1917
Related subjects: Years
Background Information
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| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1880s 1890s 1900s – 1910s – 1920s 1930s 1940s |
| Years: | 1914 1915 1916 – 1917 – 1918 1919 1920 |
| 1917 by topic: |
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| By country |
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| Leaders |
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| Birth and death categories |
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| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
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| Works and introductions categories |
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| Gregorian calendar | 1917 MCMXVII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2670 |
| Armenian calendar | 1366 ԹՎ ՌՅԿԶ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6667 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 73–74 |
| Bengali calendar | 1324 |
| Berber calendar | 2867 |
| British Regnal year | 6 Geo. 5 – 7 Geo. 5 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2461 |
| Burmese calendar | 1279 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7425–7426 |
| Chinese calendar | 丙辰年十二月初八日 (4553/4613-12-8) — to — 丁巳年十一月十八日(4554/4614-11-18) |
| Coptic calendar | 1633–1634 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1909–1910 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5677–5678 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1973–1974 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1839–1840 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5018–5019 |
| Holocene calendar | 11917 |
| Igbo calendar | |
| - Ǹrí Ìgbò | 917–918 |
| Iranian calendar | 1295–1296 |
| Islamic calendar | 1335–1336 |
| Japanese calendar | Taishō 6 (大正6年) |
| Juche calendar | 6 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4250 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 6 民國6年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2460 |
Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
Below, events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
- January 1 – The University of Oregon defeats The University of Pennsylvania 14–0 in college football's 3rd Annual Rose Bowl.
- January 2 – The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
- January 11 – German saboteurs set off the Kingsland Explosion at Kingsland, NJ (now Lyndhurst, NJ), one of the events leading to U.S. involvement in WWI.
- January 16 – The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
- January 19 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
- January 22 – WWI: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Germany.
- January 25 – An anti- prostitution drive in San Francisco occurs and police close about 200 prostitution houses.
- 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: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
- February 3 – WWI: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
- February 5 – The new constitution of Mexico is adopted.
- February 13 – Mata Hari is arrested for spying.
- February 24 – WWI: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter Hines Page, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
March
- March 1
- The U.S. government releases the text of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.
- Japanese city of Omuta, Fukuoka is founded by Hiroushi Miruku
- March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
- March 4
- U.S. President Woodrow Wilson begins his second term.
- Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
- March 8
- (N.S.) ( February 23, O.S.) – The Russian February Revolution begins with the overthrow of the Tsar.
- Women calling for bread in Petrograd start riots, which spontaneously spread throughout the city.
- The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
- 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 Duma declares a Provisional Government.
- March 15 (N.S.) ( March 2, O.S.) – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates his throne for his son. This is considered to be the end of the Russian Empire.
- March 17 (N.S.) ( March 4, O.S.) – Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia refuses the throne, and power passes to the newly formed Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov.
- March 25 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores the autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.
- March 26 – WWI: First Battle of Gaza: British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
- March 31 – The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies, which become the US Virgin Islands, after paying $25 million to Denmark.
April
- April 2 – WWI: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
- April 6 – WWI: The United States declares war on Germany.
- April 9– April 12 – WWI: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
- April 10 – An ammunition factory explosion in Chester, Pennsylvania kills 133.
- April 11 – WWI: Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
- April 16
- Vladimir Lenin's April Theses are published. They become very influential in the following July Days and Bolshevik Revolution.
- Vladimir Lenin arrives in Petrograd.
- WWI: The Nivelle Offensive commences.
- April 19 – WWI: The Second Battle of Gaza, a fiasco for the British, causes the dismissal of the commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Force, General Archibald Murray.
May
- May 9 – WWI: The Nivelle Offensive is abandoned.
- May 13 – The nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV
- May 15 – Robert Nivelle is replaced as Commander-in-Chief of France with Philippe Pétain.
- May 18 – WWI: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress, giving the President the power of conscription.
- May 21 – Over 300 acres (73 blocks) are destroyed in the Great Atlanta fire of 1917.
- May 22 – Commissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
- May 23 – A month of civil violence in Milan, Italy ends after the Italian army forcefully takes over the city from anarchists and anti-war revolutionaries. Fifty people are killed and 800 people are arrested.
