About the day » Sunday October 21, 1888Calender converter

• Adriaan van de Gruiter († 1973)
• Adrianus Goumare, Brouwershaven († 1960)
• Adrianus Lambertus Peek, Vianen, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Albertus Nijhuis, Losser, 7581, Nederland
• Anibal Azevedo, Bocaiúva do Sul, Paraná, Brasil († 1892)
• Adam Joseph VROMEN, Kerkrade (NL/LI) († 1889)
• Adrianus Gijsbertus Oorschot, Kralingen
• Aaltje van VOORST, Deventer, Overijssel, Nederland († 1890)
• Aafke Koopmans, Ooststellingwerf, Friesland, Nederland († 1896)
• Adriana den Boer, Vlaardingen

• Anna Cornelia Knook (63), Zevenbergen, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Aisso Bosscher (2), Appingedam
• Anna Elizabeth Zwikker (4), Meppel, Drenthe, Nederland
• Betje Izaacs Haag (61), Groningen
• Carolus Morret (59), Everberg
• Adriaan van de RIET (84), Etten-Leur, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Bastiaan Vinke (49), Nieuwenhoorn
• Antonius (Antoin) Timmermans (71), Weert, Limburg, Nederland
• Carolus Josephus Quaeyhaegens (31), LIer, België
• Bastiaan Vinke(n) (49), Nieuwenhoorn, Nederland

• 1877 » Oswald Avery, Canadian-American physician and microbiologist († 1955)
• 1884 » Claire Waldoff, German singer and actress († 1957)
• 1886 » Eugene Burton Ely, American soldier and pilot († 1911)
• 1887 » Krishna Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar († 1961)
• 1894 » Edogawa Ranpo, Japanese author and critic († 1965)
• 1895 » Edna Purviance, American actress († 1958)
• 1895 » Paavo Johansson, Finnish javelin thrower and decathlete († 1983)
• 1896 » Esther Shumiatcher-Hirschbein, Russian-Canadian poet and screenwriter (d.1985)
• 1898 » Eduard Pütsep, Estonian wrestler and actor († 1960)
• 1900 » Andrée Boisson, French Olympic fencer († 1973)

• 1861 » Edward Dickinson Baker, American congressman and colonel (b. 1811)
• 1872 » Jacques Babinet, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1794)
• 1873 » Johan Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian author, poet, and critic (b. 1807)
• 1896 » James Henry Greathead, South African-English engineer (b. 1844)
• 1903 » Jinmaku Kyūgorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (b. 1829)
• 1904 » Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and journalist (b. 1877)
• 1907 » Jules Chevalier, French priest, founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (b. 1824)
• 1931 » Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (b. 1862)
• 1938 » Dorothy Hale, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1940 » William G. Conley, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (b. 1866)

• 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 April 23, 1884 to April 21, 1888 the cabinet Heemskerk, with Mr. J. Heemskerk Azn. (conservatief) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from April 21, 1888 to August 21, 1891 the cabinet Mackay, with Mr. A. baron Mackay (AR) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 4.5 million citizens.
• January 13 » The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
• April 6 » Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
• May 16 » Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.
• August 21 » The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
• September 8 » In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.
• October 30 » The Rudd Concession is granted by Matabeleland to agents of Cecil Rhodes.

The temperature on October 21, 1888 was about 10.6 °C. The airpressure was 77 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 47%.