January 1915

January 1, 1915 (Friday)

The Royal Navy battleship HMS Formidable was sunk off Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, by an Imperial German Navy U-boat with the loss of 547 crew.

The Panama–California Exposition officially opened in San Diego with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson ceremoniously pushing a telegraph button in Washington, D.C. that turned on the power and lights at the park. The exposition, which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, would host 3.7 million visitors over the next two years.

No. 8 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was established at Saint-Omer, France while at the same time No. 10 Squadron was established at Farnborough Airport, Farnborough, Hampshire, England.

Charles Whitman became the 41st Governor of New York which he would serve until 1918.

Toronto held a municipal election with Tommy Church defeating Jesse McCarthy after incumbent mayor Horatio Clarence Hocken chose not to run. Church received over 26,000 votes while McCarthy had over 19,500.

The Battle of Broken Hill — A train ambush near Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, was carried out by two men (claiming to be in support of the Ottoman Empire) who were killed together with four civilians.

The Ilford rail crash in Essex, England killed ten people and injured another 500 passengers.

New Zealand aviator Vivian Walsh flew a Curtiss-type flying boat at Bastion Point, the first time such an aircraft was flown in the Southern Hemisphere.

Harry Houdini performed a straitjacket escape performance.

The Mumbai Port Trust Railway opened for public use, becoming a critical railroad of the Allies during World War Two.

The Tennōji Zoo opened to the public in Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan.

The sports alliance club Kristiania BK was founded through a merger of three separate clubs to provide association football, Nordic skiing, and bandy to Kristiania, Oslo, Norway. The club took on another club in 1925 to becoming Skeid, but still retained many of the club colors established in 1915.

Born: Branko Ćopić, Bosnian writer, known for such works as Orlovi rano lete (Eagles Fly Early), in Hašani, Bosnia-Herzegovina (d. 1984, by suicide); Alastair Mars, British naval officer and writer, commander of the submarine HMS Unbroken and author of its story Unbroken, the story of a submarine, in St John's, Newfoundland (d. 1985); Donald Duffy, Australian sports physician and executive, president of the Melbourne Football Club from 1963 to 1974, in Mourilyan, Queensland, Australia (d. 1995)

January 2, 1915 (Saturday)

Russia began a major offensive against Austria-Hungary in the Carpathian Mountains that bordered between the two empires on the Eastern Front.

Battle of Sarikamish — Russian artillery inflicted further casualties on Ottoman forces to the point all commanders reported in they were too weak to attack. Although initially insisting the offensive continue at "full strength", Ottoman Minister of War Enver Pasha switched tactics to secure retreat routes by combining two Ottoman corps into a "left wing army."

Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, commander of the Russian Empire's armed forces, appealed to Great Britain to assist Russia in fighting the Ottoman Empire, setting the stage for the Dardanelles and Gallipoli Campaign.

The drama The Italian, directed by Reginald Barker and debuted acclaimed stage actor George Beban to the film screen, depicted the struggles of an Italian immigrant in Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City.The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.

Born: John Hope Franklin, American historian, specialized in African-American history showcased in his 1947 best-seller From Slavery to Freedom, in Rentiesville, Oklahoma (d. 2009)

Died: Karl Goldmark, Hungarian composer, known for classical works such as the opera Die Königin von Saba (b. 1830); Armand Peugeot, French industrialist, pioneer of the auto industry in France (b. 1849); Harry Speakman, English rugby union player, best known for this career with Runcorn RFC and a member of the 1888 British rugby tour of Australia and New Zealand (b. 1864)

January 3, 1915 (Sunday)

Battle of Sarikamish — Ottoman forces were driven out to the Choruk Valley in the Caucuses while other forces attacked the Russian line to relieve the pressure on Ottoman soldiers positioned in front of the city of Sarikamish.

The association football club Club Atlético Lanús was formed in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina from the merger of two earlier clubs, although the actual name wouldn't be chosen until January 27.

