Editing 1855

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{{Year dab|1855}}
{{Year nav|1855}}
[[File:La prise de Malakoff.jpg|thumb|September 9: French and British force captures Sevastopol in [[Battle of Malakoff]].]]
{{C19 year in topic}}
{{Year article header|1855}}
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== Events ==

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 1]] &ndash; [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]], is incorporated as a city.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief History of Bytown |url=https://www.runottawa.ca/a-brief-history-of-bytown |website=Run Ottawa |access-date=2 May 2021 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502205416/https://www.runottawa.ca/a-brief-history-of-bytown |url-status=live}}</ref>'<ref name="Rayburn2001">{{cite book |author=Alan Rayburn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aiUZMOypNB4C&pg=PA231 |title=Naming Canada: Stories About Canadian Place Names |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8020-8293-0 |page=231 |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520061253/https://books.google.com/books?id=aiUZMOypNB4C&pg=PA231 |archive-date=20 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":Canadian Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ottawa (ON) |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ottawa-ont |access-date=24 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213081108/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/ottawa-ont/ |archive-date=13 December 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> 
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[Ramón Castilla]] begins his third term as [[President of Peru]].
* [[January 23]]
** The first bridge over the [[Mississippi River]] opens in modern-day [[Minneapolis]], a predecessor of the [[Father Louis Hennepin Bridge]].
** The 8.2–8.3 {{M|w}} [[1855 Wairarapa earthquake|Wairarapa earthquake]] claims between five and nine lives near the [[Cook Strait]] area of [[New Zealand]].
* [[January 26]] &ndash; The [[Point No Point Treaty]] is signed in the [[Washington Territory]].
* [[January 27]] &ndash; The [[Panama Railway]] becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
* [[January 29]] &ndash; [[George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen|Lord Aberdeen]] resigns as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], over the management of the [[Crimean War]].
* [[February 5]] &ndash; [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]] becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
* [[February 11]] &ndash; Kassa Hailu is crowned [[Tewodros II]], [[Emperor of Ethiopia]].
* [[February 12]] &ndash; [[Michigan State University]] (the "pioneer" [[Land-grant university|land-grant college]]) is established.
* [[February 15]] &ndash; The [[North Carolina General Assembly]] incorporates the [[Western North Carolina Railroad]], to build a rail line from [[Salisbury, North Carolina|Salisbury]] to the western part of the state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historync.org/railroad-WNCRR.htm|title=Railroad — Western North Carolina Railroad|work=North Carolina Business History|year=2006 |publisher=historync.org |access-date=2013-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030140855/http://www.historync.org/railroad-WNCRR.htm |archive-date=2013-10-30}}</ref>
* [[February 22]] &ndash; [[Pennsylvania State University]] is founded, as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.
* [[March 2]] &ndash; [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] ascends the Russian throne, upon the death of his father [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]].
* [[March 3]] &ndash; The [[United States Congress]] appropriates $30,000 to create the [[U.S. Camel Corps]].
* [[March 16]] &ndash; [[Bates College]] is founded by abolitionists in [[Lewiston, Maine]].
* [[March 17]] &ndash; [[Taiping Rebellion]]: A Taiping army of 350,000 invades [[Anhui]].
* [[March 30]] &ndash; Elections are held for the first [[Kansas Territory]] legislature. Missourian '[[Border Ruffian]]s' cross the border in large numbers to elect a pro-[[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] body.