- May 26 – A tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois, causing devastation and killing 101 people.
- May 27 – WWI: Over 30,000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois.
June
- June 1 – 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 very 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 8 – A fire at the Speculator and Granite Mountain ore mine outside Butte, Montana kills at least 168 workers.
- June 13 – WWI: The first major German bombing raid on London leaves 162 dead and 432 injured.
- June 15 – The United States enacts the Espionage Act.
July
- July 1
- A labor dispute ignites a race riot in East St. Louis, Illinois, which leaves 250 dead.
- Russian General Brusilov begins a major offensive in Galicia, initially advancing towards Lemberg.
- July 6
- WWI: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks.
- WWI: A conscription crisis in Canada leads to passage of the Military Service Act.
- July 12 – The Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1,000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona.
- July 16– July 17 – Russian troops mutiny, abandon the Austrian front, and retreat to the Ukraine; hundreds are shot by their commanding officers during the retreat.
- July 16– July 18 – Serious clashes in St. Petersburg in July Days; Lenin escapes to Finland; Trotsky is arrested.
- July 17 – King George V of the United Kingdom issues a proclamation, stating that thenceforth the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor, vice the Germanic bloodline of House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which is an offshoot of the historic (800+ years) House of Wettin.
- July 20
- The Parliament of Finland, dominated by Social Democrats, passes the "Power Law", declaring itself holder of the former Tsar's sovereignty in the Grand Principality of Finland. The Russian Provisional Government does not recognize the law, as it would alter the relationship between Finland and Russia into a real union, with Russia solely responsible for the defence and foreign relations of Finland with no more say in the country's internal affairs.
- The Corfu Declaration, which enabled the establishment of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and the Kingdom of Serbia.
- ( July 7, O.S.) – Alexander Kerensky becomes premier of the Russian Provisional Government, replacing Prince Georgy Lvov.
- July 20– July 28 – WWI: Austrian and German forces repulse the Russian advance into Galicia.
- July 25 – Sir William Thomas White introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
- July 28 – The Silent Parade is organized by the NAACP in New York to protest the East St. Louis Riot of July 2, as well as lynchings in Texas and Tennessee.
- July 30 – The Parliament of Finland is dissolved by the Russian Provisional Government. New elections are held in the autumn, resulting in a bourgeois majority.
- July 31 – WWI: The Battle of Passchendaele: Allied offensive operations commence in Flanders.
August
- August – 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 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 Canadian House of Commons, giving the Government of Canada the right to conscript men into the army.
September
- September 25 – The Moscow Soviet votes to side with the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik control of Moscow eventually leads to it becoming the capital of Russia in 1921.
- September 14 – Russia is declared a republic by the Provisional Government.
- September 23 – Leon Trotsky is elected Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. Trotsky begins assimilating the Petrograd soviet into the Bolshevik party.
October
- October 12 – WWI: The biggest loss of life in a single day for New Zealand. Over 800 men and 45 officers were killed at the First Battle of Passchendaele, roughly 1 in 1000 of the nation's population at the time.
- October 15 – WWI: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
- October 19 – Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
- October 23 – A Brazilian ship is destroyed by a German U-Boat, encouraging Brazil to enter World War I.
- October 25 (O.S.) – (traditional beginning date of the Bolshevik Revolution & Russian Civil War).
- October 26 – WWI: Brazil declares war against the Central Powers.
November
- November 2 – Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".
- November 6
- WWI: Battle of Passchendaele: After 3 months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.
- 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.) – Great October Socialist Revolution: 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, resulting in the first overthrow of capitalism in history.
- Iran (which has provided weapons for Russia) refuses to support the Allied Forces after the October Revolution.
- WWI: Third Battle of Gaza: United Kingdom forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
- November 15
- In the United States, a "Night of Terror" results in the injury of several influential suffragettes.
- The Parliament of Finland again declares itself holder of sovereignty, effectively dissolving the 108-year-old union with Russia.
- November 16
- British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.
- Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France.
- November 17
- WWI: Action of 17 November 1917: United States Navy destroyers USS Fanning and USS Nicholson capture Imperial German Navy U-boat SM U-58 off the south-west coast of Ireland, the first combat action in which U.S. ships take a submarine (which is then scuttled).
