February 21 » An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.
April 6 » In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
April 15 » Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
May 26 » Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.
June 2 » Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
July 9 » William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I6867.php : accessed January 14, 2026), "Petrus Cornelius Gillespie (1896-1955)".
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