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 3]] &ndash; The [[Nepal]]ese invasion of [[Tibet]] (west of [[China]]) to the north across the [[Himalaya Mountains]] (tallest and most rugged in the world) starts the [[Nepalese–Tibetan War]] (1855–1856).<ref>{{cite book|first=Leo E.|last=Rose|title=Nepal: Strategy for Survival|publisher=University of California Press|year=1971|pages=110–111}}</ref>
* [[April 7]] &ndash; [[Battle of Kaba]]: The [[Tonga|Kingdom of Tonga]] in the islands of the southwest [[Pacific Ocean]] ([[Polynesia]], [[Melanesia]] / [[Oceania]]), intervenes in the war between the self-proclaimed Tui Viti (King) of the island of [[Fiji]], [[Seru Epenisa Cakobau|Cakobau]], and his rivals the [[Rewa Province|Confederation of Rewa]]. It results in Rewa's defeat and the tenuous unification of Fiji under Cakobau.
* [[April 16]] &ndash; Emperor of the French [[Napoleon III]], with Empress Eugénie, begins a 6-day state visit to Britain.<ref>{{cite web|title=The reception of the Emperor and Empress of the French at Windsor Castle, 16 April 1855|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/919799/the-reception-of-the-emperor-and-empress-of-the-french-at-windsor-castle-16-april|publisher=The Royal Collection Trust|accessdate=2025-05-10}}</ref>
* [[April 18]] &ndash; The [[Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855]], requested by [[Napoleon III]] for the Exposition Universelle (opening May 15), first appears.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wine-searcher.com/recipes/pickled.htm|title=The Official Classification of Medoc and Graves of 1855|work=[[Wine-Searcher]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330162629/http://www.wine-searcher.com/recipes/pickled.htm|archive-date=2010-03-30|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-05-03}}</ref>
* [[May 1]] &ndash; [[Van Diemen's Land]] is separated administratively from the province [[New South Wales]] and granted self-government in the [[Australia]] continent.
* [[May 3]] &ndash; [[United States|American]] adventurer [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]] and a group of armed mercenaries ([[Filibuster (military)|filibusters]]) sail from [[San Francisco]] in [[California]] south to [[Central America]] to attempt to conquer [[Nicaragua]].
* [[May 15]]
** The [[Exposition Universelle (1855)|Exposition Universelle]] (an early [[World's fair]]) officially opens in [[Paris]] (continues to November 15).
** The [[Great Gold Robbery]] is made from a moving train between [[London Bridge station|London Bridge]] and [[Folkestone]] in [[England]], one of the first crimes of its kind.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hanrahan|first=David C.|title=The First Great Train Robbery|location=London|publisher=Robert Hale|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7090-9040-3}}</ref>
* [[May 17]] &ndash; [[Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)|Mount Sinai Hospital]], New York, is dedicated (originally named as the Jews' Hospital) in [[New York City]]; it opens to patients on [[June 5]].
* [[May 22]] &ndash; In [[History of Australia|Australia]], the province of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] (named for then reigning [[United Kingdom|British]] monarch, Queen [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]) to the southeast is separated administratively from the earlier larger province of [[New South Wales]] to the north.
* [[June 15]] &ndash; [[Stamp duty]] revenue tax is removed from British newspapers, creating free [[mass media]] thereafter in the [[United Kingdom]].
* [[June 29]] &ndash; ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' newspaper begins publication in [[London]].

