Events of 1917

January

• January 1 – The University of Oregon defeats The University of Pennsylvania 14–0 in college football's 3rd Annual Rose Bowl.
• January 2 – The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
• January 11 – German saboteurs set off the Kingsland Explosion at Kingsland, NJ (now Lyndhurst, NJ), one of the events leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.
• January 13 – World War I: The Battle of Wadi occurs between Allied British and Ottoman Empire forces, during the Mesopotamian campaign in modern-day Iraq.
• January 19 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
• January 22 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
• January 25
  • The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
  • An anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracts huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7,000 people, 20,000 are kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Rev. Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes make a plea for toleration, explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asks if they will take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laugh derisively, which loses them public sympathy. The police close about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter. [6108]
• January 26 – The sea defences at the English village of Hallsands are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable.
• January 28 – The United States ends its search for Pancho Villa.
• January 30 – Pershing's troops in Mexico begin withdrawing back to the United States. They reach Columbus, Ohio February 5.
• January 31 – World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.

February

• February 3 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany.
• February 5 – The constitution of Mexico is adopted.
• February 13 – Mata Hari is arrested for spying.
• February 23 – The first International Women's Day is observed in Russia.
• February 24 – World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter H. Page, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
• February 26 – The Original Dixieland Jass Band records their first commercial record, with the tunes "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixie Jazz Band One Step".

President Woodrow Wilson of the United States announces to Congress the breaking of diplomatic relations with Germany

March

• March 1
  • The U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.
  • Japanese city of Omuta, Fukuoka is founded by Hiroushi Miruku
• March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
• March 4
  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson begins his second term.
  • Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
• March 8
  • (N.S.) (February 23, O.S.) – The Russian February Revolution begins with the overthrow of the Tsar.
  • Women calling for bread in Petrograd start riots, which spontaneously spread throughout the city.
  • The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibuster.
• March 10 – The Province of Batangas is formally founded as one of the Philippines' first encomiendas.
• March 11 – Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza is elected president of Mexico; the United States gives de jurerecognition of his government.
• March 12 – The Duma declares a provisional government.
• March 15 (N.S.) (March 2, O.S.) – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates his throne for his son.
• March 17 (N.S.) (March 4, O.S.) – Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia refuses the throne, and power passes to the newly formed Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov.
• March 25 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores the autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.
• March 26 – World War I: First Battle of Gaza: British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
• March 30 – The independence of Poland is recognized.
• March 31 – The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies, which become the US Virgin Islands, after paying $25 million to Denmark.

April

• April 2 – World War I: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
• April 6 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.
• April 9–April 12 – World War I: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• April 10 – An ammunition factory explosion in Chester, Pennsylvania kills 133.
• April 11 – World War I: Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
• April 16
  • Vladimir Lenin arrives in Petrograd.
  • World War I: The Nivelle Offensive commences.
• April 19 – World War I: The Second Battle of Gaza, a fiasco for the British, causes the dismissal of the commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Force, General Archibald Murray.

May

• May 9 – World War I: The Nivelle Offensive is abandoned.
• May 13
  • Three peasant children claim to see the Virgin Mary above a Holm Oak tree in Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal.
  • The nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV
• May 18 – World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress, giving the President the power of conscription.
• May 21 – Over 300 acres (73 blocks) are destroyed in the Great Atlanta fire of 1917.
• May 23 – A month of civil violence in Milan, Italy ends after the Italian army forcefully takes over the city from anarchists and anti-war revolutionaries. Fifty people are killed and 800 people are arrested.
• May 26 – A tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois, causing devastation and killing 101 people.
• May 27 – World War I: Over 30,000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois.

June

• June 1 – A French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares an anti-war military government. Other French army troops soon apprehend them.
• June 4 – The very first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert Bayard Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
• June 5 – World War I: Conscription begins in the United States.
• June 13 – World War I: The first major German bombing raid on London leaves 162 dead and 432 injured.
• June 15 – The United States enacts the Espionage Act.

July

• July 1
  • A labor dispute ignites a race riot in East St. Louis, Illinois, which leaves 250 dead.
  • Russian General Brusilov begins a major offensive in Galicia, initially advancing towards Lemberg.
• July 6
  • World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks.
  • World War I: A conscription crisis in Canada leads to passage of the Military Service Act.
• July 12 – The Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1,000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona.
• July 16–17 – Russian troops mutiny, abandon the Austrian front, and retreat to the Ukraine; hundreds are shot by their commanding officers during the retreat.
• July 16–18 – Serious clashes in St. Petersburg in July Days; Lenin escapes to Finland; Trotsky is arrested.
• July 17 – King George V of the United Kingdom issues a proclamation, stating that thenceforth the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor, vice the Germanic bloodline of House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which is an offshoot of the historic (800+ years) House of Wettin.
• July 20 – Finland declares complete independence.
• July 20 – The Corfu Declaration, which enabled the establishment of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and the Kingdom of Serbia.
• July 20 (July 7, O.S.) – Alexander Kerensky becomes premier of the Russian Provisional Government, replacing Prince Georgy Lvov.
• July 20–28 – World War I: Austrian and German forces repulse the Russian advance into Galicia.
• July 25 – Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
• July 28 – The Silent Protest is organized by the NAACP in New York to protest the East St. Louis Riot of July 2, as well as lynchings in Texas and Tennessee.
• July 31 – World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele: Allied offensive operations commence in Flanders.

