First
The world's first fingerprint file was installed in London at New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police. This follow the development of a system of classifying fingerprints according to their distinctive whorls and loops by Sir Edward Henry, the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Formed
On 1 January the 6 previously independant sates of the British colony officially became the United commonwealth of Australia.

Born
1 Feb: Clark Gable, US film star
5 Dec: Walt Disney, US producer of cartoon films
18 Now, George Gallup, US statistician

Executed
26 Feb, Beijing: Chi-hsui and Hsu-cheng-yu, leaders of the failed Boxer Revolution

On 4 February, Queen Victoria, the longest-reigning monarch in British history was laid to rest in the family mausoleum at Windsor, two weeks after her death on 22 January, aged 81.

The Queen's last days were spent at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Her son and heir, the new King Edward VII, was at her deathbed. The Queen's body lay in state for ten days at Osborne before being carried to the mainland by the royal yacht Alberta. The funeral train then made its stately progress to London. By Victoria's own instruction the colour black was banned from her funeral, the hangings in London's streets were purple cashmere with white satin bows. An 81-gun salute was sounded -- one for every year of her life -- and a simple service was read before a small congregation.

Queen Victoria, the Empress of India, ascended the throne in 1837 aged 18 and married Prince Albert from the German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840. Her reign lasted 63 years. In her lifetime Britain reaped the benefits of the Industrial Revolution, becoming the leading industrial nation of the world. At its height, the Empire over which "the sun never sets" stretched across five continents, encompassing over a quarter of the world's population.

The United States is in shock after the death of President William McKinley, from wounds suffered when he was shot last week in Buffalo, New York. Mckinley is the third US President to be assassinated.

The fatal incident ocurred at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo on 14 September. As the President greeted admirers he was shot at point-blank range by Leon Czolgosz, the son of Polish immigrants. The mantle of the presidency was passed to the vice-president, Theodore Roosevelt.

On 12 December, the Italain inventor Guglielmo Marconi has astonished scientific experts by transmitting a wireless message from Cornwall to Newfoundland, a distance of more than 200 kilometres (2000 miles).

The signals, a series of three dots -- the letter S in Morse code -- were transmitted from a 50-metrre (164ft) aerial at 6.00pm, a time fixed in advance. Across the Atlantic, where an aerial was taken high into the sky by a kite, Marconi crouched over his receiving apparatus. The signals, although faint, were received clearly and almost immediately.

Marconi, who settled in England after failing to gain support for his pioneering work in Italy, has until now been almost alone in believing that radio signals can travel so far, although he suceeded in sending a message across the English Channel.

The Art Nouveau style, with its sinuous curving, naturalistically inspired forms, has flourished in the decorative arts and architecture all across Europe.

In Paris the new signs for the Metro station entrances have been cast as flamboyant scrolls and twining tendrils; in Spain, architect Antonio Gaudi designs buildings with flowing curves and organic forms. The curvaceous, plantlike shapes of Art Nouveau have inspired the stunning jewellery of Rene Lalique and have been taken up by London's famous liberty department store.

In northern Europe, Art Nouveau is epitomised by the furniture of Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who uses intricate designs and geometric patterns.