=== July&ndash;September ===
* July &ndash; [[Bank of Toronto]] incorporated in Canada (in 1955 it will merge with [[The Dominion Bank]] to become [[Toronto-Dominion Bank]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.td.com/150/history.jsp|publisher=TD Bank Financial Group|title=Celebrating a rich history|access-date=2020-07-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060508025519/http://www.td.com/150/history.jsp|archive-date=2006-05-08}}</ref>
* [[July 1]] &ndash; The [[Quinault Treaty]], in which the [[Quinault people|Quinault]] and [[Quileute]] tribes cede their land to the United States, is signed.
* [[July 2]] &ndash; The [[Kansas Legislature|Kansas territorial legislature]] convenes in [[Pawnee, Kansas|Pawnee]], and begins passing proslavery laws.
* [[July 4]]
** [[Thomas Cook]] escorts his first party of excursionists from England to tour the European continent, travelling via Belgium and enabling the tourists to visit the Paris Exposition.<ref name=TCook>{{cite web|title=Thomas Cook's first tours to the continent|first=Jill|last=Hamilton|url=https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/thomas-cooks-first-tours-to-the-continent/|publisher=The History Press|date=2017-07-04|accessdate=2025-05-10}}</ref>
** [[Walt Whitman]]'s poetry collection ''[[Leaves of Grass]]'' is published in [[Brooklyn]].
* [[July 16]] &ndash; The [[Australian Colonies]]  are granted self-governing status by the United Kingdom.
* [[August 1]] &ndash; [[Monte Rosa]], the second-highest summit in the Alps, is first ascended.
* [[August 18]] &ndash; [[Queen Victoria]] of the United Kingdom, with Prince Albert, begins a 10-day state visit to Paris,<ref>{{cite web|title=Queen Victoria's entry into Paris, 18 August 1855|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/920060/queen-victorias-entry-into-paris-18-august-1855|publisher=The Royal Collection Trust|accessdate=2025-05-10}}</ref> the first visit of a reigning British monarch to France since [[1413]]. While there, she visits the Exposition Universelle.<ref name=TCook/>
* [[September 3]] &ndash; The last [[Bartholomew Fair]] is held in London, England.
* [[September 9]] (August 28 [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]]) &ndash; [[Crimean War]]: [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)]] &ndash; [[Sevastopol]] falls to French and British troops.
* [[September 27]] &ndash; [[Alfred Tennyson]] reads from his new book ''[[Maud and other poems]]'', at a social gathering in the home of [[Robert Browning|Robert]] and [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning|Elizabeth Browning]] in London; [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] makes a sketch of him doing so.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tennyson Reading 'Maud'|url=http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/1904p495/tennyson-reading-maud/|work=Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource|publisher=[[Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery|Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery]]|access-date=2013-05-09}}</ref>
* [[September 29]] &ndash; The [[Port of Iloilo]] in the [[Philippines]] is opened to [[international trade]], by Queen [[Isabel II of Spain]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Henry|last=Funtecha|url=http://www.thenewstoday.info/2006/07/21/iloilos.position.under.colonial.rule.html|title=Iloilo's position under colonial rule|work=thenewstoday.info}}</ref> This year also the ports of Sual (modern-day [[Pangasinan]]) and [[Zamboanga City]] are opened to international trade.

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 17]]
** [[Henry Bessemer]] files his [[patent]] in the United Kingdom for the [[Bessemer process]] of [[steel]]making.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=van Dulken|title=Inventing the 19th Century: the great age of Victorian inventions|location=London|publisher=[[British Library]]|year=2001|isbn=0-7123-0881-4|pages=30–1}}</ref>
** [[Crimean War]]: [[Battle of Kinburn (1855)|Battle of Kinburn]] &ndash; Combined French and British forces subdue Russian shore forts. The successful use of French [[Floating battery|floating batteries]] makes this the first use of modern [[ironclad warship]]s in action.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Herbert Wrigley|author-link=Herbert Wrigley Wilson|title=Ironclads in Action: A Sketch of Naval Warfare from 1855 to 1895|url=https://archive.org/details/ironcladsinacti00wilsgoog|year=1896|publisher=S. Low, Marston and Company|location=London}}</ref>
* [[October 24]] &ndash; [[Van Diemen's Land]] is officially renamed [[Tasmania]].
* [[November 17]] &ndash; [[Scottish people|Scottish]] missionary explorer [[David Livingstone]] becomes the first European to see [[Victoria Falls, Zambia|Victoria Falls]], in modern-day [[Zambia]]–[[Zimbabwe]].<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>
* [[November 15]] &ndash; The [[Hejaz rebellion]] takes place in Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire, triggered by a [[firman of 1854]] against the slave trade, which is condemned by the ulema of Mecca as influenced by Westerners and contrary to [[Islamic law]].<ref>Badem, C. (2010). ''The Ottoman Crimean War (1853-1856)''. Tyskland: Brill. p.357.</ref> 
* [[November 21]] &ndash; Large-scale [[Bleeding Kansas]] violence begins, with events leading to the '[[Wakarusa War]]' between antislavery and proslavery forces.
* [[November 10]] &ndash; [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]'s fictional poem ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]'' is published in Boston.
* [[December 11]] &ndash; [[Ignacio Comonfort]] (1812–1863) becomes [[President of Mexico]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ignacio Comonfort|url=https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/c/comonfort.htm|website=Biografias y Vidas|access-date=2019-06-08|language=es}}</ref>
* [[December 22]] &ndash; The [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] is established in London.