Born: Sid Hudson, American baseball player, pitcher for the Washington Senators 1940 to 1942 and 1946 to 1952, and Boston Red Sox from 1952 to 1954, in Coalfield, Tennessee (d. 2008); Mady Rahl, German stage and film actress known for roles such as Truxa, in Neukölln, Germany (d. 2009); Jack Levine, American painter and printmaker, member of the Boston Expressionism movement, in Boston (d. 2010)

Born: Robert Hurst, New Zealand nuclear physicist, first director of the Dounreay experimental fast breeder reactor from 1958 to 1963, in Nelson, New Zealand (d. 1996); John N. Dempsey, Irish-American politician, 81st Governor of Connecticut, in Cahir, Ireland (d. 1989); Frank Shozo Baba, Japanese-American radio announcer, one of the major announcers of Voice of America during World War Two, in Ayauta, Kagawa, Japan (d. 2008)

Died: James Elroy Flecker, English poet, known for such works as Hassan ... The Golden Journey to Samarkand, of tuberculosis while in Switzerland (b. 1884); Percy Illingworth, British politician, served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury under Prime Minister H. H. Asquith from 1912 to 1915 (b. 1869); William Strutt, English artist, known for paintings such as the portrait of Australian explorer Robert O'Hara Burke (b. 1825)

January 4, 1915 (Monday)

Battle of Sarikamish — Ottoman commander Hafiz Hakki Pasha toured the front line and concluded Ottoman forces would be unable to defend the line, after which he suggested headquarters give the order to fully retreat.

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry became the first Canadian troops sent to the front lines of the Western Front.

British submarine HMS C31 struck a mine off the Belgian coast and sank with all 16 crewmen on board.

Born: Meg Mundy, British-American actress, best known for her role as wealthy matriarch Mona Aldrich Croft on The Doctors from 1971 to 1982, in London (d. 2016); Pakhal Tirumal Reddy, Indian artist, member of the Modern Art movement in India, in Annaram, India (d. 1996); Benjamin Elazari Volcani, Israeli-American biologist, discovered organisms could live in the Dead Sea, in Ben Shemen, Ottoman Empire (d. 1999)

Died: Anton von Werner, German painter, best known for his paintings on modern German history including Martin Luthor at Worms and Proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles (b. 1843); Robert M. Wright, American politician and pioneer, founder of Dodge City, Kansas (b. 1840)

January 5, 1915 (Tuesday)

Second Battle of Edea — A force of 1,000 German colonial forces failed to recapture the village of Edéa on the Sanaga River from the French in what is now Cameroon.

Joseph E. Carberry set an altitude record of 11,690 feet (3,560 m), carrying Capt. Benjamin Delahauf Foulois as a passenger in a fixed-wing aircraft.

Born: Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian-American geographer and cartographer, developed the Robinson projection to show the map of the entire world on a 2-D surface, in Montreal (d. 2004)

Died: Jeanne Gerville-Réache, French opera singer, known for her lead roles in operas Samson and Delilah and Pelléas et Mélisande (b. 1882); Nagakura Shinpachi, Japanese law enforcer, captain of the Shinsengumi or Japan's first modern police force (b. 1839); Annie Adams Fields, wife to publisher James Thomas Fields, author of A Shelf of Old Books and the biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne (b. 1834)

January 6, 1915 (Wednesday)

Battle of Sarikamish — Russian forces advanced far enough it could fire on the headquarters of the Ottoman Third Army and captured entire divisions, including eight senior officers. Captives transferred to Sarikamish included 108 officers and 80 soldiers. Campaign commander Hafiz Hakki Pasha eluded capture and reached main headquarters where he formally ordered a full retreat.

The first and only attempt to use submarines to carry seaplanes was made by German submarine U-12 which lashed a Friedrichshafen FF.29 seaplane to her deck before departing from Zeebrugge for a strike on England. The seaplane was forced to take off early during a reconnoiter off the coast of Kent and fly all the way back to Zeebrugge when bad weather made returning to the sub impossible.

Public sentiment in Italy to enter World War One grew exponentially following a state funeral for a fallen officer of the Garibaldi Legion, a volunteer unit of 2,000 Italians fighting for France. An estimated 300,000 people attended including ambassadors from France, Great Britain, Russia, Belgium and Serbia. The unit, under command of Giuseppe Garibaldi II who was also brother to the deceased, were involved in the first and second battles for Argonne Forest and sustained 700 casualties before dissolving in March. Many of the Legion veterans enlisted in other Italian units when Italy formally entered the war in May.

Born: Don Edwards, American politician, U.S. Representative from California from 1963 to 1995, in San Jose, California (d. 2015); Julian Edwin Bailes, Sr., American judge, Louisiana 10th Judicial District Court from 1960 to 1972, and last living eyewitness to the assassination of Louisiana Governor Huey Long, in Longview, Texas (d. 2010)

Born: Bob Copper, English folk singer, patriarch of the folk singing group The Copper Family, in Rottingdean, England (d. 2004); Alan Watts, British-American philosopher, specializing in Zen Buddhism, author of The Way of Zen, in Chislehurst, England (d. 1973)

January 7, 1915 (Thursday)

Battle of Sarikamish — Remaining Ottoman forces began to retreat towards Erzurum in eastern Turkey.

