Editing 1838

{{Year dab|1838}}
{{Year nav|1838}}
[[File:Morse Telegraph 1837.jpg|250px|thumb|[[January 11]]: The Morse telegraph is first demonstrated in the U.S.]]
{{C19 year in topic}}
[[File:III.3 Muerte del General Pardiñas en la acción de Maella.jpg|thumb|[[October 1]]: [[Battle of Maella]]]]
[[File:Épisode de l'expédition du Mexique en 1838.jpg|thumb|[[November 27]]: Start of the [[First French intervention in Mexico]]]]
{{Year article header|1838}}

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 10]] – A fire destroys [[Lloyd's Coffee House]] and the [[Royal Exchange, London|Royal Exchange]] in London.
* [[January 11]] – At [[Morristown, New Jersey]], [[Samuel Morse]], [[Alfred Vail]] and [[Leonard Gale]] give the first public demonstration of Morse's new invention, the [[telegraph]].<ref>Russell W. Burns, ''Communications: An International History of the Formative Years'' (Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2004) p84</ref>
* [[January 21]] – The first known report about the [[Lowest temperature recorded on Earth|lowest temperature on Earth]] is made, indicating {{convert|-60|°C|°F|abbr=on}} in [[Yakutsk]].
* [[January 23]] – A [[1838 Vrancea earthquake|7.5 earthquake]] strikes the Romanian district of [[Vrancea County|Vrancea]] causing damage in [[Moldavia]] and  [[Wallachia]], killing 73 people.
* [[February 6]] – Boer explorer [[Piet Retief]] and 60 of his men are massacred by King [[Dingane kaSenzangakhona]] of the [[Zulu people]], after Retief accepts an invitation to celebrate the signing of a treaty, and his men willingly disarm as a show of good faith.<ref>Dominique Lapierre, ''A Rainbow in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa'' (Da Capo Press, 2009)</ref>
* [[February 17]] – [[Weenen massacre]]: Zulu [[impi]]s massacre about 532 [[Voortrekkers]], [[Khoikhoi]] and [[Sotho people|Basuto]] around the site of [[Weenen]] in South Africa.
* [[February 24]] – U.S. Representatives [[William J. Graves]] of Kentucky and [[Jonathan Cilley]] of Maine face each other in a duel with rifles at 80 yards near  [[Bladensburg, Maryland]]. On the third attempt, Congressman Cilley is fatally wounded and bleeds to death.<ref>"Cilley-Graves Duel", in ''Historical Dictionary of the Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny'', by Mark R. Cheathem and Terry Corps (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) p98</ref>
* [[March 13]] – A combination of rain and melting snow causes the [[Danube River]] to overflow its banks, washing away villages in western [[Hungary]] and inundating the twin cities that become [[Budapest]]. More than 150 people are drowned and Europe's nations come to Hungary's aid to prevent the spread of famine and disease.<ref>Kinga Frojimovics, Géza Komoróczy, ''Jewish Budapest: Monuments, Rites, History'' (Central European University Press, 1999) p58</ref>
* [[March 31]] – The first installment of ''[[Nicholas Nickleby]]'', the new novel by [[Charles Dickens]], is released as the opener of a 20-part serialization in London.<ref>Catherine Delafield, ''Serialization and the Novel in Mid-Victorian Magazines'' (Routledge, 2016) p6</ref>

=== April–June ===
* [[April 4]]–[[April 22|22]] – The [[paddle steamer]] {{SS|Sirius|1837|6}} makes the [[transatlantic crossing]] to New York from [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland in 18 days, though not using steam continuously.<ref>{{cite web|title=Steamship Curaçao|url=http://www.vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscuracao/sscuracao.html|access-date=2011-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224202256/http://vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscuracao/sscuracao.html |archive-date=December 24, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[April 8]]–[[April 23|23]] – [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]'s paddle steamer {{SS|Great Western}} (1838) makes the transatlantic crossing to New York from [[Avonmouth]], England, in 15 days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1820-1840|title=Icons, a portrait of England 1820-1840|access-date=2007-09-12|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070922055840/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1820-1840|archive-date=September 22, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[April 30]] – [[Nicaragua]] declares independence from the [[Federal Republic of Central America]].<ref name=Sandoval>{{cite web|last=Sandoval|first=Victor Hugo|title=Federal Republic of Central America|url=http://www.monedasdeguatemala.com/centroamericahisIN.html|work=Monedas de Guatemala|access-date=2013-11-05}}</ref>
* [[May]]
** The [[Chartism|People's Charter]] is drawn up in the United Kingdom, demanding [[universal suffrage]].
** [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]] and his entourage arrive in [[Upper Canada]], to investigate the cause of the [[1837]] rebellion in that province. This leads to Durham submitting the [[Durham Report]] to Britain.
** An insurrection breaks out in [[Tizimín]], beginning the campaign for the independence of [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán]] from Mexico.
* [[May 26]] – [[Trail of Tears]]: The [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee Nation]] is forcibly relocated in the United States.
* [[May 28]] – [[Braulio Carrillo Colina|Braulio Carrillo]] is sworn in as [[Head of State of Costa Rica]], thus beginning his second term in office.
* [[June 10]] – [[Myall Creek massacre]]: 28 [[Indigenous Australians]] are killed.
* [[June 28]] – The [[coronation of Queen Victoria]] of the United Kingdom takes place at [[Westminster Abbey]] in London.<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>