- The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals is founded in the United Kingdom.
- November 20
- November 22 – In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up.
- November 23 – The Bolsheviks release the full text of the previously secret Sykes-Picot Agreement in Izvestia and Pravda; it is subsequently printed in the Manchester Guardian on November 26.
- November 24 – In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 9 members of the Milwaukee Police Department are killed by a bomb, the most deaths in a single event in U.S. police history until the September 11 attacks in 2001.
- November 25 – WWI: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.
- November 26 – The National Hockey League is formed in Montreal as a replacement for the recently disbanded National Hockey Association.
- November 28 – The Bolsheviks offer peace terms to the Germans.
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
- Finland officially declares 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 (until the Trinity nuclear test, the biggest manmade explosion in recorded history).
- December 11 – British troops take Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Jerusalem.
- December 20 – The Cheka, a predecessor to the KGB is established.
- December 25 – Why Marry?, the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
- December 26 – United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to place most U.S. railroads under the United States Railroad Administration, hoping to more efficiently transport troops and materials for the war effort.
Date unknown
- Following the October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai is appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare in the Council of People's Commissars of the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the first woman cabinet minister in Europe.
- Female suffrage is enacted in the Netherlands.
- The Lions Clubs International is formed.
- J. R. R. Tolkien begins writing The Book of Lost Tales (the first version of The Silmarillion); thus Middle-earth is first chronicled this year.
- The True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.
- The first of the Cottingley Fairies photographs are taken in Yorkshire.
Births
January–February
- January 2 – Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
- January 3 – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
- January 4 – Jesse White, American actor (d. 1997)
- January 5
- Adolfo Consolini, Italian discus thrower (d. 1969)
- Lucienne Day, textile designer (d. 2010)
- Francis L. Kellogg, U.S. diplomat and prominent socialite (d. 2006)
- Jane Wyman, American actress, philanthropist, and first wife of Ronald Reagan (Falcon Crest) (d. 2007)
- January 6 – Koo Chen-fu, Nationalist Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)
- January 10 – Jerry Wexler, American record producer (d. 2008)
- January 12
- Jimmy Skinner, Detroit Red Wings head coach (d. 2007)
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, transcendental meditation guru, most notably to The Beatles (d. 2008)
- January 16 – Carl Karcher, American founder of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (d. 2008)
- January 17 – M. G. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor. (d. 1987)
- January 19
- January 24 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (d. 2012)
- January 25 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
- January 26 – William Verity Jr., American politician (d. 2007)
- February 1 – Squadron Leader James "Ginger" Lacey, the top scoring RAF fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain (d. 1989)
- February 2 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese leader
- February 4
- Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (d. 2002)
- Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
- February 5 – Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
- February 6 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress
- February 11
- February 12 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
- February 14 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2011)
- February 17 – Joseph Conombo, Prime Minister of Upper Volta (d. 2008)
- February 18 – Tuulikki Pietilä, Finnish artist (d. 2009)
- February 19 – Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
- February 20 – Juan Vicente Torrealba, Venezuelan harpist and composer
- February 25
- February 27 – John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
- February 28
March–April
- March 1 – Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
- March 2
- March 3 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (d. 1952)
- March 4 – Clyde McCullough, American baseball catcher (d. 1982)
- March 5 – Raymond P. Shafer, Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
- March 12 – Googie Withers, British actress (d. 2011)
- March 14 – John McCallum, Australian actor (d. 2010)
- March 16 – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d. 1977)
- March 19 – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
- March 20 – Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
- March 21 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archeologist, politician, and Military Chief of Staff (d. 1984)
- March 24
- Constantine Andreou, Brazilian-Greek artist (d. 2007)
- John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
- March 26 – Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
- March 27 – Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)
- March 29 – Man o' War, champion thoroughbred racehorse (d. 1947)
- April 1 – Sydney Newman, Canadian-born television producer (d. 1997)
