1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar, the 1917th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 917th year of the 2nd millennium, the 17th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1917, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Contents
Events
January
January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's Desert Column.
January 10 – Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: Seven survivors of the Ross Sea party are rescued after being stranded for several months.
January 11 – Unknown saboteurs set off the Kingsland explosion at Kingsland (modern-day Lyndhurst, New Jersey), one of the events leading to United States involvement in WWI.
January 16 – The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million (equivalent to $628 million in 2025).
January 22 – WWI: United States President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Germany.
January 25 – WWI: British armed merchantman SS Laurentic is sunk by mines off Lough Swilly (Ireland), with the loss of 354 of the 475 aboard.
January 26 – The sea defences at the English village of Hallsands are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable.
January 28 – The United States ends its search for Pancho Villa.
January 30 – Pershing's troops in Mexico begin withdrawing back to the United States. They reach Columbus, New Mexico February 5.
February
February 1 – WWI: Atlantic U-boat Campaign: Germany announces its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare, rescinding the 'Sussex Pledge'.
February 3 – WWI: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
February 12 – Toluca FC is founded as an Association football club in Mexico.
February 13 – WWI:
Mata Hari is arrested in Paris for spying.
Raid on Nekhl: Units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force completely reoccupy the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
February 21 – British troopship SS Mendi is accidentally rammed and sunk off the Isle of Wight, killing 646, mainly members of the South African Native Labour Corps.
February 24 – WWI: Walter Hines Page, United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico, if Mexico will take sides with Germany, in case the United States declares war on Germany.
March
March 1
WWI: The U.S. government releases the text of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.
Ōmuta, Japan, is founded by Hiroushi Miruku.
March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
March 4
Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
March 7 – "Livery Stable Blues", recorded with "Dixie Jazz Band One Step" on February 26, by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in the United States, becomes the first jazz recording commercially released. On August 17 the band records "Tiger Rag".
March 8 (N.S.)
(February 23, O.S.) – The February Revolution begins in Russia: Women calling for bread in Petrograd start riots, which spontaneously spread throughout the city.
WWI: Norwegian tramp SS Storstad (the ship that rammed and sank RMS Empress of Ireland in 1914) is torpedoed and sunk by SM U-62 in the Atlantic with the loss of 3 crew members.
March 10 – The Province of Batangas is formally founded, as one of the Philippines' first encomiendas.
March 11 – Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza is elected president of Mexico; the United States gives de jure recognition of his government.
March 12 – The Russian Duma declares a Provisional Government. It is dissolved 4 months later.
March 14 – WWI: The Republic of China terminates diplomatic relations with Germany.
April
April – Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki, the first anime, is released in Japan.
April 2 – WWI: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the United States Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
April 6 – WWI: The United States declares war on Germany.
April 8 (N.S.) (March 26, O.S.) – In Petrograd, 40,000 ethnic Estonians demand national autonomy within Russia.
April 9–May 16 – WWI: Battle of Arras – British Empire troops make a significant advance on the Western Front but are unable to achieve a breakthrough.
April 9–12 – WWI: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
April 10 – Eddystone explosion: an explosion at an ammunition plant near Chester, Pennsylvania, kills 139, mostly female workers.
April 11 – WWI: Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
April 12 (N.S.) (March 30 O.S.) – The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia is formed within Russia, from the Governorate of Estonia and the northern part of the Governorate of Livonia.
April 16
(N.S.) (April 3, O.S.) – Vladimir Lenin arrives at the Finland Station in Petrograd after a German-sponsored voyage in a sealed train from his exile in Switzerland through Germany and Scandinavia.
WWI: The Nivelle Offensive commences.
April 17
(N.S.) (April 4, O.S.) – Vladimir Lenin's April Theses are published. They become very influential in the following July Days and Bolshevik Revolution.
May
May 3 – WWI: 1917 French Army mutinies begin.
May 9 – WWI: The Nivelle Offensive is abandoned.
May 13 – Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV.
May 13–October 13 (at monthly intervals) – 10-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto report experiencing a series of Marian apparitions near Fátima, Portugal, which become known as Our Lady of Fátima.