=== July–September ===
* [[July 4]] – In the United States, the [[Iowa Territory]] is formally established, following the signing of a bill by President [[Martin Van Buren]] on [[June 12]]. In addition to [[Iowa]], which will become a state on December 28, 1846, the Territory also includes most of what will become the states of [[Minnesota]], [[North Dakota]] and [[South Dakota]]. [[Robert Lucas (governor)|Robert Lucas]], former Governor of Ohio, takes office as the first Territorial Governor.<ref>"Iowa Territory Legal Materials", by David Hanson, in ''Prestatehood Legal Materials: A Fifty-State Research Guide, Including New York City and the District of Columbia'' (The Haworth Information Press, 2006) p388</ref> 
* [[August 1]] –  Most former slaves in the [[British Empire]] are released from apprenticeships, giving them full emancipation under terms of the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]].
* [[August 6]] – The Polytechnic Institution, predecessor of the [[University of Westminster]] and Britain's first [[Polytechnic (United Kingdom)|polytechnic]], opens in [[Regent Street]], London.<ref>{{cite web|title=University of Westminster|url=http://beginnings.ioe.ac.uk/begswest.html|publisher=Beginnings Project|location=London|access-date=2011-02-09|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710231329/http://beginnings.ioe.ac.uk/begswest.html|archive-date=July 10, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* [[September 7]] – [[Grace Darling]] and her father rescue 13 survivors from the [[Forfarshire (ship)|''Forfarshire'']], off the [[Farne Islands]].
* [[September 18]] – The [[Anti-Corn Law League]] is established in Britain by [[Richard Cobden]].

=== October–December ===
* [[October 1]] – [[First Carlist War]] – [[Battle of Maella]]: Supporters of [[Infante Carlos, Count of Molina]], are victorious.
* [[October 5]] – [[Killough massacre]], believed to be both the largest and last Native American attack on white settlers in [[East Texas]]. 18 casualties are either killed or carried away.
* [[October 27]] – [[Lilburn Boggs]], [[Governor of Missouri]], by [[Missouri Executive Order 44]], declares [[Mormons]] to be enemies of the state, and encourages the extermination or exile of the religious minority, forcing nearly 10,000 Mormons out of the state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/mormon-thoroughfare/7-quincy-illinois-temporary-refuge-1838%E2%80%9339|title=Quincy, Illinois: A Temporary Refuge, 1838-39|publisher=BYU Religious Studies Center|access-date=2013-10-27|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190234/http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/mormon-thoroughfare/7-quincy-illinois-temporary-refuge-1838%E2%80%9339|archive-date=October 29, 2013}}</ref>
* [[November 3]] – ''[[The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce]]'' is founded (renamed  ''[[The Times of India]]'' in [[1861]]).
* [[November 5]] – Dissolution of the [[Federal Republic of Central America]]: [[Honduras]] and [[Costa Rica]] follow the example of [[Nicaragua]] and secede from the federation.<ref name=Sandoval/>
* [[November 16]] – [[Austrian Empire|Austria]]: [[Moravia]] opens the final section of [[Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway]] ([[Rajhrad]]–[[Brno]]) for exhibition (preliminary) use.
* [[November 27]] – [[Pastry War]]: Mexico is invaded by French forces.
* [[December 16]] – [[Battle of Blood River]]: The [[Boer]]s win a decisive victory over the [[Zulus]].
* [[December]] – [[First Anglo-Afghan War]]: [[British Army|British]] and [[Presidency armies]] set out from [[Punjab region|Punjab]] in support of [[Shah Shujah Durrani]]'s claim to the throne of [[Afghanistan]].