- April 2 – Dabbs Greer, American actor (d. 2007)
- April 5 – Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
- April 7 – R.G. Armstrong, American actor (d. 2012)
- April 10 – Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- April 13 – Robert O. Anderson, American businessman, founder of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
- April 14 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
- April 17 – Bill Clements, Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
- April 22 – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina
- April 25 – Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
- April 26
- I. M. Pei, Chinese-born architect
- Virgil Trucks, American baseball player
- April 28 – Robert O. Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
- April 29 – Celeste Holm, American actress (d. 2012)
- April 30 – Bea Wain, American singer
May–June
- May 1
- John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (General Hospital) (d. 1996)
- Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress
- Fyodor Khitruk, Russian animator
- May 3 – Kiro Gligorov, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2012)
- May 8 – John Anderson, Jr., American politician
- May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
- May 14 – Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
- May 16 – George Gaynes, Finnish-born actor
- May 20 – Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
- May 21 – Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (Perry Mason) (d. 1993)
- May 22 – Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
- May 25 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest and educator
- May 28
- May 29 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
- June 1 – William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
- June 2 – Casey Adams, American actor (d. 2000)
- June 6 – Kirk Kerkorian, Armenian-American businessman; billionaire
- June 7
- June 10
- June 14 – Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist and writer
- June 15
- John Bennett Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
- Lash LaRue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)
- June 16
- June 18
- June 19 – Robert Karnes, American actor (d. 1979)
- June 30
July–August
- July 1 – Humphry Osmond, British psychiatrist (d. 2004)
- July 4 – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
- July 7
- July 9 – Frank Wayne, American television game show producer (d. 1988)
- July 10
- July 16 – William Woodson, American voice actor
- July 17
- Phyllis Diller, American comedian (d. 2012)
- Kenan Evren, former President of Turkey
- July 18 – Henri Salvador, French singer (d. 2008)
- July 19 – William Scranton, American politician
- July 22 – Adam Malik, 3rd Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1984)
- July 24 – Henri Betti, French composer and pianist (d. 2005)
- July 30 – Minoru Chiaki, Japanese actor (d. 1999)
- August 11
- Vasil Biľak, former Slovak Communist leader
- Dik Browne, American cartoonist (Hagar the Horrible) (d. 1989)
- August 14 – Marty Glickman, American sports announcer (d. 2001)
- August 15
- John Mary "Jack" Lynch, Prime Minister of Ireland (d. 1999)
- Oscar Romero, El Salvador 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 22 – John Lee Hooker, African-American musician (d. 2001)
- August 25
- August 28 – Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
- August 29 – Isabel Sanford, African-American actress (The Jeffersons) (d. 2004)
- August 30 – Denis Healey, British author and politician
September–October
- September 6 – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, failed assassin of Adolf Hitler (d. 2008)
- September 7
- Leonard Cheshire, British war hero (d. 1992)
- John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Tetsuo Hamuro, Japanese swimmer (d. 2005)
- September 10 – Miguel Serrano, Chilean diplomat, explorer, and journalist (d. 2009)
- September 11
- September 13 – Robert Ward, American composer (d. 1994)
- September 15 – Shanul Haq Haqqee, Pakistani poet, author, lexicographer (d. 2005)
- September 20 – Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and official (d. 2006)
- September 25 – Johnny Sain, American baseball player (d. 2006)
- September 27 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist (d. 2010)
- September 30 – Park Chung-hee, former president of South Korea, (d. 1979)
- October 2 – Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 7 – June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)
- October 8
- October 10 – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (d. 1982)
- October 11 – J. Edward McKinley, American actor (d. 2004)
- October 13 – George Virl Osmond, Osmond family patriarch (d. 2007)
- October 15
- October 17 – Martin Donnelly, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1999)
- October 19 – Walter Munk, Austrian-born American oceanographer
- October 21 – Dizzy Gillespie, African-American musician (d. 1993)
- October 22 – Joan Fontaine, British-born actress
- October 30 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
November–December
- November 6 – Harlan Warde, American actor (d. 1980)
- November 11 – Madeleine Damerment, French WWII heroine (d. 1944)
- November 12 – Jo Stafford, American traditional pop singer (d. 2008)
- November 18 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (d. 1957)
- November 19 – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
- November 20 – Robert Byrd, U.S. senator from West Virginia and President pro tempore of the United States Senate (d. 2010)
- November 22 – Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2012)
