1857

Events

January–March

• January 1 - The biggest Estonian newspaper, Postimees, is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen.
• January 7 - The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating.
• January 9 - The 7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX.
• January 24 - The University of Calcutta is established in Calcutta, as the first multidisciplinary modern university in South Asia. The University of Bombay is also established in Bombay, British India, this year.
• February 3 - The National Deaf Mute College is established in Washington, D.C., becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.
• February 5 - The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States is promulgated.
• March - The Austrian garrison leaves Bucharest.
• March 3
• * France and the United Kingdom formally declare war on China, in the Second Opium War.
• * The largest slave auction in United States history is held, dubbed The Weeping Time. Over a 2-day period, Pierce M. Butler sells 436 men, women, children, and infants, all of whom are kept in stalls meant for horses at a racetrack in Savannah, Georgia, for weeks beforehand.
• March 4 - James Buchanan is sworn in, as the 15th President of the United States.
• March 6 - Dred Scott v. Sandford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War.
• March 12 - Elizabeth Blackwell opens a hospital, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children.
• March 14 - Youssef Bey Karam is assigned, by the people of Ehden and Bsharri, to be the region's ruler.
• March 23 - Elisha Otis' first elevator is installed.

  April–June

• April 4 - The Anglo-Persian War ends.
• April 18 - The Spirits' Book, one of the Five Fundamental Works of Spiritism, is published by French educator Allan Kardec.
• May 5-October 17- The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition is held in Manchester, one of the largest such displays of all time.
• May 10 - Indian Rebellion of 1857: The 3rd Light Cavalry of the British East India Company's army rebels against its British officers, thus beginning the rebellion.
• May 11 - Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian combatants capture Delhi from the British East India Company.
• May 15 - Spanish financial group, Banco Santander founded in Cantabria, Spain.
• May 28 - Banco de Bilbao, as predecessor of BBVA of Espana was founded in Spain.
• June 6 - Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden–Norway.
• June 12 - American mercenary William Walker is overthrown as ruler of Nicaragua, by Honduran general Florencio Xatruch.
• June 22 - The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is officially opened by Queen Victoria.
• June 26 - At a ceremony in London, Queen Victoria awards the first 66 Victoria Crosses to British troops, for actions during the Crimean War.

  July–September

• July 1-November 19 - Indian Rebellion of 1857: Siege of Lucknow.
• July 15 - Indian Rebellion of 1857: The second massacre at Kanpur takes place.
• July 18
• * The Utah Expedition leaves Fort Leavenworth, effectively beginning the Utah War.
• * Prison hulks are used for the last time in the United Kingdom.
• August 20 - The Dunbar wrecks near the entrance to Sydney Harbour, Australia, with the loss of 121 lives.
• August 28 - The Matrimonial Causes Act makes divorce without parliamentary approval legal in the United Kingdom.
• September - The Panic of 1857 begins: Speculation in U.S. railroad shares, and the collapse on August 24 of the New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, following widespread embezzlement, trigger a financial crisis which will extend to Europe.
• September 11 - The Mountain Meadows massacre occurs in Utah.
• September 12 - The sinks off the coast of North Carolina, with the loss of 425 lives.
• September 20 - In India, British forces recapture Delhi, compelling the surrender of Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor.

  October–December

• October 13 - Panic of 1857: New York banks close, and do not reopen until December 12.
• October 24 - Sheffield F.C., the world's first association football team, is founded in Sheffield, England.
• November 1 - The Indus Valley Region is incorporated into Southern Asia as part of British India, for the next 90 years.
• November 30 - President of Mexico Ignacio Comonfort is succeeded by Félix María Zuloaga.
• December - The Reform War in Mexico begins.
• December 16 - The 7.0 Basilicata earthquake shakes the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI, killing about 10,000 people.
• December 20 - Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issues a decree, Es ist Mein Wille, which leads to the demolition of the city walls of Vienna, allowing the construction of the Ringstraße.
• December 31 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as the capital of Canada.

