Editing 1847

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{About year|1847}}
{{Year nav|1847}}
[[File:Carl Nebel - Genl. Scott's entrance into Mexico, Plate 45.jpg|250px|thumb|[[September 14]]: [[Mexico City]], capital of Mexico, is captured by U.S. troops led by General [[Winfield Scott]].]]
[[File:『地震後世俗語之種』より、善光寺地震の図01.jpg |250px|thumb|[[May 8]]: Earthquake in Japan kills 8,600 people.]]


{{C19 year in topic}}{{Year article header|1847}}

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 4]] – [[Samuel Colt]] sells his first [[revolver]] pistol to the U.S. government.
* [[January 13]] – The [[Treaty of Cahuenga]] ends fighting in the [[Mexican–American War]] in [[California]].
* [[January 16]] – [[John C. Frémont]] is appointed Governor of the new [[California]] Territory.
* [[January 17]] – [[St. Anthony Hall]] fraternity is founded at [[Columbia University]], New York City.
* [[January 30]] – [[Yerba Buena, California]], is renamed [[San Francisco]].
* [[February 5]] – A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fated [[Donner Party]] of California-bound migrants who became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada earlier this winter. Some have resorted to survival by cannibalism.
* [[February 22]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: [[Battle of Buena Vista]] – 5,000 American troops under General [[Zachary Taylor]] use their superiority in [[artillery]] to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]], defeating the Mexicans the next day.
* [[February 25]] – [[State University of Iowa]] is founded in [[Iowa City, Iowa]].
* [[March 1]]
** The state of [[Michigan]] formally abolishes the [[death penalty]].
** [[Faustin Soulouque]] is elected President of [[Haiti]].
* [[March 4]] – The [[30th United States Congress]] is sworn into office.
* [[March 9]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: United States forces under General [[Winfield Scott]] invade Mexico near [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]].
* [[March 14]] – [[Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' premieres at the [[Teatro della Pergola]], in [[Florence]], Italy.
* [[March 29]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: United States forces under General [[Winfield Scott]] take [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] after a [[siege]].
* [[March]] – The first known publication of the classic joke "[[Why did the chicken cross the road?]]" occurs in ''[[The Knickerbocker|The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine]]''.<ref>''The Knickerbocker, or The New York Monthly'', March 1847, p. 283.</ref>


=== April–June ===
* [[April 5]] – The world's first municipally-funded civic public [[park]], [[Birkenhead Park]] in [[Birkenhead]] on [[Merseyside]], England, is opened.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wirral.gov.uk/LGCL/100006/200073/670/content_0001110.html |title=The History of Birkenhead Park |access-date=2007-09-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626164507/http://www.wirral.gov.uk/LGCL/100006/200073/670/content_0001110.html |archive-date=June 26, 2008 }}</ref>
* [[April 15]] – [[The Lawrence School, Sanawar]] is established in India.
* [[April 16]] – [[New Zealand Wars]]: A minor [[Māori people|Māori]] chief is accidentally shot by a junior [[British Army]] officer in [[Whanganui]] on [[New Zealand]]'s [[North Island]], triggering the [[Wanganui Campaign]] (which continues until [[July 23]]).
* [[April 25]] – The {{ship||Exmouth|1818 brig|2}}, carrying Irish emigrants from [[Derry]] bound for [[Quebec]], is wrecked off [[Islay]], with only three survivors from more than 250 on board.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Exmouth - a terrible tragedy on Islay|url=http://www.islayinfo.com/exmouth-islay-tragedy.html|work=Isle of Islay|year=2011|access-date=2012-07-13}}</ref>
* [[May 7]] – In [[Philadelphia]], the [[American Medical Association]] (AMA) is founded.
* [[May 8]]
** The [[1847 Nagano earthquake|Nagano earthquake]] leaves more than 8,600 people dead in [[Japan]].
** Bahrain's ruler, Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, signs a treaty with the British to prevent and combat the slave trade in the Arabian Gulf.
* [[May 31]] – Second [[Treaties of Erzurum|Treaty of Erzurum]]: the [[Ottoman Empire]] cedes [[Abadan Island]] to the [[Qajar dynasty|Persian Empire]].
* [[May]] – The [[Architectural Association School of Architecture]] is founded in London.
* [[June 1]] – The first congress of the [[Communist League]] is held in London.
* [[June 9]] – [[Radley College]], an [[English public school]], is founded near Oxford as a High Anglican institution.<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Radley College 1847-1947|first=A. K.|last=Boyd|location=Oxford|publisher=Blackwell|year=1948|url=https://radleyarchives.co.uk/browse/histories-of-radley-college/the-history-of-radley-college-1847-1947-by-a-k-boyd-oxford-blackwell-1948|access-date=2020-11-14}}</ref>
* [[June 26]] – The first passenger railway wholly within modern-day Denmark opens, from [[Copenhagen]] to [[Roskilde]].<ref>{{Marshall-GuinnessRail}}{{page needed|date=October 2016}}</ref>
* [[June]] – E. H. Booth & Co. Ltd, which becomes the northern England supermarket chain [[Booths]], is founded when tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth, 19, opens a shop called "The China House" in [[Blackpool]].