=== Date unknown ===
* The [[Pitcairn Islands]] become a [[Crown colony]] of the United Kingdom, and women there are the first in the world to be granted and maintain [[women's suffrage]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/world-suffrage-timeline|title=World suffrage timeline – women and the vote|publisher=New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage}}</ref>
* [[Sylvain Charles Valée]] founds [[Skikda]], [[Algeria]].<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8816/ |title = Philippeville, Algeria |website = [[World Digital Library]] |year = 1899 |access-date = 2013-09-26 }}</ref>
* [[Protein]]s are discovered by [[Gerardus Johannes Mulder]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=G. J.|last=Mulder|journal=Natuur- en Scheikundig Archief|volume=6|title=Over Proteine en hare Verbindingen en Ontledingsproducten|year=1838|pages=87–162}}</ref> and named by [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Origin of the Word Protein|first=Hubert Bradford|last=Vickery|journal=Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine|pages=387–93|volume=22|year=1950|pmc=2598953|pmid=15413335|issue=5}}</ref>
* [[Friedrich Bessel]] makes the first accurate measurement of distance to a [[star]].
* [[Biblical criticism]]: [[Christian Hermann Weisse]] proposes the [[two-source hypothesis]].
* [[Duke University]] is established in [[North Carolina]].
* The 5th century BC bronze [[Chatsworth Head]] is acquired by the [[William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire|6th Duke of Devonshire]] at [[Smyrna]], from [[Henry Perigal Borrell|H. P. Borrell]].

== Births ==

=== January–March ===
[[File:Ernst Mach 01.jpg|thumb|110px|right|[[Ernst Mach]]]]
[[File:Ernest Solvay 1900s.jpg|thumb|110px|right|[[Ernest Solvay]]]]
[[File:Isabelle Bogelot.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Isabelle Bogelot]]]]
* [[January 4]] – [[General Tom Thumb]], American circus performer, entertainer (d. [[1883]])
* [[January 6]]
** [[Anton Berindei]], Wallachian-born Romanian general and politician (d. [[1899]])
** [[Max Bruch]], German composer (d. [[1920]])
* [[January 16]] – [[Franz Brentano]], German philosopher, psychologist (d. [[1917]])
* [[January 29]] – [[Edward W. Morley]], American chemist noted for working on the [[Michelson–Morley experiment]] (d. [[1923]])
* [[February 2]] – [[John Joseph Jolly Kyle]], Scots-born Argentine chemist (d. [[1922]])<ref>Enrique Herrero Ducloux, "Juan J. J. Kyle (1838-1922)", Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina, t. XCIII, 170, Buenos Aires, 1922.  [https://archive.org/stream/analesdelasocied94soci#page/n179/mode/1up]</ref>
* [[February 6]] – [[Henry Irving|Sir Henry Irving]], English actor (d. [[1905]])
* [[February 9]] – [[Evelyn Wood (British Army officer)|Sir Evelyn Wood]], British field marshal, Victoria Cross recipient (d. [[1919]])
* [[February 12]] – [[Julius Dresser]], American writer (d. [[1893]])
* [[February 13]] – [[Annetta Seabury Dresser]], American writer (d. [[1893]])
* [[February 16]] – [[Henry Brooks Adams]], American historian (d. [[1918]])
* [[February 18]] – [[Ernst Mach]], Austrian physicist, philosopher (d. [[1916]])
* [[March 3]] – [[George William Hill]], American astronomer (d. [[1914]])
* [[March 11]] – [[Ōkuma Shigenobu]], Japanese politician (d. [[1922]])
* [[March 12]] – [[William Henry Perkin|Sir William Perkin]], English chemist (d. [[1907]])
* [[March 15]] – [[Alice Cunningham Fletcher]], American [[ethnologist]], [[anthropologist]], and [[social scientist]] (d. [[1923]])

