1847

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1847 (MDCCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1847th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 847th year of the 2nd millennium, the 47th year of the 19th century, and the 8th year of the 1840s decade. As of the start of 1847, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events[edit]

January–March[edit]

• January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S government.
• January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the fighting in the Mexican–American War in California.
• January 16 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
• January 17 – St. Anthony Hall is founded at Columbia University, New York City.
• January 30 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.
• February 5 – A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fated Donner Party (these California-bound emigrants became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–47, and some had resorted to cannibalism to survive).
• February 22 – Mexican–American War – Battle of Buena Vista: 5,000 American troops under General Zachary Taylor use their superiority in artillery to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under Antonio López de Santa Anna, defeating the Mexicans the next day.
• March 1
  • The state of Michigan formally abolishes the death penalty.
  • Faustin Soulouque is elected the President of Haiti.
• March 4 – The 30th United States Congress is sworn into office.
• March 9 – Mexican–American War: United States forces, under General Winfield Scott, invade Mexico near Veracruz.
• March 14 – Verdi's opera Macbeth premieres at Teatro della Pergola, in Florence, Italy.
• March 29 – Mexican–American War: United States forces, led by General Winfield Scott, take Veracruz after a siege.

April–June[edit]

• April 5 – The world's first municipally-funded civic public park, Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead on Merseyside, England, is opened.^[1]
• April 15 – The Lawrence School, Sanawar is established in India.
• April 16 – New Zealand Wars: A minor Māori chief is accidentally shot by a junior British Army officer in Whanganui on New Zealand's North Island, triggering the Wanganui Campaign (which continues until July 23).
• April 25 – The brig Exmouth, carrying Irish emigrants from Derry bound for Quebec, is wrecked off Islay, with only 3 survivors from more than 250 on board.^[2][3]
• May – The Architectural Association School of Architecture is founded in London.
• May 7 – In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
• May 8 – The Zenkoji earthquake leaves more than 8,600 people dead in Japan.
• May 31 – Second Treaty of Erzurum: the Ottoman Empire cedes Abadan Island to the Persian Empire.
• June – E.H. Booth & Co. Ltd, which becomes the northern England supermarket chain Booths, is founded when tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth, 19, opens a shop called "The China House" in Blackpool.
• June 1
  • The first congress of the Communist League is held in London.
• June 26 – The first passenger railway wholly within modern-day Denmark opens, from Copenhagen to Roskilde.^{[4][page needed]}

The first U.S. postage stamps have portraits of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Though highly collectable, they are far from being the most valuable.

July–September[edit]

• July 1 – The United States issues its first postage stamps (pictured).
• July 24 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
• July 26 – Liberia gains independence.
• July 29 – The Cumberland School of Law is founded at Cumberland University, in Lebanon, Tennessee. At the end of this year, only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
• August 12 – Mexican–American War: U.S. troops of General Winfield Scott begin to advance along the aqueduct around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco in Mexico.
• August 20 – Mexican–American War – Battle of Churubusco: U.S. troops defeat Mexican forces.
• August – Yale Corporation establishes the first graduate school in the United States, as Department of Philosophy and the Arts (renamed Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1892).
• September 14 – Mexican–American War: U.S. general Winfield Scott enters Mexico City, marking the end of organized Mexican resistance.
• September 30 – The Vegetarian Society is formed in the United Kingdom (it remains the oldest in the world).

October–December[edit]

• October – The last volcanic eruption of Mount Guntur in West Java occurs.
• October 12 – German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
• October 19 – Charlotte Brontë publishes Jane Eyre, under the pen name of Currer Bell.
• October 31 – Theta Delta Chi is founded as a social fraternity at Union College, Schenectady, New York.
• November 3–29 – Sonderbund War: In Switzerland, General Guillaume-Henri Dufour's Federal Army defeats the Sonderbund (an alliance of seven Catholic cantons) in a civil war, with a total of only 86 deaths.
• November 4–8 – James Young Simpson discovers the anesthetic properties of chloroform and first uses it, successfully, on a patient, in an obstetric case in Edinburgh.^[5][6]
• November 10 – The first brew of Carlsberg beer is finished in Copenhagen.
• December 14 – Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë publish Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, respectively, in a 3-volume set under the pen names of Ellis Bell and Acton Bell.
• December 21 – Emir Abdelkader surrenders to the French in Algeria.

