1888 In London

In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late as 2888, which has 14 digits.

Events

January–March

* January 3 – The 91-centimeter telescope at Lick Observatory in California is first used.
* January 12 – The Schoolhouse Blizzard hits Dakota Territory, the states of Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, leaving 235 dead, many of them children on their way home from school.
* January 13 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
* January 21 – The Amateur Athletic Union is founded by William Buckingham Curtis in the United States.
* January 26 – The Lawn Tennis Association is founded in England.
* February 6 – Gillis Bildt becomes Prime Minister of Sweden (1888–1889).
* February 27 – In West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison meets with Eadweard Muybridge, who proposes a scheme for sound film.
* March 8 – The Agriculture College of Utah (later Utah State University) is founded in Logan, Utah.
* March 9 – Wilhelm I dies, Frederick III becomes German Emperor and King of Prussia.
* March 11 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
* March 13 – De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. is founded in Kimberley.
* March 15 – The Sikkim Expedition, a British military expedition to expel the Tibetans from northern Sikkim, begins.
* March 16 – The foundation stone for a new National Library of Greece is laid in Athens.
* March 20 – The first Romani language operetta premieres in Moscow, Russia.
* March 23 – A meeting called by William McGregor, to discuss establishment of The Football League, is held in London.
* March 25 – Opening 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.

April–June

* April 3
** London 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.
** The Brighton Beach Hotel in Coney Island (New York) is moved , using six steam locomotives, by civil engineer B. C. Miller, to save it from ocean storms.
* April 6 – The first New Year's Day is observed, of the solar calendar adopted by Siamese King Chulalongkorn, with the 106th anniversary of Bangkok's founding in 1782 as its epoch (reference date).
* April 11 – The Concertgebouw orchestra in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
* April 16 – The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru.
*April 18 - Westminster School is founded in Simsbury, Connecticut
* April 21 – The Texas State Capitol building, completed at a cost of $3 million, opens to the public in Austin.
* May 1 – Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is established by the United States Congress.
* May 8 – The International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow opens (continues to November).
* May 10 – Nippon Oil Corporation, predecessor of Eneos, a petroleum and gas energy brand in Japan, is founded in Niigata Prefecture.
* May 12 – The North Borneo Chartered Company's territories (including Sabah) become the British protectorate of North Borneo.
* May 13 – In Brazil, the ''Lei Áurea'' abolishes the last remnants of slavery.
* May 26 – The comic novel ''The Diary of a Nobody'' by brothers George and Weedon Grossmith begins serialization in ''Punch'' (London).
* May 28 – In Glasgow (Scotland), Celtic F.C. plays its first official match, winning 5–2 against Rangers F.C.
* May 30 – Hong Kong's Peak Tram begins operation.
* June 2 – Edward King (bishop of Lincoln) in England is called to account for using ritualistic practices in Anglican worship.
* June 3
** The Kingdom of Sedang is formed, in modern-day Vietnam.
** American writer Ernest Thayer's baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" is first published (under the pen name "Phin") as the last of his humorous contributions to ''The San Francisco Examiner''.
* June 14 – The White Rajahs territories become the British protectorate of Sarawak.
* June 15 – Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor and King of Prussia; 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.
* June 19 – In Chicago, the Republican Convention opens at the Auditorium Building. Benjamin Harrison and Levi P. Morton win the nominations for President and Vice President of the United States, respectively.
* June 29 – Handel's ''Israel in Egypt'' is recorded onto wax cylinder at The Crystal Palace in London, the earliest known recording of classical music.
* June 30 – The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom opens its laboratory, on Plymouth Hoe.

