Explore 193 historical events from 1850–1859.
Adrian Constantine Anson, nicknamed "Cap", "Pop", and "Baby" was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he play…
Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (died 1922)
Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, sharpshooter and storyteller. In addition to many exploits, she was known for being an acquaintan…
Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and professional scout (died 1903)
Alice Pleasance Hargreaves was an English woman who, in her childhood, was an acquaintance and photographic subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boatin…
Alice Liddell, English model (died 1934)
Charles Warren Fairbanks was the 26th vice president of the United States under President Theodore Roosevelt serving from 1905 to 1909. A member of the Republican Party, Fairbanks …
Charles W
Henri Julien was a Canadian artist and cartoonist noted for his work for the Canadian Illustrated News and for his political cartoons in the Montreal Daily Star. His pseudonyms inc…
Henri Julien, Canadian illustrator (died 1908)
Gertrude Käsebier was an American photographer. She was known for her images of motherhood, her portraits of Native Americans, and her promotion of photography as a career for wome…
Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (died 1934)
William Muldoon was an American Greco-Roman Wrestling champion, a physical culturist, and the first chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. He once wrestled a match tha…
William Muldoon, American wrestler and trainer (died 1933)
William Barnes was an English professional cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club from 1875 to 1894, and in 21 Test matches for England from 1880 to 1890. He …
Billy Barnes, English cricketer (died 1899)
Francisco Pascasio Moreno was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno. Perito Moreno has been credited as one of the most i…
Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (died 1919)
Julius Richard Petri was a German microbiologist who is generally credited with inventing the device known as the Petri dish, which is named after him, while working as assistant t…
Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (died 1921)
Theodore Robinson was an American painter best known for his Impressionist landscapes. He was one of the first American artists to take up Impressionism in the late 1880s, visiting…
Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (died 1896)
Ivan Aleksandrovich Nabokov was a Russian adjutant general and general of the infantry prominent during the Napoleonic Wars.
Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (born 1787)
Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century. He held a high position at…
Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (born 1783)
A soprano (Italian pronunciation: [soˈpraːno]) is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific …
Swedish operatic soprano Jenny Lind concluded a successful concert tour of the United States under the management of sho
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than those of …
Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London
During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been …
The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier
The practice of slavery in present-day Colombia dates back to the pre-Spanish era and persisted until its definitive abolition in 1851. This practice involved the human trafficking…
Slavery in Colombia is abolished
Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician who served as Solicitor-General of Ceylon.
Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, third Solicitor General of Sri Lanka (died 1930)
Aleksandr Pavlovich Dianin was a Russian chemist from Saint Petersburg. He carried out studies on phenols and discovered a phenol derivative now known as bisphenol A and the accord…
Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (died 1918)
Siegmund Lubin was an American motion picture pioneer who founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (1902–1917) of Philadelphia.
Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (died 1923)
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New …
Sojourner Truth delivers her famous Ain't I a Woman? speech at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio
Leopoldo Enrique García-Alas y Ureña, also known as Clarín, was a Spanish realist novelist and journalist born in Zamora. His inflammatory articles, known as paliques (“chitchat”),…
Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (died 1901)
Thomas Wilmer Dewing was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. Schooled in Paris, Dewing was noted for his figure paintings of aristocratic women. He was a f…
Thomas Dewing, American painter (died 1938)
Aristide Bruant was a French cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner. He is best known as the man in the red scarf and black cape featured on certain famous posters by Henri …
Aristide Bruant, French singer and actor (died 1925)