=== April–June ===
* [[April 2]] – [[Léon Gambetta]], 37th Prime Minister of France (d. [[1882]])
* [[April 3]] – [[John Willis Menard]], African-American politician (d. [[1893]])
* [[April 12]] – [[John Shaw Billings]], American military and medical leader (d. [[1913]])
* [[April 16]]
** [[Ernest Solvay]], Belgian chemist, industrialist and philanthropist (d. [[1922]])
** [[Martha McClellan Brown]], [[American temperance movement]] leader (d. [[1916]])
* [[April 18]] – [[Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran]], French chemist (d. [[1912]])
* [[April 21]] – [[John Muir]], American ecologist (d. [[1914]])
* [[April 28]] – [[Tobias Asser]], Dutch jurist, recipient of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] (d. [[1913]])
* [[May 10]] – [[John Wilkes Booth]], American actor, assassin of [[Abraham Lincoln]] (d. [[1865]])
* [[May 11]] – [[Isabelle Bogelot]], French philanthropist (d. [[1923]])
* [[May 20]] – [[Jules Méline]], French statesman (d. [[1925]])
* [[July]] ''full date unknown'' – [[Bass Reeves]], one of the first black [[United States Marshals Service|Deputy U.S. Marshals]] west of the [[Mississippi River]] (d. [[1910]])
* [[June 14]] – [[Yamagata Aritomo]], Japanese field marshal, Prime Minister (d. [[1922]])
* [[June 19]] – [[Mary Cole Walling]], American patriot, lecturer (d. [[1925]])
* [[June 24]] – [[Gustav von Schmoller]], German economist (d. [[1917]])
* [[June 27]] – [[Bankim Chandra Chatterjee]], Indian author (d. [[1894]])

=== July–September ===
[[File:Ferdinand von Zeppelin.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Ferdinand von Zeppelin]]]]
[[File:Georges bizet.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Georges Bizet]]]]
* [[July 1]] – [[Marie-Louise Jaÿ]], French businesswoman (d. [[1925]])
* [[July 5]] – [[Vatroslav Jagić]], Croatian scholar (d. [[1923]])
* [[July 7]] – [[Felice Napoleone Canevaro]], Italian admiral (d. [[1926]])
* [[July 8]] – [[Ferdinand von Zeppelin]], German military officer, founder of the Zeppelin Company (d. [[1917]])
* [[July 11]] – [[John Wanamaker]], American merchant and religious, civic and political figure (d. [[1922]])
* [[July 20]] – [[Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet]], British statesman, author (d. [[1928]])
* [[September 2]]
** [[Bhaktivinoda Thakur]], Indian guru, philosopher (d. [[1914]])
** [[Liliuokalani]], last Queen of Hawaii (d. [[1917]])
* [[September 17]] – [[Valeriano Weyler]], Spanish general (d. [[1930]])
* [[September 21]]
** [[Constantin Budișteanu]] (birth also reported as [[November 4]]), Wallachian-born Romanian soldier and politician (d. [[1911]])
** [[Victoria Woodhull]], American woman's suffrage leader; first woman to run for U.S. President (d. [[1927]])
* [[September 27]] – [[Lawrence Sullivan Ross]], [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] brigadier general, Texas governor and president of [[Texas A&M University]] (d. [[1898]])
* [[September 28]] – [[Sai Baba of Shirdi|Sai Baba]],  Indian spiritual master and National saint (d. [[1918]])
* [[September 29]] – [[Henry Hobson Richardson]], American architect (d. [[1886]])
* [[September 30]] – [[Phoebe Jane Babcock Wait]], American physician (d. [[1904]])

=== October–December ===
* [[October 6]] – [[Giuseppe Cesare Abba]], Italian patriot, writer (d. [[1910]])
* [[October 8]] – [[John Hay]], diplomat, private secretary to [[Abraham Lincoln]], 37th [[United States Secretary of State]] (d. 1905)
* [[October 25]] – [[Georges Bizet]], [[France|French]] composer (d. [[1875]])
* [[October 31]] – King [[Luís I of Portugal]] (d. [[1889]])
* [[November 1]] – [[Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama]] (d. [[1856]])
* [[November 4]] – [[Constantin Budișteanu]] (birth also reported as [[September 21]]), Wallachian-born Romanian soldier and politician (d. [[1911]])
* [[November 7]] – [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam]], French writer (d. [[1889]])
* [[November 8]] – [[Rufus W. Peckham]], [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] (d. [[1909]])
* [[November 13]] – [[Joseph F. Smith]], 6th president of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (d. [[1918]])
* [[November 17]] – [[Sir Lambton Loraine, 11th Baronet]], British naval officer (d. [[1917]])
* [[November 20]] – [[Hedvig Raa-Winterhjelm]], pioneer Scandinavian actor (d. [[1907]])
* [[November 23]] – [[Stephanos Skouloudis]], 34th Prime Minister of Greece (d. [[1928]])
* [[November 29]] – [[Giovanni Losi]], Italian Combonian missionary (d. [[1882]])
* [[December 3]] –  [[Cleveland Abbe]], American meteorologist (d. [[1916]])
* [[December 3]] –  [[Octavia Hill]], British social reformer (d. [[1912]])
* [[December 19]] – [[Darinka Petrovic]], Princess consort of Montenegro (d. [[1892]])
* [[December 20]] – [[Edwin Abbott Abbott]], English theologian, author (d. [[1926]])
* [[December 30]] – [[Émile Loubet]], 8th [[President of France]] (d. [[1929]])