Italy established the Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Aviation Corps) as air force branch of the Royal Italian Army.

Born: Helen Mussallem, Canadian nursing administrator, served as a surgical nurse and lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps during World War Two and as Executive Director of the Canadian Nurses Association from 1963 to 1981, in Prince Rupert, British Columbia (d. 2012); George W. Comstock, American physician, editor-in-chief to the American Journal of Epidemiology, in Niagara Falls, New York (d. 2007); Shadito Cruz, Mexican wrestler, patriarch of the Alvarado wrestling family, in Mexico City (d. 2003)

January 8, 1915 (Friday)

H.G. Bellinger of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was killed at Ypres, the first Canadian casualty in World War One.

January 9, 1915 (Saturday)

Members of the German navy landing party that were stranded in Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean after their command ship SMS Emden was damaged and beached during the Battle of Cocos finally reached the Middle Eastern port city Hodeida (now Al Hudaydah, Yemen) after hitch-hiking on a freighter.

The Woman's Peace Party was established at an organizational convention held in Washington, D.C. With over 100 delegates attending, Jane Addams was elected as president.

Newspaper publisher William D. Boyce founded the Lone Scouts of America, which existed parallel with the Boy Scouts of America until merging in 1924. It reported 30,000 members during its first year of activity.

Born: Anita Louise, American actress, best known for her performances in A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Story of Louis Pasteur, and Anthony Adverse, in New York City (d. 1970); Fernando Lamas, Argentine-American actor, known for his romantic film roles in Rich, Young and Pretty and The Law and the Lady, father to actor Lorenzo Lamas, in Buenos Aires (d. 1982)

Born: Ike Clarke, British association football player and manager, best known for playing with Portsmouth F.C. and scoring the goal that won the club's first league title, in Tipton, England (d. 2002); Dick Briefer, American comic book artist, best known his comic book series Target and the Targeteers and Frankenstein (d. 1980)

Died: Gonzalo de Quesada y Aróstegui, Cuban politician, key figure in the Cuba independence movement, recipient of the Legion of Honour from France (b. 1868); George Adam Clare, Canadian politician, member of the Parliament of Canada for Waterloo South from 1900 to 1915 (b. 1854)

January 10, 1915 (Sunday)

No. 13 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was established at Gosport, South Hampshire, England.

The British polar exploration ship Endurance, carrying explorer Ernest Shackleton and the rest of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition crew, arrived to meet 100-foot (30 m) ice walls which guarded the Antarctic coastal region of Coats Land.

Born: Dean Dixon, American conductor, noted symphony orchestra leader of African-American descent, in New York City (d. 1976); Buddy Johnson, American jazz pianist, known for composing famous jazz standards such as "Since I Fell for You", in Darlington, South Carolina (d. 1977)

Died: Marshall Pinckney Wilder, American actor known for his dwarfism (b. 1859)

January 11, 1915 (Monday)

Raid on the Suez Canal — Forces with the Ottoman Fourth Army under command of German General Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein numbering some 20,000 soldiers began assembling in southern Palestine. The Force in Egypt received word there was an Ottoman presence on the Sinai Peninsula.

Battle of Sarikamish — The remains of the Ottoman Third Army reach Erzurum in eastern Turkey only to learn reinforcements would not arrive after a Russian naval squadron in the Black Sea sunk the army's military transports.

The German South Army was formed to fight Russia on the Eastern Front. It was dissolved in 1918.

Born: Paddy Mayne, Irish soldier, co-founder of the Special Air Service, in Newtownards, Ireland (d. 1955); Veda Ann Borg, American actress, known for roles in Mildred Pierce, Guys and Dolls, and The Alamo, in Boston (d. 1973); Lucille Farrier Stickel, American biologist, director of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland from 1972 to 1982 (d. 2007); W. C. Heinz, American sports journalist, author of Death of a Racehorse and The Professional, in Mount Vernon, New York (d. 2008)

January 12, 1915 (Tuesday)

The United States House of Representatives voted 204-174 to reject a proposal for giving women the right to vote.

Carlos Meléndez became president El Salvador by acclamation when no other candidates ran in the presidential election.

A Fool There Was premiered in the United States starring Theda Bara as a femme fatale; she quickly becomes one of early cinema's most sensational stars. However, the British Board of Film Censors barred the film from being shown in Great Britain because of its depiction of an illicit sexual relationship.