=== July–September ===
* [[July 1]] – The United States issues its first [[postage stamp]]s.
[[File:Entering the Great Salt Lake Valley by C.C.A. Christensen.png|250px|thumb|[[July 24]]: Mormons expelled from Illinois arrive at the Great Salt Lake in what is now Utah.]]
* [[July 24]] – After 17 months of travel, [[Brigham Young]] leads 148 [[Mormon pioneers]] into [[Salt Lake Valley]], resulting in the establishment of [[Salt Lake City]].
* [[July 26]] – The nation of [[Liberia]], founded as a haven for freed African-American slaves, becomes independent.
* [[July 29]] – The [[Cumberland School of Law]] is founded at [[Cumberland University]], in [[Lebanon, Tennessee]]. At the end of this year, only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
* [[August 12]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: U.S. troops of General [[Winfield Scott]] begin to advance along the [[aqueduct (water supply)|aqueduct]] around Lakes [[Lake Chalco|Chalco]] and [[Lake Xochimilco|Xochimilco]] in Mexico.
* [[August 20]] – [[Mexican–American War]] – [[Battle of Churubusco]]: U.S. troops defeat Mexican forces.
* [[August]] – [[Yale Corporation]] establishes the first graduate school in the United States, as ''Department of Philosophy and the Arts'' (renamed ''Graduate School of Arts and Sciences'' in [[1892]]).
* [[September 14]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: U.S. general [[Winfield Scott]] [[Battle for Mexico City|enters Mexico City]], marking the end of organized Mexican resistance.
* [[September 30]] – The [[Vegetarian Society]] is formed in the United Kingdom (it remains the oldest in the world).

=== October–December ===
* [[October 12]] – German inventors and industrialists [[Werner von Siemens]] and [[Johann Georg Halske]] found [[Siemens & Halske]] to develop the [[electrical telegraph]].
* [[October 19]] – [[Charlotte Brontë]] publishes ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' under the pen name of Currer Bell in England.
* [[October 31]] – [[Theta Delta Chi]] is founded as a social [[Fraternities and sororities|fraternity]] at [[Union College]], [[Schenectady, New York]].
* [[October]] – The last [[volcanic eruption]] of [[Mount Guntur]] in [[West Java]] occurs.
* [[November 3]]–[[November 29|29]] – [[Sonderbund War]]: In Switzerland, General [[Guillaume-Henri Dufour]]'s Federal Army defeats the ''Sonderbund'' (an alliance of seven [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]]) in a civil war, with a total of only 86 deaths.
* [[November 4]]–[[November 8|8]] – [[James Young Simpson]] discovers the [[anesthetic]] properties of [[chloroform]] and first uses it, successfully, on a patient, in an [[obstetric]] case in [[Edinburgh]].<ref>First communicated to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, November 10, and published in a pamphlet, ''Notice of a New Anæsthetic Agent'', in Edinburgh, November 12.</ref>
* [[November 10]] – The first brew of [[Carlsberg Group|Carlsberg]] [[beer]] is finished in [[Copenhagen]].
* [[November 17]] – The Battle of Um Swayya Spring takes place near a spring in Qatar, after a Bahraini force under Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Deputy Ruler of Bahrain defeats the Al Binali tribe. The chief of the Al Binali, Isa bin Tureef, is slain in battle with over 70 fatalities from his side.
* [[December 14]] – [[Emily Brontë]] and [[Anne Brontë]] publish ''[[Wuthering Heights]]'' and ''[[Agnes Grey]]'', respectively, in a 3-volume set under the pen names of Ellis Bell and Acton Bell in England.
* [[December 20]] – British [[Royal Navy]] steam [[frigate]] {{HMS|Avenger|1845}} is wrecked on the [[Sorelle Rocks]] in the [[Mediterranean Sea]] with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gilly|first=William Octavius Shakespeare|title=Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy between 1793 and 1849|publisher=John W. Parker|year=1850|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDsIAAAAQAAJ}}</ref>
* [[December 21]] – [[Emir Abdelkader]] surrenders to the French in Algeria.

