1917

Published on Sunday, January 28th 2007. Edited by Kit Fanlaywag, Chiba, Japan.

Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century

Decades: 1880s  1890s  1900s  – 1910s –  1920s  1930s  1940s

Years: 1914 1915 1916 – 1917 – 1918 1919 1920

Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1917

January

• 2 January – The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
• 11 January – Kingsland Explosion at Kingsland, NJ (now Lyndhurst, NJ) Due to German sabotage, leading to the U.S. involvement in World War I.
• 13 January – The Battle of Wadi took place
• 19 January – 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.
• 22 January – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for “peace without victory” in Europe.

• 25 January

• The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million

• Anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracts huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7000 people, 20000 are kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Rev. Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes make a plea for toleration explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asked if they will take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laugh derisively, which loses them public sympathy. The police close about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter

• 26 January – The sea defences at the English village of Hallsands are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable.

• 28 January – The United States ends its search for Pancho Villa.
• 30 January – Pershing’s troops in Mexico begin to withdraw to USA. They reach Columbus, Ohio 5 February
• 31 January – World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.

February

• 3 February – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany.
• 5 February – The constitution of Mexico is adopted.
• 13 February – Mata Hari is arrested for spying.
• 23 February – First International Women’s Day (Russia)
• 24 February – World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico, if Mexico will declare war on the United States.
• 26 February – The Original Dixieland Jass Band record their first commercial record, with “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jazz Band One Step” tunes.

President Woodrow Wilson of the United States announces to Congress the breaking of diplomatic relations with Germany

March

• 1 March

• U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public

• Japanese city of Omuta, Fukuoka is founded by Hiroushi Miruku

• 2 March – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.

• 4 March

• US. President Woodrow Wilson, begins second term.

• Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.

• 8 March

• (N.S.) (23 February, O.S.) – The Russian February Revolution begins with the overthrow of the Tsar.

• United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.

• 10 March – The Province of Batangas was formally founded as one of the Philippines‘ first encomienda.

• 11 March – Mexican Revolution – Venustiano Carranza elected president of Mexico – USA gives recognition of his government de jure
• 15 March (N.S.) (2 March, O.S.) – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates his throne for his son.
• 17 March (N.S.) (4 March, O.S.) – Grand Duke Michael refuses the throne and power in Russia passes to the newly-formed Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov.

• 21 March – The Danish West Indies become the Virgin Islands when Denmark transfers control over the islands to the United States after the purchase of the islands on 25 January.

• The independence of Finland is recognized.

• 25 March – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.

• 26 March – World War I: First Battle of Gaza – British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
• 30 March – The independence of Poland is recognized.
• 31 March – The United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.

April

• 2 April – World War I: US President Woodrow Wilson asks U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
• 6 April – World War I: United States declares war on Germany. text
• 9 April-12 April – World War I: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• 10 April – Ammunition factory explodes in Chester, Pennsylvania – 133 dead.
• 11 April – World War I: Brazil severs relations with Germany.

• 16 April

• Lenin arrives in Petrograd.

• The Nivelle Offensive commences.

• 19 April – 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

• 9 May – The Nivelle Offensive was abandoned.

• 13 May

• Three peasant children claim to see the Virgin Mary above a Holm Oak tree in Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal.

• The nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV

• 18 May – World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.

• 21 May – Over 300 acres (73 blocks) destroyed in Great Atlanta fire of 1917.
• 23 May – A month of civil violence in Milan, Italy is ended after the Italian army forcefully takes over the city from anarchists and anti-war revolutionaries. Fifty people are killed and 800 people are arrested.
• 26 May – Tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois causing devastation and killing 101 people.
• 27 May – Over 30.000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois.

June

• 1 June – French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares anti-war military government. French army soon apprehend them.
• 4 June – 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.
• 5 June – World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as “Army registration day.”
• 13 June – World War I: First major German bombing raid on London left 162 dead and 432 injured
• 15 June – The United States enacts the Espionage Act.

July

• 1 July – Labor Dispute ignites a Race Riot in East St. Louis, Illinois. Over 250 dead.

• General Brusilov begins a major offensive in Galicia, initially advancing towards Lemberg.

• 6 July

• Arabian troops led by Robert Constant capture Aqaba from the Turks.