August

• August – The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the World War I draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.
• August 2 – Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning lands his aircraft on the ship HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He is killed 5 days later during another landing on the ship.
• August 3 – The New York Guard is founded.
• August 10 – A general strike begins in Spain; it is smashed after 3 days with 70 left dead, hundreds of wounded and 2,000 arrests.
• August 17 – One of English literature's important meetings takes place when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
• August 18 – The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 in Greece destroys 32% of the city, leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
• August 29 – World War I: The Military Service Act is passed in the Canadian House of Commons, giving the Government of Canada the right to conscript men into the army.

October

• October 12 – World War I: The biggest loss of life in a single day for New Zealand. Over 800 men and 45 officers were killed at the First Battle of Passchendaele, roughly 1 in 1000 of the nation's population at the time.
• October 15 – World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
• October 19 – Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
• October 25 (O.S.) – (traditional beginning date of the Bolshevik Revolution).
• October 26 – World War I: Brazil declares war against the Central Powers.

November

• November 2 – Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".
• November 6 – World War I: Battle of Passchendaele: After 3 months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.
  • Militants from Trotsky's committee join with trusty Bolshevik soldiers to seize government buildings and pounce on members of the provisional government.
• November 7
  • October Revolution: The workers of Petrograd in Russia, led by the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, attack the Kerensky Provisional Government ( Julian Calendar shows an October 25 date).
  • Iran (which provided weapons for Russia) refuses to support the Allied Forces after the October Revolution.
  • World War I – Third Battle of Gaza: United Kingdom forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
• November 15 – In the United States, a "Night of Terror" results in the death of several influential suffragettes.
• November 15 – Finland takes a step towards full sovereignty, ending the personal union with Russia.
  • British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.
  • Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France.
• November 17 – The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals is founded in the United Kingdom.
• November 20
  • World War I – Battle of Cambrai: British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
  • The Ukraine is declared a republic.
• November 22 – In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up.
• November 23 – The Bolsheviks release the full text of the previously secret Sykes-Picot Agreement in Izvestia and Pravda; it is subsequently printed in the Manchester Guardian on November 26.
• November 24 – In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 9 members of the Milwaukee Police Department are killed by a bomb, the most fatal single event in U.S. police history until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• November 26 – The National Hockey League is formed as a replacement for the recently disbanded National Hockey Association.
• November 28 – The Bolsheviks offer peace terms to the Germans.
• November 29 – Don Cossacks declare the Don Republic, which lasts two weeks.

December

• December 3 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916).
• December 6
  • Finland declares independence.
  • Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in Halifax Harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1,963 people, injures 9,000 and destroys part of the city (until Hiroshima, the biggest manmade explosion in recorded history).
• December 11 – British troops take Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire.
• December 25 – Why Marry?, the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
• December 26 – United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to place most U.S. railroads under the United States Railroad Administration, hoping to more efficiently transport troops and materials for the war effort.

Undated

• The last male Carolina Parakeet dies in Cincinnati Zoo.
• The Lions Clubs International is formed.
• J.R.R. Tolkien begins writing the original Book of Lost Tales (the first version of The Silmarillion); thus Middle-earth is first written in about this year.
• Female suffrage is enacted in the Netherlands.
• The True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.
• The first of the Cottingley Fairies photos are taken.
• A cholera outbreak kills several German prisoners-of-war being held at Shankend in Scotland.

Ongoing

• World War I (1914–1918)
• Encephalitis lethargica (1917–1928)
• Russian Revolution