Born: Margaret Danner, American poet, member of the Boone House Group in Detroit, first African-American editor of Poetry, in Pryorsburg, Kentucky (d. 1984); Joseph-Aurèle Plourde, Canadian clergy, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ottawa from 1967 to 1989, in Saint-François-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick (d. 2013)

Born: Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter, received an Academy Award nomination for Tom, Dick and Harry, in Los Angeles (d. 1997); Ruth Hurmence Green, American writer, known for her essays and books on atheism including The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible, in Sumner, Iowa (d. 1981)

Died: Samuel M. Inman, American businessman, developed Inman Park in Atlanta (b. 1843); Arisaka Nariakira, Japanese army officer, inventor of the Arisaka rifle (d. 1852)

January 13, 1915 (Wednesday)

An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy, registering 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale killed more than 30,000 people.

The First Battle of Artois ended with France still unable to break its stalemate with Germany on the Western Front.

The British auxiliary cruiser HMS Viknor struck a mine in the Atlantic Ocean off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland and sank with the loss of all 295 crew.

Raid on the Suez Canal — The Force in Egypt received intelligence Ottoman columns were moving along the Sinai coastline towards the Suez Canal.

German submarine SM U-31 went missing while on patrol in the North Sea. It was believed the sub had struck a mine off the east coast of the Great Britain and sank with the loss of all 31 crew.

Captain H. C. McNeile, an officer with the Royal Engineers, published his story in the series "Reminiscences of Sergeant Michael Cassidy", in the Daily Mail (London) under the pseudonym "Sapper".

Born: Jenny Lou Carson, American country singer and songwriter, first woman to write a country hit song ("You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often") in Decatur, Illinois (d. 1978)

Died: Mary Slessor, Scottish Christian missionary, known for her missionary work and promoting women's and children's rights in Nigeria (b. 1848); Robert G. Shaver, American army officer, served with the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War (date of birth unknown)

January 14, 1915 (Thursday)

Slope County, North Dakota was established, with its county seat in Amidon.

Born: Mark Goodson, American television game show producer, with Bill Todman produced many longest-running game shows for American television including The Price Is Right, Family Feud, and Match Game, in Sacramento, California (d. 1992); George Ansbro, American radio announcer, major announcer for NBC and ABC over six decades, in New York City (d. 2011)

Born: André Frossard, French journalist and French Resistance fighter, recipient of the Legion of Honor, in Saint-Maurice-Colombier, Doubs, France (d. 1995); Paul W. Brown, American judge, Associate Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court from 1964 to 1968 and 1973 to 1981, in Cleveland (d. 2000)

Died: Richard Meux Benson, English clergy, founder of the Anglican religious order Society of St. John the Evangelist (b. 1824)

January 15, 1915 (Friday)

The British War Council approved plans proposed by Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, to open a new front on the Ottoman Empire at the Gallipoli peninsula using British, Australian and New Zealand forces stationed in Egypt.

French submarine Saphir was sunk in the Dardanelles with the loss of fourteen of her 27 crew.

U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cushing was launched at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts by sponsor Miss M. L. Cushing, daughter of the ship's namesake, William B. Cushing, the U.S. naval officer best known for sinking the Confederate ironclad warship Albemarle during the American Civil War.

Norwegian feminist Katti Anker Møller delivered a ground-breaking lecture in Oslo on reproductive rights and decriminalizing abortion in Norway, stating "The basis for all freedom is the governance over one's own body and everything that is in it. The opposite is the condition of a slave."

British polar exploration ship Endurance came upon a massive glacier on the Antarctic coast. While the edge formed a bay that provided a good landing place for the land expedition party, leading explorer Ernest Shackleton considered it too far north of Vahsel Bay where he had intended for landing and would only consider under pressure of necessity".

The horror film The Golem, based on a supernatural creature from Jewish folklore, was released. Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen wrote and directed the film as well as appearing in it (with Wegner as the golem). Wegner would produce two more films featuring the creature, although only the third film survived in its complete form.

Born: Leo Mol, Ukrainian-Canadian stained-glass artist and sculptor, producer more than 300 sculptures and 80 church stained-glass windows for the city of Winnipeg, in Polonne, Russian Empire (d. 2009); Maria Lenk, Brazilian Olympic swimmer, held over five Master World Records for breaststroke, in São Paulo (d. 2007)

Died: William Shepherd Allen, British politician, Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme from 1865 to 1886, and Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Te Aroha from 1890 to 1891 (b. 1831); Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist, discovered the Umov-Poynting vector and Umov effect (b. 1846); Elwood Bruner, American politician, member of the California State Assembly from 1880 to 1881 and 1891 to 1893 (b. 1854)

January 16, 1915 (Saturday)

Ross Sea party — British polar ship Aurora arrived at the Ross Ice Shelf in the Antarctic and established a shore base at Cape Evans. The ship was a component of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition under command of Aeneas Mackintosh that was to lay out a series of supply depots across the ice shelf for the main polar expedition under command of Ernest Shackleton.