• Conscription crisis in Canada leads to passing of the Military Service Act.

• 12 July – Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1000 suspected IWW members 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.
• July 16-18 – Bolsheviks attempt to seize power; Lenin escapes to Finland; Trotsky is arrested.
• 17 July – 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.

• 20 July

• Finland declares complete independence.

• Corfu Declaration that enabled post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
• (7 July, O.S.) – Alexander Kerensky becomes premier of the Russian Provisional Government, replacing Prince Georgy Lvov.

• Austrian and German forces repulse the Russian advance into Galicia.

• 25 July – Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a “temporary” measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).

• 28 July – The Silent Protest was organized by the NAACP in New York to protest the East St. Louis Massacre of July 2, as well as lynchings in Texas and Tennessee.
• 31 July – World War I Commencement of Allied offensive operations in Flanders in what would become known as the Third Battle of Ypres or the Battle of Passchendaele.

August

• August – The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the World War I draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.
• 2 August – Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning lands his aircraft on the ship HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He was killed five days later during another landing on the ship.
• 3 August – New York Guard founded.
• 10 August – General strike in Spain begins, smashed after three days with 70 left dead, hundreds of wounded and 2000 prisoners.
• 17 August – One of English literature’s important meetings takes place when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
• 18 August – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece, destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
• 29 August – World War I: 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.

October

• 15 October – World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
• 19 October – Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
• 25 October – Traditional date of insurrection that began the Bolshevik Revolution.
• 26 October – World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.

November

• 2 November – 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”.
• 6 November – World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.

• 7 November

• October Revolution begins: The workers of St. Petersburg in Russia, led by the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, attacked the Kerensky Provisional Government ( Julian Calendar shows an 25 October date).

• The Safavid Empire of Persia (which provided weapons for Russia) refuses to support the Allied Forces after the October Revolution.

• World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends – United Kingdom forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.

• 15 November – United States “Night of Terror” resulting in the death of several influential women who simply wanted the right to vote Why Women Should Vote.

• 15 November – Finland takes a step towards full sovereignty, ending the personal union with Russia.

• British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.

• Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France

• 17 November – People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals is founded in the United Kingdom.

• 18 November – Sigma Alpha Rho, Jewish high school fraternity, is founded in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• 20 November

• World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.

• Ukraine is declared a republic.

• 22 November – In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up.

• 23 November – 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.
• 24 November – In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, nine members of the Milwaukee Police Department are killed by a bomb, the most fatal single event in U.S. police history until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• 26 November – The National Hockey League is formed as a replacement for the recently disbanded National Hockey Association.
• 28 November – The Bolsheviks offer peace terms to the Germans.
• 29 November – Striking coal miners at Rostov declare Don Republic – it lasts two weeks.

December

• 3 December – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on 29 August 1907 and 11 September 1916).

• 6 December

• Finland’s declaration of independence.

• Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in Halifax Harbour at Halifax Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1963 people, injures 9000 and destroys part of the city. Until Hiroshima, this was the biggest manmade explosion in recorded history.

• 11 December – British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire

• 25 December – Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
• 26 December – 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.

Undated

• The last male Carolina Parakeet dies in Cincinnati Zoo.
• Lions Clubs International is formed.
• J.R.R. Tolkien begins writing the original Book of Lost Tales (the first version of The Silmarillion); thus Middle-earth is first written in about this year.
• Female suffrage in the Netherlands
• True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.
• Oreland Boy Scout Troop 1 is established.
• The first of the Cottingley Fairies photos are taken.

Ongoing

• World War I (1914–1918).
• Encephalitis lethargica (1917-1928).
• Russian Revolution.

