1875

January–March

 * January 1 – The Midland Railway of England abolishes the Second Class passenger category leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies follow Midland's lead during the rest of the year (Third Class is renamed Second Class in 1956).
 * January 12 – Guangxu becomes 11th Qing dynasty Emperor of China at the age of 4 in succession to his cousin.
 * January 14 – The newly proclaimed King Alfonso XII of Spain (Queen Isabella II's son) arrives in Spain to restore the monarchy during the Third Carlist War.
 * February 3 – Battle of Lácar (Third Carlist War in Spain) – Carlist commander Torcuato Mendíri secures a brilliant victory when he surprises and routs a Government force under General Enrique Bargés at Lácar, east of Estella, nearly capturing newly crowned King Alfonso XII. The Carlists take several pieces of artillery, more than 2,000 rifles, and 300 prisoners. 800 men of both sides are killed - mostly government troops.
 * February 18 – The Mason County War begins as a German-American mob breaks into a prison and lynches cattle rustlers in central Texas.
 * February 21 – Jeanne Calment is born in Arles, France. She would go on to become the world's oldest verified person to have ever lived, reaching an age of 122 years and 164 days, before passing away on August 4, 1997 of natural causes.
 * February 24 – The SS Gothenburg sinks off Australia's east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.
 * February 25 – The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes are forced by the United States Cavalry under command of Brigadier General George Crook to walk at gunpoint from the Arizona's Verde Valley, to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes are not allowed to return to the Verde Valley until 1900.
 * February 27 – Newton Booth, 11th Governor of California, resigns, having been elected Senator. Lieutenant Governor of California Romualdo Pacheco becomes acting Governor. He is later replaced by elected governor William Irwin.
 * March 1 – The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty.
 * March 3
 * Bizet’s Carmen is first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, France.
 * The first indoor ice hockey game is played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
 * March 15 – Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York John McCloskey is named the first cardinal in the United States.

April–June

 * April 10 – The Arya Samaj is founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda Saraswati.
 * April 25 – Ten sophomores from Rutgers College (modern-day Rutgers University) steal a one-ton cannon from the campus of the College of New Jersey (modern-day Princeton University) and start the Rutgers–Princeton Cannon War in the United States.
 * May 7 – The Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed between Japan and Russia.
 * May 7 – German liner SS Schiller wrecks on the rocks off the Isles of Scilly with the loss of 335 lives.
 * May 17 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
 * May 20 – The Metre Convention is signed in Paris, France.
 * June – The record-setting American clipper Flying Cloud of 1851 is burned for scrap metal.
 * June 4 – Two American colleges play each other in arguably the first game of college football: Tufts University and Harvard University at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

July–September

 * Summer – Third Carlist War in Spain: Two government armies under General Quesada and Martínez Campos start encroaching on Carlist territory. Both they and their Carlist opponent (Mendiri) drive opposing sympathisers from their homes and burn crops in areas they can not hold. Several Carlist generals (Dorregaray, Savalls, and others) are unjustly put on trial for disloyalty. Mendiri is also removed from his command, and is replaced by the Count of Caserta. Despite having 48 infantry battalions, three cavalry regiments, two engineer battalions, and 100 pieces of artillery at his disposal, Caserta is heavily outnumbered by the government forces opposing him.
 * July 1 – General Postal Union established.
 * July 1–July 7 – Battle of Treviño (Third Carlist War in Spain) at Treviño – Advancing on the key city of Vitoria, in Navarre, the Spanish Republican commander General Jenardo de Quesada sends General Tello to attack the Carlist lines just to the southwest at Treviño. The newly appointed Carlist commander General José Pérula is heavily defeated and withdraws and soon afterwards Quesada enters Vitoria in triumph.
 * July 24 – The legendary Mohican Base Ball Club was established in Kennett Square, PA.
 * August 6 – Hibernian F.C. founded by Irishmen in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland.
 * August 25 – Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel.
 * September 1 – A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.
 * September 7 – Battle of Agurdat: An Egyptian invasion of Ethiopia fails when Emperor Yohannes IV defeats an army led by Werner Munzinger.
 * September – English Association football team Birmingham City F.C. is founded as Small Heath Alliance in Birmingham by a group of cricketers from Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, playing its first match in November.

