Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar).

Events of 1890

January–March

• January 1

• *The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in northeast Africa.

• *In Michigan, the wooden steamer Mackinaw burned in a fire on the Black River."Full List of Thunder Bay Region Shipwrecks" (by name), MSU Sea Grant Extension,

Northeast District, Michigan State University, 2000, webpage:
.

• January 2

• *The steamship Persia wrecks off Corsica; 130 lives are lost.

• *Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House.

• January 25

• * The United Mine Workers of America is founded.

• *Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

• February 17 – The British steamship Duburg wrecks in the China Seas; 400 lives are lost.

• February 24 – Chicago is selected to host the Columbian Exposition

• March 1

• *The British steamship Quetia founders in the Lorres Straits; 124 lives are lost.

• *Léon Bourgeois succeeds Jean Antoine Ernest Constans as French Minister of the Interior.

• March 3 – The first football game in Ohio State history is played in Delaware, Ohio against Ohio Wesylan where Ohio State won 20–14.

• March 4 – The longest bridge in Britain, the Forth Bridge (8,296 ft) in Scotland, is opened.

• March 8 – North Dakota State University is founded in Fargo, North Dakota.

• March 20 – Wilhelm II of Germany fires Otto von Bismarck.

• March 27 – A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 people and injuring 200.

• March 28 – Washington State University is founded in Pullman, Washington.

April–June

• May 12 – The first ever official County Championship cricket match begins in Bristol; Yorkshire beats Gloucestershire by 8 wickets.

• May 31 – The 5-story skylight Arcade opens in Cleveland, Ohio.

• June 1 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.

• June 12 – In Michigan, the wooden steamer Ryan is lost near Thunder Bay Island.

• June 20 – The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde published by Philadelphia based Lippincott's Monthly magazine.

July–September

• July 2 – The Sherman Antitrust Act and Sherman Silver Purchase Act become United States law.

• July 3 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

• July 10 – Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.

• July 13 – In Minnesota, storms result in the Sea Wing disaster on Lake Pepin killing 98.

• July 27 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself in the stomach and dies two days later.

• July – Politics of Japan: In the first general election for the House of Representatives of Japan, c. 5% of the adult male population elect a lower house of the Diet of Japan.

• August 6 – At Auburn Prison in New York, William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in the electric chair.

• September 19 – The Turkish frigate Ertogrul founders off Japan; 540 lives are lost.

October–December

[[Image:New-Scotland-Yard-Victorian-building-Big-Ben-1890.jpg|thumb|260px|right| November: New Scotland Yard [center] opens near the Big Ben clock tower.]]

• October 8 – The first brief, partially controlled flight of Clément Ader's airplane "Eole" takes place in Satory, France.

• October 11 – In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.

• October 13

• *In Michigan, the schooner J.F. Warner is lost at Thunder Bay.

• *The Delta Chi Fraternity is founded by 11 law students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

• November 23 – King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir, and his daughter Princess Wilhelmina becomes Queen, causing Luxembourg (who required a male heir) to declare independence.

• November 29

• *The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.

• *In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24–0 in the first Army–Navy Game.

• November – Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, moves to a building on London's Victoria Embankment, as the New Scotland Yard.

• December 27 – The British steamship Shanghai burns in the China Seas; 101 lives are lost.

• December 29 – Wounded Knee Massacre: At Wounded Knee, South Dakota the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment tries to disarm a Native American camp & shooting starts. 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 troops are killed; about 150 flee the scene.

Undated

• The corrugated cardboard box is invented by Robert Gair, a Brooklyn printer who developed production of paper-board boxes in 1879.

• U.S. Census: Herman Hollerith's invention of recording data on a medium that was machine readable (he used punch cards) and the machines he developed are used to tabulate census data. (see also History of computing hardware). Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.

• The prosecution of Edward King, Anglican bishop of Lincoln, for using ritualistic practices ends.

• The United States city of Boise, Idaho drills the first geothermal well.

• Brown trout is introduced into the upper Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park.

• High School Cadets is written by John Philip Sousa.

• William II of Prussia opposes Bismarck's attempt to renew the law outlawing the Social Democratic Party.

• Blackwall Buildings, Whitechapel, noted philanthropic housing, is built in the East End of London.

• W.M.F. Petrie excavated the site of Tell el-Hesi in Palestine, during which excavation he discovered how tells were formed.