  Date unknown

• The first commercial tea plantation in the British Raj is opened in the Mulnicherra Estate in Sylhet.
• The Mormons abandon Las Vegas.
• Kuala Lumpur, the future capital of Malaysia, is founded as a tin mining settlement.
• La Tène culture artifacts are discovered in Switzerland, by Hansli Kopp.
• Illinois State University, the first public university in Illinois, is established in Normal, Illinois.
• Bucharest becomes the world's first city to have its streets illuminated by kerosene lamps.
• American politician William Daniel proposes the Local Option for Prohibition.
• American composer James Lord Pierpont composes "Jingle Bells", originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh".
• Suzumoto Vaudeville Theater officially opens in Ueno region, Edo in Japan.

  Births

January–March

• January 2 - Uryū Sotokichi, Japanese admiral
• January 4 - Émile Courtet, French caricaturist, animator
• January 11 - William Gentles, U.S. Army private, known for killing Crazy Horse
• January 12
• *Knut Ångström, Swedish physicist
• *Léon de Witte de Haelen, Belgian general
• January 13 - Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general
• January 18 - Otto von Below, German general
• January 26 - The 12th Dalai Lama of Tibet
• January 31 - George Jackson Churchward, British chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway
• February 1 - Lucy Wheelock, American early childhood education pioneer within the kindergarten movement
• February 13 - Almanzo James Wilder, American writer
• February 18 - Dmitry Shcherbachev, Russian general
• February 22
• * Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of the Scouting movement
• * Heinrich Hertz, German physicist
• March 4
• *Constantin Coandă, Romanian general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Romania
• *Aleksei Evert, Russian general
• March 6 - George Dayton, American businessman, founder of Target Corporation
• March 7
• * Genevieve Stebbins, American performer of the Delsarte system of expression
• * Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• March 13
• * Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, British general
• * Hilda Sachs, Swedish journalist, women's rights activist
• March 15 - Christian Michelsen, 1st Prime Minister of Norway
• March 21 - Hunter Liggett, American general
• March 22 - Paul Doumer, President of France
• March 26 - Théodore Tuffier, French surgeon
• March 27
• * Ella Hepworth Dixon, English author and editor
• * Karl Pearson, English statistician
• March 30 - Léon Charles Thévenin, French telegraph engineer

  April–June

• April 5 - Alexander of Battenberg, first Prince of Bulgaria
• April 14
• * Princess Beatrice, youngest child of Queen Victoria
• * Victor Horsley, English physician, surgeon
• April 21 - Elisabet Anrep-Nordin, Swedish pedagogue
• April 22 - Paul Dresser, American songwriter
• April 23 - Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer
• April 30 - Walter Simon, German philanthropist
• May 7 - William A. MacCorkle, Governor of West Virginia
• May 10 - Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel, Austro-Hungarian general
• May 13 - Ronald Ross, English physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• May 15 - Williamina Fleming, Scottish astronomer
• May 19 - John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist
• May 24 - Richard Mansfield, Anglo-American stage actor
• May 27 - Theodor Curtius, German chemist
• May 28
• * Annie Maria Barnes, American author of children's literature
• * Robert C. Hilliard, American stage actor
• May 31 - Pope Pius XI
• June 2
• * Urban Jacob Rasmus Børresen, Norwegian admiral and industry leader
• * Edward Elgar, English composer
• * Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 8 - Lawrence Marston, American actor, playwright and film director
• June 10 - Caroline Louise Dudley, American stage actress
• June 12 - Kate Lester, English stage & silent screen actress
• June 16 - Arthur Arz von Straußenburg, Austro-Hungarian general
• June 20 - Mary Gage Day, American physician
• June 30 - Friedrich von Ingenohl, German admiral

