About the day » Friday December 21, 1888Calender converter

• Anne de Jager, Oppenhuizen († 1889)
• Amelia Hendrika Clementia Verlinden, Mechelen Antwerpen Belgique
• Anna Peronella DIEPSTRATEN, Gilze en Rijen († 1967)
• Anna Petronella Diepstraten, Gilze en Rijen († 1967)
• Adolf ter Veer, Baluhuis(Fr) († 1958)
• Aaltje den Besten, Everdingen, Utrecht, Nederland († 1970)
• Albert Brinkhorst, Oldenzaal († 1980)
• Anna Maria Juliana Jongen, Schaesberg, Landgraaf, Limburg, Nederland († 1949)
• Adrianus Wilhelmus Hendrik Beekman, 's-Gravenhage († 1976)
• , Akersloot († 1978)

• Anna de Ruiter (80), groningen
• Ploeger (0), Kalkwijk Hoogezand, Groningen, Nederland
• Anna Adriana Roelen (0), Klundert, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Aloysius Vercauteren (48), Eksaarde
• Anne Catharinne Vermeulen (76), Buggenum
• Aldegonda van Kuijk (23), Vlijmen, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Anne Jager (63), Medemblik, Nederland
• Abraham Witmondt, Amsterdam, Nederland
• Adranus Van Batenburg (0), Cothen
• Aalbert Baas (49), Langerak,, Zuid-Holland, Nederland

• 1878 » Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish-Irish mathematician and philosopher († 1956)
• 1884 » María Cadilla, Puerto Rican writer, educator, women's rights activist († 1951)
• 1885 » Frank Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player and coach († 1960)
• 1888 » Jean Bouin, French runner and rugby player († 1914)
• 1889 » Sewall Wright, American geneticist and biologist († 1988)
• 1890 » Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate († 1967)
• 1891 » John William McCormack, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives († 1980)
• 1892 » Rebecca West, English journalist and author († 1983)
• 1892 » Walter Hagen, American golfer († 1969)
• 1896 » Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union during World War II († 1968)

• 1869 » Friedrich Ernst Scheller, German jurist and politician (b. 1791)
• 1873 » Francis Garnier, French admiral and explorer (b. 1839)
• 1889 » Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist and palaeontologist (b. 1809)
• 1920 » Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Somalian general, founded the Dervish movement (b. 1856)
• 1929 » I. L. Patterson, American politician, 18th Governor of Oregon (b. 1859)
• 1933 » Knud Rasmussen, Greenlandic anthropologist and explorer (b. 1879)
• 1935 » Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (b. 1890)
• 1935 » Ted Birnie, English footballer and manager (b. 1878)
• 1937 » Ted Healy, American comedian and actor (b. 1896)
• 1937 » Violette Neatley Anderson, American judge (b. 1882)

• 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.
• March 15 » Start of the Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888.
• April 6 » Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
• June 15 » Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.
• August 5 » Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
• September 4 » George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
• October 15 » The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.

The temperature on December 21, 1888 was about 6.3 °C. The air pressure was 14 kgf/m² and came mainly from the south-southeast. The airpressure was 75 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 78%.