1875

Prince of Wales visits India. Telephone.

12 year old Sayajirao Gaekwad, nee Gopalrao Gaekwad, ascended the throne of Baroda, following the deposal of Malharrao, debauched and excessive brother of Khanderao Gaekwad, who had been a popular king.

Sayaji was a successor of the first Gaekwad of Baroda, but from a left handed marriage.. where the bridegroom, agreeing or choosing to marry a woman of lower social status, still catches her right hand with his left one in the marriage ceremony. She and her children will not have any succession rights.

The young boy's mind is bewildered into a silence by his grand coronation, but later, in private moments, he will wonder at the odd legacy he was born to. He will hold firm to the right hand offered to him and be more of a king than the kings previous to him ever were.

Sayaji would have to wait till 1881 when he was given full ruling powers, till then he was under a Council or Regency. He had all the time to observe.

Dhundi lies on the cot in the verandah at night and stares at the sky that is larger than anything else he can see. He listens for sounds that he could hear clearly some time ago, that are fading away, sounds of water, and darkness from when he was a star in the milky way. His eyes are bright with that light he has carried into this world.

1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). In the ISO 8601 calendar, 1875 is defined as the year the Convention du Mètre was originally signed, by way of a reference year.

Events

January - April

• January 12 - Kwang-su becomes emperor of China.
• February 25 - The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes were forced by the U.S. Calvary under command of Brigadier General George Crook to walk at gunpoint from the Arizona's Verde Valley, now occpied by the towns of Camp Verde and Clarkdale and the cities of Cottonwood and Sedona to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes were 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 3 - The first performance of Bizet’s Carmen at the Opéra Comique, Paris
• March 3 - The first organized indoor game of ice hockey was played between two pick-up teams at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal.

May - August

• May 7 - SS Schiller wrecks on rocks off the Isles of Scilly.
• May 17 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
• May 20 - Convention du Mètre signed in Paris.
• August 25 - Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel.

September - December

• September 1 - A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.
• November 9 - 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 was fought in Montana the next year).
• November 16 - Battle at Gundet - Abyssinian emperor Yohannes beats Egyptians
• December 4 - Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then Spain.
• December 9 - Massachusetts Rifle Association, "America's Oldest Active Gun Club" is formed.

Unknown date

• Wimbledon: Henry Cavendish Jones convinced the "All England Croquet Club" to replace a croquet court with a lawn tennis court.
• Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed between Japan and Russia.
• Tong wars begin in San Francisco
• The Theosophical Society was founded in New York by Helena Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others.
• The Arya Samaj was founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda.
• Hibernian_F.C., were founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.

January

• January 5 - James Stuart Blackton, American film producer (d. 1941)
• January 7 - Thomas J. 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 physician, philosopher, and musician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1965)
• January 15 - Tom Burke, American runner (d. 1929)
• January 22 - D. W. Griffith, American film director (d. 1948)

February

• February 2 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (d. 1962)
• February 4 - Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)
• February 21 - Jeanne Calment, Oldest person in recorded history (d. 1997)

March

• March 7 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (d. 1937)
• March 26 - Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (d. 1965)
• March 30 - Jonathan Campbell, American film pioneer (d. 1942)

April

• April 1 - Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)
• April 2 - Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (d. 1940)
• April 4 - 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)

May

• May 11 - Harriet Quimby, American pilot (d. 1912)
• May 12 - Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian philosopher (d. 1949)
• May 23 - Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr., Automobile Industrialist (d. 1966)

June

• 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

• July 26 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
• July 26 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)

August

• August 15 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English composer (d. 1912)
• August 21 - Winnifred Eaton, Canadian author (d. 1954)
• August 27 - Katharine McCormick, American suffragist (d. 1967)

September

• September 1 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (d. 1950)
• September 3 - Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian automotive engineer (d. 1951)

October

• 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)

December

• December 4 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (d. 1926)
• December 5 - Arthur Currie, Canadian military leader (d. 1933)
• December 19 - Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife (d. 1948)
• December 25 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Austrian Catholic cardinal (d. 1955)

Deaths

• January 23 - Charles Kingsley, English writer (b. 1819)
• February 22 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
• February 22 - Sir Charles Lyell, British geologist (b. 1797)
• March 1 - Tristan Corbière, French poet (b. 1845)
• April 25 - the 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
• May 17 - John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States (b. 1821)
• June 3 - Georges Bizet, French composer (b. 1836)
• June 4 - Eduard Mörike, German poet (b. 1804)
• June 25- Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
• 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 10 - Karl Andree, German geographer (b. 1808)
• 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 12 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (b. 1827)
• November 22 - Henry Wilson, Vice President of the United States (b. 1812)
• November 24 - William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American businessman (b. 1792)