Events of 1872

January–June

• January 2 – Brigham Young is arrested for polygamy (55 wives).

• January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.

• February 13 – Rex, the most famous parade on Mardi Gras, parades for the first time in New Orleans for Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia.

• February 17 – Execution of the Filipino priests: Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez, and Jacinto Zamora in Bagumbayan Fields, Manila, Philippines.

• February 20 – In New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art closes for "urban renovation".

• March 1 – In the United States, Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park.

• March 5

• *George Westinghouse patents the "failsafe" automatic railway air brake.

• *The case of the Tichborne Claimant is decided against the claimant Arthur Orton.

• March 11 – Work begins erecting the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

• March 26 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.2 strikes Lone Pine, California.

• April The Third Carlist War begins in northern Spain.

• May-The Third Carlist War-Carlist Army is defeated at the Battle of Oroquieta, Navarra,Spain.

• May 10 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, although she is a year too young to qualify and does not appear on the ballot.

• May 22 – Reconstruction: U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law, restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.

• June 14 – Trade unions are legalised in Canada.

July–December

• July 4 – The Society of Jesus is pronounced illegal in the German Empire.

• August 22 – The Overland Telegraph is completed in Australia, providing a telegraphic link between Australia and the rest of the world for the first time.

• September 1 – A group of Icaiche Maya under Marcos Canul attack Orange Walk Town in British Honduras; the British send troops against them.

• September 26 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) is established in New York City.

• October 1 – The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College begins its first academic session (the university is later renamed Virginia Tech).

• November 5

• *U.S. presidential election, 1872: Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horace Greeley.

• *Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time (on November 18 she is served an arrest warrant and in the subsequent trial she is fined $100 – she never pays the fine).

• November 7 – The Mary Celeste sets sail from New York, bound for Genoa.

• November 9 – Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the 2-day event destroys about 65 acres (0.3 km²) of the city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and causes US$60 million in damage).

• November 27 – A meteor shower display is seen over France.

• November 29

• *Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.

• *Horace Greeley, President Ulysses S. Grant's opponent in the 1872 U.S. presidential election, dies. His electoral votes are divided among several candidates.

• November 30 – First international football match to be recognised (retrospectively) by FIFA as "official" takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland; the result is Scotland 0, England 0. Earlier international soccer matches had already taken place in 1870, in 1871 and again in 1872 at the Oval, London.

• December 4 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia.

• December 6 – The Springwell Pit Disaster in Dawley, UK claims eight lives.

• December 21 – HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4-year scientific expedition that lays the foundation for the science of oceanography.

Undated

• Historical Preenactment Society established.

• Louis Ducos du Hauron creates the first color photograph.

• The London Metropolitan Police go on strike.

• In the aftermath of the War of the Triple Alliance, the new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, grants reparations and territorial concessions.

• The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition discovers Franz-Josef Land.

• The Kolozsvári Egyetem, predecessor of the University of Szeged, is founded.

• U.S. government geologist Clarence King reveals the diamond hoax in Wyoming.

• Thomas Hardy anonymously publishes his romantic novel Under the Greenwood Tree.

• The magazine Popular Science is first published.

• A conscription law, modeled on the French version, is issued in Japan.

• Universal public schools are called for in Japan.

• Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett founded the South Bend Tribune.

Births

January–June

• January 6 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (d. 1915)

• January 14 – Kerstin Hesselgren, Swedish politician

• January 20 – Julia Morgan, American Architect (d. 1957)

• January 23 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903)

• January 31 – Zane Grey, American writer (d. 1939)

• February 1 – Jerome F. Donovan, American politician (d. 1949)

• February 11 – Hannah Mitchell, English socialist and suffragette (d. 1956)

• March 7 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter (d. 1944)

• March 24 – J.C. Wienecke, Dutch/German medallist (d. 1945)

• April 14 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born Islamic scholar and translator (d. 1953)

• April 29 – Harry Payne Whitney, businessman, horse breeder (d. 1930)

• May 16 – John O'Connell, American baseball player (d. 1908)

• May 18 – Bertrand Russell, English philosopher and mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970)

• May 21 – Henry Warren, inventor of the first commercially viable electric clock, the Telechron

• May 31

• *Charles Greeley Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973)

• *Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator (d. 1944)

• June 8 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter (d. 1949)

• June 20 – George Carpenter, 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948)

• June 27 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet and publisher (d. 1906)

July–December

• July 1 – Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (d. 1936)

• July 4 – Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States (d. 1933)

• July 16 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1928)

• August 2 – George E. Stewart, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1946)

• August 3 – King Haakon VII of Norway (d. 1957)

• August 9 – Archduke Joseph August of Austria, Austrian field marshal (d. 1962)

• August 10 – Bill Johnson, American jazz musician (d. 1972)

• August 13 – Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)

• August 15 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, writer, and mystic (d. 1950)

• August 21 – Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (d. 1898)

• October 11 – Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)

• November 1 – Louis Dewis, Belgian Post-Impressionist painter (d. 1946)

• November 11 – Maude Adams, American stage actress (d. 1953)

• November 30 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier and poet (d. 1918)

• December 16 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Imperial Russian Lieutenant General (d. 1947)

• December 21 – Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)

• December 26 – Norman Angell, British politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1967)

Deaths

January–June

• January 7 – Big Jim Fisk, American financier (b. 1834)

• January 21 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)

• March/April – Mercator Cooper, American sea captain (b. 1803)

• March 20 – William Wentworth, Australian explorer (b. 1790)

• April 1 – Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)

• April 2 – Samuel Morse, American inventor (b. 1791)

• June 4 – Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish composer (b. 1819)

• June 4 – Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (b. 1798)

• June 20 – Elie Frédéric Forey, Marshal of France (b. 1804)

July–December

• July 18 – Benito Juárez, President of Mexico (b. 1806)

• September 10 – Avram Iancu, Romanian Transylvanian insurgent (b. 1824)

• September 13 – Ludwig Feuerbach, German philosopher (b. 1804)

• September 18 – Charles XV, King of Sweden and Norway (b. 1826)

• October 23 – Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)

• November 28 – Mary Somerville, British mathematician (b. 1780)

• November 29 – Horace Greeley, American newspaper editor and presidential candidate (b. 1811)

• December 15 – Lady Beaconsfield, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (b. 1792)