1st director of the South African College of Music (d. 1946)
August 21 – Harry T. Morey, American actor (d. 1936)
August 26 – Lee de Forest, American inventor (d. 1961)
September 1
Sir Guy Standing, British actor (d. 1937)
Felicija Bortkevičienė, Lithuanian politician and publisher  (d. 1945)
September 5 – Cornelius Vanderbilt III, American military officer, inventor, engineer (d. 1942)
September 8
Alfred Jarry, French author and playwright (d. 1907)
David O. McKay, 9th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1970)
September 17 – Ibrahim of Johor, Malaysian sultan (d. 1959)
September 20
Sidney Olcott, Canadian-born pioneer film director  (d. 1949)
Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born racing driver (d. 1944)
September 21 – Papa Jack Laine, American jazz musician (d. 1966)
October&ndash;December
October 8 – Ma Barker, American criminal (d. 1935)
October 9 – Karl Schwarzschild, German physicist, astronomer (d. 1916)
October 13 – Georgios Kafantaris, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1946)
October 14 – Ray Ewry, American athlete (d. 1937)
October 18 – Ivanoe Bonomi, 2-time Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1951)
October 19
Jaap Eden, Dutch skater, cyclist (d. 1925)
Bart King, American cricketer (d. 1965)
October 26
Thorvald Stauning, 9th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)
A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bengali statesman (d. 1962)
October 30
Dave Gallaher, New Zealand rugby union football player (d. 1917)
Francisco I. Madero, 33rd President of Mexico (d. 1913)
October 31 – Frederic Thompson, architect and showman, built Coney Islands Luna Park and the New York Hippodrome (d. 1919)
November 9 – Fritz Thyssen, German industrialist (d. 1951)
November 16 – W. C. Handy, American blues composer (d. 1958)
November 20 – Ramón Castillo, Argentinian politician, 25th President of Argentina (d. 1944)
November 22 – Johnny Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1930)
November 28 – Frank Phillips, American oil executive (d. 1950)
November 30 – William Boyle, British admiral (d. 1967)
December 7 – Willa Cather, American novelist (d. 1947)
December 11 – Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician (d. 1967)
December 17 – Ford Madox Ford, English writer (d. 1939)
December 20 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (d. 1948)
December 21 – Captain Bertram Dickson, Scottish soldier, explorer and pioneer aviator; involved in the world's first mid-air collision (d. 1913)
December 26 – Thomas Wass, Nottinghamshire bowler (d. 1953)
December 30 – Al Smith,  American politician, Democratic presidential candidate (d. 1944)
Date unknown
Thomas Chrostwaite, American educator (d. 1958)
Deaths
January&ndash;June
January 9 – Napoleon III, last Emperor of the French (b. 1808)
January 18 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, English novelist (b. 1803)
January 20 – Basil Moreau, French founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
January 23 – Ramalinga Swamigal, Hindu religious leader (b. 1823)
January 26 – Empress Amélie, consort of Pedro I of Brazil (b. 1812)
February 3 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynaecologist, surgeon (b. 1811)
February 7 – Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish writer (b. 1814)
February 18 – Vasil Levski, Bulgarian revolutionary (executed) (b. 1837)
February 23 – Jakob von Hartmann, Bavarian general (b. 1795)
March 10 – John Torrey, American botanist (b. 1796)
March 24 – Mary Ann Cotton, English serial killer (executed) (b. 1832)
March 25 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter (b. 1810)
March 29 – Prince Unakan Ananta Norajaya Prince of Siam (b. 1856)
March 31
Maria Magdalena Mathsdotter, Swedish Sámi educator (b. 1835)
Hugh Maxwell, American lawyer, politician (b. 1787)
April 11
Edward Canby, American general (b. 1817)
Christopher Hansteen, Norwegian geophysicist (b. 1784)
April 18 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (b. 1803)
April 27 – William Charles Macready, English actor (b. 1793)
April 29 – Hortense Globensky-Prévost, Canadian heroine (b. 1804)
May 1 – David Livingstone, Scottish explorer of Africa (b. 1813)
May 5 – Jerónimo Carrión, 8th President of Ecuador (b. 1804)
May 6 – José Antonio Páez, first President of Venezuela (b. 1790)
May 7 – Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1808)
May 8 – John Stuart Mill, British philosopher (b. 1806)
May 15 – Alexandru Ioan Cuza, first ruler of Romania (b. 1820)
May 20 – George-Étienne Cartier, Canadian statesman (b. 1814)
May 22 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist (b. 1785)
May 29 – Édouard de Verneuil, French palaeontologist (b. 1805)
June 1 – Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (b. 1804)
July&ndash;December
August 18 – Charles II, Duke of Brunswick (b. 1804)
September 8 – Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg, Finnish priest and father of K. J. Ståhlberg, the first President of Finland (b. 1832)Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg – KirjastoVirma (in Finnish)
September 11 – Agustín Fernando Muñoz, Duke of Riánsares, morganatic husband of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (b. 1808)
September 17 – Alexander Berry, Scottish adventurer, Australian pioneer (b. 1781)
September 22 – Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1801)
September 23 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
September 28 – Émile Gaboriau, French writer (b. 1833)
October 5 – William Todd, American businessman, Canadian Senate nominee (b. 1803)
October 9 – George Ormerod, English historian, antiquarian (b. 1785)
October 17 – Sir Robert McClure, British Arctic explorer (b. 1807)
December 14
Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born geologist, naturalist (b. 1807)
Alexander Keith, Scottish-born brewer, mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia (b. 1795)
References
Further reading and year books
1873 Annual Cyclopedia (1874) highly detailed coverage of "Political, Military, and Ecclesiastical Affairs; Public Documents; Biography, Statistics, Commerce, Finance, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Mechanical Industry" for year 1873; massive compilation of facts and primary documents; worldwide coverage; 831pp