Constantine I of Greece established the Order of George I in honor of his father for Greek citizens that has given exceptional public service to Greece. The decoration was abolished twice and in 1973 replaced with the Order of Honour.

Gus Williams, a popular American vaudeville performer who was also an active campaigner behind the scenes in improving pay and work conditions for vaudeville performers, shot himself in a train station at Getty Square in Yonkers, New York City. Moments earlier, he sent a telegraph to his sister-in-law to look after his ailing wife Emma before leaving the office and putting a gun to his head. There was no suicide note.

Born: Leslie H. Martinson, American television and film director, best known for the 1966 Batman film as well as classic episodes from Maverick, Mission: Impossible, and Diff'rent Strokes, husband to columnist Connie Martinson, in Boston (d. 2016)

Died: Alfred Chapman, American real estate investor, co-founder of Orange, California (b. 1829)

January 17, 1915 (Sunday)

Battle of Sarikamish — The remaining Ottoman soldiers that had attempted to capture Sarikamish were rounded up in the woods outside the city while the Choruk Valley in the Caucuses was cleared out of Ottoman troops. The battle officially ended with the Ottoman Empire in defeat. The Ottoman Third Army was reduced to 42,000 men from 118,000, with casualties ranging from 50,000 to 60,000, including 7,000 imprisoned soldiers and 200 captured officers. Russian forces sustained 16,000 casualties, along with another 12,000 men lost to sickness, including exposure and frostbite.

Rival Arab royal houses Āl Rashīd and Āl Saʻūd clashed at the Battle of Jarrab north of Al Majma'ah. The battle resulted in victory of the Āl Rashīd but the only recorded casualty was British military adviser William Shakespear, who came in contact with Ibn Saud, the head of Āl Saʻūd, in the early 1900s. His death resulted in tensions between Ibn Saud and the British and may have had some influence in the Arab Revolt the following year.

The International Trade Union Educational League was established following the dissolution of the Syndicalist League of North America. Led by labor leader William Z. Foster, the organization was only active until 1917 when in-fighting and corruption charges dissolved the organization.

The ship Endurance reached a latitude of 76°27′S, where explorer Ernest Shackleton named the distant land Caird Coast, after his principal backer. The ship then took shelter in the lee of a grounded iceberg to wait out bad weather.

Born: Sammy Angott, American boxer, 1940 world lightweight champion, in Pittsburgh (d. 1980)

Died: Ida Aalberg, Finnish actress, co-founding actor for the Finnish National Theatre (b. 1857); Stephen Furdek, Slovakian priest, co-founder of the First Catholic Slovak Union (b. 1855); Lamon V. Harkness, American businessman, largest stakeholder in Standard Oil (b. 1850)

January 18, 1915 (Monday)

Prime Minister of Japan Ōkuma Shigenobu and Foreign Minister Katō Takaaki drafted the initial list Twenty-One Demands which called upon Japan aggressively expanding its control of key ports, railways, mines and other resources and settlements in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and other Chinese provinces.

Battle of Ardahan — Russian defenders successful repelled an attacking Ottoman force after 17 days of siege on Ardahan, a border city between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.

Battle of Jassin — German colonial forces attacked a city occupied by the British Indian Army on the border between British East Africa and German East Africa.

British submarine HMS E10 was lost in the North Sea.

The ship Endurance set course to the south towards Vahsel Bay after the weather broke. The ship only gained 14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi) before it was stopped altogether by the ice. The ship was at 76°34′S 31°30′W where it would remain trapped in ice for months.

Born: Santiago Carrillo, Spanish politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982, in Gijón, Asturias, Spain (d. 2012); Syl Apps, Canadian hockey player and politician, played center for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1936 to 1948, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1975, in Paris, Ontario (d. 1998); Kaúlza de Arriaga, Portuguese military officer, commander of Portuguese forces during the Mozambican War of Independence, in Lisbon (d. 2004)

Died: Anatoly Stessel, Russian army officer, head officer of the Russian forces during the Japanese assault on Shuishiying during the Russo-Japanese War (b. 1848); Thomas Bain, Canadian politician, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons from 1898 to 1901 (b. 1834)

Died: William R. Ellis, U.S. Representative for Oregon from 1893 to 1899 (b. 1850); Charles Henry Tompkins, American army officer, recipient of the Medal of Honor for the Battle of Fairfax Court House during the American Civil War (b. 1830)

January 19, 1915 (Tuesday)

Battle of Jassin — British forces surrendered at Jassin after two days of fighting. The battle cost 86 lives and 200 wounded but did little to improve defenses between the colonial British East Africa and German East Africa.

Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf — The first of a series of battles began between the France and the Germany over Hartmannswillerkopf peak in the Vosges mountains that border between France and Germany in Alsace region. German forces attempted to capture the summit but failed to dislodge a French force already dug in there.

German Zeppelins bombed the coastal towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in England for the first time, killing more than 20 people.

General elections were held in Malta with six out of the eight seats contested.

The Yeomanry Mounted Brigade was established Egypt and would serve in the Gallipoli Campaign months later.

The Order of the Lily and the Eagle was established in Cairo.

Georges Claude patented the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

Born: Adrian Lombard, British aeronautical engineer, developer of the Rolls-Royce Conway turbo jet engine, in Coventry, England (d. 1967)

Died: Abram J. Buckles, American soldier and judge, recipient for the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of the Wilderness during the American Civil War (b. 1846)

January 20, 1915 (Wednesday)

German light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden was launched at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin (then part of Germany). The Imperial German Navy ship would participate in the Battle of Jutland the following year.

British cruiser HMS Conquest was launched at Chatham Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, England.

Born: Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani politician, 7th President of Pakistan, in Ismail Khel, British India (d. 2006); Richard Potter, Canadian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1975 and cabinet minister for Premier Bill Davis, in Belleville, Ontario, (d. 2009)

Died: Arthur Guinness, Irish businessman and philanthropist, member and co-owner of the Guinness brewery, established St Stephen's Green park in Dublin (b. 1840)

January 21, 1915 (Thursday)

Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf — German forces beat back French forces attempting to relieve fellow troops defending Hartmannswillerkopf peak, with each side losing over 1,000 men.

German submarine U-22 mistook fellow Imperial German Navy sub U-7 for an enemy vessel in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands and torpedoed it, killing all but one of her 25 crew.

Kiwanis was founded in Detroit, as The Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order Brothers. It would become the organization's original club and within 15 years would grow to more than 100,000 members.

Born: André Lichnerowicz, French mathematician, leading researcher in differential geometry, in Bourbon-l'Archambault, France (d. 1998)

January 22, 1915 (Friday)

A train from Guadalajara, Mexico derailed and plunged into a canyon, killing over 600 passengers.

Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf — French soldiers on Hartmannswillerkopf summit surrendered after running out ammunition and supplies. However, both France and Germany consolidated forces as France intended to retake the peak, leading to more battles for the summit later in 1915.

Siege of Mora – The Allies in Kamerun attempted to force the German defenders on the Mora mountain into surrendering by cutting off food and water sources at the start of the dry season.

British colonial physician Gerard H. L. Fitzwilliams was elected for a third time to the Hong Kong sanitary board, and along with British expatriate and solicitor P. W. Goldring.

Born: Heinrich Albertz, German politician, Governing Mayor of West Berlin from 1966 to 1967, in Breslau, Germany (now Poland) (d. 1993); Tom Burtt, New Zealand cricketer, played ten Tests from 1947 to 1953, in Christchurch (d. 1988); George A. Blair, American amateur water skier, held several water-skiing entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, in Toledo, Ohio (d. 2013)

Died: Anna Bartlett Warner, hymn songwriter, author of "Jesus Loves Me" (b. 1827); James M. Spangler, American inventor, inventor of the first portable electric vacuum cleaner (b. 1848)

January 23, 1915 (Saturday)

An Austro-Hungarian force of 175,000 men launched an offensive against the Russian in the Carpathian Mountains.

Chilembwe uprising — Baptist minister John Chilembwe organised an ultimately unsuccessful uprising against British colonial rule in Nyasaland, Africa (now Malawi). Chilembwe preached African independence through a form of Millenarianism through the Providence Industrial Mission that attracted many followers, allowing enough to be willing to take arms. An armed group met at the mission that night where Chilembwo warned "...we will all die by the heavy storm of the whiteman's army.The whitemen will then think, after we are dead, that the treatment they are treating [sic] our people is bad, and they might change to the better for our people."

The final spike was driven on the transcontinental Canadian Northern Railway at Basque, British Columbia.

Idaho established new counties in its state: Benewah County with Coeur d'Alene as its county seat, and Boundary County with Bonners Ferry as its county seat.

