1853 U

Events

January–March

* January 6 – Florida Governor Thomas Brown signs legislation that provides public support for the new East Florida Seminary, leading to the establishment of the University of Florida.
* January 8 – Taiping Rebellion: Zeng Guofan is ordered to assist the governor of Hunan in organising a militia force to search for local bandits.
* January 12 – Taiping Rebellion: The Taiping army occupies Wuchang.
* January 19 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''Il Trovatore'' premieres in performance at Teatro Apollo in Rome.
* February 10 – Taiping Rebellion: Taiping forces assemble at Hanyang, Hankou, and Wuchang, for the march on Nanjing.
* February 12 – The city of Puerto Montt is founded in the Reloncaví Sound, Chile.
* February 22 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary.
* March – The clothing company Levi Strauss & Co. is founded in the United States.
* March 4 – Inauguration of Franklin Pierce as 14th President of the United States (his only child was killed in a train accident on January 6).
* March 5 – Saint Paul Fire and Marine, as predecessor of The Travelers Companies, a worldwide insurance service, founded in Minnesota, United States.
* March 20 – Taiping Rebellion: A rebel army of around 750,000 seizes Nanjing, killing 30,000 Imperial troops.
* March 29 – Manchester is granted city status in the United Kingdom.

April–June

* April 7 – Prince Leopold, the youngest son and the eighth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, is born.
* April 16 – Indian Railways: The first passenger railway in India opens from Bombay to Thana, Maharashtra, .
* May
** The world's first public aquarium opens, at the London Zoo.
** An outbreak of yellow fever kills 7,790 in New Orleans.
** Isambard Kingdom Brunel accepts John Scott Russell's tender for construction of the passenger steamer.
* May 5 – Perpetual Maritime Truce comes into force between the United Kingdom and the rulers of the Sheikhdoms of the Lower Gulf, later known as the Trucial States.
* May 12–October 31 – The Great Industrial Exhibition is held in Dublin, Ireland.
* May 23 – The first plat for Seattle, Washington, is laid out.
* June 27 – Taiping Rebellion: The Northern Expeditionary Force crosses the Yellow River.
* June 30 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann is selected as '' préfect'' of the Seine (department) to begin the re-planning of Paris.

July–September

* July 1 - The Swiss watch company Tissot is founded.
* July 8 – U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives in Edo Bay, Japan, with a request for a trade treaty.
* July 25 – Outlaw and bandit Joaquin Murrieta is killed in California.
* July 27 – Iesada succeeds his father Ieyoshi as Japanese ''shōgun''. The Late Tokugawa shogunate (the last part of the Edo period in Japan) begins.
* August 12 – New Zealand acquires self-government.
* August 23 – The first true International Meteorological Organization is established in Brussels, Belgium.
* August 24
** The Royal Norwegian Navy Museum is founded at Karljohansvern in Horten, perhaps the world's first naval museum.
** Potato chips are first prepared, by George Crum at Saratoga Springs, New York, according to popular accounts.
* September 19 – Hudson Taylor first leaves for China.
* September 20 – Otis Elevator, as predecessor of Otis Worldwide, was founded in the United States.

October–December

* October 1 – C. Bechstein's piano factory is founded, one of three established in a "golden year" in the history of the piano ( Julius Blüthner and Steinway & Sons being the others).
* October 4– 5 – Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire begins war with Russia.
* October 4 – On the east coast of the United States, Donald McKay launches the '' Great Republic'', the world's biggest sailing ship, which at 4,500 tons is too large to be successful.
* October 28 – Crimean War: The Ottoman army crosses the Danube into Vidin/Calafat, Wallachia.
* October 30 – Taiping Rebellion: The Taiping Northern Expeditionary Force comes within of Tianjin.
* November 3 – Troops of William Walker capture La Paz in Baja California Territory and declare the (short-lived) Republic of Lower California.
* November 4 – Crimean War: Battle of Oltenitza – Turkish forces defeat the Russians.
* November 15 – Maria II of Portugal is succeeded by her son Pedro V.
* November 30 (November 18 O.S.) – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop – The Russian fleet destroys the Turkish fleet.
* December 6 – Taiping Rebellion: French minister de Bourboulon arrives at the Heavenly Capital, aboard the ''Cassini''.
* December 14 – Compagnie Générale des Eaux, predecessor of Vivendi and Veolia, a global media conglomerate, is founded in Paris, France.
* December 30 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys approximately of land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.