Births

1917 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar 1917 MCMXVII

Ab urbe condita 2670

Armenian calendar 1366 ԹՎ ՌՅԿԶ

Bahá'í calendar 73 – 74

Berber calendar 2867

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 1972 – 1973

 - Shaka Samvat 1839 – 1840

 - Kali Yuga 5018 – 5019

Holocene calendar 11917

Iranian calendar 1295 – 1296

Islamic calendar 1335 – 1336

Japanese calendar Taishō 6 (大正6年)

Korean calendar 4250

Thai solar calendar 2460

January-February

• 2 January – Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
• 3 January – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
• 5 January – Jane Wyman, American actress and wife of Ronald Reagan 1940-1948 (d. 2007)
• 5 January – Adolfo Consolini, Italian discus thrower (d. 1969)
• 5 January – Francis L. Kellogg, U.S. diplomat and prominent socialite (d. 2006)
• 6 January – Koo Chen-fu, Nationalist Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)
• 10 January – Jerry Wexler, American record producer

• 12 January

• Jimmy Skinner, Detroit Red Wings head coach (d. 2007)

• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, taught transcendental meditation to The Beatles (d. 2008)

• 16 January – Carl Karcher, founded the Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain (d. 2008)

• 19 January

• John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)

• Graham Higman, British mathematician (d. 2008)

• 24 January – Ernest Borgnine, American actor

• 25 January – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
• 26 January – William Verity Jr., American politician (d. 2007)
• 1 February – James Harry Lacey, a.k.a Squadron Leader James “Ginger” Lacey DFM & Bar, the top scoring RAF fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain (d. 1989)
• 2 February – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese leader

• 4 February

• Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)

• Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (d. 2002)

• 6 February – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress

• 11 February

• Sidney Sheldon, American author (d. 2007)

• T. Nagi Reddy, Indian revolutionary (d. 1976)

• 14 February – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

• 17 February – Joseph Conombo, Prime Minister of Upper Volta
• 18 February – Tuulikki Pietilä, Finnish artist
• 19 February – Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
• 25 February – Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
• 27 February – John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
• 28 February – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)

March-April

• 1 March

• Harry Caray, baseball broadcaster (d. 1998)

• Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)

• 2 March

• Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, bandleader, and musician (d. 1986)

• John Gardner, British composer

• Laurie Baker, English architect (d. 2007)

• 3 March – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (d. 1952)

• 4 March – Clyde McCullough, American baseball catcher (d. 1982)
• 5 March – Raymond P. Shafer, Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
• 12 March – Googie Withers, British actress
• 14 March – John McCallum, Australian actor
• 16 March – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d. 1977)
• 19 March – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
• 20 March – Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
• 24 March – John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
• 26 March – Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
• 27 March – Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)
• 1 April – Sydney Newman, Canadian-born television producer (d. 1997)
• 2 April – Dabbs Greer, American actor (d. 2007)
• 5 April – Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
• 10 April – Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• 12 April – Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
• 13 April – Robert O. Anderson, American businessman, founder of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
• 14 April – Marvin Miller, baseball executive
• 17 April – Bill Clements, Governor of Texas
• 22 April – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina
• 25 April – Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
• 26 April – Virgil Trucks, baseball player
• 30 April – Bea Wain, American singer

May-June

• 1 May – Fyodor Khitruk, Russian animator
• 3 May – Kiro Gligorov, President of the Republic of Macedonia
• 8 May – John Anderson, Jr., American politician
• 12 May – Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
• 14 May – Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
• 16 May – George Gaynes, Finnish-born actor
• 20 May – Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
• 21 May – Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (d. 1993)
• 22 May – Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
• 25 May – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest and educator

• 28 May

• Papa John Creech, American fiddler (d. 1994)

• Marshall Reed, American film and television actor (d. 1980)

• 29 May – John F. Kennedy, President of the United States (d. 1963)

• 1 June – William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 7 June – Dean Martin, American actor (d. 1995)

• 10 June

• Eric Hobsbawm, British historian

• Ruari McLean, British typographer (d. 2006)

• 15 June

• John Bennett Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

• Lash La Rue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)

• 16 June

• Irving Penn, American photographer

• Katharine Graham, American publisher (d. 2001)
• Ben Bubar, American presidential candidate. (d. 1994)

• Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2007)

• 30 June – Lena Horne, American singer

July-August

• 1 July – Humphry Osmond, British psychiatrist (d. 2004)
• 4 July – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)

• 7 July

• Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)

• Larry O'Brien, American politician and former NBA commissioner (d. 1990)

• 10 July

• Don Herbert, American television personality (d. 2007)

• Reg Smythe, British cartoonist (d. 1998)

• 16 July – William Woodson, American voice actor

• 17 July

• Phyllis Diller, American comedian

• Red Sovine, American country & folk singer & songwriter (d. 1980)

