In the year 1891, paying of old age pensions begins in Germany (Jan 1), Jesse W. Reno patents the first escalator at Coney Beach (Mar 15), the Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago (Apr 1), Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes appears in the Strand Magazine in London for the first time (Jun 25), James Naismith invents baseball, production of the Swiss Army Knife (see the video below) by Victorinox begins, Nikola Tesla invents the Tesla coil - and all these fine people were born:
1891-0108 Walter Bothe* nuclear physicist/N - Oranienburg, German Empire (1957/66)
1891-0126 Ilya Ehrenburg* writer/ revolutionary/historian - Kiev, Russian Empire (1967/76)
1891-0126 Wilder Penfield* American-Canadian pioneering neurosurgeon/ philosopher - Spokane, WA USA (1976/85)
1891-0128
1891-0129 R. Norris Williams* American tennis player/Titanic survivor/investment banker - Geneva, Switzerland (1968/77)
1891-0130 Walter Beech* early aviation entrepreneur/co-founder of the Beech Aircraft Company - Pulaski, TN USA (1950/59)
1891-0207 Erik Bryggman* architect - Turku, GD of Finland (1955/64)
1891-0209 Pietro Nenni* socialist politician/senator - Faenza, Emilia, Italy (1980/88)
1891-0213 Grant Wood* painter (American Gothic) - Anamosa, IA USA (1942/50)
1891-0217 Saima Heleena Kujanpää** (b Hakoniemi) married to Arvi Aleksanteri Kujanpää - Ilmajoki, GD of Finland (1977/86)
1891-0222 Jan Wils* architect (Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam) - Alkmaar, Netherlands (1972/80)
1891-0310 Sam Jaffe* engineer/teacher/ actor - New York City, NY USA (1984/93)
1891-0319 Earl Warren* lawyer/chief justice - Los Angeles, CA USA (1974/83)
1891-0402 Max Ernst* painter - Brühl, German Empire (1976/84)
1891-0407 Ole Kirk Christiansen* carpenter/founder of the Lego Group - Filskov, Denmark (1958/66)
1891-0407 Eino Leino* carpenter/wrestler/OG/active in the U.S. - Kuopio, GD of Finland (1986/95)
1891-0413 Nella Larsen* nurse/ librarian/novelist - Chigago, IL USA (1964/72)
1891-0417 George Adamski* ufologist - Bromberg, German Empire (1965/74)
1891-0422 Belle Bennett* actress - Milaca, MN USA (1932/41)
1891-0423 Sergei Prokofiev* composer - Sontsovka, Russian Empire (1953/61)
1891-0426 Lucy Mercer Rutherford* mistress of FDR - Washington, D.C. USA (1948/57)
1891-0427 Sergei Prokofiev* pianist/composer/conductor - Sontsovka, Ukraine, Russian Empire (1953/61)
1891-0501
1891-0510 Mahmoud Mokhtar* sculptor - Douar skouila, Egypt (1934/42)
1891-0513 Frank Beaurepaire* swimmer/OS/ politician/businessman - Melbourne, Australia
1891-0515 Mikhail Bulgakov* physician/ writer/playwright - Kyiv, Ukraine, Russian Empire (1940/48)
1891-0515 Cecil Jenkinson* cricketer - Ilford, Essex, England (1980/89)
1891-0515 Nipo T. Strongheart* Native American filmmaker/performer in Wild West shows/w white father - White Swan, WA USA (1966/75)
1891-0520
1891-0521 Uuno Montonen* actor - Viipuri, GD of Finland (1973/81)
1891-0523 Pär Lagerkvist* author/poet/playwright/N - Växjö, Sweden (1974/83)
1891-0531
1891-0608 Audrey Munson* artist’s model/actress/centenarian - Rochester, NY USA (1996/104)
1891-0609 Cole Porter* composer/songwriter - Peru, IN USA (1964/73)
1891-0617 Olga Picasso* (b Khokhlova) ballet dancer/the first wife of Pablo Picasso - Nizhyn, Russian Empire (1955/63)