Births

January–June

• January 1 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d. 1966)

• January 4 – Victor Lustig, Bohemian-born con artist (d. 1947)

• January 9

• *Kurt Tucholsky, German-born journalist and satirist (d. 1935)

• *Karel Čapek, Czech writer (d. 1938)

• January 11 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian Modernist writer (d.1954)

• January 19 – Élise Rivet, French Roman Catholic nun and war heroine (d. 1945)

• January 22 – Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1953)

• January 28 – Robert Franklin Stroud, Birdman of Alcatraz (d. 1963)

• February 10 – Boris Pasternak, Russian writer (Doctor Zhivago), Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (d. 1960)

• February 14 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)

• February 17 – Ronald Fisher, English biologist (d. 1962)

• February 18 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)

• February 24 – Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)

• February 25 – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (d. 1965)

• February 27 – Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)

• March 3 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (d. 1939)

• March 9 – (new style) Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (d. 1986)

• March 11 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer, inventor, and politician (d. 1974)

• March 20

• *Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (d. 1957)

• *Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor (d. 1973)

• March 28 – Paul Whiteman, American bandleader (d. 1967)

• March 31 – William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)

• April 6 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (d. 1939)

• April 7 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)

• April 11 – Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (died 1979)

• April 15 – Percy Shaw, British inventor (d. 1976)

• April 16 – Fred Root, English cricketer (d. 1954)

• April 20 – Maurice Duplessis, premier of Quebec (d. 1959)

• May 4 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (d. 1945)

• May 10 – Alfred Jodl, German general (executed) (d. 1946)

• May 11 – Woodall Rodgers, mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1961)

• May 15 – Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)

• May 19 – Ho Chi Minh, Prime minister/President of North Vietnam (d. 1969)

• May 23 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1966)

• June 6 – Ted Lewis, American jazz musician and entertainer (d. 1971)

• June 16 – Stan Laurel, British actor (d. 1965)

• June 26 – Jeanne Eagels, American actress (d. 1929)

July–December

• July 18 – Frank Forde, Australian Prime Minister (d. 1983)

• July 22 – Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, American philanthropist and matriarch of the Kennedy family (d. 1995)

• August 4 – Erich Weinert, German writer and political activist (d. 1953)

• August 5 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 1956)

• August 10 – Angus L. Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (d. 1954)

• August 15

• *Jacques Ibert, French composer (d. 1962)

• *Elizabeth Bolden, American, last verified person born in 1890 (d. 2006)

• August 18 – Walther Funk, German politician (d. 1960)

• August 20 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)

• August 24 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (d. 1968)

• September 9 – Harland Sanders, Founder of KFC (d. 1980)

• September 10 – Elsa Schiaparelli, French couturiere (d. 1973)

• September 15

• *Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)

• *Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)

• September 20 – Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1941)

• * Rachel Bluwstein, Israeli poet (d. 1931)

• October 2 – Groucho Marx, American comedian (d. 1977)

• October 8 – Eddie Rickenbacker, American WWI fighter pilot (d. 1973)

• October 13 – Conrad Richter, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1968)

• October 14 – Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and President of the United States (d. 1969)

• October 16

• *Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)

• *Paul Strand, American photographer (d. 1976)

• October 17 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer (d. 1928)

• October 29 – Hans-Valentin Hube, German army general (d. 1944)

• November 7 – Jan Matulka, American painter (d. 1972)

• November 20 – Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (d. 1968)

• November 22 – Charles de Gaulle, President of France (d. 1970)

• November 23 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (d. 1941)

• December 5 – David Bomberg, English painter (d. 1957)

• December 8 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (d. 1959)

• December 11 – Carlos Gardel, Argentine tango singer (d. 1935)

• December 20 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)

• December 21 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1967)

• December 26 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, Appalachian fiddler (d. 1992)

• December 30 – Lanoe Hawker, British fighter pilot (d. 1916)

• date unknown

• *Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (d. 1964)

• *Taixu, Chinese Buddhist activist (d. 1947)

Deaths

January–June

• January 18 – King Amadeus I of Spain (b. 1845)

• February 22

• *John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)

• *Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)

• March 3 – Innocenzo da Berzo, Capuchin friar (b. 1844)

• March 7 – Karl Rudolf Friedenthal, Prussian statesman (b. 1827)

• March 9 – Sir Mangaldas Nathubhoy, Indian politician (b. 1832)

• April 1 – David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)

• April 11 – Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man), English oddity (b. 1862)

• June 24 – Subba Row, Hindu theosophist (b. 1856)

• June 30 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, American composer (b. 1819)

July–December

• July 9 – Clinton B. Fisk, American philanthropist and temperance activist (b. 1828)

• July 13 –John C. Frémont, American explorer and military officer (b. 1813)

• July 15 – Gottfried Keller, Swiss writer (b. 1819)

• July 29 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (b. 1853)

• August 11 – John Henry Newman, English Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1801)

• October 4 – Catherine Booth, Mother of The Salvation Army (b. 1829)

• October 20 – Richard Francis Burton, English explorer, linguist, soldier (b. 1820)

• October 26 – Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (The Adventures of Pinocchio) (b. 1826)

• November 3 – Ulrich Ochsenbein, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)

• November 8 – César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (b. 1822)

• November 11 – Marie-Charles David de Mayréna, French adventurer and self-styled King of Sedang (b. 1842)

• November 23 – King William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)

• November 24 – August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (b. 1816)

• December 15 – Sitting Bull, Native American chief (b. c. 1831)

• December 21 – Johanne Luise Heiberg, Danish actress (b. 1812)

• December 26 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)

• December 31 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican war heroine (b. 1826)

• date unknown – Comanche, horse, sole survivor of Custer's cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn