Deaths on July 17

Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet and politician (b. 1812)

Aleardo Aleardi (14 November 1812 – 17 July 1878), born Gaetano Maria, was an Italian poet who belonged to the so-called Neo-romanticists.

18 Feb

Lincoln County War
John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
3 Mar

Treaty of San Stefano
The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano; a few months afterwards the Congress of Berlin stripped its status to a vassal principality of the Ottoman Empire.
25 May

Comic opera
Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
15 Jun

Sallie Gardner at a Gallop
Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
22 Oct

Salford, Greater Manchester
The first rugby match under floodlights takes place in Salford, between Broughton and Swinton.