October–December

 * October – The Ottoman state declares partial bankruptcy and places its finances in the hands of European creditors.
 * October 15 – Chief Lone Horn of the Minneconjou dies at the Cheyenne River, leaving his son Big Foot as the new chief.
 * October 16 – Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
 * October 25 – The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts with Hans von Bülow as soloist.
 * October 30 – The Theosophical Society is founded in New York by Helena Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others.
 * November 9 – American 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 is fought in Montana the next year).
 * November 16 – Battle of Gundat: Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV defeats another Egyptian army.
 * November 26 – The Times newspaper in London reveals that Isma'il Pasha has sold Egypt's 44% share in the Suez Canal to Britain in a deal secured by Benjamin Disraeli without the prior sanction of the British Parliament.
 * December 4 – Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then to Spain.
 * December 5–6 – German emigrant ship SS Deutschland runs aground in the English Channel resulting in the death of 157 passengers and crew.
 * December 9 – The Massachusetts Rifle Association, "America's Oldest Active Gun Club", is formed.
 * December 20 – ICRM renamed International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
 * December 25 – The first Edinburgh derby in Association football is played: Heart of Midlothian F.C. win 1–0 against Hibernian F.C.

Date unknown

 * Asia's first stock exchange is established: "The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association", the modern-day Bombay Stock Exchange.
 * Wimbledon: Henry Cavendish Jones convinces the "All England Croquet Club" to replace a croquet court with a lawn tennis court.
 * The Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 is passed in the United Kingdom to permit slum clearance.
 * Widespread nationalist rebellion in the Ottoman Empire results in Turkish repression, Russian intervention and Great Power tensions.
 * Convent Scandal: During the winter in Montreal, typhoid fever strikes at a convent school. The corpses of the victims are filched by body-snatchers before relatives arrive from America, causing much furor. Eventually the Anatomy Act of Quebec is changed over it.
 * The opening of Flushing High School, the oldest public high school in New York City.

January–June





 * January 5 – James Stuart Blackton, American film producer (d. 1941)
 * January 6 – Leslie Green, British architect (d. 1908)
 * January 7 – Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1963)
 * January 9 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and socialite (d. 1942)
 * January 11 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (d. 1956)
 * January 14 – Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian philosopher, and musician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1965)
 * January 15 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter (d. 1929)
 * January 22 – D. W. Griffith, American film director (The Birth Of A Nation) (d. 1948)
 * January 31 – Arthur Andrew Cipriani, Trinidad and Tobago labour leader (d. 1945)
 * February 2 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (d. 1962)
 * February 4 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. ]]1953]])
 * February 7 – Erkki Melartin, Finnish composer (d. 1937)
 * February 8 – Valentine O'Hara, Irish author and authority on Russia and the Baltic states (d. 1945)
 * February 21 – Jeanne Calment, world's longest lived person (d. 1997)
 * February 15 – Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (d. 1932)
 * March 4 – Mihály Károlyi, former Prime Minister of Hungary and President of Hungary (d. 1955)
 * March 7 – Maurice Ravel, French composer (d. 1937)
 * March 26 – Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (d. 1965)
 * March 28 – Helen Westley, American stage and film actress (d. 1942)
 * April 1 – Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)
 * April 2 – Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (d. 1940)
 * April 4
 * Samuel S. Hinds, American actor (d. 1948)
 * Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
 * April 5 – Mistinguett, French singer (d. 1956)
 * April 8 – King Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
 * April 15 – James J. Jeffries, American boxer (d. 1953)
 * April 18 – Oskar Ernst Bernhardt (Abdruschin), German author (d. 1941)
 * May 2 – Owen Roberts, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1955)
 * May 6 – William D. Leahy, American admiral (d. 1959)
 * May 7 – Ernst Friedberger, German immunologist and hygienist (d. 1932)
 * May 11 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot (d. 1912)
 * May 12
 * Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian philosopher (d. 1949)
 * Charles Holden, British architect (d. 1960)
 * May 23 – Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr., American automobile industrialist (d. 1966)
 * June 6 – Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
 * June 12 – Sam De Grasse, Canadian actor (d. 1953)
 * June 24 – Diedrich Westermann, German linguist (d. 1956)
 * June 28 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (d. 1941)

