January 18 » An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
January 28 » Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8mph (13km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2mph (3.2km/h).
February 1 » La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.
June 2 » Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
July 28 » The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.
August 17 » Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
Christening day January 31, 1897
The temperature on January 31, 1897 was about -7.0 °C. The airpressure was 74 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 86%. Source: KNMI
February 1 » Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
May 26 » Dracula, a Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
July 11 » Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
August 2 » Anglo-Afghan War: The Siege of Malakand ends when a relief column is able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand states.
November 1 » The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public; the library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol.
December 30 » The British Colony of Natal annexes Zululand.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Gert Esterhuizen, "Family tree Eric Esterhuizen", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-eric-esterhuizen/I6212.php : accessed January 7, 2026), "Wessel Francois PRETORIUS (1896-????)".
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