text:
1836

January–March

 * January 1 — Hill Street Academy is named Colombo Academy and acquired by the Government, establishing the first public school in Sri Lanka.
 * January 1 – Queen Maria II of Portugal marries Prince Ferdinand Augustus Francis Anthony of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
 * January 5 – Davy Crockett arrives in Texas.
 * January 12
 * HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, reaches Sydney.
 * Will County, Illinois, is formed.
 * February 8 – London and Greenwich Railway opens its first section, the first railway in London, England.
 * February 23 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of the Alamo begins, with an American settler army surrounded by the Mexican Army, under Santa Anna.
 * February 25 – Samuel Colt receives a United States patent for the Colt revolver, the first revolving barrel multishot firearm.
 * March 1 – Texas Revolution – Convention of 1836: Delegates from many Texas communities gather in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.
 * March 2 – Texas Revolution – Convention of 1836: The Texas Declaration of Independence is signed by 60 delegates, and the Republic of Texas is declared.
 * March 6 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of the Alamo ends; 182 Texan settler soldiers die in a struggle with approximately 5,000 Mexican soldiers.
 * March 11 – Sultan Mahmud II abolishes the posts of Reis ül-Küttab and Kahya Bey, and establishes the Ottoman ministries of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior in their place.
 * March 17 – Texas Revolution – Convention of 1836: Delegates adopt the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, modeled after the United States Constitution. It allows slavery, requires free blacks to petition Congress to live in the country, but prohibits import of slaves from anywhere but the United States.
 * March 27
 * Texas Revolution – Goliad massacre: 342 Texan prisoners are shot and killed, along with Texan General James Walker Fannin, by Mexican troops in Goliad, near the Presidio La Bahía.
 * The United States Survey of the Coast is returned to the U.S. Treasury Department, and renamed the U.S. Coast Survey.
 * March 29 – Richard Wagner's opera Das Liebesverbot is performed for the first time, in Magdeburg.
 * March 31 (dated April) – The first monthly part of Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers ("The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club..., edited by Boz") is published in London.

April–June

 * April 20 – The Wisconsin Territory is created; the first capital is Belmont.
 * April 21 – Texas Revolution – Battle of San Jacinto: Mexican forces under General Antonio López de Santa Anna are defeated at San Jacinto, Texas.
 * April 22 – Texas Revolution: Forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
 * May 4 – The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization, is founded in New York City.
 * May 7 – The settlement of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is elevated to the royal status of villa, by the government of Spain.
 * May 14 – Texas Revolution: The Treaties of Velasco are signed, between Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna and the Republic of Texas, but never ratified by the Mexican government.
 * May 15 – Francis Baily, during an eclipse of the Sun, observes the phenomenon named after him as Baily's beads.
 * May 19 – Fort Parker massacre: Among those captured by Native Americans is 9-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker; she later gives birth to a son named Quanah, who becomes the last chief of the Comanche.
 * June 15 – Arkansas is the 25th state admitted into the United States of America.

July–September

 * July 13 – The first numbered (after filing 9,957 unnumbered patents) is granted to John Ruggles, for improvements to railroad steam locomotive tires.
 * July 21 – The Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad opens between St. John and La Prairie, Quebec, the first steam-worked passenger railroad in British North America.
 * July 27 – The settlement of Adelaide, South Australia, is founded.
 * July 30 – The first English-language newspaper is published in Hawaii.
 * August 17 – The Marriage Act in the United Kingdom establishes civil marriage and registration systems that permit marriages in nonconformist chapels, and a Registrar General of Births, Marriages, and Deaths.
 * August 30 – The settlement of Houston, Texas is founded.
 * September 1 – Rebuilding begins at the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem.
 * September 5 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
 * September 11 – The Riograndense Republic is proclaimed in South America.

October–December

 * October 2 – Charles Darwin returns to England aboard HMS Beagle, with biological data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution, having left South America on August 17.Voyage of the Beagle.jpg: Darwin returns aboard HMS Beagle.]]
 * October 13 – Theodor Fliedner, a Lutheran minister, and Friederike, his wife, open the Deaconess Home and Hospital at Kaiserswerth, Germany, as an institute to train women in nursing.
 * October 22 – Sam Houston is inaugurated as first elected President of the Republic of Texas.
 * October 24 – The earliest United States patent for a phosphorus friction match is granted to Alonzo Dwight Phillips, of Springfield, Massachusetts.
 * October 25 – Construction begins on the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in North Carolina. Due to a lack of support in Raleigh, the route is revised to run from Wilmington to the Petersburg Railroad in Weldon.
 * November 28 – The University of London is established by Royal Charter, with University College London and King's College London named as the first affiliated colleges.
 * December 4 – The Whig Party (United States) holds its first national convention, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
 * December 7 – 1836 United States presidential election: Martin Van Buren defeats William Henry Harrison, and three other Whig candidates, marking the most recent time a Democrat is elected to succeed a two-term Democratic U.S. president.
 * December 15 – The United States Patent Office burns in Washington, D.C.
 * December 26 – The Crown colony of South Australia is officially proclaimed (subsequently celebrated in the state of South Australia as Proclamation Day).
 * December 27 – Lewes avalanche: An avalanche at Lewes in Sussex, England, kills eight of fifteen people buried, when a row of cottages is engulfed in snow.
 * December 28
 * Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.
 * The Colony of South Australia is founded by Captain John Hindmarsh.
 * December 30 – In Saint Petersburg, the Lehman Theater catches fire, killing 800 people.

Date unknown

 * The first printed literature in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is produced by Justin Perkins, an American Presbyterian missionary in Persia.
 * The New Board brokerage group is founded in New York City.
 * Eugène Schneider and his brother Adolphe Schneider purchase a bankrupt ironworks near the town of Le Creusot, in the Burgundy region of France, and found the steelworks and engineering company Schneider Frères & Cie.
 * George Catlin ends his 6-year tour of 50 tribes in the Dakota Territory.
 * John Murray III publishes A Hand-book for Travellers on the Continent; being a guide through Holland, Belgium, Prussia and northern Germany, and along the Rhine from Holland to Switzerland, the first of Murray's Handbooks for Travellers, in London.
 * Chatsworth Head is found near Tamassos, Cyprus.
 * In Munich, the art museum Alte Pinakothek opened.

January–June

 * January 2 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian Yiddish writer (d. 1917)
 * January 8 – Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter (d. 1912)
 * January 10 – Charles Phillip Ingalls, American pioneer, father of author Laura Ingalls Wilder (d. 1902)
 * January 14
 * Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (d. 1904)
 * Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, American general, politician, and diplomat (d. 1881)
 * January 24 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer, ethnologist (d. 1909)
 * January 27 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer for whom masochism is named (d. 1895)
 * February 5 – Tenshoin, wife of 13th Shōgun of Japan, Tokugawa Iesada (d.1883)
 * February 16 – Robert Halpin, Irish mariner, cable layer (d. 1894)
 * February 18 – Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Indian religious leader (d. 1886)
 * February 21 – Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
 * February 24 – Winslow Homer, American painter (d. 1910)
 * March 2 – Henry Billings Brown, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1913)
 * March 4 – Stuart Robson, American stage comedian (d. 1903)
 * March 12 – Isabella Beeton, English writer on household management (d. 1865)
 * March 20 – Sir Edward Poynter, French-born British artist (d. 1919)
 * March 28 – Frederick Pabst, German-American brewer (d. 1904)
 * April 27 – Charles Bendire, U.S. Army captain, ornithologist (d. 1897)
 * May 7 – Manuel de la Cámara y Libermoore, Spanish admiral (d. 1920)
 * May 23 – Touch the Clouds, Native American chieftain (Teton Lakota Sioux) (d. 1905)
 * May 26 – Mélanie de Pourtalès, French salonnière, courtier (d. 1914)
 * May 27 – Jay Gould, American financier (d. 1892)
 * May 28 – Friedrich Baumfelder, German composer, conductor, and pianist (d. 1916)
 * May 31 – Jules Chéret, French printmaker (d. 1932)
 * June 9 – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician, suffragette (d. 1910)
 * June 16 – Wesley Merritt, American general (d. 1910)
 * June 28 – Lyman J. Gage, American financier (d. 1927)