Date unknown[edit]

• The Great Famine continues in Ireland.
• The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the railroad town of Goldsborough, and the Wayne county seat is moved to the new town.
• Radley College, an English public school, is founded near Oxford.

Births[edit]

January–June[edit]

Thomas Alva Edison

Otto Wallach

• January 3 – Albert Bielschowsky, German historian (d. 1902)
• January 5
  • William Rose Bock, New Zealand engraver, medallist, illuminator, stamp designer, lithographer and publisher (d. 1932)
  • Oku Yasukata, Japanese field marshal, leading figure in the early Imperial Japanese Army (d. 1930)
• January 7 – Caspar F. Goodrich, American admiral (d. 1925)
• January 10 – Gustav Behrend, German dermatologist (d. 1925)
• January 11
  • Alpheus Michael Bowman, American politician (d. 1913)
  • Marion McKinley Bovard, American academic administrator (d. 1891)
• January 16 – John Cutting Berry, American physician, missionary (d. 1936)
• January 20 – William Baldock (Hampshire cricketer), English cricketer (d. 1923)
• January 23 – Elijah Bond, American lawyer, inventor (d. 1921)
• January 24 – Radomir Putnik, Serbian field marshal (d. 1917)
• January 28
  • Dorus Rijkers, Dutch naval hero (d. 1928)
  • William V. Allen, United States Senator (d. 1924)
• January 29
  • Thomas Bonacum, Irish Catholic bishop (d. 1911)
  • Philip Diehl (inventor), German engineer, inventor (d. 1913)
• February 2 – Charles H. Baker, American politician (d. 1919)
• February 3 – Warington Baden-Powell, British naval law expert (d. 1921)
• February 5
  • Mikhail Alekseyenko, Russian lawyer, professor of finance law, public figure (d. 1917)
  • João Maria Correia Ayres de Campos, 1st Count of Ameal, Portuguese politician (d. 1920)
• February 8 – Hugh Price Hughes, Methodist social reformer, first Superintendent of the West London Mission (d. 1902)
• February 11 – Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor (d. 1931)
• February 13 – Robert McAlpine, Scottish builder (d. 1930)
• February 15 – Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (d. 1927)
• February 16
  • Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (d. 1917)
  • Thomas Andrews (ironmaster), English metallurgical chemist (d. 1907)
• February 17 – Otto Blehr, Norwegian attorney, Liberal Party politician (d. 1927)
• February 19 – Josiah Howell Bagster, South Australian land agent, politician (d. 1893)
• February 20 – Reginald Alexander, British physician (d. 1916)
• February 26 – William A. B. Branch, American politician (d. 1910)
• February 28 – William Heap Bailey, Scottish amateur athlete (d. 1926)
• March 1 – Thomas Brock, English sculptor (d. 1922)
• March 2
  • Blanche Butler Ames, American politician (d. 1939)
  • Isaac Barr, Anglican clergyman, promoter of British colonial settlement schemes (d. 1937)
  • Cayetano Arellano, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines under the American Civil Government (d. 1920)
• March 3 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American inventor (d. 1922)
• March 4 – Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (d. 1904)
• March 6
  • Cesare Arzelà, Italian mathematics professor at the University of Bologna, recognized for his contributions in the theory of functions (d. 1912)
  • Federico Andreotti, Italian painter (d. 1930)
• March 8
  • William Bosomworth, English County cricketer (d. 1891)
  • Anton Marius Andersen, American Lutheran minister (d. 1941)
  • John Lister, English politician (d. 1933)
• March 12 – George Hope Bertram, Canadian politician (d. 1900)
• March 14 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet (d. 1871)
• March 18 – William O'Connell Bradley, American politician from Kentucky (d. 1914)
• March 21 – Oscar Bielaski, American Major League Baseball player (d. 1911)
• March 22 – Alfred Bayliss, English-American educator (d. 1911)
• March 23
  • Victor Besaucèle, French ornithologist (d. 1924)
  • Edmund Gurney, British psychologist (d. 1888)
• March 27
  • Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
  • Warren Ives Bradley, American writer (d. 1868)
  • Garret Barry (piper), Irish musician (d. 1899)
• April 2
  • Charles Frederic Moberly Bell, British journalist, editor (d. 1911)
  • Flora Annie Steel, English writer (d. 1929)
• April 7 – John Arthur (cricketer), Tasmanian cricket player (d. 1877)
• April 10 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born journalist, newspaper publisher (d. 1911)
• April 13 – J. Thompson Baker, American politician (d. 1919)
• April 15 – Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Polish Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather (d. 1905)
• April 16 – Hans Auer, Austrian architect (d. 1906)
• April 27
  • Emma Irene Åström, Finnish teacher, Finland's first female university graduate (d. 1934)
  • Walter Simon Andrews, British policeman (d. 1899)
• April 29 – Joachim Andersen, Danish flutist, conductor and composer (d. 1909)
• May 1 – Hildegard Björck, first Swedish woman to gain a degree (d. 1920)
• May 7 – Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
• May 9 – Antoni Berezowski, Polish noble (d. 1916)
• May 14 – Frederick William Borden, Canadian politician (d. 1917)
• May 19 – Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort, England (d. 1924)
• May 25 – John Green Brady, American politician, Governor of the District of Alaska (1897-1906) (d. 1918)
• May 31 – Jules Bourgeois, French entomologist (d. 1911)
• June 5 – Eric Barrington, British civil servant (d. 1918)
• June 8
  • Oleksander Barvinsky, Ukrainian politician (d. 1926)
  • Ida Saxton McKinley, First Lady of the United States (d. 1907)
• June 9
  • John Romilly Allen, British archaeologist (d. 1907)
• June 10 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist (d. 1916)
• June 11 – Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist (d. 1929)
• June 16 – Paul Alexis, French novelist, dramatist and journalist (d. 1901)
• June 19 – Robert Barker (footballer), English footballer (d. 1915)
• June 22 – Joseph Bolduc, Canadian politician (d. 1924)
• June 24 – Robert Bickersteth (MP), British politician (d. 1916)
• June 26 – Daniel V. Asay, American iceboat racer (d. 1930)
• June 29 – Brother Azarias, American educator (d. 1893)