=== Date unknown ===
* The [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] continues in Ireland.
* The [[North Carolina General Assembly]] incorporates the railroad town of [[Goldsboro, North Carolina|Goldsborough]], and the [[Wayne County, North Carolina|Wayne]] county seat is moved to the new town.
* [[Welfare in Sweden]] takes its first step with the introduction of the ''[[1847 års fattigvårdförordning]]''.
* [[Cartier (jeweler)|Cartier]], a [[Luxury goods|luxury brand]] in [[France]], is founded.

== Births ==

=== January ===
* [[January 5]] – [[Oku Yasukata]], Japanese field marshal, leading figure in the early Imperial Japanese Army (d. [[1930]])
* [[January 7]] – [[Caspar F. Goodrich]], American admiral (d. [[1925]])
* [[January 24]] – [[Radomir Putnik]], Serbian field marshal (d. [[1917]])
* [[January 28]] – [[Dorus Rijkers]], Dutch naval hero (d. [[1928]])

=== February ===
* [[February 3]] – [[Warington Baden-Powell]], British admiralty lawyer (d. [[1921]])
* [[February 4]] – [[Remus von Woyrsch]], German field marshal (d. [[1920]])
* [[February 5]] – [[João Maria Correia Ayres de Campos, 1st Count of Ameal]], Portuguese politician and antiquarian (d. [[1920]])
* [[February 8]] – [[Hugh Price Hughes]], Methodist social reformer, first Superintendent of the [[West London Mission]] (d. [[1902]])
* [[February 11]] – [[Thomas Alva Edison]], American inventor (d. [[1931]])
* [[February 13]] – [[Sir Robert McAlpine, 1st Baronet|Sir Robert McAlpine]], Scottish builder (d. [[1930]])
* [[February 15]] – [[Robert Fuchs (composer)|Robert Fuchs]], Austrian composer (d. [[1927]])
* [[February 16]] – [[Philipp Scharwenka]], Polish-German composer (d. [[1917]])
* [[February 17]] – [[Otto Blehr]], Norwegian attorney, Liberal Party politician, 7th [[Prime Minister of Norway]] (d. [[1927]])

=== March ===
* [[March 1]] – [[Thomas Brock|Sir Thomas Brock]], English sculptor (d. [[1922]])
* [[March 2]]
** [[Isaac Barr]], Anglican clergyman, promoter of British colonial settlement schemes (d. [[1937]])
** [[Cayetano Arellano]], first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines under the American Civil Government (d. [[1920]])
* [[March 3]] – [[Alexander Graham Bell]], Scottish-born Canadian inventor (d. [[1922]])
* [[March 4]] – [[Carl Josef Bayer]], Austrian chemist (d. [[1904]])
* [[March 14]] – [[Castro Alves]], Brazilian poet (d. [[1871]])
* [[March 18]] – [[William O'Connell Bradley]], American politician from Kentucky (d. [[1914]])
* [[March 23]] – [[Edmund Gurney]], British psychologist (d. [[1888]])
* [[March 27]]
** [[Otto Wallach]], German chemist, [[Nobel Prize]] laureate (d. [[1931]])
** [[Garret Barry (piper)|Garret Barry]], Irish musician (d. [[1899]])

=== April ===
* [[April 2]] – [[Charles Frederic Moberly Bell]], British journalist, editor (d. [[1911]])
* [[April 10]] – [[Joseph Pulitzer]], Hungarian-born journalist, newspaper publisher (d. [[1911]])
* [[April 15]] – [[Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter]], Polish Hasidic rabbi (d. [[1905]])
* [[April 27]] – [[Emma Irene Åström]], Finnish teacher, Finland's first female university graduate (d. [[1934]])

=== May ===
* [[May 7]] – [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] (d. [[1929]])
* [[May 14]] – [[Frederick William Borden|Sir Frederick William Borden]], Canadian politician (d. [[1917]])

=== June ===
* [[June 8]]
** [[Oleksander Barvinsky]], Ukrainian politician (d. [[1926]])
** [[Ida Saxton McKinley]], [[First Lady of the United States]] (d. [[1907]])
* [[June 10]] – [[Gina Krog]], Norwegian suffragist (d. [[1916]])
* [[June 11]] – [[Millicent Fawcett|Dame Milicent Fawcett]], British suffragist (d. [[1929]])
* [[June 16]] – [[Luella Dowd Smith]], American educator, author, and reformer (d. [[1941]])

=== July ===
[[File:President Hindenburg.jpg|thumb|right|110px|[[Paul von Hindenburg]]]]
[[File:Bram Stoker 1906.jpg|thumb|right|110px|[[Bram Stoker]]]]
* [[July 2]] – [[Marcel Alexandre Bertrand]], French geologist (d. [[1907]])
* [[July 9]] – [[Wong Fei-hung]], Chinese healer, revolutionary (d. [[1925]])
* [[July 13]] – [[Damian Sawczak]], Ukrainian judge (d. [[1912]])
* [[July 19]] – [[Alexander Meyrick Broadley]], British historian (d. [[1916]])
* [[July 20]]
** [[Lord William Beresford]], Irish army officer, Victoria Cross recipient (d. [[1900]])
** [[Max Liebermann]], German painter, printmaker (d. [[1935]])
* [[July 25]] – [[Paul Langerhans]], German pathologist, biologist (d. [[1888]])

=== August ===
* [[August 3]] – [[John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair]], Canadian politician, Governor General (d. [[1934]])
* [[August 5]] – [[Andrey Selivanov]], Russian general and politician (d. [[1917]])
* [[August 21]] – [[Hale Johnson]], [[American temperance movement]] leader (d. [[1902]])

=== September ===
* [[September 3]] – [[Charles Stillman Sperry]], American admiral (d. [[1911]])
* [[September 5]]
** [[Jesse James]], American outlaw (d. [[1882]])
** [[Joseph Bucklin Bishop]], American journalist, publisher (d. [[1928]])
* [[September 17]] – [[John I. Beggs]], American businessman (d. [[1925]])
* [[September 22]] – [[Enrique Almaraz y Santos]], Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. [[1922]])
* [[September 23]] – [[Anandamohan Bose]], Indian politician, academic and social reformer (d. [[1906]])
* [[September 30]] – [[Wilhelmina Drucker]], Dutch feminist (d. [[1925]])

=== October ===
[[File:Maria Pia of Savoy, dowager queen of Portugal.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Maria Pia of Savoy]]]]
[[File:Thomas F. Porter.png|thumb|110px|[[Thomas F. Porter]]]]
* [[October 1]] – [[Annie Besant]], English women's rights activist, writer and orator (d. [[1933]])<ref>Framke, Maria: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/besant_annie/ Besant, Annie], in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War]</ref>
* [[October 2]] – [[Paul von Hindenburg]], German field marshal, [[President of Germany]] (d. [[1934]])
* [[October 13]]
** [[Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet]], British politician (d. [[1926]])
** [[Maurice Bailloud]], French general (d. [[1921]])
* [[October 14]] – [[Wilgelm Vitgeft]], Russian admiral (d. [[1904]])
* [[October 15]] – [[Ralph Albert Blakelock]], American romanticist painter (d. [[1919]])
* [[October 16]] – [[Maria Pia of Savoy]], [[Queen consort of Portugal]] (d. [[1911]])
* [[October 17]] – [[Chiquinha Gonzaga]], Brazilian composer (d. [[1935]])
* [[October 19]] – [[Aurilla Furber]], American author, editor, and activist (d. [[1898]])
* [[October 20]] – [[Mifflin E. Bell]], American architect (d. [[1904]])
* [[October 22]] – [[Koos de la Rey]], Boer general (d. [[1914]])
* [[October 30]]
** [[Charlie Bassett]], American sheriff (d. [[1896]])
** [[Thomas F. Porter]], American politician, 32nd [[Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts]] (d. [[1927]])

=== November ===
* [[November 1]] – [[Emma Albani|Dame Emma Albani]], Canadian operatic soprano (d. [[1930]])
* [[November 2]] – [[Georges Sorel]], French socialist philosopher (d. [[1922]])
* [[November 6]] – [[Ugo Balzani]], Italian historian (d. [[1916]])
* [[November 7]] – [[Lotta Crabtree]], American stage actress (d. [[1924]])
* [[November 8]]
** [[Jean Casimir-Perier]], 6th President of France (d. [[1907]])
** [[Bram Stoker]], Irish author of the [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] novel ''[[Dracula]]'' (d. [[1912]])
* [[November 17]] – [[Carlo Mirabello]], Italian admiral and politician (d. [[1910]])<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gemignani |first1=Marco |title=MIRABELLO, Carlo |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/carlo-mirabello_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |website=treccani.it |publisher=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani |access-date=4 February 2024 |language=it}}</ref>
* [[November 26]] – [[Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)|Dagmar of Denmark]], empress of Tsar [[Alexander III of Russia]] (d. [[1928]])
* [[November 30]] – [[Afonso Pena]], Brazilian president (d. [[1909]])

