Today in History for December 1859

Months in 1859: January February March April May June July August September October November

Historical Events

Events 1 - 5 of 5

5th - Dion Boucicault's "Octaroon," premieres in NYC
15th - GR Kirchoff describes chemical composition of Sun
18th - South Carolina declared an "independent commonwealth"
19th - Grading started for Market Street RR
31st - Dutch colony in Dutch Indies counts 4,800 slaves

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 20 of 20

2nd - Georges Seurat, Paris France, post-impressionist painter (Grande Jatte), (d. 1891)
5th - John Jellicoe, British admiral (d. 1935)
9th - Algernon Ashton, composer
12th - Edward Bradley, horse owner (1st to own 4 Kentucky Derby winners)
12th - Maurice Donnay, French playwright (Lovers)
15th - Ludwik L Zamenhof, Russian Poland, physician/linguist (Esperanto)
17th - Paul César Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)
20th - Antonius J Derkinderen, Dutch painter/etcher
21st - Gustave Kahn, France, poet (claimed to have invented vers libre)
22nd - Cecil [James] Sharp, London England, folk musician
24th - Roman Statkowski, composer
25th - Raoul Gunsbourg, composer
26th - Johan F van Bemmelen, Dutch zoologist
26th - William Stephens, U.S. political figure (d. 1944)
27th - William Henry Hadow, composer
28th - Gerard Brucken Fock, composer
28th - John W Fortescue, military historian
29th - Venustiano Carranza, pres of Mexico (1915-20)
30th - Josef Bohuslav Foerster, composer
Post-Impressionist Painter Georges Seurat (2nd) 31st - Max Fiedler, composer

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 7 of 7

2nd - John Brown, US abolitionist (Harpers Ferry), hanged at 59
5th - Louis Poinsot, French mathematician/instrument maker, dies at 82
8th - Thomas de Quincey, English author (b. 1785)
16th - Wilhelm Grimm, writer, dies at 73
21st - Nicolaas C Kist, Dutch church historian/archivist, dies at 66
28th - Thomas Babington Macaulay, English essayist/historian, dies
31st - Luigi Ricci, composer, dies at 54