May 15 – Robert Nivelle is replaced as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, by Philippe Pétain.
May 18 – WWI: The Selective Service Act passes the United States Congress, giving the President the power of conscription.
May 21 – Over 300 acres (73 blocks) are destroyed in the Great Atlanta fire of 1917 in the United States.
May 22
The Commissioned Officer Corps of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey is established.
Ell Persons is lynched in Memphis, in connection with the rape and murder of 16-year-old Antoinette Rappal.
May 23
A month of civil violence in Milan, Italy ends, after the Italian army forcibly takes over the city from anarchists and anti-war revolutionaries; 50 people are killed and 800 arrested.
WWI: During the Stalemate in Southern Palestine, the Raid on the Beersheba to Hafir el Auja railway by the British Desert Column takes place: large sections of the railway line linking Beersheba to the main Ottoman desert base are destroyed.
June
June 1 – 1917 French Army mutinies: A French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois, and declares an anti-war military government. Other French army troops soon apprehend them.
June 4 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe Elliott and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography, (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history, for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert Bayard Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism, for his work for the New York World.
June 5 – WWI: Conscription begins in the United States.
June 7 – WWI: Battle of Messines opens with the British Army detonating 24 ammonal mines under the German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest deliberate non-nuclear man-made explosion in history.
June 8 – Speculator Mine disaster: A fire at the Granite Mountain and Speculator ore mine, outside Butte, Montana, kills at least 168 workers.
June 11 – King Constantine I of Greece abdicates for the first time, being succeeded by his son Alexander.
June 13 – WWI: The first major German bombing raid on London by fixed-wing aircraft leaves 162 dead and 432 injured.
June 15 – The United States enacts the Espionage Act.
July
July
The first Cottingley Fairies photographs are taken in Yorkshire, England, apparently depicting fairies (a hoax not admitted by the child creators until 1981).
Suze Groeneweg becomes the first woman elected to sit in the House of Representatives in the Netherlands (although women will not be granted the right to vote until the following year).
July 1 – WWI: Russian General Brusilov begins the major Kerensky offensive in Galicia, initially advancing towards Lemberg.
July 1–3 – East St. Louis massacre: A labor dispute ignites a race riot in East St. Louis, Illinois, which leaves 250 dead.
July 2 – WWI: Greece joins the war on the side of the Allies.
July 6 – WWI:
Battle of Aqaba: Arabian troops, led by T. E. Lawrence, capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire.
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 in Canada leads to passage of the Military Service Act.
July 7 – The Lions Clubs International is formed in the United States.
July 8–13 – WWI: First Battle of Ramadi – British troops fail to take Ramadi from the Ottoman Empire; a majority of British casualties are due to extreme heat.
July 12 – Bisbee Deportation: The Phelps Dodge Corporation has over 1,000 suspected IWW members from its metal mines deported from Bisbee, Arizona.
July 16–17 – Russian troops mutiny, abandon the Austrian front, and retreat to Ukraine; hundreds are shot by their commanding officers during the retreat.
August
August 2–3 – The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the WWI draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.
August 2 – Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning lands his aircraft on the ship HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He is killed 5 days later during another landing on the ship.
August 3 – The New York Guard is founded.
August 10 – A general strike begins in Spain; it is smashed after 3 days with 70 left dead, hundreds of wounded and 2,000 arrests.
August 14 – The Republic of China declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
August 17 – One of English literature's important meetings takes place, when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
August 18 – The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 in Greece destroys 32% of the city, leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
August 29 – WWI: The Military Service Act is passed in the House of Commons of Canada, giving the Government of Canada the right to conscript men into the army.
September
September 5 – WW1: On the Eastern Front, German troops enter Riga after a successful offensive against the city's Russian defenders.
September 11 – The Bellevue Conference is held.
September 14 (September 1 Old Style) – Russia is declared a republic by the Provisional Government.
September 23 – Leon Trotsky is elected Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.
September 25 – The Mossovet (Moscow Soviet of People's Deputies) votes to side with the Bolsheviks.
September 26–October 3 – WWI: Battle of Polygon Wood (part of the Battle of Passchendaele) near Ypres in Belgium – British and Australian troops capture positions from the Germans.
