Deaths on January 17

Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812)

Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy (12 September 1812 – 17 January 1878) was an English historian and jurist.

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.