Born: W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian-British economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on development economics, in Castries, Saint Lucia (d. 1991)

Died: Anne Whitney, American sculptor and poet, known for public sculptures of historical figures such as Samuel Adams (1876) located in the National Statuary Hall Collection of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C., and Leif Ericson (1887) in Boston and a second edition the same year in Milwaukee (b. 1821)

January 24, 1915 (Sunday)

Battle of Dogger Bank — The British Grand Fleet defeated the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, sinking the German armoured cruiser SMS Blücher with a loss of 792 sailors and disabling the German battleship SMS Seydlitz (killing 159 of its crew).

Battle of Dogger Bank — The Germans first used their airship Zeppelins in a naval battle, when one attempted to engage one of the British light cruisers. After being pushed back by gunfire, it tried to track the action and pass on information to commanding German admiral, Franz von Hipper, although the contributions to battle were minimal at best.

Chilembwe uprising — Rebel leader John Chilembwe split up his rebel group, sending one group to the towns of Blantyre and Limbe in hopes of liberating weapons from stores owned by the African Lakes Company. The other group went to a plantation owned by A L Bruce Estates, the largest agricultural estate owner in the African colony of Nyasaland, in search of more weapons. The raid on the plantation resulted in the deaths of three white men and one African servant. Chilembwe also sent a letter to the Governor of German East Africa requesting military and diplomatic support from Germany, but the letter was intercepted and never received.

Ross Sea party — Aeneas Mackintosh, leader of the British Ross Sea party expedition, ordered sledge parties to set up supply depots at Minna Bluff and further south along the Great Ice Barrier in the Antarctic. Despite safety concerns raised by Ernest Joyce, a veteran of previous Antarctic exploration who was in charge of organizing the sledge parties, Mackintosh was weeks behind schedule and insisted the depots be set up for the main party of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Born: Robert Motherwell, American painter, member of the abstract expressionist New York School, in Aberdeen, Washington (d. 1991)

Died: Charles Taylor, British naval officer and rugby player, played for the Blackheath F.C. and served on the HMS Tiger, killed at Battle of Dogger Bank (b. 1863)

January 25, 1915 (Monday)

Chilembwe uprising — After capturing only a half a dozen rifles and ammunition from raiding, rebels loyal to John Chilembwe returned to his mission where they were met by soldiers with the King's African Rifles. The resulting battle resulted in the deaths of 20 rebels and two soldiers.

Raid on the Suez Canal — Ottoman troops were observed advancing on Qantara on the Sinai.

The first United States coast-to-coast long-distance telephone call, facilitated by a newly invented vacuum tube amplifier, was ceremonially inaugurated by Alexander Graham Bell in New York City and his former assistant Thomas A. Watson, in San Francisco, California.

The Imperial German Navy lost its first airship when a Zeppelin was forced down over the Baltic Sea by icing and engine failure while attempting to return to base after bombing Libau, Russia. Two Imperial Russian Navy minesweepers captured the seven-man crew and set the airship ablaze, destroying her.

Emory College was rechartered as Emory University, and planned to move its main campus from Oxford, Georgia to Atlanta.

Ross Sea party — Aeneas Mackintosh, leader of the British Ross Sea party expedition, left with the other sledge parties to set up supply depots for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, leaving chief officer Joseph Stenhouse in command of the polar ship Aurora.

Born: Ewan MacColl, English folk singer and songwriter, author of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", in Broughton, Salford, England (d. 1989)

January 26, 1915 (Tuesday)

Russian forces countered attacked the invading Austro-Hungarian Third Army in the Carpathian Mountains and began pushing them back towards Przemyśl in Galacia (now western Poland).

Raid on the Suez Canal — Ottoman forces began assaulting Qantara, which lay right on the Suez Canal, while another force of 6,000 Ottoman troops was spotted further east.

Chilembwe uprising — A group of rebels raided a Catholic mission at Nguludi, Nyasaland, Africa (now Malawi) while rebel leader John Chilembwe and many of his followers slipped past army blockades disguised as civilians. The rebels' church was then destroyed with dynamite, effectively ending the rebellion.

The 1st Canadian Division was formally mobilized for combat in France under command of British officer Lieutenant General Edwin Alderson.

The Rocky Mountain National Park was established by an act of the United States Congress.

American schooner SS Elizabeth Palmer sank in Atlantic Ocean off Fenwick Island, Delaware after colliding with the Washingtonian. The Washingtonian rescued the Palmer crew before foundering herself. All 52 sailors from both vessels were then rescued by SS Hamilton.

Teton County, Idaho was incorporated, with its county seat in Driggs.