1891-07xx Shloyme Bastomski* Yiddish writer/educator/folklorist - Vilna, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (1941/49)
1891-0705 John Howard Northrop* biochemist/N - Yonkers, NY USA (1987/95)
1891-0707 Virginia Rappe* model/ actress - Chicago, IL USA (1921/30)
1891-0710 Edith Quimby* medical researcher/physicist - Rockford, IL USA (1982/91)
1891-0721 Julius Saaristo* athlete (javelin/OS)/soldier in both German and Finnish army - Tampere, GD of Finland (1969/78)
1891-0722 James Leo Meehan* screenwriter/ film director - Illinois, USA (1943/52)
1891-0725
1891-0726 Margaret Staal-Kropholler* the first woman in the Netherlands to practice as a professional architect/sister of A. J. Kropholler - Haarlem, Netherlands (1966/75)
1891-0801 Charles Ritz* son of the Swiss hotelier César Ritz/hotelier/fly fishing specialist - France (1976/84)
1891-0814 Joy Young Rogers* suffragist/editor of The Suffragist - Falls Church, VA USA (1953/62)
1891-0815 Chief Yowlachie* Native American actor - Yakima, WA USA (1966/74)
1891-0823 Minna Craucher* (b Aalto) socialite/ spy/political schemer - Pirkkala, GD of Finland (1932/40)
1891-0901
1891-0909 Ida Eise* artist/ art teacher - Auckland, New Zealand (1978/86)
1891-0910
1891-0913 Julie Winnefred Bertrand* Canadian supercentenarian - Montreal, QC Canada (2007/115)
1891-0930
1891-1001
1891-1006 David Sholtz* lawyer/ Governor of Florida - Brooklyn, NY USA (1953/61)
1891-1010 Ingrid Christensen* polar explorer - Norway (1976/84)
1891-1011 Georg Copeland Ault* painter - Cleveland, OH USA (1948/57)
1891-1012 Edith Stein* canonized nun/philosopher - Breslau, German Empire (1942/50)
1891-1018 Brenda Bell* pioneer amateur radio operator - Otago, New Zealand (1979/87)
1891-1020 James Chadwick* physicist/N - Bollington, Cheshire, England (1974/82)
1891-1020 Poul Hansen* wrestler/OS - Ubberud, Denmark (1948/57)
1891-1030
1891-1101
1891-1107 Miriam Cooper* actress/lecturer about silent films - Baltimore, MD USA (1976/84)
1891-1108 Viljo Kujala* botanist - Sippola, GD of Finland (1977/75)
1891-1110
1891-1114 Frederic Banting* physicist/medical scientist - Alliston, ON Canada (1941/49)
1891-1115 Erwin Rommel* Field marshall - Heidenheim, German Empire (1944/52)
1891-1117 Jean Del Val* (b Gauthier) French-American actor - Reims, France (1975/83)
1891-1117 Frank Fay* stand-up comedian/actor - San Francisco, CA USA (1961/69)
1891-1130
1891-1201
1891-1210 Daniel Pesu* painter - Sortavala, GD of Finland (1956/65)
1891-1210 Nelly Sachs* poet/playwright/N - Berlin-Schöneberg, German Empire (1970/78)
1891-1215 George Halonen* (b Yrjö Halonen) Finnish-American journalist/ consumer cooperative activist - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1954/62)
1891-1220
1891-1222 Georg Öhman* vetenarian/son of town physician Georg Öhman - Loviisa, GD of Finland (1957/65)
1891-1224 Iisak Hautamäki** son of Juho Jaakonpoika Hautamäki - Ilmajoki, GD of Finland (1966/74)
1891-1225 Vera Deakin White* Red Cross active/humanitarian - South Yarra, VIC Australia (1978/)
1891-1226 Heikki Kähkönen* wrestler/OS - Rääkkylä, GD of Finland (1962/70)
1891-1226 Henry Miller* author - Manhattan, NY USA (1980/88)
1891-1231
1891-0
1891-0
1891-0
Updated 2025-0429 Helsinki-Tallinn
Search for another year here