=== Undated ===
* [[Samuel Colt]] incorporates his business as the [[Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company]] and opens a new factory, the [[Colt Armory]], in [[Hartford, Connecticut]].
* The [[cocaine]] [[alkaloid]] is first isolated by German [[chemist]] [[Friedrich Gaedcke]].b
* The [[third plague pandemic]] breaks out in [[Yunnan]], China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohn |first=Samuel Kline Jr. |title=The black death transformed: disease and culture in early Renaissance Europe |date=2002 |publisher=Arnold |isbn=978-0-340-70646-6 |location=London |oclc=50102269}}</ref> This [[bubonic plague]] [[pandemic]] eventually spreads to all inhabited continents, and ultimately leads to more than 12 million deaths in [[India]] and China<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-05-07 |title=Plague deaths: Quarantine lifted after couple die of bubonic plague |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48182646 |access-date=2022-08-24}}</ref> (estimated 15 million worldwide)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frith |first=John |title="The History of Plague – Part 1. The Three Great Pandemics" |url=https://jmvh.org/article/the-history-of-plague-part-1-the-three-great-pandemics/ |journal=Journal of Military and Veterans' Health |volume=20 |issue=2 }}</ref> making it one of the [[List of epidemics|deadliest pandemics]] in history.<ref>Sanburn, Josh (2010-10-26). [https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2027479_2027486_2027498,00.html "Top 10 Terrible Epidemics: The Third Plague Pandemic"]. ''Time''. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] [[issn:0040-781X|0040-781X]]</ref> The pandemic is considered active until 1960.
* [[Palm oil]] sales from West Africa to the United Kingdom reach 40,000 tons.

== Births ==

=== January&ndash;June ===
[[File:CarolineRemy-Renoir.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Caroline Rémy de Guebhard]] (b. April 27)]]
[[File:Effie Ellsler01.JPG|thumb|110px|[[Effie Ellsler]] (b. September 17)]]
[[File:Flora Loughead.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Flora Haines Loughead]]]]
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[King C. Gillette]], American razor inventor (d. [[1932]])
* [[January 20]] &ndash; [[Ernest Chausson]], French composer (d. [[1899]])
* [[January 21]]
**[[John Browning]], American firearms inventor (d. [[1926]])
**[[Henry Jackson (Royal Navy officer)|Henry Jackson]], British admiral (d. [[1929]])
* [[February 6]] &ndash; [[Barbara Galpin]], American journalist (d. [[1922]])
* [[February 12]] &ndash; [[Marie-Anne de Bovet]], French writer
* [[February 13]] &ndash; [[Paul Deschanel]], President of France (d. [[1922]])
* [[February 17]] &ndash; [[Otto Liman von Sanders]], German general (d. [[1929]])
* [[February 24]] &ndash; [[Johannes von Eben]], German general (d. [[1924]])
* [[March 4]] &ndash; [[Luther Emmett Holt]], American pediatrician (d. [[1924]])
* [[March 12]] &ndash; [[Eduard Birnbaum]], Polish-born German cantor (d. [[1920]])
* [[March 13]] &ndash; [[Percival Lowell]], American astronomer (d. [[1916]])
* [[March 24]] &ndash; [[Andrew Mellon]], American banker, philanthropist (d. [[1937]])
* [[March 25]] &ndash; [[Grace Carew Sheldon]], American journalist and businesswoman (d. [[1921]])
* [[March 29]] &ndash; [[James O. Barrows]], American stage and screen actor (d.[[1925]])
* [[April 9]]
**[[Pavlos Kountouriotis]], Greek admiral, 2-time president (d. [[1935]])
**[[John Marden]], Australian headmaster, pioneer of women's education (d. [[1924]])
* [[April 21]] &ndash; [[Hardy Richardson]], American baseball player (d. [[1931]])
* [[April 23]] &ndash; [[Marco Fidel Suárez]], 9th [[President of Colombia]] (d. [[1927]])
* [[April 27]] &ndash; [[Caroline Rémy de Guebhard]], French feminist (d. [[1929]])
* [[April 28]] &ndash; [[Mario Nicolis di Robilant]], Italian general (d. [[1943]])
* [[May 1]] &ndash; [[Marie Corelli]], English novelist (d. [[1924]])
* May 7 &ndash; [[Frédéric-Georges Herr]], French general (d. 1932)
* [[May 8]] &ndash; [[Bohuslav Brauner]], Czech chemist (d. [[1935]]) 
* [[May 9]] &ndash; [[Julius Röntgen]], German-Dutch classical composer (d. [[1932]])
* [[May 10]] &ndash; [[Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri]], Bengali yogi, author of ''[[The Holy Science]]'' (d. [[1936]])
* [[May 21]]
** [[Émile Verhaeren]], Belgian poet (d. [[1916]])
** [[Ella Stewart Udall]], American telegraphist (d. 1937)<ref>For birth and death date, see {{Cite web |title=Eliza Luella (Ella) Stewart Udall |url=https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/people/eliza-luella-ella-stewart-udall?lang=eng |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113062943/https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/people/eliza-luella-ella-stewart-udall?lang=eng |archive-date=November 13, 2022 |access-date=November 15, 2022 |website=The First Fifty Years of Relief Society |publisher=Church Historian's Press}} For telegraphy, see {{Cite book |last=McKoy |first=Kathleen L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JsD9o6SQQ6UC |title=Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History of Pipe Spring National Monument |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior|U. S. Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]], Intermountain Region |year=2000 |page=35 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
* [[May 23]] &ndash; [[Isabella Ford]], English socialist, feminist, trade unionist and writer (d. [[1924]])
* [[May 28]] &ndash; [[Emilio Estrada Carmona]], 18th President of Ecuador (d. [[1911]])
* [[June 1]] &ndash; [[Edward Angle]], American dentist (d. [[1930]])
* [[June 2]] &ndash; [[Archibald Berkeley Milne]], British admiral (d. [[1938]])
* [[June 14]] &ndash; [[Robert M. La Follette]], American politician (d. [[1925]])
* [[June 18]] &ndash; [[Alice Sudduth Byerly]], American temperance activist (d. [[1904]])
* [[June 28]] &ndash; [[Theodor Reuss]], German occultist (d. [[1923]])