September 28–29 – WWI: Second Battle of Ramadi – British troops take Ramadi from the Ottoman Empire.
October
October 4 – WWI: Battle of Broodseinde near Ypres – British Imperial forces overpower the German 4th Army's defences.
October 12 – WWI: First Battle of Passchendaele: – Allies fail to take a German defensive position, with the biggest loss of life in a single day for New Zealand, over 800 men and 45 officers are killed, roughly 1 in 1,000 of the nation's population at this time.
October 12–19 – WWI: Operation Albion – German forces land on and capture the West Estonian archipelago.
October 13 – The Miracle of the Sun is reported at Fátima, Portugal.
October 19
Dallas Love Field Airport is opened in Texas.
Carl Swartz leaves office as Prime Minister of Sweden, after dismal election results for the right-wing in the Riksdag elections in September. He is replaced by liberal leader and history professor Nils Edén.
October 23 – A Brazilian ship is destroyed by a German U-boat, encouraging Brazil to enter World War I.
October 24 – WWI: Battle of Caporetto opens between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central Powers near Kobarid in the Austrian Littoral. It is the first major engagement for junior German officer Erwin Rommel.
October 26 – WWI: Brazil declares war against the Central Powers.
October 27 – WWI: Battle of Buqqar Ridge – Ottoman forces attack British Desert Mounted Corps units garrisoning El-Buqqar Ridge, during the last days of the Stalemate in Southern Palestine.
October 31 – WWI: Battle of Beersheba – The British XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps (Egyptian Expeditionary Force) attack and capture Beersheba from Ottoman forces, ending the stalemate in Southern Palestine. The battle includes a rare (by this date) mounted charge, by Australian mounted infantry.
November
November 1 – WWI:
The British XXI Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the Third Battle of Gaza.
The British Desert Mounted Corps begins the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, in the direction of Hebron and Jerusalem.
November 2 – Zionism: The British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour makes the Balfour Declaration, proclaiming British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people..., it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".
November 5 (N.S.) (October 23, O.S.) – Estonian and Russian Bolsheviks seize power in Tallinn, Autonomous Governorate of Estonia, two days before the October Revolution in Petrograd.
November 6
WWI – Second Battle of Passchendaele: After 3 months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium (the battle concludes on November 10).
WWI: The Battle of Hareira and Sheria is launched by the British XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps, against the central Ottoman defences protecting the Gaza to Beersheba Road.
Militants from Trotsky's committee join with trusty Bolshevik soldiers, to seize government buildings and pounce on members of the provisional government.
November 7
(N.S.) (October 25, O.S.) – October Revolution in Russia: The workers of the Petrograd Soviet in Russia, led by the Bolshevik Party and leader Vladimir Lenin, storm the Winter Palace and successfully destroy the Kerensky Provisional Government after less than eight months of rule. This immediately triggers the Russian Civil War.
December
December – Annie Besant becomes president of the Indian National Congress.
December 3 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916).
December 6
The Senate of Finland officially declares the country's independence from Russia.
Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in Halifax Harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1,963 people, injures 9,000 and destroys part of the city (the biggest man-made explosion in recorded history until the Trinity nuclear test in 1945).
WWI: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Jacob Jones is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of the British Isles by German submarine U-53, killing 66 crew in the first significant American naval loss of the war, the first ever U.S. destroyer loss to an enemy.
December 9 – WWI:
Battle of Jerusalem: The British Egyptian Expeditionary Force accepts the surrender of Jerusalem by the mayor, Hussein al-Husayni, following the effective defeat of the Ottoman-German Yildirim Army Group.
The Kingdom of Romania signs the Armistice of Focșani with the Central Powers.
December 11 – WWI: General Edmund Allenby leads units of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force into Jerusalem on foot through, the Jaffa Gate.
December 17 – The Raad van Vlaanderen proclaims the independence of Flanders from German-occupied Belgium.
December 20 (N.S.) (December 7, O.S.) – The Cheka, a predecessor to the KGB, is established in Russia.