July–December

 * July 8 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (d. 1914)
 * July 9 – Camille of Renesse-Breidbach, Belgian nobleman, entrepreneur and author (d. 1904)
 * July 24 – Jan Gotlib Bloch, Polish banker and warfare author (d. 1902)
 * August 5 – John T. Raymond, American actor (d. 1887)
 * August 11 – Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, American poet (d. 1919)
 * August 13 – Bishop Nicholas of Japan, Japanese Orthodox priest (d. 1912)
 * August 25 – Bret Harte, American writer (d. 1902)
 * September 5 – Justiniano Borgoño, 37th Prime Minister of Peru (d. 1921)
 * September 7 – Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1908)
 * September 10 – Joseph Wheeler, American general, politician (d. 1906)
 * September 11 – Fitz Hugh Ludlow, American author (d. 1870)
 * September 17 – William Jackson Palmer, American founder of Colorado Springs, Colorado (d. 1909)
 * September 22 – Fredrique Paijkull, Swedish educator, folk high school pioneer (d. 1899)
 * September 28 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber, inventor (d. 1910)
 * September 30 – Remigio Morales Bermúdez, Peruvian politician, 56th President of Peru (d. 1894)
 * October 2 – Benjamin Harris Babbidge, 19th Mayor of Brisbane (d. 1905)
 * October 4 – Piet Cronjé, Boer general (d. 1911)
 * October 5 – Enomoto Takeaki, Japanese samurai, admiral (d. 1908)
 * October 6 – Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz, German neuroanatomist (d. 1921)
 * October 15 – James Tissot, French artist (d. 1902)
 * October 27 – Thomas Gwyn Elger, English astronomer (d. 1897)
 * November 3 – Elena Arellano Chamorro, Nicaraguan pioneer educator (d. 1911)
 * November 8 – Milton Bradley, American businessman, inventor (d. 1911)
 * November 10 – Andrés Avelino Cáceres, Peruvian general, twice President of Peru (d. 1923)
 * November 11 – Thomas Bailey Aldrich, American poet, novelist (d. 1907)
 * November 18
 * W. S. Gilbert, British playwright, librettist best known for his collaborations with Arthur Sullivan (d. 1911)
 * Máximo Gómez, Cuban military leader (d. 1905)
 * Ding Ruchang, Chinese army officer, admiral (d. 1895)
 * November 22 – Sir George Barham, English businessman, founder of Express County Milk Supply Company (d. 1913)
 * December 7 – Frank Manly Thorn, American lawyer, politician, essayist and journalist (d. 1907)
 * December 18 – Kawamura Sumiyoshi, Japanese admiral (d. 1904)

January–June

 * January 1 – Bernhard Meyer, German physician, ornithologist (b. 1767)
 * January 11 – John Molson, Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1763)
 * January 21 – Ferenc Novák, Hungarian Slovene writer (b. 1791)
 * January 30 – Betsy Ross, maker, designer of the first American flag (b. 1752)
 * January 31 – John Cheyne, British physician, surgeon and author (b. 1777)
 * February 1 – Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, French chemist (b. 1758)
 * February 2 – Madame Mère (Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte) mother of Napoleon I (b. 1749)
 * February 18 – Cornplanter, native American (Seneca) chief (b. 1750)
 * February 21 – William Van Mildert, last Prince Bishop of Durham, and founder of Durham University (b. 1765)
 * March 2 – James Grant, Texas politician, physician and military participant in the Texas Revolution (b. 1793)
 * March 6 (at the Alamo)
 * James Bowie, Texan revolutionary (b. 1796)
 * Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, Congressman and soldier (b. 1786)
 * William Barret Travis, Texan revolutionary (b. 1809)
 * James Bonham, Alamo defender (b. 1807)
 * Micajah Autry, Alamo defender (b. 1793)
 * Almaron Dickinson, American soldier (b. 1800)
 * Jośe Gregorio Esparza, Alamo defender (b. 1802)
 * March 16 – Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician (b. 1773)
 * March 27 – James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (b. 1804)
 * April 7 – William Godwin, English writer (b. 1756)
 * April 21 – Manuel Fernández Castrillón, Mexican general (b. 1780)
 * April 29 – Simon Kenton, American frontiersman, Revolutionary militia general (b. 1755)
 * May 13 – John Littlejohn, American sheriff and Methodist preacher (b. 1756)
 * May 23 – Edward Livingston, American jurist, statesman (b. 1764)
 * June 10 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist (b. 1775)
 * June 20 – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, French cleric, constitutional theorist (b. 1748)
 * June 23 – James Mill, British historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher (b. 1773)
 * June 28 – James Madison, 85, 4th President of the United States (b. 1751)

July–December

 * August 20 – Agnes Bulmer, English poet (b. 1775)
 * August 21 – Claude-Louis Navier, French engineer, physicist (b. 1785)
 * August 25 – Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, German physician (b. 1762)
 * September 5 – Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian playwright (b. 1790)
 * September 12 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German playwright (b. 1801)
 * September 14 – Aaron Burr, 3rd Vice President of the United States (b. 1756)
 * September 17 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (b. 1748)
 * September 23
 * Maria Malibran, Spanish-French operatic singer (b. 1808)
 * Andrey Razumovsky, Russian diplomat (b. 1752)
 * November – Tenskwatawa, Shawnee prophet, political leader (b. 1775)
 * November 5 – Karel Hynek Mácha, Czech poet (b. 1810)
 * November 6 – King Charles X of France (b. 1757)
 * November 16 – Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, Dutch mycologist (b. 1761)
 * November 26 – John Loudon McAdam, Scottish engineer, road-builder (b. 1756)
 * December 27 – Stephen F. Austin, American pioneer (b. 1793)

1836 in Popular Culture
1836 serves as the start date for the grand strategy video games Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun, Victoria II, and Victoria 3 by Paradox Development Studio.

title: 1836


text:
1835

January–March

 * January 7 – HMS Beagle anchors off the Chonos Archipelago on her second voyage, with Charles Darwin on board as naturalist.
 * January 8 – The United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history.
 * January 24 – Malê Revolt: African slaves of Yoruba Muslim origin revolt in Salvador, Bahia.
 * January 26
 * Queen Maria II of Portugal marries Auguste de Beauharnais, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg, in Lisbon; he dies only two months later.
 * Saint Paul's in Macau largely destroyed by fire after a typhoon hits.
 * January 30 – An assassination is attempted against United States President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol (the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States).
 * February 1 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
 * February 20 – 1835 Concepción earthquake: Concepción, Chile, is destroyed by an earthquake; the resulting tsunami destroys the neighboring city of Talcahuano.
 * March 2 – Ferdinand becomes Emperor of Austria.
 * March 23 – The Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (Mexican Academy of Language) is established.

April–June

 * April 18 – Lord Melbourne succeeds Sir Robert Peel as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 * May 5
 * Rail transport in Belgium: A railway is opened between Brussels and Mechelen, the first in continental Europe.
 * Braulio Carrillo is sworn in as Head of State of Costa Rica.
 * May 8 – Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. begins publication.
 * May 11 – Matua, High Priest (taura tupua) of the Polynesian island of Mangareva, is baptized into the Roman Catholic Church.
 * May 13 – British barque Neva, transporting female convicts from Cork, Ireland, to Australia, is wrecked in the Bass Strait with the loss of 224 people and only 15 survivors.
 * May 23 – The Mexican State of Aguascalientes is formed, by decree of President Santa Anna.
 * June 1 – Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario, opens.

July–September

 * July – Bertelsmann is founded by Carl Bertelsmann as a religious printer and publisher in Prussia.
 * July 14 – The universal Catholic Apostolic Church is organized, initially in the U.K.
 * July 28 – In Paris, the assassination of King Louis Philippe I of France is attempted by Giuseppe Marco Fieschi, using a home-made volley gun; 10 are killed, but the King escapes with a minor wound.
 * August – H. Fox Talbot exposes the world's first known photographic negatives, at Lacock Abbey in England.
 * August 25 – In the U.S., The New York Sun prints the first of six installments of the Great Moon Hoax.
 * August 28 – St. Vincent's Ecclesiastical Seminary, a predecessor of Castleknock College, is founded by the Vincentian community in Dublin, Ireland.
 * August 30 – European settlers, landing on the north banks of the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia, found the settlement of Melbourne.
 * September 7 – Charles Darwin arrives at the Galápagos Islands, aboard HMS Beagle.
 * September 19 – William Lloyd Garrison publishes Angelina Grimké's anti-slavery letter in The Liberator.
 * September 20 – The Ragamuffin War begins in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

October–December

 * October 2 – The Texas Revolution – Battle of Gonzales: Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
 * October 3 – The Staedtler Company (pencil manufacturers) is founded by J. S. Staedtler in Nuremberg, Germany.
 * October 28
 * The United Tribes of New Zealand is founded at Waitangi, with the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand.
 * Texas Revolution – Battle of Concepción: The Texian Army defeats the Mexicans.
 * November 12 – Construction is completed on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull.
 * November 16 – Halley's Comet reaches perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun.
 * November 19 – A force of 500 Māori people invade and enslave the peoples of the Chatham Islands.
 * November 27 – Two London men, James Pratt and John Smith, are hanged in front of Newgate Prison in London, after a conviction of buggery. They are the last to suffer capital punishment for homosexual acts in England.
 * December 7
 * The Bavarian Ludwig Railway opens between Nuremberg and Fürth, with a train hauled by the English-built Der Adler ("The Eagle"), the first railway in Germany.
 * Future U.S. President James K. Polk becomes Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
 * December 9 – The Army of the Republic of Texas captures San Antonio.
 * December 16–17 – The Great Fire of New York destroys 530 buildings, including the New York Stock Exchange.
 * December 20 – The Texas Declaration of Independence is first signed at Goliad, Texas.
 * December 21 – The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is chartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
 * December 28 – United States: The Second Seminole War led by Osceola breaks out.
 * December 29 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed between the United States Government, and members of the Cherokee Nation.