=== July&ndash;December ===
* [[July 26]] &ndash; [[Ferdinand Tönnies]], German sociologist (d. [[1936]])
* [[August 25]] &ndash; [[Hugo von Pohl]], German admiral (d. [[1916]])
* [[August 28]] &ndash; [[Alexander Bethell]], British admiral (d. [[1932]])
* [[August 31]] &ndash; [[Vsevolod Rudnev]], Russian admiral (d. [[1913]])
* [[September 5]] &ndash; [[Henry Victor Deligny]], French general (d. [[1938]])
* [[September 8]] &ndash; [[Marieta de Veintemilla]], Ecuadorian first lady, women's rights activist (d. [[1907]])
* [[September 9]] &ndash; [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]], British-born German writer (d. [[1927]])
* [[September 15]] &ndash; [[Orishatukeh Faduma]], Guyana-born African-American Christian missionary, educator and advocate for African culture (d. [[1946]]) 
* [[September 17]] &ndash; [[Effie Ellsler]], American actress (d. [[1942]])
* [[September 25]] &ndash; [[James P. Parker]], United States Navy commodore (d. [[1942]])
* [[October 10]] &ndash; [[Eduard von Capelle]], German admiral (d. [[1931]])
* [[October 12]] &ndash; [[Arthur Nikisch]], Hungarian conductor (d. [[1922]])
* [[November 1]] &ndash; [[Templin Potts]], American naval officer; 11th [[Naval Governor of Guam]] (d. [[1927]])
* [[November 5]]
*[[Léon Teisserenc de Bort]], French meteorologist (d. [[1913]])
*[[Eugene V. Debs]], American union leader (d. [[1926]])
* [[November 6]] &ndash; [[E. S. Gosney]], American philanthropist, eugenicist (d. [[1942]])
* [[November 8]] &ndash; [[Nikolaos Triantafyllakos]], Prime Minister of Greece (d. [[1939]])
* [[December 16]] &ndash; [[Alice Mary Dowd]], American educator, poet (d. [[1943]])
* [[December 29]] &ndash; [[William Thompson Sedgwick]], American teacher, epidemiologist and bacteriologist (d. [[1921]])