• 18 July – Henri Salvador, French singer (d. 2008)

• 19 July – William Scranton, American politician
• 11 August – Dik Browne, American Cartoonist (d. 1989)
• 14 August – Marty Glickman, American sports announcer (d. 2001)

• 15 August

• Jack Lynch, President of Ireland (d. 1999)

• Oscar Romero, El Salvador Roman catholic Archbishop (d. 1980)

• 18 August – Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2006)

• 22 August – John Lee Hooker, American musician (d. 2001)
• 25 August – Mel Ferrer, Cuban-American actor, film director and film producer (d. 2008)
• 28 August – Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
• 29 August – Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)
• 30 August – Denis Healey, British author and politician

September-October

• 6 September – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, failed assassin of Adolf Hitler (d. 2008)

• 7 September

• John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

• Leonard Cheshire, British war hero (d. 1992)

• 10 September – Miguel Serrano, Chilean diplomat, explorer, and journalist

• 11 September

• Herbert Lom, Czech-born British actor

• Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)

• Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer and racehorse owner (d. 2001)

• 13 September – Robert Ward, American composer (d. 1994)

• 15 September – Shanul Haq Haqqee, Pakistani poet, author, lexicographer (d. 2005)
• 20 September – Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and official (d. 2006)
• 25 September – Johnny Sain, baseball player (d. 2006)
• 27 September – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist
• 2 October – Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 7 October – June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)

• 8 October

• Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (d. 1976)

• Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)

• 10 October – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (d. 1982)

• 13 October – George Virl Osmond, Osmond family patriarch (d. 2007)
• 15 October – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• 15 October – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator (d. 2007)
• 21 October – Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
• 22 October – Joan Fontaine, British-born actress
• 30 October – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)

November-December

• 11 November – Madeleine Damerment, French World War II heroine (d. 1944)
• 12 November – Jo Stafford, American singer of traditional pop music (d. 2008)
• 18 November – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (d. 1957)
• 19 November – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
• 20 November – Robert Byrd, U.S. senator from West Virginia and President pro tempore of the United States Senate
• 22 November – Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• 6 December

• • Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
• • Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (b. 2008)

• 9 December – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)

• 10 December – Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
• 16 December – Arthur C. Clarke, British/Sri Lankan science-fiction author (d. 2008)
• 20 December – David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
• 21 December – Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• 22 December – Gene Rayburn, American television personality (d. 1999)
• 27 December – Onni Palaste, Finnish writer
• 28 December – Ellis Clarke, President of Trinidad and Tobago
• 29 December – Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
• 30 December – Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

Deaths

January – June

• 2 January – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
• 4 January – Frederick Selous, explorer
• 10 January – William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, American frontiersman (b. 1846)
• 16 January – George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
• 5 February – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
• 10 February – John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
• 5 March – Manuel de Arriaga, first president of Portugal (b. 1840)
• 8 March – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
• 17 March – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
• 31 March – Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
• 1 April – Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1867–1868)
• 14 April – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
• 7 May – Albert Ball, British World War I pilot, VC recipient (b.1896)
• 17 May – Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
• 20 May – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
• 25 May – Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
• 26 June – John Dunville, British Army officer (b. 1896)
• 30 June – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)

July – December

• 8 July – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
• 12 July – Donald Cunnell, British World War I pilot (b.1893)
• 16 July – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
• 27 July – Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)

• 31 July

• Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1887)

• Hedd Wyn, Welsh poet (killed in action) (b. 1887)

• 3 August – Stephane Javelle, French astronomer (b. 1864)

• 13 August – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
• 20 August – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
• 30 August – Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
• 27 September – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
• 13 October – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
• 15 October – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
• 23 October – Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
• 27 October – Arthur Rhys Davids, British World War I pilot (b.1897)
• 28 October – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
• 8 November – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
• 11 November – Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
• 15 November – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
• 17 November – Neil James Archibald Primrose, MP (killed in action) (b. 1882)
• 17 November – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
• 6 December – Finland autonomicus.
• 8 December – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
• 10 December – Mackenzie Bowell, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1824)
• 12 December – Andrew Taylor Still, American father of osteopathy (b. 1828)
• 19 December – Richard Maybery, British World War I pilot (b.1895)
• 28 December – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian pilot (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

Table of Contents

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