Born: William Hopper, American actor, best known for the role of private detective Paul Drake in the TV series Perry Mason, son of actress and Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, in New York City, (d. 1970); K. S. Narasimhaswamy, Indian poet, recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, in the Mandya district, British India (d. 2003); Carlo Pietzner, Austrian-American artist and Special Needs educator, co-founder of the Camphill Movement, in Vienna (d. 1986)

Died: Mariano Noriel, Filipino army officer, general for the Philippines during the Philippine Revolution and Philippine–American War (b. 1864); Akaki Tsereteli, Georgian poet, wrote poetry and prose concerning Georgian nationalism including the famous folk song "Suliko" (b. 1840)

January 27, 1915 (Wednesday)

Raid on the Suez Canal — British forces lost the main coastal road between Qantara at the Suez Canal and El Arish that bordered Palestine.

Military casualties began arriving at the Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois, established earlier in the month.

Born: Jack Brymer, English musician, played clarinet for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in South Shields, England (d. 2003)

January 28, 1915 (Thursday)

An act of the United States Congress designated the United States Coast Guard, begun in 1790, as a military branch.

Born: Nien Cheng, Chinese-American writer, best known for the memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution titled Life and Death in Shanghai, in Beijing (d. 2009); Arthur Guepe, American football player and coach, head coach at the University of Virginia from 1946 to 1952 and Vanderbilt University from 1953 to 1962 (d. 2001); George X. Schwartz, American politician, member of the Philadelphia City Council from 1960 to 1980, in New York City (d. 2010)

January 29, 1915 (Friday)

German saboteur Werner Horn left from Grand Central Station in New York City with a suitcase of dynamite for Maine to damage the Saint Croix–Vanceboro Railway Bridge, which was a major railway international border crossing over the St. Croix River between St. Croix, New Brunswick, Canada to Vanceboro, Maine, United States.

British newspaper publisher Arthur Pearson, who was legally blind, established The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee for British soldiers blinded by trauma or in gas attacks during World War One. The committee eventually formed the charity organization Blind Veterans UK.

Born: John Serry, Sr., American musician and composer, best known for his accordion performance on CBS Radio and CBS Television, in New York City (d. 2003); Bill Peet, American children's illustrator and story writer, best known for his work with Disney on most of its classic movies from 1940s to 1950s including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Cinderella, in Grandview, Indiana (d. 2002); Megan Boyd, British sports angler, recipient of the British Empire Medal, in Surrey, England (d. 2001)

Died: Ole Andres Olsen, Norwegian-American religious leader, president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1888 to 1897 (b. 1845)

January 30, 1915 (Saturday)

U.S. Representative Richard Bartholdt of Missouri was elected president of the American Independence Union during a day-long conference in Washington D.C.. The organization was to lobby the U.S. Government to remain neutral through World War One.

Born: John Profumo, British politician, Secretary of State for War from 1960 to 1963, in London (d. 2006); Dorothy Dell, American actress, known for her roles in Little Miss Marker and Shoot the Works, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (d. 1934, killed in an auto accident)

Born: Joachim Peiper, German Waffen-SS during World War Two, personal adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, in Berlin (d. 1976, assassinated); Wilhelm Schilling, German Luftwaffe fighter pilot during World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, in Kamenz, Germany (now Poland) (d. 2000)

January 31, 1915 (Sunday)

Raid on the Suez Canal — British forces prepared for the first major offensive by an estimated 13,500 Ottoman troops to capture the canal.

Battle of Bolimów — Forces with the German Ninth Army attacked the Russian Second Army near the Polish village of Bolimów which contained a key railway line connecting Łódź and Warsaw. It was the first battle where Germany used poison gas on an enemy. But despite firing 18,000 artillery shells containing liquid xylyl bromide — a type of tear gas — on Russian lines, freezing temperatures prevented it from being effective. As a result, German commanders had to call off the attack, allowing the Russians to counterattack with 11 divisions. German artillery repelled the attack, inflicting 40,000 casualties. Germany also sustained 20,000 casualties.

The 8th Landwehr Division of the Imperial German Army was established.

Born: Alan Lomax, American folklorist and musicologist, best known for his recording contributions to the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress, in Austin, Texas (d. 2002); Thomas Merton, French-American monk and author, best known for his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain in Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales, France (d. 1968); Joseph Sarnoski, American bomber pilot for United States Army Air Forces during World War Two, member of the Old 666 bomber crew, bomber recipient of the Medal of Honor, in Simpson, Pennsylvania (d. 1943, killed during the Solomon Islands campaign)

Born: Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr., American race horse trainer, trained famous racehorses including Tom Rolfe and Ruffian, in Centreville, Maryland (d. 2008); Bobby Hackett, American jazz musician, played trumpet for Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 1976)