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Florence Huntley]], American humorist and occult author (d. [[1912]])
* [[Flora Haines Loughead]], American miner; mother of [[Allan Lockheed]], founder of Lockheed aerospace company (d. [[1943]])
* [[Katharine A. O'Keeffe O'Mahoney]], Irish-born American teacher of poetry to [[Robert Frost]] (d. [[1918]])

== Deaths ==

=== January&ndash;June ===
[[File:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] (d. February 23)]]
[[File:Franz_Krüger_-_Portrait_of_Emperor_Nicholas_I_-_WGA12289.jpg|thumb|110px|right|Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia]] (d. March 2)]]
[[File:Kierkegaard.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Søren Kierkegaard]] (d. November 11)]]
* [[January 6]] &ndash; [[Giacomo Beltrami]], Italian explorer (b. [[1779]])
* [[January 8]] &ndash; [[Diponegoro]], Leader of Javanese Rebellion (b. [[1785]])
* [[January 10]] &ndash; [[Mary Russell Mitford]], English novelist, dramatist (b. [[1787]])
* [[January 15]] &ndash; [[Henri Braconnot]], French chemist, pharmacist (b. [[1780]])
* [[January 17]] &ndash; [[Shūsaku Narimasa Chiba]], Japanese swordsman (b. [[1792]])
* [[January 26]] &ndash; [[Gérard de Nerval]], French writer (b. [[1808]])
* [[February 6]] &ndash; [[Josef Munzinger]], Member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. [[1791]])
* [[February 23]] &ndash; [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]], German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. [[1777]])
* [[March 2]] &ndash; Emperor [[Nicholas I of Russia]] (b. [[1796]])
*[[March 6]]&ndash; [[Bandō Shūka I]], Japanese Kabuki actor (b. [[1813]])
* [[March 8]] &ndash; [[William Poole]], infamous member of New York City's [[Bowery Boys (gang)|Bowery Boys]] Gang (b. [[1821]])
* [[March 29]] &ndash; [[Henri Druey]], member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. [[1799]])
* [[March 31]] &ndash; [[Charlotte Brontë]], English author (b. [[1816]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Charlotte Brontë {{!}} British author |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlotte-Bronte |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=17 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[May 5]] &ndash; [[Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet|Sir Robert Inglis]], English politician (b. [[1786]])
* [[May 23]] &ndash; [[Charles Robert Malden]], English explorer (b. [[1797]])
* [[May 30]] &ndash; [[Mary Reibey]], Australian businesswoman (b. [[1777]])
* [[June 7]] &ndash; [[Friederike Lienig]], Latvian entomologist (b. [[1790]]) 
* [[June 28]] &ndash; [[FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan]], commander of British forces in the Crimean War (b. [[1788]])

=== July&ndash;December ===
* [[July 12]] ([[June 30]] [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]]) &ndash; [[Pavel Nakhimov]], Russian admiral (b. [[1802]])
* [[August 7]] &ndash; [[Mariano Arista]], President of Mexico (b. [[1802]])
* [[August 12]] &ndash; [[Helen Hunt Jackson]], American activist (b. [[1830]])
* [[August 30]] &ndash; [[Feargus O'Connor]], British political radical, [[Chartism|Chartist]] leader (b. [[1794]])
* [[September 7]] &ndash; [[William Barton Wade Dent]], U.S. Congressman (b. [[1806]])
* [[November 11]] &ndash; [[Søren Kierkegaard]], Danish philosopher (b. [[1813]])
* [[September 20]] &ndash; [[José Trinidad Reyes]], Honduran Father, national hero, and founder of Autonomous National University of Honduras (b. [[1797]])
* [[November 26]] &ndash; [[Adam Mickiewicz]], Lithuanian-Polish poet, writer (b. [[1798]])
* [[December 6]] &ndash; [[William Swainson]], English naturalist, artist  (b. [[1789]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Historical Reference Book |author=Louis Heilprin |author-link=Louis Heilprin |location=New York |publisher= D. Appleton and Company |year=1885 |chapter= Chronological Table of Universal History |hdl=2027/wu.89097349187?urlappend=%3Bseq=177 |chapter-url= http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89097349187?urlappend=%3Bseq=177 |quote=1855 |via=Hathi Trust }}

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[[Category:1855| ]]