1875

In the ISO 8601 calendar, 1875 is defined as the year the Convention du Mètre was originally signed, by way of a reference year.

Events of 1875

January 1 - Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British Railway companies follow Midland's lead during the rest of the year (Third Class is renamed Second Class in 1956).
January 12 - Kwang-su becomes emperor of China.
February 24 - The SS Gothenburg sinks off the Australian east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.
February 25 - The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes are forced by the U.S. Cavalry under command of Brigadier General George Crook to walk at gunpoint from the Arizona's Verde Valley, to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes are not allowed to return to the Verde Valley until 1900.
February 27 - Newton Booth, 11th Governor of California, resigns, having been elected Senator. Lieutenant Governor of California Romualdo Pacheco becomes acting Governor. He is later replaced by elected governor William Irwin.
March 1 - The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty.
March 3 - Bizet’s Carmen is first performed at the Opéra Comique, Paris.
March 3 - The first organized indoor game of ice hockey is played between two pick-up teams at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal.

April 10 - The Arya Samaj is founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda.
April 25 - Ten sophomores from Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) steal a one-ton cannon from the campus of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and start the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War.
May 7

May 17 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
May 20 - The Convention du Mètre is signed in Paris.
June 4 - Two American colleges play each other in arguably the first game of College Football : Tufts University and Harvard University at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Mass..
June (date unknown) - The record-setting clipper Flying Cloud is burned for scrap metal.

August 25 - Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel.
September 1 - A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.
September 7 - Battle of Agurdat: An Egyptian invasion of Ethiopia fails when Emperor Yohannes IV defeats an army led by Werner Munzinger.

October 15 - Chief Lone Horn of the Minneconjou dies at the Cheyenne River, leaving his son Big Foot as the new chief.
October 16 - Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
October 25 - The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts with Hans von Bülow as soloist.
October 30 - The Theosophical Society is founded in New York by Helena Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others.
November 9 - Indian Wars: In Washington, D.C., Indian Inspector E.C. Watkins issues a report stating that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are hostile to the United States (the Battle of the Little Bighorn is fought in Montana the next year).
November 16 - Battle of Gundat: Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes defeats another Egyptian army.
December 4 - Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then to Spain.
December 9 - The Massachusetts Rifle Association, "America's Oldest Active Gun Club", is formed.
December 25 - The first Edinburgh derby is played: The Hearts win 1-0 against the Hibs.

Wimbledon: Henry Cavendish Jones convinces the "All England Croquet Club" to replace a croquet court with a lawn tennis court.
The Tong wars begin in San Francisco.
The Hibernian F.C. is founded in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Birmingham City F.C. is founded in Small Heath, Birmingham, England.
The Artisan's and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 is passed.
The Ottoman state declares partial bankruptcy and places its finances in the hands of European creditors.
Convent Scandal: During the winter in Montreal, typhoid strikes at a convent school. The corpses of the victims are filched by body-snatchers before relatives arrive from America, causing much furor. Eventually the Anatomy Act of Quebec is changed over it.