Date unknown
The first edition of the World Book Encyclopedia – simply known as The World Book – is published by the Hanson-Roach-Fowler Company, and is one of the first American encyclopedias to cover the major areas of knowledge to a mass audience.
The True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.
Births
January
January 2
Vera Zorina, Norwegian dancer, actress (d. 2003)
K. M. Mathew, Indian newspaper editor (d. 2010)
January 3
Liu Zhonghua, Chinese military officer (d. 2018)
D. J. Finney, British statistician (d. 2018)
January 5
Adolfo Consolini, Italian discus thrower (d. 1969)
Lucienne Day, British textile designer (d. 2010)
Francis L. Kellogg, American diplomat, prominent socialite (d. 2006)
Jane Wyman, American actress, philanthropist, and first wife of Ronald Reagan (d. 2007)
January 6 – Koo Chen-fu, Nationalist Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)
January 10
Saul Cherniack, Canadian politician, lawyer (d. 2018)
Jerry Wexler, American record producer (d. 2008)
January 12 – Jimmy Skinner, American hockey coach (d. 2007)
January 15 – K. A. Thangavelu, Indian film actor, comedian (d. 1994)
January 17 – M. G. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu chief minister, actor (d. 1987)
January 21 – Erling Persson, Swedish businessman, founder of H&M (d. 2002)
February
February 2 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese leader (d. 2018)
February 3 – Shlomo Goren, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (d. 1994)
February 4 – Yahya Khan, 3rd President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
February 5 – Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
February 6
John Franzese, Italian-born American prisoner (d. 2020)
Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress (d. 2016)
February 9 – Joseph Conombo, Prime Minister of Upper Volta (d. 2008)
February 11
T. Nagi Reddy, Indian revolutionary (d. 1976)
Sidney Sheldon, American author, television writer (d. 2007)
February 14 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2011)
February 17
Abdel Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (d. 2002)
Whang-od, Filipino mambabatok or tattoo artist
February 18 – Tuulikki Pietilä, Finnish artist (d. 2009)
February 19 – Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
February 20 – Juan Vicente Torrealba, Venezuelan harpist, composer (d. 2019)
March
March 1
Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
Thanjavur K. P. Sivanandam, Carnatic veena player and a descendant of the Tanjore Quartet (d. 2003)
March 2
Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, musician, and television producer; co-founder of Desilu Productions (d. 1986)
Babiker Awadalla, 8th Prime Minister of Sudan (d. 2019)
Max Webb, Polish-American real estate developer and philanthropist (d. 2018)
March 3 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (d. 1952)
March 5 – Raymond P. Shafer, 39th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
March 6
Samael Aun Weor, Colombian writer (d. 1977)
Donald Davidson, American philosopher (d. 2003)
Will Eisner, American cartoonist (d. 2005)
March 12
Giovanni Benedetti, Italian Catholic prelate (d. 2017)
Leonard Chess, Polish-American record company executive, co-founder of Chess Records (d. 1969)
Googie Withers, British actress (d. 2011)
April
April 1 – Sydney Newman, Canadian-born television producer (d. 1997)
April 5 – Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
April 7
R. G. Armstrong, American actor (d. 2012)
Mongo Santamaría, Cuban jazz musician (d. 2003)
April 8 – Hubertus Ernst, Dutch Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2017)
April 9
Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
Vincent O'Brien, Irish racehorse trainer (d. 2009)
April 10 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
April 11 – Morton Sobell, American spy (d. 2018)
April 12 – Džemal Bijedić, Yugoslav politician (d. 1977)
April 13
Bill Clements, Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
Li Rui, Chinese Communist Party politician (d. 2019)
April 14 – Valerie Hobson, British actress (d. 1998)
April 15 – Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
April 16 – Barry Nelson, American actor (d. 2007)
April 22 – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina (d. 2016)
May
May 1
John Beradino, American baseball player and actor, best known for his role in General Hospital (d. 1996)
Ulric Cross, Trinidadian judge, diplomat and war hero (d. 2013)
Danielle Darrieux, French singer, actress (d. 2017)
Fyodor Khitruk, Russian animator (d. 2012)
May 2 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general in the PAVN (d. 2002)
May 3
José Del Vecchio, Venezuelan physician, youth baseball promoter (d. 1990)
George Gaynes, Finland-born American actor (d. 2016)
