Explore 534 historical events from 1850–1859.
Sir Robert Harry Inglis, 2nd Baronet, FRS was a British Conservative politician, noted for his staunch high church views.
Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (born 1786)
Charles Robert Malden was a nineteenth-century British naval officer, surveyor and educator. He is the discoverer of Malden Island in the central Pacific, which is named in his hon…
Charles Robert Malden, English lieutenant and explorer (born 1797)
Mary Reibey was an English-born merchant, shipowner and trader who was transported to Australia as a convict. After gaining her freedom, she was viewed by her contemporaries as a c…
Mary Reibey, Australian businesswoman, (born 1777)
John B. Gorrie was a Saint Kitts and Nevis born American medical doctor and scientist, credited as the inventor of mechanical refrigeration.
John Gorrie, American physician and humanitarian (born 1803)
Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was a Russian admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy known for his victory in the Battle of Sinop and his leadership in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)…
Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (born 1802)
Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov was a Russian poet, essayist and translator of the Romantic era. He also served in the diplomatic corps, spending an extended period in 1818 and …
Konstantin Batyushkov, Russian poet and translator (born 1787)
José Mariano Martín Buenaventura Ignacio Nepomuceno García de Arista Nuez was a Mexican soldier and politician who served as the 19th president of Mexico from 1851 to 1853.
Mariano Arista, Mexican general and politician, 19th President of Mexico (born 1802)
Henry Colburn was a British publisher.
Henry Colburn, English publisher (born 1785)
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. M…
A group of American mercenaries led by William Walker set sail from San Francisco to conquer Nicaragua
The Great Gold Robbery took place on the night of 15 May 1855, when a routine shipment of three boxes of gold bullion and coins was stolen from the guard's van of the service betwe…
Thieves stole 224 pounds (102 kg) of gold from a train travelling from London to Folkestone, England
General José María Yáñez Carrillo was a Mexican soldier who fought in the Mexican War of Independence. He also served in the Mexican-American war and the war against the French att…
In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de…
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed b…
The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the U
The Åland War was the operations of an Anglo-French naval force against military and civilian facilities on the coast of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1854–1856, during the Crimean…
Åland War: The British navy destroys merchant ships and about 16,000 tar barrels of the wholesale stocks area in Oulu, G
The United States Naval Academy is a federal service academy adjacent to Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretar…
The United States Naval Academy graduates its first class of students
The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party in the United States, sitting on the right-wing to far-right…
The Republican Party of the United States held its first convention in Jackson, Michigan.
USS Constellation is a sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy. She was built at the Gosport Shipyard between 1853 and 1855. She was n…
USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and current museum ship in…
The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner with a red circle at its center. The flag is officially called the Nisshōki , but is more commonly known in Japan as the Hi…
The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
Ludwig Levy was a German Jewish architect of the Historicist school. He designed a number of synagogues, amongst which was the huge Neue Synagoge in Strasbourg, as well as official…
Ludwig Levy, German architect (died 1907)
William Stang was a German Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Fall River from 1904 until his death in 1907.
William Stang, German-American bishop (died 1907)
Henri La Fontaine, was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913 because "he was the effective leade…
Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)
Transcendentalism is a philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the New England region of the United States. A core belief is i…
American Transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau publishes his memoir Walden.
The Sioux Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and various subgroups of the Sioux people which occurred in the later half of the 19th century. The earliest con…
The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are…
Charles Sumner Tainter was an American scientific instrument maker, engineer and inventor, best known for his collaborations with Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, Alexander'…
Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (died 1940)
Phoebe Sarah Hertha Ayrton was an English electrical engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, and suffragette. Known in adult life as Hertha Ayrton, born Phoebe Sarah Marks…
Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist