Birthdays by Year
- Jan 1 Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright, born in Paris, France (d. 1908)[1]
- Jan 5 William John Wills, English explorer of Australia, member of the Burke and Wills expedition, born in Totnes, United Kingdom (d. 1861)
- Jan 7 Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor (Reis telephone.), born in Gelnhausen, (d. 1874)
- Jan 10 John Dalberg-Acton. British politician and historian: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicillies (d. 1902)
- Jan 14 William Cleaver Francis Robinson, Irish governor and musical composer, born in County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland (d. 1897)
- Jan 16 Albert Lindley Lee, American lawyer, Kansas State Supreme Court Judge, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Fulton, New York (d. 1907)
- Jan 17 August Weismann, German biologist, one of the founders of the science of genetics, born in Frankfurt (d. 1914)
- Jan 17 Wilhelmina Albregt-Engelman, Dutch actress, daughter of Mimi Bia, born in Amsterdam (d. 1902)
- Jan 20 George D. Robinson, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (1884-87) and lawyer who defended Lizzie Borden, born in Lexington, Massachusetts (d. 1896)
- Jan 25 Pablo Hernández Salces, Spanish composer, born in Zaragoza, Spain (d. 1910)
- Jan 27 Robert Sanford Foster, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Vernon, Indiana (d. 1903)
- Feb 6 Edwin Klebs, German physician and bacteriologist (bacterial theory of infection, diphtheria bacillus), born in Königsberg, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1913)
- Feb 6 Ema Puksec, Croatian singer, born in Ogulin, Croatia (d. 1889)
- Feb 6 William Dorsey Pender, Major General (Confederate Army), born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina (d. 1863)
Dmitri Mendeleev(1834-1907)
Feb 8 Russianchemist andinventor who devised the periodic table of the elements, born in Tobolsk, Russia
- Feb 9 Felix Dahn, German Historian, jurist and poet, born in Hamburg (d. 1912)
- Feb 9 Franz Xaver Witt, German church musician, composer, and priest, born in Walderbach, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1888)
- Feb 15 William Henry Preece, Welsh electrical engineer/wireless pioneer, born in Caernarfon, Wales (d. 1913)
- Feb 16 Ernst Haeckel, German biologist (Causes of Evolution) and philosopher (Social Darwinism), born in Potsdam, Prussia (d. 1919)
- Feb 22 Albert Zabel, German-Russian prodigy harpist (Berlin Opera, 1848-55; Russian Imperial Ballet, 1855-1910), pedagogue (St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1962-1910), and composer (La Source), born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1910)
- Feb 23 Gustav Nachtigal, German physician and explorer (consul in Tunis, secured protectorates for Germany in central Africa), born in Eichstedt, Brandenburg (d. 1885)
- Feb 26 Aleksander Zarzycki, Polish composer (Warsaw Music Society), born in Lviv, Austria-Hungary (d. 1895)
- Mar 4 (Peter) Nicolai von Wilm, German-Baltic pianist and composer, born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russia (d. 1911)
- Mar 6 George du Maurier, Franco-British illustrator and writer (Trilby), born in Paris, France (d. 1896)
- Mar 16 James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
Gottlieb Daimler(1834-1900)
Mar 17 Germanengineer andinventor, designed 1st motorcycle, born in Schorndorf, Kingdom of Württemberg
- Mar 20 Charles William Eliot, American academic (President of Harvard University, 1869-1909), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1926)
- Mar 22 Francis Asbury Shoup, American Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, fought Battle of Prairie Grove, born in Laurel, Indiana (d. 1896)
- Mar 23 Julius Reubke, German organist, pianist, and composer (Sonata on the 94th Psalm in c), born in Hausneindorf, Germany (d. 1858)
- Mar 24 John Wesley Powell, American geologist, explorer (Grand Canyon) and ethnologist, born in Mount Morris, New York (d. 1902)
- Mar 24 William Morris, English arts and Crafts designer, craftsman (championed handmade production), poet and socialist, born in Walthamstow, London, England (d. 1896)[1]
- Apr 1 Isidore Legouix, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1916)
- Apr 1 Jim Fisk, American financier and "robber baron" of the Gilded Age known as Big Jim, born in Pownal, Vermont (d. 1872)
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi(1834-1904)
Apr 2 Frenchsculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty), and painter, born in Colmar, France
- Apr 21 William Rufus Terrill, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Covington City, Virginia (d. 1862)
- Apr 26 Artemus Ward [Charles Farrar Browne], American humorist (considered to be America's first stand-up comedian), born in Waterford, Maine (d. 1867)
- Apr 26 Horatio Richmond Palmer, American composer and choir director, born in Sherburne, New York (d. 1907)
- Apr 30 Lord Avebury [John Lubbock], British banker and politician, born in London (d. 1913)
- May 5 Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1873)
- May 23 Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (art for King's Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1890)
