1881

• 1881 in art
• 1881 in film
• 1881 in literature
• 1881 in music
• 1881 in science
• 1881 in sports

• January 25 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company
• February 5 - Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated.
• February 19 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
• March 4 - Rutherford Birchard Hayes is succeeded as President of the United States by James Abram Garfield.
• March 13 - Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him.
• May 12 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
• May 21 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
• July 2 - James Abram Garfield, President of the United States is shot by lawyer Charles Julius Guiteau. He survives the assassination attempt but he suffers from infection of his wound.
• July 4 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
• July 20 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
• September 19 - James Abram Garfield, President of the United States dies due to an infected wound and is succeeded by Vice President Chester Alan Arthur.
• October 26 - Gunfight at the O. K. Corral in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona, USA.

• Founding of the Pali Text Society
• The United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) is founded, and the first U.S. Tennis Championships are played.
• Founding of the Three Emperor's League

• 1881 in art:
• 1881 in literature:
• 1881 in philosophy:
• 1881 in science:

• January 6 - Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)
• January 16 - Sir Arthur Percy Morris Fleming, radio pioneer
• February 12 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina (d. 1931)
• March 12 - Kemal Ataturk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic (d. 1938)
• March 25 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer.
• March 25 - Mary Gladys Webb, writer (d. 1927)
• June 17 - Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
• August 6 - Sir Alexander Fleming, British discoverer of penicillin.
• October 15 - P. G. Wodehouse, British-American writer
• October 25 - Pablo Picasso, painter
• November 14 - Nicholas Schenck motion-picture empresario (d. 1969)
• November 24 - Al Christie, early Hollywood director/producer (d. 1951)
• November 25 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)

• January 21 - Wilhelm Matthias Näff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1802)
• March 13 - Czar Alexander II of Russia
• September 22 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (b. 1831)
• October 31 - George Washington DeLong, American naval officer and ill-fated explorer

• China - Guāngxù Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1875-1908)
• Denmark - Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906)
• France - Jules Grévy, President of France (1879-1887)
• Germany - Wilhelm I, German Kaiser (1871-1888)
• Holy See - Pope Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome (1878-1903)
• Japan - Mutsuhito, Meiji emperor (1867-1912)
• Norway - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway (1872-1905)
• Ottoman Empire - Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909)
• Russia -
• Alexander II, Tsar of Russia (1855-1881)
• Alexander III, Tsar of Russia (1881-1894)
• Spain - Alfonso XII of Spain, King of Spain (1875-1885)
• United States -
• Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States (1877-1881)
• James Garfield, President of the United States (1881)
• Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States (1881-1885)