Date unknown

* The Independent Santa Cruz Maya of Eastern Yucatán is recognized as an independent nation by the British Empire.
* Arthur de Gobineau begins publication of his ''An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races'' (''Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines'').
* Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood independently invent a practical hypodermic syringe.
* Wheaton Academy is founded in West Chicago, Illinois.
* The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China is incorporated in London by Scotsman James Wilson, under a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria.
* Ishikawajima Shipyard, as predecessor of IHI Corporation, a shipyard and transport-related machinery manufacturer in Japan, is founded.
* Melbourne Cricket Ground, now the largest sports stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, officially opens.
* 1853–1873 – More than 130,000 Chinese laborers come to Cuba.

Births

January–June

* January 1 – Karl von Einem, German general (d. 1934)
* January 16
**Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor (d. 1937)
**Sir Ian Hamilton, British general (d. 1947)
* January 28
** José Martí, Cuban revolutionary (d. 1895)
** Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher (d. 1900)
* January 29 – Kitasato Shibasaburō, Japanese physician, bacteriologist (d. 1931)
* February 4 – Kaneko Kentarō, Japanese politician, diplomat (d. 1942)
* February 18 – Ernest Fenollosa, Catalan-American philosopher (d. 1908)
* February 22 – Annie Le Porte Diggs, Canadian-born state librarian of Kansas (d. 1916)
* March 2 – Ella Loraine Dorsey, American author, journalist, and translator (d. 1935)
* March 5 – Howard Pyle, American artist, fiction writer (d. 1911)
* March 10 – Thomas Mackenzie, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
* March 13 – Robert William Felkin, British writer (d. 1926)
* March 14 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)
* March 25 – Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, 5th Qajarid Shah of Persia (d. 1907)
* March 27 – Yakov Zhilinsky, Russian general (d. 1918)
* March 29 – Elihu Thomson, English-American engineer, inventor, co-founder of General Electric (d. 1937)
* March 30 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (d. 1890)
* April 6 – Emil Jellinek, German automobile entrepreneur (d. 1918)
* April 7
** Ella Eaton Kellogg, American pioneer in dietetics (d. 1920)
** Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (d. 1884)
* April 22 – Alphonse Bertillon, French police officer, forensic scientist (d. 1914)
* April 30 – Alexey Abaza, Russian admiral and politician (d. 1917)
* May 4 – Marie Robinson Wright, American travel writer (d. 1914)
* May 20
** Ella Hoag Brockway Avann, American educator (d. 1899)
**Vladimir Viktorovich Sakharov, Russian general (d. 1920)
* May 28 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter (d. 1919)
* June 3 – William Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (d. 1942)
* June 12 – Chester Adgate Congdon, American mining magnate (d. 1916)

July–December

* July 4 – Ernst Otto Beckmann, German chemist (d. 1923)
* July 5 – Cecil Rhodes, English businessman (d. 1902)
* July 10 – Percy Scott, British admiral (d. 1924)
* July 18 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
* July 24 – William Gillette, American actor, playwright and stage-manager (d. 1937)
* July 26 – Philip Cowen, American Jewish publisher and author (d. 1943)
* July 29 – Ioan Culcer, Romanian general and politician (d. 1928)
* August 23 – João Marques de Oliveira, Portuguese painter (d. 1927)
* August 28
** Vladimir Shukhov, Russian engineer, polymath, scientist and architect (d. 1939)
** Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein (d. 1938)
* September 1 – Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (d. 1926)
* September 2 – Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
* September 6 – Katherine Eleanor Conway, American journalist, editor, poet, and Laetare Medalist (d. 1927)
* September 16 – Albrecht Kossel, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1927)
* September 20 – Chulalongkorn, Rama V, King of Siam (d. 1910)
* September 21 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
* September 23 – Fritz von Below, German general (d. 1918)
* October 4 – Jane Maria Read, American poet and teacher (unknown year of death)
* October 13 – Lillie Langtry, English stage actress (d. 1929)
* October 14 – John William Kendrick, American railroad executive (d. 1924)
* October 17 – Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, wife of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (d. 1920)
* October 26 – Tokugawa Akitake, Japanese ''daimyō'', the last lord of Mito Domain'' Tokugawa Yoshinobu (d. 1910)
* October 30 – Louise Abbéma, French painter, sculptor, and designer of the ''Belle Époque'' (d. 1927)
* November 9 – Stanford White, American architect (d. 1906)
* November 13 – John Drew, Jr., American stage actor (d. 1927)
* November 20 – Oskar Potiorek, Austro-Hungarian general (d. 1933)
* November 29 – Panagiotis Danglis, Greek general, politician (d. 1924)
* December 6 – Hara Prasad Shastri, Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist and historian of Bengali literature (d. 1931)
* December 14 – Errico Malatesta, Italian anarchist (d. 1932)
* December 17 – Émile Roux, French physician, bacteriologist and immunologist (d. 1933)
* December 21 – Noda Utarō, Japanese entrepreneur and politician (d. 1927)
* December 22
** Sarada Devi, Indian mystic and saint (d. 1920)
** Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan pianist, singer, composer, and conductor (d. 1917)
* December 23 – William Henry Moody, 35th United States Secretary of the Navy, 45th United States Attorney General, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1917)
* December 31 – Tasker H. Bliss, American general (d. 1930)