Date unknown

 * The British East India Company negotiates a lease of the Darjeeling area west of the Mahananda River, from the Kingdom of Sikkim.
 * The British Geological Survey is founded, as the world's first national geological survey.
 * Civil war erupts in Uruguay, between supporters of the Blanco and Colorado parties.
 * The Cachar Levy, forerunner of the Assam Rifles, is founded in India.
 * The first Bulgarian-language school opens in the Ottoman Empire.
 * The French word for their language changes to français, from françois.
 * Fort Cass is established, the military headquarters and site of the largest internment camps during the 1838 Trail of Tears.
 * Charles-Louis Havas creates Havas, the first news agency in the world (which later spawns Agence France-Presse).
 * English becomes the official language of India.
 * Juan Manuel de Rosas becomes Caudillo of Argentina.
 * Edward Strutt Abdy publishes his Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States of North America: From April, 1833, to October 1834.
 * David Strauss begins publication of Das Leben Jessu, kritisch bearbeitet ("The life of Jesus, critically examined") in Tübingen.
 * The first Egyptian Museum in Cairo opened.

January–June

 * January 14 – Emmy Rappe, Swedish nurse pioneer (d. 1896)
 * February 13 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (d. 1908)
 * February 15 – Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president (d. 1908)
 * February 18 – César Cui, Lithuanian composer (d. 1918)
 * February 22 – Jeannette Walworth, American novelist, journalist (d. 1918)
 * March 12
 * Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer (d. 1909)
 * Sigismondo Savona, Maltese educator and politician (d. 1908)
 * March 14 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (d. 1910)
 * March 15 – Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (d. 1916)
 * March 21 – Maria Magdalena Mathsdotter, Swedish Sami educator (d. 1873)
 * March 24 – Josef Stefan, Slovenian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d. 1893)
 * April 1 – James Fisk, American entrepreneur (d. 1872)
 * April 4 – John Hughlings Jackson, English neurologist (d. 1911)
 * April 9 – King Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
 * May 3 – Alfred Austin, English poet (d. 1913)
 * May 18 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher, third chancellor of Syracuse University (d. 1908)
 * May 21 – František Chvostek, Moravian physician (d. 1884)
 * June 2 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
 * June 6 – Ștefan Fălcoianu, Romanian general and politician (d. 1905)
 * June 9 – Ramón Barros Luco, 15th President of Chile (d. 1919)
 * June 10 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany, (d. 1908)
 * June 12 – George Atzerodt, conspirator with John Wilkes Booth, assigned to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson (d. 1865)
 * June 15 – Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress (d. 1868)
 * June 23 – Fanny Eaton, Jamaican-born artists model and domestic worker (d. 1924)
 * June 24 – Johannes Wislicenus, German chemist (d. 1902)
 * June 26 – Thomas W. Knox, American author, journalist (d. 1896)

July–December

 * July 6 – Sir George White, British field marshal (d. 1912)
 * July 7 – Ernest Giles, Australian explorer (d. 1897)
 * July 10 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (d. 1880)
 * July 19 – Justo Rufino Barrios, 9th President of Guatemala (d. 1885)
 * July 27 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
 * July 30 – Edmund Francis Dunne, American politician, jurist, and Catholic orator (d. 1904)
 * July 31 – Henri Brisson, 2-time prime minister of France (d. 1912)
 * August 2 – Elisha Gray, American inventor, businessman (d. 1901)
 * August 6 – Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (d. 1900)
 * August 19 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer, pioneer of Australian rules football (d. 1880)
 * August 27 – Thomas Burberry, English businessman, inventor (d. 1926)
 * September 1 – Raphael Kalinowski, Polish Discalced Carmelite friar, saint (d. 1907)
 * October 7 – Felix Draeseke, German composer (d. 1913)
 * October 9 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (d. 1921)
 * October 16 – William Rufus Shafter, American general (d. 1906)
 * October 31 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
 * November 6 – Cesare Lombroso, Italian criminologist (d. 1909)
 * November 17 – Andrew L. Harris, American Civil War hero, Governor of Ohio (d. 1915)
 * November 19 – Matilda Carse, Irish-born American businesswoman, social reformer (d. 1917)
 * November 21 – Rose Eytinge, American actress (d. 1911)
 * November 25
 * Andrew Carnegie, American industrialist, philanthropist (d. 1919)
 * Arthur Sewall, American politician, industrialist (d. 1900)
 * November 29 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China (d. 1908)
 * November 30 – Mark Twain, American author, humorist (d. 1910)
 * December 4 – Samuel Butler, English writer (d. 1902)
 * December 6 – Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig, German chemist (d. 1910)
 * December 17 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, American scientist (d. 1910)
 * December 18 – Lyman Abbott, American clergyman, author (d. 1922)
 * December 28 – Sir Archibald Geikie, Scottish geologist (d. 1924)

January–June

 * January 1 – Mátyás Godina, Slovene Lutheran pastor, writer, and teacher (b. 1768)
 * February 8 – Guillaume Dupuytren, French anatomist, military surgeon (b. 1777)
 * February 15
 * Nathan Dane, American politician (b. 1752)
 * Henry Hunt, British politician (b. 1773)
 * March 2 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
 * March 18 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish, Prussian statesman, diplomat (b. 1769)
 * March 28 – Auguste de Beauharnais, Prince consort of Queen Maria II of Portugal (b. 1810)
 * March 30 – Richard Sharp, English hat-maker, banker, merchant, poet, critic, Member of Parliament, and conversationalist
 * April 1 – Józef Zeydlitz, Polish military leader (b. 1755)
 * April 8 – Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher (b. 1767)
 * April 10 – Magdalene of Canossa, Italian Catholic religious professed, saint (b. 1774)
 * April 21 – Samuel Slater, American industrialist (b. 1768)
 * May 8 – Francisca Zubiaga y Bernales, first lady of Peru, controversial socialite (b. 1803)
 * May 13 – John Nash, English architect (b. 1752)
 * June 18 – William Cobbett, English journalist, author (b. 1763)
 * June 24 – Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral (b. 1768)
 * June 25 – Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator (b. 1746)

July–December

 * July 6 – John Marshall, influential American Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1755)
 * July 15 – Izabela Czartoryska, Polish magnate princess (b. 1746)
 * July 28 – Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise, French marshal (b. 1768)
 * August 18 – Friedrich Stromeyer, German chemist (born 1776)
 * September 23
 * Georg Adlersparre, Swedish military leader (b. 1760)
 * Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
 * November 14 – James Freeman, first American clergyman to call himself a Unitarian (b. 1759)
 * November 20 – Joseph von Baader, German railway pioneer (b. 1763)
 * November 29 – Princess Catharina of Württemberg, wife of Jérôme Bonaparte (b. 1783)
 * December 13 – John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1760)
 * December 17 – Pierre Louis Roederer, French politician, economist, and historian (b. 1754)
 * December 22 – David Hosack, American physician and educator, attending doctor at the Hamilton-Burr duel (b. 1769)

Unknown

 * Sally Hemings – American-born slave, concubine to Thomas Jefferson (b. c. 1773)
 * Ishak Efendi – Ottoman engineer, translator (b. c. 1774)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 1835


text:
1834

January–March

 * January – The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is chartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.
 * January 1 – Zollverein (Germany): Customs charges are abolished at borders within its member states.
 * January 3 – The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City.
 * February 12 – Freed American slaves from Maryland form a settlement in Cape Palmas, it is named the Republic of Maryland.
 * February 13 – Robert Owen organizes the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union in the United Kingdom.
 * March – John Scott Russell's Scottish Steam Carriage Company begins operating a regular passenger service in west central Scotland on the open road between Glasgow and Paisley.
 * March 6 – York, Upper Canada, is incorporated as Toronto.
 * March 11 – The United States Survey of the Coast is transferred to the Department of the Navy.
 * March 14 – John Herschel discovers the open cluster of stars now known as NGC 3603, observing from the Cape of Good Hope.
 * March 28 – Andrew Jackson is censured by the United States Congress (expunged in 1837).

April–June

 * April 10 – The LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans burns, and Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie flees to France.
 * April 14 – The Whig Party is officially named by United States Senator Henry Clay.
 * April 22 – Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom sign the Quadruple Alliance.
 * May 9 – The founder of the Second Saudi State, Imam Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, is assassinated after the Friday prayers by Ibrahim Hamza, following the orders of his cousin Mishari.
 * May 19 – The Syrian Peasant Revolt (1834–35) erupts in Egyptian-ruled Ottoman Syria, encompassing peasant uprisings in Palestine and Transjordan, Galilee and Hauran and the Syrian coast; the rebellions are suppressed with harsh military response leading to thousands of deaths and mostly subdued by August, though the Syrian coast uprising lasts until early 1835.
 * June 7 – Greek independence: General Theodoros Kolokotronis is sentenced to death for treason, for resisting the rule of Otto of Greece (he is released the following year).
 * June 21 – American inventor and businessman Cyrus McCormick is granted a patent for his mechanical reaper.

July–September

 * July 7–10 – Anti-abolitionist riots break out in New York City.
 * July 8 – Imam Faisal bin Turki enters Riyadh and upon entering his father's palace, assassinates his father's murderer, Ibrahim Hamza, and his master; Mishari, and becomes the ruler and founder of the Second Saudi State.
 * July 15 – The Spanish Inquisition, which began in the 15th century, is suppressed by royal decree.
 * July 16 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne succeeds Earl Grey as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 * July 24 – The Liberal Wars end in Portugal.
 * July 29 – The Office of Indian Affairs is organized in the United States.
 * August 1
 * Slavery is abolished in the British Empire, by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
 * Construction work begins on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull.
 * August 11–12 – Ursuline Convent riots: A convent of Ursuline nuns is burned near Boston.
 * August 12 – In the Empire of Brazil, the Additional Act provides for establishment of the Provincial Legislative Assembly, extinction of the State Council, replacement of the Regency Trina, and introduction of a direct and secret ballot.
 * August 14 – The Poor Law Amendment Act in the United Kingdom states that no able-bodied British man can receive assistance, unless he enters a workhouse (a kind of poorhouse).
 * August 15 – The South Australia Act allows for the creation of a colony there.
 * September 11 – The emigrant ship Sybelle out of Cromarty (Scotland) is wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) with the loss of all 316 passengers and all but six of her crew.
 * September 13 – The Gleaner newspaper is first published in Jamaica.
 * September 18 – Athens becomes Greece's capital city.

October–December

 * October 16 – The Palace of Westminster is destroyed by fire, along with both the House of Commons and the House of Lords (which are not in session) of the British Parliament. An investigation later traces the disaster to an order from the Exchequer to the Board of Works to destroy the tally sticks that had been stored as part of record keeping, the use of the furnaces beneath the House of Lords to carry out the task, and the failure of authorities to stop the work or to fight the fire after smoke had first been detected, the conclusion being that the fire was "wholly attributable to carelessness and negligence."
 * November 14 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne becomes the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to be dismissed by the British monarch. King William IV temporarily appoints Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, to form a caretaker government.
 * December 3 – The Zollverein institutes the first regular census in Germany. The population is 23,478,120.
 * December 10 – Sir Robert Peel succeeds The Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 * December 11 – The Sixth Xhosa War is characterized by severe clashes between white settlers and Bantu peoples in Cape Colony; Dutch-speaking settlers colonize the area north of Orange River.

Date unknown

 * The British East India Company monopoly on China trade ends. It appoints a Tea Committee to assess the potential of Assam tea.
 * The Medical School of Louisiana (later Tulane University) is founded in New Orleans.
 * Charles Babbage begins the conceptual design of the Analytical Engine, a mechanical forerunner of the modern computer. It will not be built in his lifetime.
 * Thomas Davenport, inventor of the first American DC electrical motor, installs his motor in a small model car, creating one of the first electric cars.
 * The Romanian language is banned in the schools and government facilities of the Russian Empire's Bessarabia Governorate.

January–June

 * January 7 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist, inventor (d. 1874)
 * January 15 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (d. 1911)
 * January 17 – August Weismann, German evolutionary biologist (d. 1914)
 * January 20 – Piet Joubert, Boer politician, military commander (d. 1900)
 * January 25 – Alina Frasa, Finnish ballerina (d. 1899)
 * February 6 – Edwin Klebs, German-Swiss pathologist who discovered Diphtheria (d. 1913)
 * February 8 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist (d. 1907)
 * February 9 – Felix Dahn, German author (d. 1912)
 * February 16 – Ernst Haeckel, German zoologist, philosopher (d. 1919)
 * February 19 – Charles Davis Lucas, British Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1914)
 * February 27 – Charles C. Carpenter, American admiral (d. 1899)
 * March 5 – Félix de Blochausen, 6th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1915)
 * March 16 – Sir James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
 * March 17 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer, inventor (d. 1900)
 * March 20 – Charles W. Eliot, American President of Harvard University (d. 1926)
 * March 23 – Julius Reubke, German composer (d. 1858)
 * March 24
 * John Wesley Powell, American explorer (d. 1902)
 * William Morris, English poet, artist (d. 1896)
 * April 2 – Paškal Buconjić, Herzegovinian Catholic bishop (d. 1910)
 * April 26 – Artemus Ward, American humorist (d. 1867)
 * May 20 – Albert Niemann, German chemist (d. 1861)
 * May 23 – Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish sculptor (d. 1890)
 * June 19 – Charles Spurgeon, English Baptist preacher (d. 1892)

July–December

 * July 2 – Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch economist, historian (d. 1917)
 * July 4 – Christopher Dresser, British designer influential in the Anglo-Japanese style (d. 1904)
 * July 10 – James McNeill Whistler, American painter, etcher (d. 1903)
 * July 19 – Edgar Degas, French painter (d. 1917)
 * July 2 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor (d. 1904)
 * July 27 – Miguel Grau Seminario, Peruvian admiral (d. 1879)
 * August 4 – John Venn, British mathematician (d. 1923)
 * August 22 – Samuel Pierpont Langley, American astronomer, physicist, and aeronautics pioneer (d. 1906)
 * August 31 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (d. 1886)
 * Heinrich von Treitschke (15 September 1834 – 28 April 1896) German historian, political writer, and National Liberal member of the Reichstag during the time of the German Empire.
 * September 17 – Robert Simpson, Scottish-Canadian businessman (d. 1897)
 * September 28 – William Montrose Graham Jr., American general (d. 1916)
 * September 30 – Louis P. Mouillard, French artist, aviation pioneer (d. 1897)
 * October 6 – Walter Kittredge, American composer (d. 1905)
 * October 10 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish national author (d. 1872)
 * November 8 – Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner, German astrophysicist (d. 1882)
 * November 13 – Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican writer (d. 1893)
 * November 19 – Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist (d. 1924)
 * November 21 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman (d. 1916)
 * November 28 – Sophronia Farrington Naylor Grubb, American activist (d. 1902)
 * December 16 – Léon Walras, French economist (d. 1910)
 * December 24 – Augustus George Vernon Harcourt, English chemist (d. 1919)

January–June

 * January 6 – Richard Martin, Irish founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (b. 1754)
 * January 12 – William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
 * January 17 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)
 * February 2 – Lorenzo Dow, American minister (b. 1777)
 * February 4 – Amélie-Julie Candeille, French composer, librettist, writer, singer, actress, comedian, and instrumentalist (b. 1767)
 * February 12 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1768)
 * February 18 – William Wirt, 9th United States Attorney General (b. 1772)
 * February 23 – Karl Ludwig von Knebel, German poet (b. 1744)
 * March 2 – José Cecilio del Valle, first President of Central America (b. 1780)
 * March 30 – Rudolph Ackermann, Anglo-German entrepreneur (b. 1764)
 * April 5 – Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1757)
 * April 10 – John 'Merino' MacArthur, Australian farmer (b. 1767)
 * April 11 – John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist, patron of the arts and sciences (b. 1757)
 * April 29 – Grigore IV Ghica, prince of Wallachia (b. 1755)
 * May 9 – Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad, founder of the First Saudi State
 * May 20 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French nobleman, soldier (b. 1757)
 * May 31 – Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Deputy Ruler of Bahrain (b. c. 1783)

