WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO MAY 1881
Find out what all happened January to May 1881

Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. (Gregorian date: it was March 1 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.) (13. March 1881)

The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1). (16. February 1881)

Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of Teetotalism by the Salvation Army. (27. March 1881)

Battle of Majuba Hill, The last major battle of the First Boer War. (27. February 1881)

The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.. (21. May 1881)

China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty. (24. February 1881)

Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company. (25. January 1881)

In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle. (16. April 1881)

Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again. (26. March 1881)

Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico. (18. April 1881)

Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain. (12. March 1881)

In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate. (12. May 1881)

Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women. (11. April 1881)

The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert. (13. February 1881)

The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought in El Paso, Texas. (14. April 1881)