1890s

The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade," because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no connotation of homosexuality as in current-day usage.

People

World leaders

• Prime Minister John Sparrow David Thompson (Canada)
• Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Canada)
• Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
• Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany)
• Chancellor Leo von Caprivi (Germany)
• King Umberto I (Italy)
• Pope Leo XIII
• Czar Alexander III (Russia)
• Czar Nicholas II (Russia)
• Queen Victoria (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Lord Salisbury (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Lord Rosebery (United Kingdom)
• President Benjamin Harrison (United States)
• President Grover Cleveland (United States)
• President William McKinley (United States)

Important people

• Thomas A. Edison
• Nikola Tesla

Entertainers

• Adelina Patti
• George W. Johnson
• Justin Smith
• Jonathan Booth