What happened in 1888

World4

• Apr 3London prostitute Emma Elizabeth Smith is brutally attacked by two or three men, dying of her injuries the following day, first of the Whitechapel murders, but probably not a victim of Jack the Ripper.
• Sep 27Whitechapel murders: The 'Dear Boss letter' signed "Jack the Ripper", the first time the name is used, is received by London's Central News Agency.
• Nov 8Joseph Assheton Fincher files a patent in the United Kingdom for the parlour game which he calls "Tiddledy-Winks".
• John Robert Gregg first publishes Gregg shorthand in the United States.

Japan1

• May 10Nippon Oil Corporation, predecessor of Eneos, a petroleum and gas energy brand in Japan, is founded in Niigata Prefecture.

North America11

• Jan 13The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
• Jan 21The Amateur Athletic Union is founded by William Buckingham Curtis in the United States.
• Mar 11The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the East Coast of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
• Mar 25Opening of an international Congress for Women's Rights organized by Susan B. Anthony in Washington, D.C., leading to formation of the International Council of Women, a key event in the international women's movement.
• Apr 21The Texas State Capitol building, completed at a cost of $3 million, opens to the public in Austin.
• May 1Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is established by the United States Congress.
• Sep 27Stanley Park is officially opened by Vancouver (B.C.) mayor David Oppenheimer.
• Nov 61888 United States presidential election: Democratic Party incumbent Grover Cleveland wins the popular vote, but loses the Electoral College vote to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison, therefore losing the election.
• Abbott Laboratories as Abbott Alkaloidal by Dr. Wallace C. Abbott in Illinois.
• Katz's Delicatessen is founded on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
• G. D. Searle by Gideon Daniel Searle in Omaha, Nebraska.

Europe16

• Jan 26The Lawn Tennis Association is founded in England.
• Mar 9Year of the Three Emperors in Germany: Wilhelm I dies aged 90 and is succeeded as German Emperor and King of Prussia by his son, the terminally ill Frederick III.
• Mar 23A meeting called by William McGregor to discuss establishment of The Football League is held in London.
• Jun 15Year of the Three Emperors in Germany: Frederick III dies after ruling for 99 days and is succeeded as German Emperor and King of Prussia by his son, Wilhelm II, who will reign until his abdication in 1918.
• Jul 2London matchgirls strike of 1888: About 200 workers, mainly teenaged girls, strike following the dismissal of three colleagues from the Bryant and May match factory, precipitated by an article on their working conditions published on June 23 by campaigning journalist Annie Besant, and the workers unionise on July 27.
• Aug 7Whitechapel murders: The body of London prostitute Martha Tabram is found, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper.
• Aug 13The Local Government Act, effective from 1889, establishes county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales, redraws some county boundaries, and gives women the vote in local elections. It also declares that "bicycles, tricycles, velocipedes, and other similar machines" be carriages within the meaning of the Highway Acts (which remains the case), and requires that they give audible warning when overtaking "any cart or carriage, or any horse, mule, or other beast of burden, or any foot passenger", a rule abolished in 1930.
• Aug 24The first trams in Tallinn (Reval), horsecars, begin operation.
• Aug 31Whitechapel murders: The mutilated body of London prostitute Mary Ann Nichols is found; she is considered the first victim of Jack the Ripper.
• Sep 8Whitechapel murders: The mutilated body of London prostitute Annie Chapman is found (considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper).
• Sep 30Whitechapel murders: The bodies of London prostitutes Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, the latter mutilated, are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victims, respectively.
• Oct 1Sofia University officially opens, becoming the first university in liberated Bulgaria.
• Oct 14Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, two seconds and 18 frames in length (followed by his movie Leeds Bridge and Accordion Player).
• Nov 9Whitechapel murders: The mutilated body of London prostitute Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is considered to be the fifth, and last, of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders in England follow, but the police attribute them to copy-cat killers.
• Dec 23During a bout of mental illness (and having quarreled with his friend Paul Gauguin), Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh infamously cuts off the lower part of his own left ear, taking it to a brothel, and is removed to the local hospital in Arles in the south of France.

1 more in the app

Asia3

• Mar 15The Sikkim Expedition, a British military expedition to expel the Tibetans from northern Sikkim, begins.
• May 30Hong Kong's Peak Tram begins operation.
• Jun 3The Kingdom of Sedang is formed, in modern-day Vietnam.

Latin America1

• May 13In Brazil, the Lei Áurea abolishes the last remnants of slavery.

Africa3

• Mar 13The De Beers diamond mining conglomerate is founded by Cecil Rhodes in Kimberley, Northern Cape (South Africa).
• Oct 14Battle of Guté Dili: Seeking to extend Mahdist control over what is becomes southwestern Ethiopia, governor Khalil al-Khuzani is routed by an alliance of Shewan forces, under Ras Gobana Dacche and Moroda Bekere, ruler of Leqa Naqamte. Only a handful, including Khalil, barely manage to flee the battlefield.
• Oct 30The Rudd Concession, a written concession for exclusive mining rights in Matabeleland, Mashonaland and adjoining territories, is granted by King Lobengula of Matabeleland to Charles Rudd, James Rochfort Maguire and Francis Thompson, who are acting on behalf of South African-based politician and businessman Cecil Rhodes, providing a basis for white settlement of Rhodesia.