1851
1851 (MDCCCLI) was a
common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar (or a
common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower
Julian calendar).
*
January 11 -
Christian mystic
Hong Xiuquan begins the
Taiping Rebellion.
*
January 23 - The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in
Oregon is named after
Boston, Massachusetts, or
Portland, Maine, with
Portland winning.
*
March 1 -
Victor Hugo gives speech at the
French national assembly and uses the phrase
United States of Europe several times
*
March 27 - First reported case of white men seeing
Yosemite Valley.
*
March 30 - A population
census was taken of all people living in the
United Kingdom.
*
April 28 -
Santa Clara College is chartered in
Santa Clara,
California.
*
May 1 - The
Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in
the Crystal Palace,
Hyde Park,
London is opened by
Queen Victoria. It runs until
October 18.
*
May 15 -
Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, the first secret society for women, founded at
Wesleyan College in
Macon, Georgia.
*
May 15 -
Rama IV is crowned King of
Thailand.
* July -
The immortal game, a famous
chess game, is played.
*
July 1 - Colony of
Victoria separates from
New South Wales.
*
July 1 - Serial poisoner
Helene Jegado is arrested in
Rennes,
France*
July 29 -
Annibale de Gasparis, in
Naples,
Italy discovers asteroid
15 Eunomia.
*
August 5 -
Mount Pelee erupts and kills 30 people.
*
August 22 - The yacht
America wins the first
America's Cup race.
*
September 15 -
Saint Joseph's University is founded in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
*
September 18 -
The New York Times is founded.
* October -
Reuters news service founded.
*
October 18 - The Great Exhibition in London is closed.
*
October 24 -
Ariel and
Umbriel,
moons of
Uranus, discovered by
William Lassell.
*
November 13 - The
Denny Party lands at
Alki Point, the first settlers of what will become
Seattle, Washington.
*
November 14 -
Herman Melville's novel
Moby-Dick is published in the U.S. by
Harper & Brothers,
New York - after it was first published on
October 18, by
Richard Bentley,
London.
*
December 2 -
Louis Napoleon, president of France, dissolves
French National Assembly and declares a new constitution to extend his term. Later he declares himself as an emperor
Napoleon III. End of the
Second Republic.
*
December 6 - Trial of
Helene Jegado begins; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed in a
guillotine.
*
December 9 - The first
YMCA in
North America is established in
Montreal, Quebec.
*
December 24 - The
Library of Congress burns.
*
December 26-
27 -
Royal Navy warship bombards
Lagos island;
Oba Kosoko is wounded and flees to
Epe.
*
December 29 - The first
YMCA opens, in
Boston, Massachusetts.
Undated
* Dictator Rosas overthrown in
Brazil. New government recognizes independent
Paraguay. New
Blanco government in
Uruguay*
Florida State University is founded.
*
Gold discovered in
Australia.
*
Northwestern University is founded.
*
St. Paul's College, Hong Kong is founded.
*
Macy's department store founded by R.H. Macy.
*
January 17 -
A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d.
1928)
*
January 19 -
Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (d.
1922)
*
January 21 -
Reinhard Hetze, Argentinian religious pioneer (d.
1939)
*
February 8 -
Kate Chopin, American writer (d.
1904)
*
March 19 -
William Henry Stark, Business Leader (d.
1936)
*
March 27 -
Vincent d'Indy, French composer and teacher (d.
1931)
*
March 28 -
Bernardino Machado, Portuguese President (d.
1944)
*
April 21 -
Charles Barrois, French geologist (d.
1939)
*
May 6 -
Aristide Bruant, French cabaret singer and comedian (d.
1925)
*
May 20 -
Emil Berliner, telephone and recording pioneer (d.
1929)
*
May 21 -
Léon Bourgeois, French statesman, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1925)
*
July 20 -
Arnold Pick, Czechoslovakian neurologist and psychiatrist (d.
1924)
*
July 24 -
Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (d.
1935)
*
August 14 -
Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (d.
1887)
*
September 7 -
David King Udall, American politician (d.
1938)
*
October 2 -
Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (d.
1929)
*
Robert Abbe, American surgeon (d.
1928)
*
Tom Morris, Jr., Scottish golfer (d.
1875)
*
January 10 -
Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (b.
1775)
*
January 27 -
John James Audubon, French-American naturalist and illustrator (b.
1785)
*
January 31 -
David Spangler Kaufman, Congressman from Texas (b.
1813)
*
February 1 -
Mary Shelley, English author (b.
1797)
*
February 18 -
Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (b.
1804)
*
February 28 -
Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie,
Marshal of France (b.
1775)
*
March 9 -
Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish scientist (b.
1777)
*
September 10 -
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (b.
1787)
*
September 11 -
Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist and inventor (b.
1794)
*
September 14 -
James Fenimore Cooper, American writer (b.
1789)
*
October 4 -
Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (b.
1767)
*
October 19 -
Marie Thérèse Charlotte (b.
1778)
*
November 26 -
Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal and politician (b.
1769)
*
December 19 -
Joseph Mallord William Turner, English artist (b.
1775)
*1851 -
John Brown Russwurm, Abolitionist (b.
1799)