Births

January–February

• January 2 – Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
• January 3 – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
• January 5 – Jane Wyman, American actress, philanthropist, and first wife of Ronald Reagan (Falcon Crest) (d. 2007)
• January 5 – Adolfo Consolini, Italian discus thrower (d. 1969)
• January 5 – Francis L. Kellogg, U.S. diplomat and prominent socialite (d. 2006)
• January 6 – Koo Chen-fu, Nationalist Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)
• January 10 – Jerry Wexler, American record producer (d. 2008)
• January 12
  • Jimmy Skinner, Detroit Red Wings head coach (d. 2007)
  • Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, transcendental meditation guru, most notably to The Beatles (d. 2008)
• January 16 – Carl Karcher, American founder of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (d. 2008)
• January 17 – M. G. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor. (d. 1987)
• January 19
  • John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
  • Graham Higman, British mathematician (d. 2008)
• January 24 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (McHale's Navy)
• January 25 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
• January 26 – William Verity Jr., American politician (d. 2007)
• February 1 – James Harry Lacey, a.k.a Squadron Leader James "Ginger" Lacey DFM & Bar, the top scoring RAF fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain (d. 1989)
• February 2 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese leader
• February 4
  • Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
  • Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (d. 2002)
• February 6 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress
• February 11
  • Sidney Sheldon, American author (d. 2007)
  • T. Nagi Reddy, Indian revolutionary (d. 1976)
• February 12 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
• February 14 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• February 17 – Joseph Conombo, Prime Minister of Upper Volta (d. 2008)
• February 18 – Tuulikki Pietilä, Finnish artist (d. 2009)
• February 19 – Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
• February 25
  • Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
  • Brenda Joyce, American actress (d. 2009)
• February 27 – John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
• February 28 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
• February 28 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 2007)

March–April

• March 1
  • Harry Caray, baseball broadcaster (d. 1998)
  • Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
• March 2
  • Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, bandleader, and musician (I Love Lucy) (d. 1986)
  • John Gardner, British composer
  • Laurie Baker, English architect (d. 2007)
• March 3 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (d. 1952)
• March 4 – Clyde McCullough, American baseball catcher (d. 1982)
• March 5 – Raymond P. Shafer, Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
• March 12 – Googie Withers, British actress
• March 14 – John McCallum, Australian actor
• March 16 – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d. 1977)
• March 19 – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
• March 20 – Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
• March 24 – John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
  • Constantine Andreou, Brazilian-Greek artist (d. 2007)
• March 26 – Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
• March 27 – Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)
• April 1 – Sydney Newman, Canadian-born television producer (d. 1997)
• April 2 – Dabbs Greer, American actor (d. 2007)
• April 5 – Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
• April 7 – R.G. Armstrong, American actor
• April 10 – Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• April 12 – Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
• April 13 – Robert O. Anderson, American businessman, founder of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
• April 14 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive
• April 17 – Bill Clements, Governor of Texas
• April 22 – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina
• April 25 – Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
• April 26 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player
  • I.M. Pei, Chinese-born architect
• April 29 – Celeste Holm, American actress
• April 30 – Bea Wain, American singer

May–June

• May 1 – Fyodor Khitruk, Russian animator
  • Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress
• May 3 – Kiro Gligorov, President of the Republic of Macedonia
• May 8 – John Anderson, Jr., American politician
• May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
• May 14 – Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
• May 16 – George Gaynes, Finnish-born actor
• May 20 – Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
• May 21 – Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (Perry Mason) (d. 1993)
• May 22 – Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
• May 25 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest and educator
• May 28
  • Papa John Creech, African-American fiddler (d. 1994)
  • Marshall Reed, American film and television actor (d. 1980)
• May 29 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
• June 1 – William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 7 – Gwendolyn Brooks, African American writer (d. 2000)
• June 7 – Dean Martin, American actor and singer (d. 1995)
• June 10
  • Eric Hobsbawm, British historian
  • Ruari McLean, British typographer (d. 2006)
• June 14 – Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist and writer
• June 15
  • John Bennett Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Lash La Rue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)
• June 16
  • Irving Penn, American photographer (d. 2009)
  • Katharine Graham, American publisher (d. 2001)
  • Ben Bubar, American presidential candidate. (d. 1995)
  • Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2007)
• June 30 – Lena Horne, African-American singer

July–August

• July 1 – Humphry Osmond, British psychiatrist (d. 2004)
• July 4 – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
• July 7
  • Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
  • Larry O'Brien, American politician and former NBA commissioner (d. 1990)
• July 10
  • Don Herbert, American television personality (Mr. Wizard) (d. 2007)
  • Reg Smythe, British cartoonist (d. 1998)
• July 16 – William Woodson, American voice actor
• July 17
  • Phyllis Diller, American comedian
  • Red Sovine, American country & folk singer & songwriter (d. 1980)
• July 18 – Henri Salvador, French singer (d. 2008)
• July 19 – William Scranton, American politician
• August 11 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (Hagar the Horrible) (d. 1989)
• August 14 – Marty Glickman, American sports announcer (d. 2001)
• August 15
  • Jack Lynch, President of Ireland (d. 1999)
  • Oscar Romero, El Salvador Roman Catholic Archbishop (d. 1980)
• August 18 – Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2006)
• August 22 – John Lee Hooker, African-American musician (d. 2001)
• August 25 – Mel Ferrer, Cuban-American actor, film director and film producer (d. 2008)
• August 28 – Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
• August 29 – Isabel Sanford, African-American actress (The Jeffersons) (d. 2004)
• August 30 – Denis Healey, British author and politician

