February 1903

The following events occurred in February 1903:

• The Mumbles-based British lifeboat James Stevens capsized at the mouth of the River Afan in Wales while on its way to rescue the stranded Christina, resulting in the deaths of six of her fourteen crew, mostly volunteers who worked as oyster fishermen.^[1]
• Died: Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet, 83, Irish mathematician and physicist

• Born: Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, Dutch mathematician, in Amsterdam (died 1996)

• Discovery Expedition: Captain Scott and his companions, Edward Adrian Wilson and Ernest Shackleton, returned to New Zealand after their southern journey of 960 miles (1,540 km), including relays, in 93 days at a daily average of just over 10 miles (16 km).^[2]
• Born: Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish politician and pioneering aviator, in London (died 1973)

• Born: Alexander Imich, Polish-born American parapsychologist and chemist, in Częstochowa (died 2014)

• In the South Antrim by-election in Ireland, brought about by the resignation of Irish Unionist MP William Ellison-Macartney, Charles Curtis Craig retained the seat for the party.^[3]
• Born: Koto Matsudaira, Japanese diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations, in Tokyo (died 1994)^[4]

• Born: Claudio Arrau, Chilean pianist, in Chillán (died 1991)

• Died: James Glaisher, 93, English meteorologist and aeronaut^[5]

• Born:
  • Greta Keller, Austrian cabaret singer and actress, in Vienna (died 1977)
  • Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysian politician, first Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaysia, in Alor Setar, Kedah^[6] (died 1990)

• Born: Georg Trexler, a German composer, in Prima, Germany (died 1979)

• Born:
  • Waldemar Hoven, German physician and war criminal, in Freiburg (executed 1948)
  • Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer, in Kozlov (died 1939, carbon monoxide poisoning)^[7]

• Oxnard strike of 1903: Japanese and 200 Mexican laborers became charter members of the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association (JMLA); it was the first time in U.S. history that a labor union had been formed by members of different races.^[8]
• Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony received its première in Vienna, Austria, conducted by Ferdinand Löwe, nearly seven years after the composer's death.

• The aircraft engine that would power the Wright brothers' first airplane later in 1903 was run for the first time in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It was the first successful attempt to build a heavier-than-air aircraft engine.^[9]
• Randall Davidson was enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral in England, succeeding the late Frederick Temple.^[10]
• The North British Locomotive Company was established in Glasgow, Scotland, through a merger of manufacturing companies Dübs, Neilson, Reid, and Sharp Stewart.^[11]

• Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03: Britain, Germany and Italy reached a settlement with Venezuela, ending the naval blockade imposed because of the country's refusal to pay foreign debts and reparation for damages suffered by European citizens in the Federal War. The settlement was achieved through American intervention by means of the Washington Protocols.^[12]
• Born: Georges Simenon, Belgian writer, in Liège (died 1989)

• Born: Stuart Erwin, American actor, in Squaw Valley, California (died 1967)
• Died: Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria, 72, Hungarian noblewoman, widow of Archduke Ferdinand Karl Viktor of Austria-Este and Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria

• Morris and Rose Michtom introduced the first teddy bear in the United States, naming it after U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.^[13]

• Romanian inventor Traian Vuia told the Académie des Sciences of Paris about his procedure for taking off in a heavier-than-air mechanical machine. His ideas were rejected.^[14]
• Born: Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist and actor, in Chicago (died 1978)

• Born: Hans Linthorst Homan, Dutch politician and diplomat, in Assen (died 1986)
• Died: Joseph Parry, a Welsh composer and musician (b. 1841)

• Born: Nikolai Podgorny, Soviet Ukrainian Politician (died 1983)

• Congress passes the Isthmian Canal Act, providing funding and authorization for the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama

• King Edward VII of the United Kingdom approved a redesign of the Flag of Australia, on which the stars of the Southern Cross were combined with the Union Jack.^[15]

• Born:
  • Anaïs Nin, French writer, in Neuilly-sur-Seine (died 1977)
  • Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist, in Le Havre (died 1976)

• Born:
  • Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer and media personality, in Toronto (died 1990)
  • Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi, in Vändra (died 1969)
  • Frank P. Ramsey, English mathematician, in Cambridge (died 1930)
• Died: Hugo Wolf, 42, Austrian composer (syphilis)^[16]

• Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity" under the terms of the Cuban–American Treaty.

• The United States signed a landmark agreement with Cuba to establish a permanent naval station at Guantanamo Bay
• Born: Vladimir Bartol, Slovene author, in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (died 1967)

• Born: King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player, Ottawa, Ontario (died 1986)^[17]

• The ocean liner SS Columbus, later renamed by the White Star Line as Republic, was launched by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• Born: Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate, in Imperia (died 1979)^[18]
• Died: Richard Jordan Gatling, 84, American inventor who invented the Gatling Gun

• Battle of Kwatarkwashi: Forces from the British-administered Protectorate of Northern Nigeria defeated the army of the Sokoto Caliphate's Kano Emirate, effectively ending self-government of the emirate.^[19]
• Born: Grethe Weiser, German actress, in Hanover (died 1970)

• Born: Vincente Minnelli, American director, in Chicago (died 1986)