July–December



 * July 3 – Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
 * July 7 – Vincent Tancred, South African cricketer (d. 1904)
 * July 10 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (d. 1955)
 * July 25 – Jim Corbett, Anglo-Indian hunter, conservationist and author (d. 1955)
 * July 26
 * Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
 * Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
 * August 15 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English composer (d. 1912)
 * August 16 – Juho Sunila, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1936)
 * August 21 – Winnifred Eaton, Canadian author (d. 1954)
 * August 27 – Katharine McCormick, American suffragist (d. 1967)
 * August 29 – Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian flautist (d. 1962)
 * September 1 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (d. 1950)
 * September 3 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian automotive engineer (d. 1951)
 * September 16 – James Cash Penney, American businessman and founder of J. C. Penney (d. 1971)
 * September 18
 * Tomás Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (d. 1945)
 * Arthur Henry Knighton-Hammond, British water-colourist (d. 1970)
 * September 22 – Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Lithuanian composer (d. 1911)
 * October – George Ranetti, Romanian poet and publicist (d. 1928)
 * October 1 – Eugeen Van Mieghem, Belgian painter (d. 1930)
 * October 12 – Aleister Crowley, British occultist (d. 1947)
 * October 23 – Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist (d. 1946)
 * October 26 – H. B. Warner, English stage & screen actor (d. 1958)
 * October 31 – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian political leader (Iron Man of India) (d. 1950)
 * November 8 – Qiu Jin, Chinese revolutionary, writer and feminist (d. 1907)
 * November 14 – Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (d. 1899)
 * November 30 – Myron Grimshaw, American baseball player (d. 1936)
 * December 4 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (d. 1926)
 * December 5 – Arthur Currie, Canadian general (d. 1933)
 * December 6 – Evelyn Underhill, British writer (d. 1941)
 * December 11 – Yehuda Leib Maimon, Bassarabian-born Israeli rabbi and government minister (d. 1962)
 * December 12 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (d. 1953)
 * December 15 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino poet and revolutionary (d. 1899)
 * December 19 – Mileva Marić, Albert Einstein's first wife (d. 1948)
 * December 25 – Theodor Innitzer, Austrian Catholic cardinal (d. 1955)

January–June

 * January 20 – Jean-François Millet, French painter (b. 1814)
 * January 23 – Charles Kingsley, English writer (b. 1819)
 * February 22
 * Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
 * Sir Charles Lyell, British geologist (b. 1797)
 * March 1 – Tristan Corbière, French poet (b. 1845)
 * April 4 – Karl Mauch, German explorer (b. 1837)
 * April 25 – the 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
 * May 17 – John C. Breckinridge, 14th Vice President of the United States, Confederate Secretary of State (b. 1821)
 * May 31 – Eliphas Lévi, French occult author and magician (b. 1810)
 * June 2 – Józef Kremer, Polish philosopher (b. 1806)
 * June 3 – Georges Bizet, French composer (b. 1838)
 * June 4 – Eduard Mörike, German poet (b. 1804)
 * June 25 – Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
 * June 29 – Ferdinand I of Austria, Emperor of Austria (b. 1793)

July–December

 * July 29 – Paschal Beverly Randolph, American occultist (b. 1825)
 * July 30 – George Pickett, American Confederate General (b. 1825)
 * July 31 – Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
 * August 4 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
 * August 6 – Gabriel García Moreno, former President of Ecuador (b. 1821)
 * August 10 – Karl Andree, German geographer (b. 1808)
 * August 12 – János Kardos, Hungarian Slovenes evangelic priest, teacher, and writer (b. 1801)
 * August 17 – Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
 * September 22 – Charles Bianconi, Italian-Irish entrepreneur (b. 1786)
 * October 10 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (b. 1817)
 * October 15 – Chief Lone Horn, Native American Chief (b. 1790)
 * October 12 – Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (b. 1827)
 * October 24 – Jacques Paul Migne, French priest, theologian, and publisher (b. 1800)
 * November 7 – Werner Munzinger, Swiss adventurer (b. 1832)
 * November 22 – Henry Wilson, 18th Vice President of the United States (b. 1812)
 * November 24 – William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American businessman (b. 1792)
 * December 25 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1851)