September–October

• September 6 – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, failed assassin of Adolf Hitler (d. 2008)
• September 7
  • John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Leonard Cheshire, British war hero (d. 1992)
• September 10 – Miguel Serrano, Chilean diplomat, explorer, and journalist (d. 2009)
• September 11
  • Donald Blakeslee, American aviator (d. 2008)
  • Herbert Lom, Czech-born British actor
  • Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
  • Jessica Mitford, Anglo-American writer (d. 1996)
  • Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer and racehorse owner (d. 2001)
• September 13 – Robert Ward, American composer (d. 1994)
• September 15 – Shanul Haq Haqqee, Pakistani poet, author, lexicographer (d. 2005)
• September 20 – Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and official (d. 2006)
• September 25 – Johnny Sain, American baseball player (d. 2006)
• September 27 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist
• October 2 – Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• October 7 – June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)
• October 8
  • Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
  • Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
• October 10 – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (d. 1982)
• October 13 – George Virl Osmond, Osmond family patriarch (d. 2007)
• October 15 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• October 15 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator (d. 2007)
• October 21 – Dizzy Gillespie, African-American musician (d. 1993)
• October 22 – Joan Fontaine, British-born actress
• October 30 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)

November–December

• November 11 – Madeleine Damerment, French World War II heroine (d. 1944)
• November 12 – Jo Stafford, American traditional pop singer (d. 2008)
• November 18 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (d. 1957)
• November 19 – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
• November 20 – Robert Byrd, U.S. senator from West Virginia and President pro tempore of the United States Senate
• November 22 – Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• December 6
  • – Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
  • – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (d. 2008)
• December 9 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• December 10 – Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
• December 16 – Arthur C. Clarke, British/Sri Lankan science-fiction author (2001: A Space Odyssey) (d. 2008)
• December 20 – David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
• December 21 – Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• December 22 – Gene Rayburn, American television personality (Match Game) (d. 1999)
• December 27 – Onni Palaste, Finnish writer (d. 2009)
• December 28 – Ellis Clarke, President of Trinidad and Tobago
• December 29 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
• December 30 – Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

Deaths

January–June

• January 2 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
• January 4 – Frederick Selous, British explorer (b. 1851)
• January 10 – William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, American frontiersman (b. 1846)
• January 16 – George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
• February 5 – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
• February 10 – John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
• February 21 – Fred Mace, American actor (b. 1878)
• March 5 – Manuel de Arriaga, first president of Portugal (b. 1840)
• March 8 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
• March 17 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
• March 31 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
• April 1 – Scott Joplin, African-American musician and composer (b. 1867–1868)
• April 13 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman (b. 1856)
• April 14 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
• May 7 – Albert Ball, British World War I Fighter Ace, VC recipient (b. 1896)
• May 17 – Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
• May 20 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
• May 24 – Les Darcy, Australian boxer (b. 1895)
• May 29 – Kate Harrington (b. 1831)
• May 25 – Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
• June 26 – John Dunville, British Army officer (b. 1896)
• June 30 – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)

July–December

• July 2 – Herbert Beerbohm Tree, British actor (b. 1852)
• July 8 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
• July 12 – Donald Cunnell, British World War I Fighter Ace (b. 1893)
• July 16 – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
• July 27 – Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
• July 31
  • Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1887)
  • Hedd Wyn, Welsh poet (killed in action) (b. 1887)
• August 3 – Stephane Javelle, French astronomer (b. 1864)
• August 13 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
• August 20 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
• August 30 – Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
• September 9 – Madge Syers, British figure skater (b. 1881)
• September 11 – Georges Guynemer, French World War I Fighter Ace (b.1894)
• September 15 – Kurt Wolff, German World War I Fighter Ace (b. 1895)
• September 23 – Werner Voss, German World War I Fighter Ace (b.1897)
• September 27 – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
• October 13 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
• October 15 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
• October 23 – Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
• October 27 – Arthur Rhys Davids, British World War I Fighter Ace (b. 1897)
• October 28 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
• November 8 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
• November 11 – Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
• November 15 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
• November 17 – Neil James Archibald Primrose, MP (killed in action) (b. 1882)
• November 17 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
• December 8 – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
• December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
• December 12 – Andrew Taylor Still, American father of osteopathy (b. 1828)
• December 19 – Richard Maybery, British World War I Fighter Ace (b. 1895)
• December 22 – Frances Xavier Cabrini, First American canonized as a saint (b. 1850)
• December 28 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian World War I Fighter Ace (b. 1892)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Charles Glover Barkla
• Chemistry – not awarded
• Medicine – not awarded
• Literature – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
• Peace – International Committee of the Red Cross

Notes

External links

• 1917 Coin Pictures