=== December ===
* [[December 1]] – [[Agathe Backer-Grøndahl]], Norwegian pianist, composer (d. [[1907]])
* [[December 9]] – [[George Grossmith]], English comic writer and performer (d. [[1912]])
* [[December 17]]
** [[Émile Faguet]], French writer, critic (d. [[1916]])
** [[Michel-Joseph Maunoury]], French general during [[World War I]] (d. [[1923]])
* [[December 18]] – [[Augusta Holmès]], French composer (d. [[1903]])
* [[December 21]] – [[John Chard]], British Officer (d. [[1897]])
*[[December 29]] – [[Alexis-Xyste Bernard]], Canadian Catholic bishop (d. [[1923]])
* [[December 30]] – [[John Peter Altgeld]], American politician, 20th Governor of Illinois (d. [[1902]])

== Deaths ==

=== January–June ===
[[File:Fanny Hensel 1842.jpg|thumb|right|110px|[[Fanny Mendelssohn]]]]
* [[January 19]] – [[Charles Bent]], first Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. [[1799]]) (assassinated)
* [[February 3]] – [[Marie Duplessis]], French courtesan (b. [[1824]])
* [[February 5]] – [[Luis José de Orbegoso]], Peruvian general and politician, 11th and 12th [[President of Peru]] (b. [[1795]])
* [[March 9]] – [[Mary Anning]], British paleontologist (b. [[1799]])
* [[March 3]] – [[Charles Hatchett]], English chemist (b. [[1765]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles Hatchett {{!}} British chemist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Hatchett |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=27 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[April 21]] – [[Barbara Spooner Wilberforce]], wife of British abolitionist William Wilberforce (b. [[1777]])
* [[April 30]] – [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles of Austria]], Austrian general (b. [[1771]])
* [[May 14]] – [[Fanny Mendelssohn]], German composer, pianist (b. [[1805]])
* [[May 15]] – [[Daniel O'Connell]], Irish politician who promoted the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829]] (b. [[1775]])
* [[May 16]] – [[Vicente Rocafuerte]], 2nd President of Ecuador (b. [[1783]])
* [[May 29]] – [[Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy]], French marshal (b. [[1766]])
* [[June 11]] – [[John Franklin|Sir John Franklin]], British explorer (b. [[1786]])

=== July–December ===
[[File:Mendelssohn Bartholdy.jpg|thumb|110px|right|[[Felix Mendelssohn]]]]
* [[July 7]] – [[Thomas Carpenter (glassmaker)|Thomas Carpenter]], American glassmaker (b. [[1752]])
* [[July 16]] – [[Karl Friedrich Burdach]], German physiologist (b. [[1776]])
* [[September 4]] – [[František Vladislav Hek]], Czech patriot (b. [[1769]])
* [[September 13]] – [[Nicolas Oudinot]], French marshal (b. [[1767]])
* [[October 2]] – [[Vasil Aprilov]], Bulgarian educator, merchant and writer (b. [[1789]])<ref>{{cite book |author=Raymond Detrez |title=The A to Z of Bulgaria |date=2010 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810872028 |page=17}}</ref>
* [[October 22]]
** [[Henriette Herz]], German salonnière (b. [[1764]])
** Negus [[Sahle Selassie]] of [[Shewa]] (b. c. [[1795]])
* [[November 4]] – [[Felix Mendelssohn]], German composer (b. [[1809]])
* November 18 – [[Zebulon Crocker]], American congregationalist pastor (b. 1802)
* [[December 14]]
** [[Dorothy Ann Thrupp]], British psalmist (b. [[1779]])
** [[Manuel José Arce]], Central American politician (b. [[1787]])
** [[Barbarita Nieves]], Venezuelan mistress of [[José Antonio Páez]] (b. [[1803]])
* Unknown: [[Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse]], French balloonist and parachutist (b. [[1775]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [http://www.familytales.org/results.php?year=1847 Historic Letters of 1847]
* [[Turtle Bunbury]], ''1847 – A Chronicle of Genius, Generosity & Savagery'', Gill, 2016. {{ISBN|9780717168347}}

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