July–December

 * July 12 – David Douglas, Scottish botanist (b. 1799)
 * July 14 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution (b. 1763)
 * July 19 – Károly Hadaly, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1743)
 * July 25 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English writer (b. 1772)
 * July 26 – Jonathan Jennings, American politician and the first governor of Indiana (b. 1784)
 * August 1 – Robert Morrison, British Protestant missionary to China (b. 1782)
 * August 7 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French inventor (b. 1752)
 * August 17 – Husein Gradaščević, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
 * September 2 – Thomas Telford, Scottish engineer (b. 1757)
 * September 5 – Thomas Lee, English architect (b. 1794)
 * September 9 – James Weddell, Antarctic explorer (b. 1787)
 * September 15 – William H. Crawford, American politician, judge (b. 1772)
 * September 16 – William Blackwood, Scottish writer (b. 1776)
 * September 24 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (b. 1798)
 * October 5 – María Josefa Pimentel, Duchess of Osuna (b. 1752)
 * October 8 – François-Adrien Boieldieu, French composer (b. 1775)
 * October 11 – William Napier, 9th Lord Napier, British Navy officer, politician and diplomat (b. 1786)
 * October 21 – Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (b. 1752)
 * October 23 – Fath Ali Shah Qajar, King of Iran (b. 1772)
 * October 31 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French-American chemical manufacturer (b. 1771)
 * November 2 – Maria Teresa Poniatowska, Polish aristocrat (b. 1760)
 * November 27 –, Swiss naturalist (b. 1758)
 * December 23 – Thomas Malthus, English economist, political philosopher (b. 1766)
 * December 27 – Charles Lamb, English essayist (b. 1775)
 * December 31 – João Batista Gonçalves Campos, intellectual leader of the Cabanagem revolt (b. 1782)

title: 1834


text:
1832

January–March

 * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society.
 * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white planters organize militias and the British Army sends companies of the 84th regiment to enforce martial law. More than 300 of the slave rebels will be publicly hanged for their part in the destruction.
 * February 6 – The Swan River Colony is renamed Western Australia.
 * February 9 – The Florida Legislative Council grants a city charter for Jacksonville, Florida.
 * February 12
 * Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
 * A cholera epidemic in London claims at least 3,000 lives; the contagion spreads to France and North America later this year.
 * February 28 – Charles Darwin and the crew of HMS Beagle arrive at South America for the first time.
 * March 24 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.

April–June

 * April 6 – The Black Hawk War begins in the United States.
 * May 7 – The Treaty of London creates an independent Kingdom of Greece. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria, is chosen King; thus begins the history of modern Greece.
 * May 10 – The Egyptians, aided by Maronites, seize Acre from the Ottoman Empire after a 7-month siege.
 * May 11 – Greece is recognized as a sovereign nation; the Treaty of Constantinople ends the Greek War of Independence in July.
 * May 16 – Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.
 * May 30
 * The Hambacher Fest, a demonstration for civil liberties and national unity in Germany, ends with no result.
 * The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario (Canada) is opened.
 * June 5–6 – The June Rebellion in France, anti-monarchist riots led chiefly by students, breaks out in Paris.
 * June 7 – The Reform Act becomes law in the United Kingdom, expanding the franchise.
 * June 9 – The Strasburg Rail Road is incorporated by the Pennsylvania State Legislature, making it the oldest continuously operating railroad in the Western Hemisphere.

July–September

 * July 1 – Global conglomerate Jardine Matheson is founded in Canton (modern day Guangzhou) in Qing dynasty China by Scottish merchants.
 * July 2 – André-Michel Guerry presents his Essay on moral statistics of France to the French Academy of Sciences, a significant step in the founding of empirical social science.
 * July 4 – Durham University is founded in the north of England by an act of Parliament given royal assent by King William IV.
 * July 9 – The Commissioner of Indian Affairs post is created within the United States Department of War.
 * July 10 – The United States Survey of the Coast is revived within the Department of the Treasury.
 * August 2 – The Bad Axe Massacre ends the last major Native American rebellion east of the Mississippi in the United States.
 * August 7 – William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, has his coach attacked by an angry mob on his first official visit to Canterbury because of his opposition to the Reform Act in the United Kingdom.
 * August 27 – Black Hawk (Sauk leader) surrenders to the United States authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
 * September 22 – Qasim al-Ahmad is appointed as the new Ottoman Governor (mutasallim) of Jerusalem (Kudüs), after Sultan Mahmud II dismisses Muhammad Said Agha.

October–December

 * October 4 – Prince Otto of Bavaria, the second oldest son of King Ludwig I, is selected by Europe's major powers to become Othon, the first King of Greece, after the Hellenic nation's reacquisition of independence.
 * October 20 – Principal Chief Levi Colbert (Itawamba Mingo) and other leaders of the Chickasaw Nation of American Indians sign the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek with the United States, ceding their remaining 9,400 square miles of land to the U.S., in return for a promise that they will receive all proceeds of sales of the land by the federal government to private owners, along with expenses for relocation and food and supplies for one year. The area ceded includes the entire northern one-sixth of the state of Mississippi.
 * November 21 – Wabash College, a small, private, liberal arts college for men, is founded.
 * November 24 – Nullification Crisis: The U.S. state of South Carolina passes the Ordinance of Nullification, challenging the power of the U.S. federal government, by declaring that it will not enforce national tariffs signed into law in 1828 and 1832.
 * December 3 – 1832 United States presidential election: Andrew Jackson is re-elected president.
 * December 4 – Siege of Antwerp: The last remaining Dutch stronghold, Antwerp Citadel, comes under French attack in the aftermath of the Belgian Revolution.
 * December 10 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson responds to the Nullification Crisis by threatening to send the U.S. Army and Navy into South Carolina if it does not comply.
 * December 21 – Battle of Konya: The Egyptians defeat the main Ottoman army in central Anatolia.
 * December 23 – The Siege of Antwerp ends with the Dutch garrison losing the citadel.
 * December 28 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.

Date unknown

 * George Catlin starts to live among the Sioux in the Dakota Territory.
 * The first Baedeker guidebook, Voyage du Rhin de Mayence à Cologne, is published in Koblenz.
 * Publication begins (posthumously) of Carl von Clausewitz's Vom Kriege ("On War").
 * The City of Buffalo in New York is incorporated.
 * The Cumberland and Oxford Canal connects the largest lakes of southern Maine with the seaport of Portland, Maine.
 * Global watch brand Longines is founded in Switzerland.
 * The first commutator DC electric motor, capable of turning machinery, is demonstrated by William Sturgeon in London.

January–June

 * January 1
 * Tom Jeffords, US Army scout and Indian agent (d. 1914)
 * Charles N. Felton, American banker and politician (d. 1914)
 * January 4
 * Sir George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)
 * Antoine Chanzy, French general and governor of Algeria (d. 1883)
 * January 6 – Gustave Doré, French painter, sculptor (d. 1883)
 * January 13 – Horatio Alger, Jr., American Unitarian minister, author (d. 1899)
 * January 21 – Carl Hubert von Wendt, German landowner and politician (d. 1903)
 * January 22 - 27th, Alonzo B. Cornell, Governor of New York (d. 1904)
 * January 23
 * Édouard Manet, French painter (d. 1883)
 * Charlotte Pousette, Swedish stage actress (d. 1877)
 * January 24
 * Joseph Hodges Choate, American lawyer and diplomat (d. 1917)
 * Albert Arnz, German landscape painter (d. 1914)
 * January 25
 * Ivan Shishkin, Russian landscape painter (d. 1898)
 * Paul Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian general and writer (d. 1891)
 * January 26 – George Shiras Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1924)
 * January 27 – Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
 * January 28 – Sir Charles Gough, British general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1912)
 * January 28
 * T. Muthuswamy Iyer, Lawyer, first Indian Judge of the Madras high court (d. 1895)
 * Franz Wüllner, German composer and conductor (d. 1902)
 * January 29 – Wilhelm Böckmann, German architect (d. 1902)
 * January 30 – Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain, Duchess of Montpensier (d. 1897)
 * February 6 – John B. Gordon, attorney, slaveholding planter, general in the Confederate States Army, and politician (d. 1904)
 * February 9 – Adele Spitzeder, German actress, folk singer and confidence trickster (d. 1895)
 * February 18 – Octave Chanute, French-American engineer, aviation pioneer (d. 1910)
 * February 21 – Louis Maurer, German-American lithographer, and the father of painter Alfred Henry Maurer (d. 1932)
 * February 26 – John George Nicolay, German-American author, diplomat, and private secretary to Abraham Lincoln (d. 1901)
 * March 4 – Samuel Colman, American painter, interior designer, and writer (d. 1920)
 * March 7 – Carl Neumann, German mathematician (d. 1925)
 * March 10 – John Owen Dominis, prince consort of the Kingdom of Hawaii as the husband of Queen Liliuokalani (d. 1891)
 * March 17 – Moncure D. Conway, American abolitionist minister and radical writer (d. 1907)
 * March 19 – Ármin Vámbéry, Hungarian Turkologist and traveler (d. 1913)
 * March 21 – Charles Altamont Doyle, illustrator, watercolourist and civil servant (d. 1893)
 * March 27 – William Quiller Orchardson, Scottish portraitist (d. 1910)
 * April 3 – James Sewall Reed, American soldier (d. 1864)
 * April 4 – Fedor Flinzer, German author, educator and illustrator (d. 1911)
 * April 5 – Jules Ferry, French premier (d. 1893)
 * April 7 – Ferdinand Kittel, German missionary, Lutheran priest and indologist (d. 1903)
 * April 8
 * Howell Edmunds Jackson, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1895)
 * Alfred von Waldersee, German field marshal (d. 1904)
 * April 14
 * Wilhelm Busch, German humorist, poet, illustrator and painter (d. 1908)
 * James H. Ledlie, civil engineer for American railroads and a general in the Union Army (d. 1882)
 * April 15 – John Irwin, American admiral (d. 1901)
 * April 17 – Robert Loyd-Lindsay, British soldier, politician, and philanthropist (d. 1901)
 * April 19
 * José Echegaray, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
 * Lucretia Garfield, First Lady of the United States (d. 1918)
 * May 7 – Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, German Protestant theologian (d. 1910)
 * May 14
 * Charles Peace, English criminal (d. 1879)
 * Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician (d. 1903)
 * May 20 – Garretson W. Gibson, 14th president of Liberia (d. 1910)
 * May 21
 * Hudson Taylor, English founder of the China Inland Mission (d. 1905)
 * Edwin Warren Moïse, Jewish-American lawyer, Confederate officer, and Adjutant-General from South Carolina (d. 1902)
 * May 22 – Laura Gundersen, Norwegian actor (d. 1898)
 * March 26 – Michel Bréal, French philologist (d. 1915)
 * May 27 – Alexandr Aksakov, Russian writer (d. 1903)
 * May 28 – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line from 1867 to 1913 (d. 1913)
 * June 9 – Martha Waldron Janes, American minister, suffragist, columnist (d. unknown)
 * June 10 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer (d. 1891)
 * June 11 – Jules Vallès, French journalist, author, and left-wing political activist (d. 1885)
 * June 12 – Pierre Théoma Boisrond-Canal, Haitian politician, 12th President of Haiti (d. 1905)
 * June 17 – Sir William Crookes, English chemist, physicist (d. 1919)
 * June 21
 * Louise Rayner, British watercolour artist (d. 1924)
 * Joseph Rainey, American politician, first black person in the House of Representatives (d. 1887)
 * June 23 – Gustav Jäger, German naturalist and hygienist (d. 1917)
 * June 29 – Rafqa Pietra Chobok, Lebanese Maronite nun who was canonized (d. 1914)