- November 24 – Shabtai Rosenne, British-born Israeli diplomat and jurist (d. 2010)
- December 4 – Movita Castaneda, American actress
- December 5 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (d. 2011)
- December 6
- December 9 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- December 10 – Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
- December 16 – Arthur C. Clarke, British/Sri Lankan science-fiction author (2001: A Space Odyssey) (d. 2008)
- December 20
- David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- Audrey Totter, American actress
- December 21 – Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- December 22 – Gene Rayburn, American television personality (Match Game) (d. 1999)
- December 25 – Lincoln Verduga Loor, Ecuadorian journalist and politician (d. 2009)
- December 27 – Onni Palaste, Finnish writer (d. 2009)
- December 28 – Ellis Clarke, President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2010)
- December 29 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
- December 30 – Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)
Date unknown
- Guillermo Sánchez Boix, Spanish cartoonist (d. 1960)
- Huang Yao, Chinese artist (d. 1987)
Deaths
January–March
- January 2 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
- January 4 – Frederick Selous, British explorer (b. 1851)
- January 10 – William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, American frontiersman (b. 1846)
- January 16 – George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
- 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 artist (b. 1849)
- February 21 – Fred Mace, American actor (b. 1878)
- March 5 – Manuel de Arriaga, first president of Portugal (b. 1840)
- March 8 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
- March 17 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
- March 31 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
April–June
- April 8 – Richard Olney, American politician (b. 1835)
- April 13 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman (b. 1856)
- April 14 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
- April 15 – János Murkovics, Slovene teacher and writer in Hungary (b. 1839)
- April 17 – Scott Joplin, African-American musician and composer (b. 1867–1868)
- May 7 – Albert Ball, British World War I fighter ace, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1896)
- May 17 – Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
- May 20 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
- May 24 – Les Darcy, Australian boxer (b. 1895)
- May 25
- May 29 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer, and poet (b. 1831)
- June 5 – Karl Emil Schäfer, German World War I fighter ace (b. 1891)
- June 14 – Thomas W. Benoist, American aviator, aircraft designer and manufacturer, and founder of the world's first scheduled airline (b. 1874)
- June 18 – Titu Maiorescu, Romanian Prime Minister (b. 1840)
- June 26 – John Dunville, British Army officer (b. 1896)
- June 27 – Karl Allmenröder, German World War I fighter ace (b. 1896)
- June 30 – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)
July–September
- July 2 – 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 (b. 1893)
- July 16 – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
- July 27 – Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
- July 28 – Stephen Luce, American admiral (b. 1827)
- July 31
- August 3 – Stéphane Javelle, French astronomer (b. 1864)
- August 3 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (b. 1849)
- August 7 – Edwin Harris Dunning, British aviator (b. 1892)
- August 13 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
- August 20 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
- August 30 – Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
- September 9 – Madge Syers, British figure skater (b. 1881)
- September 11 – Georges Guynemer, French World War I fighter ace (b. 1894)
- September 15 – Kurt Wolff, German World War I fighter ace (b. 1895)
- September 23 – Werner Voss, German World War I fighter ace (b. 1897)
- September 27 – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
- September 30 – Patricio Montojo y Pasarón, Spanish admiral (b. 1839)
October–December
- October 13 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
- October 15 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
- October 17 – Bobby Atherton, Welsh footballer (b. 1876)
- October 23 – Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
- October 27 – Arthur Rhys-Davids, British World War I fighter ace (b. 1897)
- October 28 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
- October 30 or 31 – Heinrich Gontermann, German World War I fighter ace (b. 1896)
- November 3 – Frederick Rodgers, American admiral (b. 1842)
- November 8 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
- November 11 – Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
- November 15 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
- November 17
- Neil James Archibald Primrose, MP (killed in action) (b. 1882)
- Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
- December 8 – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
- December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
- December 12 – Andrew Taylor Still, American father of osteopathy (b. 1828)
- December 19 – Richard Maybery, British World War I fighter ace (b. 1895)
- December 20 – Eric Campbell, Scottish actor (b. 1879)
- December 22 – Frances Xavier Cabrini, first American canonized as a saint (b. 1850)
- December 28 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian World War I fighter ace (b. 1892)
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