Kiro Gligorov, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2012)
May 6 – Morihiro Higashikuni, Japanese prince (d. 1969)
May 7 – David Tomlinson, English actor (d. 2000)
May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
May 14 – Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
May 15 – Jerzy Duszyński, Polish actor (d. 1978)
May 16 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer, photographer (d. 1986)
May 20 – Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
May 21 – Raymond Burr, Canadian actor, best known for his role in Perry Mason (d. 1993)
June
June 1 – William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
June 4 – Robert Merrill, American baritone (d. 2004)
June 6 – Kirk Kerkorian, Armenian-American businessman, billionaire (d. 2015)
June 7
Gwendolyn Brooks, African-American writer (d. 2000)
Dean Martin, American actor, singer (d. 1995)
June 8 – Byron White, American football player and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2002)
June 9 – Eric Hobsbawm, Egyptian-born British historian (d. 2012)
June 10 – Ruari McLean, Scottish-born typographer (d. 2006)
June 13 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan writer (d. 2005)
June 14
Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist, writer (d. 2023)
Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2007)
June 15 – John Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
June 16
Phaedon Gizikis, President of Greece (d. 1999)
Katharine Graham, American publisher (d. 2001)
Irving Penn, American photographer (d. 2009)
July
July 1
Shyam Saran Negi, Indian schoolteacher (d. 2022)
Virginia Dale, American actress, dancer (d. 1994)
Álvaro Domecq y Díez, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2005)
Naji Talib, Prime Minister of Iraq (d. 2012)
July 2 – André Lafargue, French journalist, resistance fighter (d. 2017)
July 4 – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
July 6
Heribert Barrera, Spanish chemist, politician (d. 2011)
Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand runner, athletics coach (d. 2004)
July 7
Larry O'Brien, American politician, former NBA commissioner (d. 1990)
Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
July 9
Krystyna Dańko, Polish orphan, survivor of the Holocaust (d. 2019)
Peter Moyes, Australian educator (d. 2007)
July 10
Şeref Alemdar, Turkish basketball player (d. unknown)
Dayton S. Mak, U.S. diplomat (d. 2018)
Reg Smythe, English cartoonist (d. 1998)
August
August 4 – Jun Tatara, Japanese actor (d. 2006)
August 6 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
August 7 – Raja Perempuan Zainab, Queen of Malaysia (d. 1993)
August 8 – Earl Cameron, Bermudian actor (d. 2020)
August 9 – Jao Tsung-I, Chinese-born Hong Kong scholar, poet, calligrapher and painter (d. 2018)
August 11 – Vasiľ Biľak, Slovak Communist leader (d. 2014)
August 12 – Marjorie Reynolds, American actress (d. 1997)
August 15
Jack Lynch, 5th Prime Minister of Ireland (d. 1999)
Óscar Romero, Salvadoran Roman Catholic Archbishop (d. 1980)
August 17 – Zvi Keren, American-born Israeli pianist, musicologist and composer (d. 2008)
August 18 – Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2006)
August 21 – Esther Cooper Jackson, African-American civil rights activist (d. 2022)
August 22 – John Lee Hooker, African-American musician (d. 2001)
August 23
Hu Chengzhi, Chinese palaeontologist, palaeoanthropologist (d. 2018)
Miguel Alvarez del Toro, Mexican biologist (d. 1996)
September
September 5 – Pedro E. Guerrero, American photographer (d. 2012)
September 6 – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, failed assassin of Adolf Hitler (d. 2008)
September 7
Xerardo Fernández Albor, Spanish politician and physician (d. 2018)
Leonard Cheshire, British war hero (d. 1992)
John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
Tetsuo Hamuro, Japanese swimmer (d. 2005)
September 9 – Russell Hellman, American politician and member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1961 to 1980 (d. 2004)
September 10 – Miguel Serrano, Chilean diplomat, explorer and journalist (d. 2009)
September 11
Donald Blakeslee, American aviator (d. 2008)
Herbert Lom, Czech-born British actor (d. 2012)
Ferdinand Marcos, 10th President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
Jessica Mitford, Anglo-American writer (d. 1996)
Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer, racehorse owner (d. 2001)
September 17 – Henry Pearce, Australian politician (d. 1992)
September 18 – June Foray, American voice actress (d. 2017)
October
October 2
Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2013)
Charles Drake, American actor (d. 1994)
October 6 – Fannie Lou Hamer, African-American civil rights activist (d. 1977)
October 7 – June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)
October 8 – Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