July–December

 * July 1 – Karl Binz, German physician and pharmacologist (d. 1913)
 * July 5 – Pavel Chistyakov, Russian painter and art teacher (d. 1919)
 * July 6 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (d. 1867)
 * July 10 – Alvan Graham Clark, American astronomer and telescope-maker (d. 1897)
 * July 11 – Charilaos Trikoupis, 7-time Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1896)
 * July 19 – Julius von Verdy du Vernois, German general and staff officer (d. 1910)
 * July 22 – Colin Archer, Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder (d. 1921)
 * July 26 – Joseph P. Fyffe, American admiral (d. 1896)
 * July 29 – Luigi Palma di Cesnola, Italian-American soldier, diplomat and archaeologist (d. 1904)
 * August 2 – Henry Steel Olcott, American officer (d. 1907)
 * August 3 – Edward Wilmot Blyden, Americo-Liberian educator, writer, diplomat, and politician (d. 1912)
 * August 7 – Max Lange, German chess player and problem composer (d. 1899)
 * August 8 – George, King of Saxony (d. 1904)
 * August 9 – Alexander von Monts, officer in the Prussian Navy and later the German Imperial Navy (d. 1889)
 * August 13 – George F. Robinson, American soldier (d. 1907)
 * August 16 – Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, and pioneer of modern psychology (d. 1920)
 * August 20 – Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, American aeronaut, scientist and inventor (d. 1913)
 * August 26 – Charles DeRudio, Italian aristocrat and U.S. Army officer (d. 1910)
 * September 1 – Hermann Steudner, botanist and an explorer of Africa (d.1863)
 * September 10 – Randall L. Gibson, American politician and general in the Confederate Army (d. 1892)
 * September 14 – Henry Steers, son of James Rich Steers, nephew of George Steers, proprietor of Henry Steers' Ship Yard (d. 1903)
 * September 20 – Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau (d. 1905)
 * September 21 – Louis Paul Cailletet, French physicist and inventor (d. 1913)
 * September 22 – John Smith, nephew of Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the fifth Presiding Patriarch of LDS Church (d. 1911)
 * September 25 – William Le Baron Jenney, American architect and engineer(d. 1907)
 * September 30 – Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, British Victorian era general (d. 1914)
 * October 1
 * Caroline Harrison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1892)
 * Henry Clay Work, American composer and songwriter (d. 1884)
 * October 2
 * Sir Edward Tylor, English anthropologist (d. 1917)
 * Julius von Sachs, German botanist (d. 1897)
 * October 3 – Richard Meade, Lord Gilford, British admiral (d. 1907)
 * October 4 – Thorborg Rappe, Swedish social reformer (d. 1902)
 * October 6
 * August Eisenlohr, German egyptologist (d. 1902)
 * Christian Mali, German painter and art professor (d. 1906)
 * October 7 – William Thomas Blanford, English geologist and naturalist (d. 1905)
 * October 10 – Joe Cain, American parade organizer for Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama (d. 1904)
 * October 16 – George Crockett Strong, Union brigadier general in the American Civil War(d. 1863)
 * October 21 – Gustav Langenscheidt, German publisher (died 1895)
 * October 22 – Robert Eitner, German musicologist, researcher and bibliographer (died 1905)
 * October 23
 * Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, fourth son and seventh child of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1909)
 * Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg, Finnish priest and father of K. J. Ståhlberg, the first President of Finland (d. 1873)
 * William Hulbert, American professional baseball executive who was one of the founders of the National League (d. 1882)
 * October 25 – Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, Russian noble, child of Emperor Nicholas I and Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1909)
 * October 29 – Narcisa de Jesús, Ecuadorian-born philanthropist, lay hermit, sainted (d. 1869)
 * November 1 – Gyula Szapáry, Hungarian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1905)
 * November 3 – Hubert de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde (d. 1916)
 * November 7 – Andrew Dickson White, American historian, diplomat and co-founder of Cornell University (d. 1918)
 * November 9 – Émile Gaboriau, French writer, novelist, journalist, and a pioneer of detective fiction (d. 1873)
 * November 10 – Samuel McKee, Colonel for the Union Army and served in the Third Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (d. 1862)
 * November 12 – Nancy Edberg, Swedish pioneer of women's swimming (d. 1892)
 * November 15 – Hermann Ottomar Herzog, German-American painter (d. 1932)
 * November 18 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish geologist and explorer (d. 1901)
 * November 26 – Mary Edwards Walker, American physician (d. 1919)
 * November 28 – Sir Leslie Stephen, English writer, critic (d. 1904)
 * November 29 – Louisa May Alcott, American author (d. 1888)
 * December 6 – Thaddeus C. Pound, American businessman and politician (d. 1914)
 * December 8
 * Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
 * G. A. Henty, English novelist and war correspondent (d. 1902)
 * December 11 – Nancy Edberg, Swedish swimmer, swimming instructor and bath house manager (d. 1892)
 * December 13 – Alexander Milton Ross, Canadian abolitionist (d. 1897)
 * December 14 – Ana Betancourt, Cuban national heroine (d. 1901)
 * December 15 – Gustave Eiffel, French engineer (d. 1923)
 * December 21 – John H. Ketcham, American politician (d. 1906)
 * December 27 – Thomas Blakiston, English explorer, zoologist, and naturalist. (d. 1891)

Date unknown

 * Margaret Morton Bibb, American quilter (d. 1900/1910)
 * Naimuddin, Bengali writer and Islamic scholar (d. 1907)
 * Turki bin Said, former Sultan of Muscat and Oman (d. 1888)
 * Nikiforos Lytras, Greek painter (d. 1904)
 * James James, Welsh harpist and musician (d. 1902)
 * Mary Fields, American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the United States (d. 1914)

January–June

 * January 24 – Daniel Sykes, English politician (b. 1766)
 * January 26 – Alexander Cochrane, British admiral (b. 1758)
 * January 27 – Andrew Bell, Scottish educationalist, founder of Madras College, India (b. 1753)
 * February 2 – Ignacio López Rayón, leader of the Mexican War of Independence (b. 1773)
 * February 3 – George Crabbe, English poet and naturalist (b. 1754)
 * March 4 – Jean-François Champollion, French Egyptologist (b. 1790)
 * March 10 – Muzio Clementi, Italian composer and pianist (b. 1752)
 * March 15 – Otto Wilhelm Masing, Estonian linguist (b. 1763)
 * March 22 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer (b. 1749)
 * March 29 – Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Sardinia (b. 1773)
 * April 3 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, Prime Minister of France (b. 1778)
 * April 12 – Shadrach Bond, American politician and the first governor of Illinois (b. 1773)
 * April 18 – Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
 * May 13 – Georges Cuvier, French zoologist (b. 1769)
 * May 23 – William Grant, British lawyer, politician and judge (b. 1752)
 * May 28 – Nicolas Bergasse, French lawyer (b. 1750)
 * May 31 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
 * June 1 – Jean Maximilien Lamarque, French general and politician (b. 1770)
 * June 5 – Kaahumanu, queen consort of Hawaii (b. 1768)
 * June 6 – Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher (b. 1748)
 * June 10 – Joseph Hiester, American politician (b. 1752)
 * June 21 – Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1754)
 * June 23 – James Hall, Scottish geologist (b. 1761)

