About the day » Sunday March 31, 1878Calender converter

• Albertus Hensen, Waalwijk,,Nederland
• Adriaan Lepoeter, Wolphaartsdijk († 1958)
• Adriaantje Leentje Reinhoud († 1963)
• Anna Spanjaart., Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude, Noord Holland, Nedelrand
• Albertus Hensen, Waalwijk, Noord-Brabant, Nederland († 1963)
• Anna Amanda Conrad, Annaberg, Sachsen, Duitsland († 1945)
• Adrianus Josephus van Bennekom-, Harmelen, Nederland († 1950)
• Adriaan Lepoeter, Wolphaartsdijk, Nederland († 1958)
• Amelia Wacker, Menno, Hutchinson, South Dakota, United States († 1938)
• Agatha Zomer, Haarlemmermeer, Noord-Holland, Nederland († 1943)

• Anna Bolander- (1), Westbroek, Nederland
• Adriana Constant van der Schaft (80), Haamstede
• Aaltje Broekhuizen (1), Elburg
• Alida Wijngaard (0), Veendam, Nederland
• Antje Jelkes Waltje (53), Kollum, gem. Kollumerland c.a., Friesland, Nederland
• Arie Senechal (79), Utrecht, Utrecht, Nederland
• Adrianus Pas (2), Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Nederland
• Anna Maria van Eerd (29), Erp, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Andries Adrianus Emmelot (2), Utrecht, Utrecht, Nederland
• Anna Ceelen (0), Oss

• 1871 » Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist and politician, 3rd President of Dáil Éireann († 1922)
• 1872 » Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet manager and critic, founded the Ballets Russes († 1929)
• 1874 » Benjamín G. Hill, Mexican revolutionary general, governor of Sonora († 1920)
• 1874 » Henri Marteau, French violinist and composer († 1934)
• 1876 » Borisav Stanković, Serbian author († 1927)
• 1878 » Jack Johnson, American boxer († 1946)
• 1884 » Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer and academic († 1946)
• 1885 » Pascin, Sephardi Jewish Bulgarian-American painter and illustrator († 1930)
• 1890 » Ben Adams, American jumper († 1961)
• 1890 » William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate († 1971)

• 1850 » John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782)
• 1855 » Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1816)
• 1877 » Antoine Augustin Cournot, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1801)
• 1880 » Henryk Wieniawski, Polish violinist and composer (b. 1835)
• 1885 » Franz Abt, German composer and conductor (b. 1819)
• 1907 » Galusha A. Grow, American lawyer and politician, 28th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1823)
• 1910 » Jean Moréas, Greek poet, essayist and art critic (b. 1856)
• 1913 » J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier (b. 1837)
• 1915 » Wyndham Halswelle, English-Scottish runner and captain (b. 1882)
• 1917 » Emil von Behring, German physiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)

• Koning Willem III (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1849 till 1890 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from November 3, 1877 to August 20, 1879 the cabinet Kappeijne van de Coppello, with Mr. J. Kappeijne van de Coppello (liberaal) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 4.0 million citizens.
• January 9 » Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
• January 28 » Yale Daily News becomes the first independent daily college newspaper in the United States.
• May 25 » Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
• June 15 » Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
• July 1 » Canada joins the Universal Postal Union.
• October 22 » The Bramall Lane stadium sees the first rugby match played under floodlights.

The temperature on March 31, 1878 was about 7.8 °C. There was 0.4 mm of rain. The air pressure was 10 kgf/m² and came mainly from the west-southwest. The airpressure was 75 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 53%.