October 10 – Thelonious Monk, African-American jazz pianist (d. 1982)
October 15 – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian, political commentator (d. 2007)
October 17
Martin Donnelly, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1999)
Marsha Hunt, American actress (d. 2022)
October 19 – Walter Munk, Austrian-born American oceanographer (d. 2019)
October 20
Jean-Pierre Melville, French film director, film producer, and screenwriter (d. 1973)
Stéphane Hessel, French diplomat and writer (d. 2013)
X. M. Sellathambu, Sri Lankan Tamil politician (d. 1984)
October 21 – Dizzy Gillespie, African-American musician (d. 1993)
November
November 1 – Erich Rudorffer, German fighter ace (d. 2016)
November 2
Durward Knowles, Bahamian sailor, Olympic champion (d. 2018)
Ann Rutherford, Canadian actress (d. 2012)
November 3 – Chung Sze-yuen, Hong Kong politician (d. 2018)
November 4 – Virginia Field, British-born actress (d. 1992)
November 5 – Jacqueline Auriol, French aviator (d. 2000)
November 10 – Koun Wick, Cambodian statesman and diplomat (d. 1999)
November 11 – Madeleine Damerment, French WWII heroine (d. 1944)
November 12
Hedley Jones, Jamaican musician (d. 2017)
Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim, Malaysian judge (d. 2000)
Jo Stafford, American traditional pop singer (d. 2008)
November 13 – Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, Austrian-born Spanish and Italian princess (d. 2017)
November 14 – Park Chung Hee, 3rd president of South Korea (d. 1979)
November 18 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor, singer (d. 1957)
November 19 – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
December
December 5 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (d. 2011)
December 6 – Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
December 7 – Hurd Hatfield, American actor (d. 1998)
December 8 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer (d. 1998)
December 9 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
December 10 – Sultan Yahya Petra of Kelantan, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
December 11 – Mien Sondakh, Indonesian actress and singer (d. 1998)
December 15 – Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, Pakistani poet, author and lexicographer (d. 2005)
December 16
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, English science-fiction author, best known for co-writing the screenplay of 2001: A Space Odyssey (d. 2008)
Beatrice Wright, American psychologist (d. 2018)
December 18 – Ossie Davis, African-American actor, film director and activist (d. 2005)
December 19 – Paul Brinegar, American actor (d. 1995)
December 20
David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
Petrus Hugo, South African WWII fighter pilot (d. 1986)
Date unknown
Hazza' al-Majali, 22nd & 32nd Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1960)
Deaths
January–February
January 2 – Sir Edward Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
January 4 – Frederick Selous, British explorer (b. 1851)
January 6
Sir Frederick Borden, Canadian politician (b. 1847)
Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch economist, historian (b. 1834)
January 8 – Mary Arthur McElroy, de facto First Lady of the United States (b. 1841)
January 10 – Buffalo Bill, American frontiersman (b. 1846)
January 16 – George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
January 18 – Andrew Murray, South African author, educationist and pastor (b. 1828)
January 28 – Yikuang, Prince Qing of the First Rank (b. 1838)
January 29 – Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, British diplomat and colonial administrator (b. 1841)
February 3 – Alexey Abaza, Russian admiral and politician (b. 1853)
February 5 – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
February 8 – Anton Haus, Austro-Hungarian admiral (b. 1851)
February 10 – John William Waterhouse, Italian-born English artist (b. 1849)
February 16 – Octave Mirbeau, French art critic and novelist (b. 1848)
March–April
March 5
Manuel de Arriaga, 1st President of Portugal (b. 1840)
Fredericus van Rossum du Chattel, Dutch painter (b. 1856)
March 6 – Jules Vandenpeereboom, 17th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1843)
March 8 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and inventor (b. 1838)
March 14 – Robert Viren, Imperial Russian Navy admiral (b. 1857)
March 17 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher, psychologist (b. 1838)
March 29 – Maximilian von Prittwitz, German general (b. 1848)
March 31 – Emil von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
April 1 – Scott Joplin, African-American ragtime composer, pianist (b. c.1868)
April 3 – Milton Wright, American bishop, father of the Wright brothers (b. 1828)