July–December

 * July 22 – Napoleon II of France (b. 1811)
 * July 31 – Edward Abbott, Australian soldier, politician and judge (b. 1766)
 * August 24 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French military engineer and physicist (b. 1796)
 * September 1 – Joseph Kinghorn, Particular Baptist Minister (b. 1766)
 * September 2 – Franz Xaver von Zach, Austrian scientific editor and astronomer (b. 1754)
 * September 21 – Sir Walter Scott, Scottish poet and novelist (b. 1771)
 * September 27 – Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher (b. 1781)
 * October 11 – Thomas Hardy, British political reformer (b. 1752)
 * October 31 – Antonio Scarpa, Italian anatomist (b. 1752)
 * November 8 – Marie-Jeanne de Lalande, French astronomer and mathematician (b. 1768)
 * November 12
 * Henry Eckford, Scottish-born American shipbuilder, naval architect, industrial engineer, and entrepreneur (b. 1775)
 * Barnaba Oriani, Italian priest (b. 1752)
 * November 14 – Charles Carroll of Carrollton, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and U.S. Senator (b. 1737)
 * November 15 – Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist, originator of Say's law (b. 1767)
 * December 18 – Philip Freneau, American poet and journalist (b. 1752)
 * undated – Birgithe Kühle, Norwegian journalist (b. 1762)

title: 1832


text:
1997 United Kingdom general election

The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority and a total of 418 seats.

This was the first victory for the Labour party in a general election in nearly 23 years, its previous one registering a majority of 3 seats in October 1974 under the leadership of Harold Wilson. It was also Labour's first comprehensive victory over the Conservatives since the 1966 election, which had produced a 100-seat majority. This election also marked Labour's highest vote share since the 1970 election and its second highest total number of votes in history (the largest being the 1951 election). On the other hand, it was an ignominious end to the 18-year government of the Conservatives, the longest continuous period of government of any party in modern British history. This election marked the third-largest defeat ever suffered by the Conservatives (the largest being the 2024 election) with the party left with just 165 seats—it was left devoid of any MPs outside England, with only 17 MPs north of the Midlands, and with less than 20% of MPs in London. Additionally, the party also registered its lowest share of the vote since 1832 as well as its lowest vote in absolute terms since 1929.

The political backdrop of campaigning focused on public opinion towards a change in government. Blair, as Labour Leader, focused on transforming his party through a more centrist policy platform, titled "New Labour", with promises of devolution referendums for Scotland and Wales, fiscal responsibility, and a decision to nominate more female politicians for election through the use of all-women shortlists from which to choose candidates. Major sought to rebuild public trust in the Conservatives following a series of scandals, including the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, through campaigning on the strength of the economic recovery following the early 1990s recession, but faced divisions within the party over the UK's membership of the European Union.

Opinion polls during campaigning showed strong support for Labour due to Blair's personal popularity, and Blair won a personal public endorsement from The Sun newspaper two months before the vote. The final result of the election on 2 May 1997 revealed that Labour had won a landslide majority, making a net gain of 146 seats and winning 43.2% of the vote. 150 Members of Parliament, including 133 Conservatives, lost their seats. The Conservatives, meanwhile, suffered defeat with a net loss of 178 seats, winning 30.7% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats led by Paddy Ashdown made a net gain of 28 seats, winning 16.8% of the vote. Labour's victory, the largest achieved in its history and by any political party in British politics since the Second World War, brought about the party's first of three consecutive terms in power (lasting a total of 13 years), with Blair as the newly appointed prime minister. The Liberal Democrats' success in the election, in part due to anti-Conservative tactical voting, strengthened both Ashdown's leadership and the party's position as a strong third party, having won the highest number of seats by any third party since 1929.

Although the Conservatives lost many ministers such as Michael Portillo, Tony Newton, Malcolm Rifkind, Ian Lang and William Waldegrave and controversial MPs such as Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken, some of the Conservative newcomers in this election were future Prime Minister Theresa May, future Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, future Leader of the House Andrew Lansley, and future Speaker John Bercow. Meanwhile, Labour newcomers included future Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet members Hazel Blears, Ben Bradshaw, Yvette Cooper, Caroline Flint, Barry Gardiner, Alan Johnson, Ruth Kelly, John McDonnell, Stephen Twigg and Rosie Winterton, as well as future Scottish Labour Leader Jim Murphy and future Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. The election of 120 women, including 101 to the Labour benches, came to be seen as a watershed moment in female political representation in the UK.

Background
The British economy had been in recession at the time of the 1992 general election, which the governing Conservative Party led by John Major had won. The recession ended within a year, but later events such as Black Wednesday severely tarnished the Conservative government's reputation for economic management. Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party elected John Smith as its leader in 1992 to succeed Neil Kinnock; however, Smith's death from a heart attack in 1994 led to a leadership election which was won by shadow home secretary Tony Blair.

Blair sought to bring the party closer to the political centre of the era, including rebranding the party as "New Labour". He convinced the party's members and affiliated trades unions to support the removal of Clause IV from its constitution, which had committed it to the mass nationalisation of industry, and the party also reversed its policy on unilateral nuclear disarmament. The events of Black Wednesday also meant Labour—and shadow chancellor Gordon Brown—were perceived as offering more competent economic management than the Conservatives.

Labour's manifesto, New Labour, New Life for Britain, was published in 1996 and outlined five key pledges:

 * Class sizes to be cut to 30 or under for 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds by using money from the assisted places scheme.
 * Fast track punishment for persistent young offenders, by halving the time from arrest to sentencing.
 * Cut NHS waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients as a first step by releasing £100 million saved from NHS red tape.
 * Get 250,000 under-25-year-olds off benefit and into work by using money from a windfall levy on the privatised utilities.
 * No rise in income tax rates, cut VAT on heating to 5%, and keeping inflation and interest rates as low as possible.

Disputes within the Conservative government over European Union issues, and a variety of "sleaze" allegations, severely affected the government's popularity. Despite the economic recovery and fall in unemployment in the four years leading up to the election, the rise in Conservative support was only marginal, with all of the major opinion polls showing Labour in a comfortable lead from late 1992 onwards.

Following the 1992 general election, the Conservatives remained in government with 336 of the 651 House of Commons seats, but through a series of defections and by-election defeats the government gradually lost its absolute majority. By 1997, the Conservatives held only 324 seats and had not won a by-election since Richmond in 1989.

Timing
The previous Parliament first sat on 29 April 1992. The Parliament Act 1911 required at the time for each Parliament to be dissolved before the fifth anniversary of its first sitting; therefore, the latest date the dissolution and the summoning of the next parliament could have been held on was 28 April 1997.

The 1985 amendment of the Representation of the People Act 1983 required that the election must take place on the eleventh working day after the deadline for nomination papers, which in turn must be no more than six working days after the next parliament was summoned.

Therefore, the latest date the election could have been held on was 22 May 1997 (which happened to be a Thursday). British elections (and referendums) have been held on Thursdays by convention since the 1930s, but can be held on other working days.

Campaign
Major called the election on Monday 17 March 1997, ensuring the formal campaign would be unusually long, at six weeks (Parliament was dissolved on 8 April). The election was scheduled for 1 May, to coincide with the local elections on the same day. This set a precedent, as the three subsequent general elections were also held alongside the May local elections.

The Conservatives argued that a long campaign would expose Labour and allow the Conservative message to be heard. However, Major was accused of arranging an early dissolution to protect Neil Hamilton from a pending parliamentary report into his conduct: a report that Major had earlier guaranteed would be published before the election.

In March 1997, soon after the election was called, Asda introduced a range of election-themed beers, these being "Major's Mild", "Tony's Tipple" and "Ashdown's Ale".

The political backdrop of campaigning focused on public opinion towards a change in government. Blair, as Labour leader, focused on transforming his party through a more centrist policy platform, titled "New Labour", with promises of devolution referendums for Scotland and Wales, fiscal responsibility, and a decision to nominate more female politicians for election through the use of all-women shortlists from which to choose candidates. Major sought to rebuild public trust in the Conservatives following a series of scandals, including the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, through campaigning on the strength of the economic recovery following the early 1990s recession, but faced divisions within the party over the UK's membership of the European Union.

Opinion polls during campaigning showed strong support for Labour due to Blair's personal popularity, and Blair won a personal public endorsement from The Sun newspaper two months before the vote.