July–December[edit]

Paul von Hindenburg

Bram Stoker

• July 1 – Eugène Boullet, French entomologist (d. 1923)
• July 2 – Marcel Alexandre Bertrand, French geologist (d. 1907)
• July 4
  • James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster (d. 1906)
  • Peter Anderson (Medal of Honor), American Union Army Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1907)
• July 9 – Wong Fei-hung, Chinese healer, revolutionary (d. 1924)
• July 12 – Karl Heinrich Barth, German musician (d. 1922)
• July 13 – George Atkinson-Willes, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1921)
• July 14 – Noël Ballay, French auxiliary doctor of the French navy (d. 1902)
• July 19
  • Alexander Meyrick Broadley, British historian (d. 1916)
  • Oliver Ernesto Branch, American politician (d. 1916)
• July 20
  • Lord William Beresford, Irish army officer, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1900)
  • Max Liebermann, German painter, printmaker (d. 1935)
• July 22 – Jean-Baptiste Bienvenu-Martin, French politician (d. 1943)
• July 23 – George Sydney Aldridge, Australian businessman (d. 1911)
• July 24
  • Evelyn Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth of England (d. 1918)
  • Harry Anstey, English metallurgist, gold prospector who led the expedition that discovered gold in the Southern Cross (d. 1927)
• July 25 – Paul Langerhans, German pathologist, biologist (d. 1888)
• July 26 – András Bethlen, Hungarian politician (d. 1898)
• July 31
  • James Allen Harker, English entomologist (d. 1894)
  • Samuel Bridgeland, Canadian politician (d. 1903)
• August 3 – John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, Canadian politician, Governor General (d. 1934)
• August 6 – Laurence George Bomford, British artist (d. 1926)
• August 7 – Guido Georg Wilhelm Brause, German botanist (d. 1922)
• August 11 – Harry Barron, Governor of Tasmania (1909-1913) and Western Australia (1913-1917) (d. 1921)
• August 12 – William Rankin Ballard, American businessman (d. 1929)
• August 13 – Alexander Theodorowicz Batalin, Russian botanist (d. 1896)
• August 14 – Karl Oskar Medin, Swedish scientist, pediatrician (1927)
• August 21 – Hale Johnson, American temperance movement leader (d. 1902)
• August 28 – Sir George Bonham, 2nd Baronet, British diplomat (d. 1927)
• August 30 – Morton Betts, English footballer (d. 1914)
• September 1 – Archibald Kennedy, 3rd Marquess of Ailsa (d. 1938)
• September 3 – Charles Stillman Sperry, American admiral (d. 1911)
• September 5
  • Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882)
  • Joseph Bucklin Bishop, American journalist, publisher (d. 1928)
• September 10 – Franklin Bartlett, American politician (d. 1909)
• September 14 – William Edward Ayrton, English physicist, electrical engineer (d. 1908)
• September 15 – Tadeusz Browicz, Polish pathologist (d. 1928)
• September 16 – Arthur Bromley, British Royal Navy officer who became Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard (d. 1909)
• September 17 – John I. Beggs, American businessman (d. 1925)
• September 22 – Enrique Almaraz y Santos, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1922)
• September 23 – Anandamohan Bose, Indian politician, academic and social reformer (d. 1906)
• September 24 – William Edward Briggs, British politician (d. 1903)
• September 25 – Edward Austin (cricketer), English cricketer (d. 1891)
• September 26 – Wolf Wilhelm Friedrich von Baudissin, German theologian (d. 1926)
• September 30 – Wilhelmina Drucker, Dutch feminist (d. 1925)
• September 30 – Vilma Hugonnai, Hungarian medical doctor (d. 1922)
• October 1
  • Sophia Amirajibi, Georgian translator of poetry (d. 1906)
  • Annie Besant, English women's rights activist, writer and orator (d. 1933)
• October 2 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal, President of Germany (d. 1934)
• October 4 – Louis Henri Boussenard, French author of adventure novels (d. 1911)
• October 6 – Webb C. Ball, American jeweler, watchmaker from Fredericktown, Ohio (d. 1922)