July–September

* July 2– 27 – London 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.
* July 15 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, A large scale eruption and ash smoke hit around Mount Bandai area, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, more than 477 people were killed.
* July 25 – Frank Edward McGurrin, a court stenographer from Salt Lake City, Utah, purportedly the only person using touch typing at this time, wins a decisive victory over Louis Traub in a typing contest held in Cincinnati, Ohio. This date can be called the birthday of the touch typing method that is widely used in modern times.
* August 1 – Carl Benz is issued with the world's first driving licence by the Grand Duchy of Baden.
* August 5 – Bertha Benz arrives in Pforzheim having driven from Mannheim in a car manufactured by her husband Karl Benz, thus completing the first "long-distance" drive in the history of the automobile.
* August 7 – Whitechapel murders: The body of London prostitute Martha Tabram is found, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper.
* August 9
** A fire destroys the Main Building, the heart of Wells College in Aurora, New York, causing a loss of $130,000.
** The Oaths Act permits the oath of allegiance taken to the Sovereign by Members of Parliament (MPs) to be affirmed, rather than sworn to God, thus confirming the ability of atheists to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
* August 10 – Dr Friedrich Hermann Wölfert’s motorised airship successfully completes the world’s first engine-driven flight, from Cannstatt to Kornwestheim in Germany.
* August 13 – The 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.
* August 20 – A mutiny at Dufile, Equatoria, results in the imprisonment of the Emin Pasha.
* August 22 – Earlies
evidence
of a death and injury by a meteorite in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
* August 24 –The first trams in Tallinn (Reval), horsecars, begin operation.
* August 28 – The longest date in Roman numerals (XXVIII-VIII-MDCCCLXXXVIII) occurs.
* August 31 – Whitechapel murders: The mutilated body of London prostitute Mary Ann Nichols is found; she is considered the first victim of Jack the Ripper.
* September 4
** In the United States, George Eastman registers the trademark ''Kodak'', and receives a patent for his camera, which uses roll film.
** Mohandas Gandhi embarks on the S.S. ''Clyde'' from Bombay for London.
* September 6 – Charles Turner becomes the first bowler in cricket to take 250 wickets in an English season – a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J. T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
* September 8
** The Great Herding ( es, El Gran Arreo) begins with thousands of sheep beeng herded from the Argentine outpost of Fortín Conesa to Santa Cruz near the Strait of Magellan.
** Whitechapel murders: The mutilated body of London prostitute Annie Chapman is found (considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper).
** In England, the first six Football League matches are played.
** In a letter accepting renomination as President of the United States, Grover Cleveland declares the Chinese "impossible of assimilation with our people and dangerous to our peace and welfare".
* September 17 – Las Cruces College (later New Mexico State University) is founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
* September 27
** Whitechapel murders: The 'Dear Boss letter' signed "Jack the Ripper", the first time the name is used, is received by London's Central News Agency.
** Stanley Park is officially opened by Vancouver (B.C.) mayor David Oppenheimer.
* September 30 – Whitechapel 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.

October–December

* October 1 – Sofia University officially opens, becoming the first university in liberated Bulgaria.
* October 2 – The Whitehall Mystery: Dismembered remains of a woman's body are discovered at three central London locations, one being the construction site of the police headquarters at New Scotland Yard.
* October 9 – The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public in Washington, D.C.
* October 14
** Louis 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'').
** Battle of Guté Dili: Seeking to extend Mahdist control over what is now 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.
* October 25 – St Cuthbert's Society at the University of Durham in England is founded, after a general meeting chaired by the Reverend Hastings Rashdall.
* October 30 – The 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.
* November 6 – 1888 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.
* November 8 – Joseph Assheton Fincher files a patent in the United Kingdom for the parlour game which he calls " Tiddledy-Winks".
* November 9 – Whitechapel 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.
* November 16 – First signs of famine in Ethiopia, caused by drought combined with early spread of the 1890s African rinderpest epizootic.
* November 20 – The first St V parade by students is held in Brussels.
* November 27 – International sorority Delta Delta Delta is founded at Boston University in the United States.
* November 29 – The celebration of Thanksgiving (United States) and the first day of Hanukkah coincide.
* December 7 – John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tyre in the United Kingdom.
* December 17 – The Lyric Theatre (London) opens.
* December 18 – Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law discover the Indian ruins of Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado.
* December 23 – During 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.

Date unknown

* The dolphin Pelorus Jack is first sighted in Cook Strait, New Zealand.
* The Camborne School of Mines is founded in Cornwall, England.
* John Robert Gregg first publishes Gregg shorthand in the United States.
* Rudyard Kipling's short story collection ''Plain Tales from the Hills'' is published in Calcutta, India.
* The Finnish epic ''Kalevala'' is published for the first time in the English language, by American linguist John Martin Crawford.
* The Baldwin School is founded in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, as "Miss lorenceBaldwin's School for Girls, Preparatory for Bryn Mawr College".
* Chin Gee Hee