  July–September

• July 1 - Martha Hughes Cannon, American politician
• July 5 - Clara Zetkin, German-born Marxist theorist, activist and women's rights advocate
• July 11 - Alfred Binet, French psychologist
• July 14 - Vittorio Ranuzzi de' Bianchi, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal
• July 19 - Eugen Bamberger, German chemist
• July 22 - Shams-ul-haq Azeemabadi, Indian Islamic scholar
• July 23 - Carl Meinhof, German linguist
• July 24
• * Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• * Juan Vicente Gómez, President of Venezuela
• July 25 - Nat C. Goodwin, American actor
• July 28 - Ballington Booth, Salvation Army officer, co-founder of Volunteers of America
• July 30
• * Lucy Bacon, California Impressionist painter
• * Thorstein Veblen, American economist
• August 8 - Henry Fairfield Osborn, American geologist, paleontologist and eugenist
• August 12 - Ernestine von Kirchsberg, Austrian painter
• August 14 - Max Wagenknecht, German composer
• August 15 - Albert Ballin, German shipping magnate, owner of the Hamburg America Line
• August 16 - Ioan Popovici, Romanian general
• August 18 - Sergei Sheydeman, Russian general
• August 27 - Oskar von Hutier, German general
• August 30 - Alexandra Gripenberg, Finnish women's rights activist, politician
• September 5 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist, inventor
• September 8 - Georg Michaelis, Chancellor of Germany
• September 13
• * Michał Drzymała, Polish peasant, revolutionary
• * Milton S. Hershey, American chocolate manufacturer
• September 14 - Julia Platt, American embryologist, politician
• September 15 - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States and 10th Chief Justice of the United States
• September 18 - John Hessin Clarke, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• September 20 - Antoine de Mitry, French general
• September 28 - Lewis Bayly, British admiral

  October–December

• October 2
• *Martinus Theunis Steyn, Boer lawyer, politician and statesman, sixth and last President of the Orange Free State
• *A. E. Waite, British occultist
• October 5 - Peadar Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish language writer
• October 15 - Joseph Rucker Lamar, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• October 24 - Ned Williamson, American baseball player
• October 27 - Ernst Trygger, 19th Prime Minister of Sweden
• November 5
• * Joseph Tabrar, British songwriter
• * Ida Tarbell, American journalist
• November 9 - Dorothea Rhodes Lummis Moore, American physician
• November 14 - Mihail Savov, Bulgarian general
• November 15 - Mikhail Alekseyev, Russian general
• November 17 - George Marchant, English-born inventor, manufacturer and philanthropist
• November 24 - Miklós Kovács Hungarian Slovene writer
• November 26 - Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist
• November 27 - Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• November 28 - King Alfonso XII of Spain
• November 29 - Theodor Escherich, German pediatrician
• December 2 - Robert Armstrong-Jones, Welsh physician and psychiatrist
• December 3
• * Franz Bunke, German painter
• * Joseph Conrad, Polish-British novelist
• December 4 - Julia Evelyn Ditto Young, American poet and novelist

  Date unknown

• Louise Markscheffel, American dramatic, musical and literary critic
• Marguerite Merington, English-born American author

  Deaths

January–June

• January 27 - Dorothea Lieven, Baltic-German diplomat in Russian services
• February 10 - David Thompson, British-Canadian explorer
• February 15 - Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer
• February 16 - Elisha Kent Kane, American explorer of the Arctic regions
• March 9 - Dominic Savio, Italian adolescent saint
• March 11 - Manuel José Quintana, Spanish poet
• April 8 - Mangal Pandey, Indian soldier
• May 2 - Alfred de Musset, French poet
• May 11 - Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal, private detective
• May 13 - Parley P. Pratt, early American Latter Day Saint movement leader
• May 23 - Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician
• May 29 - Agustina de Aragón, Spanish heroine
• June 30 - Alcide d'Orbigny, French naturalist

  July–December

• July 4 - Henry Montgomery Lawrence, British soldier, statesman
• July 15 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer
• July 19 - Stefano Franscini, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• July 29 - Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French naturalist, ornithologist
• August 3 - Eugène Sue, French novelist
• August 29 - Stephen Cassin, United States Navy officer
• September 3 - John McLoughlin, Canadian trapper
• September 5 - Auguste Comte, French philosopher
• November 12
• * Manuel Oribe, 2nd President of Uruguay
• * Maximilian Spinola, Italian entomologist
• November 26 - Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet
• December 3 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor
• December 15 - Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer
• December 27 - Lucien Baudens, French military surgeon

  Date unknown

• Eduard von Feuchtersleben, Austrian mining engineer and writer
• Ludwik Gorzkowski, Polish politician, physicist and revolutionary activist
• Elizabeth Philpot, British paleontologist