- Jun 8 George Garrett, English composer, born in Winchester, England (d. 1897)
- Jun 10 Hendrik Pierson, Dutch theologist (H Pierson Foundation), born in Amsterdam (d. 1923)
- Jun 16 Wesley Merritt, American Major General (Union Army), 1st American Military Governor of the Philippines, born in New York City (d. 1910)
- Jun 19 Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist, born in Kelvedon, Essex, England (d. 1892)
- Jul 1 Jadwiga Łuszczewska, Polish poet, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1908)
- Jul 2 Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch lawyer, economist (Bank of the Netherlands) and historian, born in Zetten, Netherlands (d. 1917)
- Jul 11 James McNeill Whistler, American-British painter (Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 aka "Whistler's Mother"), born in Lowell, Massachusetts (d. 1903)
- Jul 16 Carlo Angeloni, Italian composer, born in Lucca, Duchy of Lucca (d. 1901)
- Jul 16 Peter Leyten, Bishop of Breda (1885-1914), born in Breda, Netherlands (d. 1914)
Edgar Degas(1834-1917)
Jul 19 French impressionistpainter, sculptor and artist (The Bellelli Family), born in Paris
- Jul 22 Daniel McCook Jr, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Carrollton, Ohio (d. 1864)
- Jul 23 James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1921)
- Aug 2 Isaac Capadose, Dutch clergyman in the Catholic Apostolic Church, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1920)
- Aug 4 John Venn, English mathematician (Venn Diagram), born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England (d. 1923)
- Aug 9 Elias Álvares Lobo, Brazilian composer, born in Itu, Brazil (d. 1901)
- Aug 17 Peter Benoit, Flemish composer (De Leie; Rubens Cantata: Requiem), and conductor, born in Harelbeke, Flanders (d. 1901)
- Aug 18 Marshall Field, American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, born in Conway, Massachusetts (d. 1906)
- Aug 22 Nathaniel Harrison Harris, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Natchez, Mississippi (d. 1900)
- Aug 22 Samuel Pierpont Langley, American astronomer and pioneer aviator, born in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1906)
- Aug 31 Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (I Lituani; La Gioconda), born in Paderno, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, Austrian Empire (d. 1886)
- Sep 9 Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English writer (John Inglesant), born in Birmingham, England (d. 1903)
- Sep 9 William MacRae, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Wilmington, North Carolina (d. 1882)
- Sep 15 Heinrich von Treitschke, German historian and political writer, born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1896)
- Sep 17 Edouard Pailleron, French attorney, poet and stage writer, born in Paris, France (d. 1899)
- Oct 1 Francis Cockrell, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Warrensburg, Missouri (d. 1915)
- Oct 3 Vilém Blodek [Plodek], Czech pianist, flautist, and composer, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (d. 1874)
- Oct 8 Walter Kittredge, American musician during American Civil War, born in Merrimack, New Hampshire (d. 1905)
- Oct 10 Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer and poet (Nummisuutarit), born in Nurmijärvi, Grand Duchy of Finland (d. 1872)
- Oct 19 Francis Channing Barlow, American lawyer, Union general (US Civil War, meet with General John Brown Gordon at Gettysburg), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1896)
- Oct 28 Dudley M. DuBose, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 1883)
- Nov 7 Lucy Lloyd, English-born creator (with Wilhelm Bleek) of archive of Bushman ǀxam and !kun texts, born in Norbury, England (d. 1914)[1]
- Nov 10 Jose Hernandez, Argentine poet (MartinFierro), born in Chacra de Pueyrredon, Argentina (d. 1886)
- Nov 10 Wager Swayne, American Colonel (Union Army), born in Columbus, Ohio (d. 1902)
- Nov 13 Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican author (El Zarco), born in Tixtla, Guerrero, Mexico (d. 1893)
- Nov 17 Stephen Hinsdale Weed, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Potsdam, New York (d. 1863)
- Nov 19 Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist (test of Quincke), born in Frankfurt-on-Oder, Brandenburg, Germany (d. 1924)
- Nov 20 Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, Croatian composer who collected and published 1,600 folk songs, born in Osijek, Croatia (d. 1911)
Hetty Green(1834-1916)
Nov 21 Americanbusinesswoman andfinancier whose wealth and miserliness saw her known as the "Witch of Wall Street", born in New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Nov 21 Joseph Jackson Bartlett, American attorney, diplomat and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Binghamton, New York (d. 1893)
- Nov 25 Jean-Baptist Colyns, Belgian violinist and composer, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1902)
- Nov 29 Thomas Edward Greenfield Ransom, American civil engineer, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Norwich, Vermont (d. 1864)
- Dec 16 Leon Walras, French economist (border use theory), born in Évreux, France (d. 1910)