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī]], Islamic teacher, writer (d. [[1897]])
*[[Bass Reeves]], American lawman and first black deputy U.S. marshall (d. [[1910]])

== Deaths ==

=== January–June ===
* [[January 3]] – [[Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Saxony]] (b. [[1759]])
* [[January 5]] – [[Anthony Van Egmond]], leader in Upper Canada Rebellion of [[1837]] (d. in jail) (b. [[1778]])
* [[January 12]] – [[Joshua Humphreys]], American naval architect (b. [[1751]])
* [[January 13]] – [[John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon]], Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. [[1751]])
* [[February 21]] – [[Silvestre de Sacy]], French linguist (b. [[1758]])
* [[February 24]] – [[Christoph Johann von Medem]], German courtier (b. [[1763]])
* [[March 7]] – [[Robert Townsend (spy)]], American member of the [[Culper Spy Ring]] (b. [[1753]])<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |title=American Revolution: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes] |date=14 September 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-85109-744-9 |page=1482 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZX3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1482 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[March 13]] – [[Poul Martin Møller]], Danish philosopher (b. [[1794]])
* [[March 16]] – [[Nathaniel Bowditch]], American mathematician (b. [[1773]])
* [[March 23]] – [[Michael Anckarsvärd]], Swedish politician (b. [[1742]])
* [[April 3]] – [[François Carlo Antommarchi]], French physician (b. [[1780]])
* [[April 6]] – [[José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva]], Brazilian statesman, naturalist (b. [[1763]])
* [[April 9]] – [[Piet Uys]], Voortrekker leader (in battle) (b. [[1797]])
* [[May]] – [[Francisco Gómez (El Salvador President)|Francisco Gómez]], President of El Salvador (b. [[1796]])
* [[May 17]] – [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord]], French politician (b. [[1754]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand summary {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/summary/Charles-Maurice-de-Talleyrand-prince-de-Benevent |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=26 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[May 19]] – [[Sir Richard Hoare, 2nd Baronet|Sir Richard Hoare]], English archaeologist (b. [[1758]])
* [[May 23]] – [[Jan Willem Janssens]], [[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies]] (b. [[1762]])
* [[June 4]] – [[Thomas Hancorne (1752–1838)|Thomas Hancorne]], Welsh Anglican clergyman and judicial officer (b. [[1752]])
* [[June 14]] – [[Maximilian von Montgelas]], Bavarian statesman (b. [[1759]])

=== July–December ===
[[File:Aleksandra Branicka.JPG|thumb|110px|[[Alexandra Branitskaya]]]]
* [[July 19]] – [[Christmas Evans]], Welsh preacher (b. [[1766]])
* [[August 1]] – [[John Rodgers (1772–1838)|John Rodgers]], American naval officer (b. [[1772]])
* [[August 17]] – [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]], librettist for [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] (b. [[1749]])
* [[August 21]] – [[Adelbert von Chamisso]], German writer (b. [[1781]])
* [[September 1]] – [[William Clark]], American explorer (b. [[1770]])
* [[September 15]] – [[Alexandra Branitskaya]], Russian political activist, courtier and businessperson (b. [[1754]])
* [[September 18]] – [[Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington]] (b. [[1752]])
* [[September 27]] – [[Bernard Courtois]], French chemist (b. [[1777]])
* [[October 1]] – [[Charles Tennant]], Scottish chemist, industrialist (b. [[1768]])
* [[October 3]] – [[Black Hawk (Sauk leader)|Black Hawk]], Sauk Indian chief, autobiographer (b. [[1767]])
* [[October 5]] – [[Pauline Léon]], French feminist, radical (b. [[1768]])
* [[November 7]] – [[Anne Grant]], Scottish poet (b. [[1755]])
* [[November 21]] – [[Georges Mouton]], count of Lobau, [[Marshal of France]] (b. [[1770]])
* [[December 12]] – [[Elisha Clark]], American politician (b. [[1752]])
* [[December 20]] – [[Hégésippe Moreau]], French writer and poet (b. [[1810]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:1838| ]]