• October 9 – William Anderson Black, Canadian politician (d. 1934)
• October 11 – Alexander Bolton, Australian politician (d. 1918)
• October 13
  • Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet, British politician (d. 1926)
  • Maurice Bailloud, French general (d. 1921)
• October 14 – Wilgelm Vitgeft, Russian admiral (d. 1904)
• October 15 – Ralph Albert Blakelock, American romanticist painter (d. 1919)
• October 16 – Gustav Baron, Croatian theologian (d. 1914)
• October 17
  • Jervoise Athelstane Baines, Indian civil servant (d. 1925)
  • Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian composer (d. 1935)
• October 20 – Mifflin E. Bell, American architect (d. 1904)
• October 21 – Edvard Brandes, Danish politician (d. 1931)
• October 22 – Koos de la Rey, Boer general (d. 1914)
• October 23 – Gottfried Blocklinger, United States admiral (d. 1930)
• October 24 – John Winfield Bonser, British colonial judge (d. 1914)
• October 27 – George Armitstead (mayor), Latvian politician (d. 1912)
• October 30 – Charlie Bassett, American sheriff (d. 1896)
• October 31 – Wendell P. Bowman, American military officer (d. 1928)
• November 1 – Emma Albani, Canandian operatic soprano (d. 1930)
• November 2 – Georges Sorel, French socialist (d. 1922)
• November 3 – George Thomas Baird, Canadian politician (d. 1917)
• November 4
  • Infante Augusto, Duke of Coimbra, Royal prince of Portugal (d. 1889)
  • William Allen (Congregationalist), English-born Australian Congregational clergyman (d. 1919)
• November 6 – Ugo Balzani, Italian historian (d. 1916)
• November 7
  • Melvin O. Adams, American attorney, businessman (d. 1920)
  • Lotta Crabtree, American stage actress (d. 1924)
• November 8
  • Jean Casimir-Perier, 6th President of France (d. 1907)
  • Bram Stoker, Irish author of the Gothic novel Dracula (d. 1912)
  • Charles Alexander (cricketer, born 1847), English cricketer (d. 1902)
• November 9 – Carl Wilhelm Bøckmann Barth, Norwegian artist (d. 1919)
• November 10 – Frederick Arthur Bridgman, American artist (d. 1928)
• November 11
  • Otto Böhler, Austrian silhouette-artist (d. 1911)
  • Adam Carr Bell, Canadian politician (d. 1912)
• November 19 – Carl Friedländer, German pathologist, microbiologist (d. 1887)
• November 23
  • Joseph Ackroyd, American politician (d. 1915)
  • Walter Biggar Blaikie, British astronomer, engineer, historian and printer (d. 1928)
• November 25 – George W. Anson, British actor (d. 1920)
• November 26 – Dagmar of Denmark, empress of Tsar Alexander III of Russia (d. 1928)
• November 30 – Afonso Pena, Brazilian president (d. 1909)
• December 1 – Agathe Backer-Grøndahl, Norwegian pianist, composer (d. 1907)
• December 3 – Arthur Ivan Allin, Danish musician (d. 1926)
• December 5 – Francis Baker (cricketer), English cricketer (d. 1901)
• December 6 – John Elmes Beale, British politician (d. 1928)
• December 7 – George Grossmith, English actor, comic writer (d. 1912)
• December 10
  • John M. Baillie, Canadian politician (d. 1913)
  • Harry Boyle, leading Australian Test cricketer of the late 1870s and early 1880s (d. 1907)
• December 15 – Rolf Andvord (consul), Norwegian shipowner (d. 1906)
• December 18
  • Sir William Acland, 2nd Baronet, British Royal Navy admiral (d. 1924)
  • Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
• December 17
  • Émile Faguet, French writer, critic (d. 1916)
  • Michel-Joseph Maunoury, French general during World War I (d. 1923)
• December 20 – Ferenc Bihar, Hungarian politician (d. 1920)
• December 21 – Fletcher S. Bassett, American founder of the Chicago Folk-Lore Society (d. 1893)
• December 27 – Ferdinand Begg, Scottish stockbroker, politician (d. 1926)
• December 28 – Giuseppe Maria Giulietti, Italian explorer (d. 1881)
• December 29
  • Alexis-Xyste Bernard, Canadian Catholic bishop (d. 1923)
  • Sergey Andreyevsky, Russian writer, poet, literary critic and lawyer (d. 1918)
• December 30 – John Peter Altgeld, American politician, 20th Governor of Illinois (d. 1902)
• December 31 – Wilson S. Bissell, American politician from New York (d. 1903)