Date unknown

* William O'Malley, Irish politician (d. 1939)

Deaths

January–June

* January 8 – Mihály Bertalanits, Slovene (Prekmurje Slovene) poet in the Kingdom of Hungary (b. 1788)
* January 16
** Matteo Carcassi, Italian composer (b. 1792)
** Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria, Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1783)
** Robert Lucas, governor of Ohio, United States (b. 1781)
* January 19 – Karl Faber, German historian (b. 1773)
* January 22 – Méry von Bruiningk, Estonian democrat (b. 1818)
* February 4 – Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil, daughter of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (b. 1831)
* February 6 – Anastasio Bustamante, 4th President of Mexico (b. 1780)
* February 15 – August, Prince of Hohenlohe-Öhringen (b. 1784)
* March 17 – Christian Doppler, Austrian mathematician (b. 1803)
* March 30 – Abigail Fillmore, First Lady of the United States (b. 1798)
* April 18 – William R. King, 13th Vice President of the United States (b. 1786)
* April 28 – Ludwig Tieck, German writer (b. 1773)
* May 18 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Baltic-German chess player (b. 1806)
* June 2
** Lucas Alamán, Mexican statesman, historian (b. 1792)
** Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, British peer, soldier (b. 1777)
* June 7 – Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis, Italian opera singer (b. 1800)
* June 8 – Howard Vyse, English soldier and Egyptologist (b. 1784)
* June 27 – Lewis Brian Adams, English painter (b. 1809)

July–December

* July 27 – Tokugawa Ieyoshi, 12th ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan (b. 1793)
* August 9 – Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński, Polish philosopher (b. 1776)
* August 19 – George Cockburn, British naval commander (b. 1772)
* August 21 - Maria Quitéria, Brazilian national heroine (b. 1792)
* August 23 – Alexander Calder, first mayor of Beaumont, Texas (b. 1806)
* August 29 – Charles James Napier, British army general and colonial administrator (b. 1782)
* September 3 – Augustin Saint-Hilaire, French botanist, traveller (b. 1799)
* September 6 – George Bradshaw, English timetable publisher (b. 1800)
* October 2 – François Arago, French Catalan mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician (b. 1786)
* October 3 – George Onslow, French composer (b. 1784)
* October 5 – Mahlon Dickerson, American judge, politician (b. 1770)
* October 13 – Jan Cock Blomhoff, Dutch director of Dejima, Japan (b. 1779)
* October 22 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan military, political figure (b. 1784)
* October 27 – Maria White Lowell, American abolitionist (b. 1821)
* November 15 – Queen Maria II of Portugal (b. 1819)
* December 15 – Georg Friedrich Grotefend, German epigraphist, philologist (b. 1775)
* December 23 – Juliette Bussière Laforest-Courtois, Haitian journalist (b. 1789)

Date unknown

* Meta Forkel-Liebeskind, German writer and scholar (b. 1765)
* Qiu Ersao, Chinese rebel and military commander (b. 1822)
* Ferdinando Quaglia, Italian painter of portrait miniatures (b. 1780)

References

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