April 6 – Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (b. 1893)
April 7 – George Brown, British missionary (b. 1835)
April 8 – Richard Olney, American politician (b. 1835)
April 13 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1856)
April 14 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
May–June
May 7 – Albert Ball, British World War I fighter ace, posthumous Victoria Cross recipient (killed in action) (b. 1896)
May 17
Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (b. 1829)
Radomir Putnik, Serbian field marshal (b. 1847)
Clara Ayres, American nurse (b. 1880)
May 18 – John Nevil Maskelyne, English magician and inventor (b. 1839)
May 20 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
May 23 – Queen Ranavalona III of Madagascar (b. 1855)
May 24 – Les Darcy, Australian boxer (b. 1895)
May 25
Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
René Dorme, French World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1894)
May 27 – Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev, Imperial Russian Navy admiral and politician (b. 1843)
May 29 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (b. 1831)
June 3 – Matilda Carse, Irish-born American businesswoman, social reformer (b. 1835)
June 5 – Karl Emil Schäfer, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1891)
June 12 – Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan pianist, singer, composer and conductor (b. 1853)
July–August
July 2
William Henry Moody, 35th United States Secretary of the Navy, 45th United States Attorney General, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1853)
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, British actor (b. 1852)
July 8 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
July 12
Donald Cunnell, British World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1893)
Hugo Simberg, Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist (b. 1873)
July 15 – Andrey Selivanov, Russian general and politician (b. 1847)
July 16 – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
July 20 – Ignaz Sowinski, Polish architect (b. 1858)
July 27 – Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
July 28 – Ririkumutima, Queen regent of Burundi
July 31
Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (killed in action) (b. 1887)
Hedd Wyn, Welsh poet (killed in action) (b. 1887)
August 3
Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (b. 1849)
September–October
September 9
Boris Stürmer, Russian prime minister (b. 1848)
Madge Syers, British figure skater (b. 1881)
September 11 – Georges Guynemer, French World War I fighter ace (missing in action) (b. 1894)
September 15 – Kurt Wolff, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1895)
September 23 – Werner Voss, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1897)
September 26 – Edward Miner Gallaudet, American educator of the deaf (b. 1837)
September 27 – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
September 30 – Patricio Montojo y Pasarón, Spanish admiral (b. 1839)
October 3 – Eduardo di Capua, Neapolitan composer and songwriter (b. 1865)
October 4 – Dave Gallaher, New Zealand rugby union football player (killed in action) (b. 1873)
October 9
Sarah Aaronsohn, member of the Jewish spy ring Nili (b. 1890)
Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt, (b. 1853)
October 11 – Duke Philipp of Württemberg (b. 1838)
October 13 – Florence La Badie, American actress (accident) (b. 1888)
November–December
November 2 – Tringe Smajli, Albanian guerrilla fighter and sworn virgin (b. 1880)
November 3 – Frederick Rodgers, American admiral (b. 1842)
November 7 – Margaret Cleaves, American physician and writer (b. 1848)
November 8 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
November 11 – Liliʻuokalani, last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii (b. 1838)
November 15 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
November 16 – Adolf Reinach, German philosopher (killed in action) (b. 1883)
November 17
Neil Primrose, British Liberal MP (killed in action) (b. 1882)
Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
December 8 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian Yiddish, Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
December 10 – Sir Mackenzie Bowell, 5th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
December 12 – Andrew Taylor Still, American father of osteopathy (b. 1828)
December 17 – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician and suffragette (b. 1836)
December 19 – Richard Maybery, British fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1895)
Nobel Prizes
Physics – Charles Glover Barkla
Chemistry – not awarded
Medicine – not awarded
Literature – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
Peace – International Committee of the Red Cross