Date unknown[edit]

• Bandō Kakitsu I, Japanese kabuki actor (d. 1893)

Deaths[edit]

January–June[edit]

• January 19 – Charles Bent, first Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. 1799) (assassinated)
• March 9 – Mary Anning, British paleontologist (b. 1799)
• April 21 – Barbara Spooner Wilberforce, wife of British abolitionist William Wilberforce (b. 1777)
• April 30 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Austrian general (b. 1771)
• May 14 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer, pianist (b. 1805)
• May 15 – Daniel O'Connell, Irish politician who promoted the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 (b. 1775)
• May 16 – Vicente Rocafuerte, 2nd President of Ecuador (b. 1783)
• May 29 – Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (b. 1766)
• May 31 – Abbasgulu Bakikhanov, Azerbaijani writer (b. 1794)

July–December[edit]

Felix Mendelssohn

• July 16 – Karl Friedrich Burdach, German physiologist (b. 1776)
• September 4 – František Vladislav Hek, Czech patriot (b. 1769)
• September 13 – Nicolas Oudinot, French marshal (b. 1767)
• October 3 – Charles Hatchett, English chemist (b. 1765)
• October 22
  • Henriette Herz, German salonniére (b. 1764)
  • Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa (b. c. 1795)
• November 4 – Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (b. 1809)
• December 14 – Manuel José Arce, Central American politician (b. 1787)

References[edit]

• Historic Letters of 1847