Conservative campaign
Major hoped that a long campaign would expose Labour's "hollowness" and the Conservative campaign emphasised stability, as did its manifesto title 'You can only be sure with the Conservatives'. However, the campaign was beset by deep-set problems, such as the rise of James Goldsmith's Referendum Party which advocated a referendum on continued membership of the European Union. The party threatened to take away many right-leaning voters from the Conservatives. Furthermore, about 200 candidates broke with official Conservative policy to oppose British membership of the single European currency. Major fought back, saying: "Whether you agree with me or disagree with me; like me or loathe me, don't bind my hands when I am negotiating on behalf of the British nation." The moment is remembered as one of the defining, and most surreal, moments of the election.

Meanwhile, there was also division amongst the Conservative cabinet, with Chancellor Kenneth Clarke describing the views of Home Secretary Michael Howard on Europe as "paranoid and xenophobic nonsense". The Conservatives also struggled to come up with a definitive theme to attack Labour, with some strategists arguing for an approach which castigated Labour for "stealing Tory clothes" (copying their positions), with others making the case for a more confrontational approach, stating that "New Labour" was just a façade for "old Labour".

The New Labour, New Danger poster, which depicted Tony Blair with demon eyes, was an example of the latter strategy. Major veered between the two approaches, which left Conservative Central Office staff frustrated. As Andrew Cooper explained: "We repeatedly tried and failed to get him to understand that you couldn't say that they were dangerous and copying you at the same time." In any case, the campaign failed to gain much traction, and the Conservatives went down to a landslide defeat at the polls.

Labour campaign
Labour ran a slick campaign that emphasised the splits within the Conservative government and argued that the country needed a more centrist administration. It thus successfully picked up dissatisfied Conservative voters, particularly moderate and suburban ones. Tony Blair, who was personally highly popular, was very much the centrepiece of the campaign and proved a highly effective campaigner.

The Labour campaign was reminiscent of those of Bill Clinton for the US presidency in 1992 and 1996, focusing on centrist themes as well as adopting policies more commonly associated with the right, such as cracking down on crime and fiscal responsibility. The influence of political "spin" came into great effect for Labour at this point, as media centric figures such as Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson provided a clear cut campaign, and establishing a relatively new political brand New Labour with enviable success. In this election Labour adopted the theme Things Can Only Get Better in their campaign and advertising.

Liberal Democrat campaign
The Liberal Democrats had suffered a disappointing performance in 1992, but they were very much strengthened in 1997 due in part to potential tactical voting between Labour and Lib Dem supporters in Conservative marginal constituencies, particularly in the south of England – which explains why while given their share of the vote decreased, their number of seats nearly doubled. The Lib Dems promised to increase education funding paid for by a 1p increase in income tax.

Endorsements

 * In a sign of the change of direction which New Labour represented, they were endorsed by The Sun (with a famous front page "The Sun Backs Blair"), as well as the more left-leaning newspapers the Daily Mirror, The Independent and The Guardian.
 * The Conservatives were endorsed by the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph.
 * The Times did not endorse a specific party, but instead encouraged voters to support individual candidates "against the further integration of the European Union".

Notional 1992 results
The election was fought under new boundaries, with a net increase of eight seats compared to the 1992 election (651 to 659). Changes listed here are from the notional 1992 result, had it been fought on the boundaries established in 1997. These notional results were calculated by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher and were used by all media organisations at the time.

 * }

Results
Labour won a landslide victory with its largest parliamentary majority (179) to date. On the BBC's election night programme Professor Anthony King described the result of the exit poll, which accurately predicted a Labour landslide, as being akin to "an asteroid hitting the planet and destroying practically all life on Earth". After years of trying, Labour had convinced the electorate that they would usher in a new age of prosperity—their policies, organisation and tone of optimism slotting perfectly into place.

Labour's victory was largely credited to the charisma of Tony Blair, as well as a Labour public relations machine managed by Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson. Between the 1992 election and the 1997 election there had also been major steps to "modernise" the party, including scrapping Clause IV that had committed the party to extending public ownership of industry. Labour had suddenly seized the middle ground of the political spectrum, attracting voters much further to the right than their traditional working class or left wing support. In the early hours of 2 May 1997 a party was held at the Royal Festival Hall, in which Blair stated that "a new dawn has broken, has it not?"

The election was a crushing defeat for the Conservatives, with the party having its lowest percentage share of the popular vote since 1832 under the Duke of Wellington's leadership, being wiped out in Scotland and Wales. A number of prominent Conservative MPs lost their seats in the election, including Michael Portillo, Malcolm Rifkind, Edwina Currie, David Mellor, Neil Hamilton and Norman Lamont. Such was the extent of Conservative losses at the election that Cecil Parkinson, speaking on the BBC's election night programme, joked upon the Conservatives winning their second seat that he was pleased that the subsequent election for the leadership would be contested.

The Liberal Democrats stood on a more left-wing manifesto than Labour, and more than doubled their number of seats thanks to the use of tactical voting against the Conservatives. Although their share of the vote fell slightly, their total of 46 MPs was the highest for any UK Liberal party since David Lloyd George led the party to 59 seats in 1929.

The Referendum Party, which sought a referendum on the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union, came fourth in terms of votes with 800,000 votes and won no seats in parliament.

The six parties with the next highest votes stood only in either Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales; in order, they were the Scottish National Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Féin, and the Democratic Unionist Party.

In the previously safe seat of Tatton, where incumbent Conservative MP Neil Hamilton was facing charges of having taken cash for questions, the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties decided not to field candidates in order that an independent candidate, Martin Bell, would have a better chance of winning the seat, which he did with a comfortable margin.

The result declared for the constituency of Winchester showed a margin of victory of just two votes for the Liberal Democrats. The defeated Conservative candidate mounted a successful legal challenge to the result on the grounds that errors by election officials (failures to stamp certain votes) had changed the result; the court ruled the result invalid and ordered a by-election on 20 November which was won by the Liberal Democrats with a much larger majority, causing much recrimination in the Conservative Party about the decision to challenge the original result in the first place.

This election saw a doubling of the number of women in parliament, from 60 elected in 1992 to 120 elected in 1997. 101 of them (controversially described as Blair Babes) were on the Labour benches, a number driven by the Labour Party's 1993 policy (ruled illegally discriminatory in 1996) of all-women shortlists. This election has therefore been widely seen as a watershed moment for representation of women in the UK.

This election marked the start of Labour government for the next 13 years, lasting until the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010.

All parties with more than 500 votes shown. Labour total includes New Labour and "Labour Time for Change" candidates; Conservative total includes candidates in Northern Ireland (excluded in some lists) and "Loyal Conservative" candidate.
 * }

The Popular Unionist MP elected in 1992 died in 1995, and the party folded shortly afterwards.

There was no incumbent Speaker in the 1992 election.

Post-election events
The poor results for the Conservative Party led to infighting, with the One Nation group, Tory Reform Group, and right-wing Maastricht Rebels blaming each other for the defeat. Party chairman Brian Mawhinney said on the night of the election that defeat was due to disillusionment with 18 years of Conservative rule. John Major resigned as party leader, saying "When the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage".

Following the defeat, the Conservatives began their longest continuous spell in opposition in the history of the present day (post–Tamworth Manifesto) Conservative Party – and indeed the longest such spell for any incarnation of the Tories/Conservatives since the 1760s and the end of the Whig Supremacy under Kings George I and George II – lasting 13 years, including the whole of the 2000s. Throughout this period, their representation in the Commons remained consistently below 200 MPs.

Meanwhile, Paddy Ashdown's continued leadership of the Liberal Democrats was assured, and they were felt to be in a position to build positively as a strong third party into the new millennium, culminating in their sharing power in the 2010 coalition with the Conservatives.

Internet coverage
With the huge rise in internet use since the previous general election, BBC News created a special website – BBC Politics 97 – covering the election. This site was an experiment for the efficiency of an online news service which was due for launch later in the year.

Manifestos

 * Labour (New Labour, New Life For Britain)
 * Conservative (You can only be sure with the Conservatives)
 * Liberal Democrats (Make the Difference)
 * National Democrats (A Manifesto for Britain)
 * British National Party (British Nationalism- An Idea whose time has come)
 * Liberal Party (Radical ideas – not the dead centre)
 * UK Independence Party
 * Third Way
 * The ProLife Alliance
 * Sinn Féin (A New Opportunity for Peace)
 * Democratic Unionist Party
 * Alliance of Liberty (Agenda for Change)
 * Progressive Unionist Party
 * Ulster Unionist Party
 * Plaid Cymru (The Best for Wales)
 * Scottish National Party (Yes We Can Win the Best for Scotland)
 * Scottish Green Party
 * Socialist Equality Party (A strategy for a workers' government!)
 * Communist Party of Great Britain

title: 1997 United Kingdom general election


text:
1825

January–March

 * January 4 – King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies dies in Naples and is succeeded by his son, Francis.
 * February 3 – Vendsyssel-Thy, once part of the Jutland peninsula forming westernmost Denmark, becomes an island after a flood drowns its 1 km wide isthmus.
 * February 9 – After no presidential candidate receives a majority of United States Electoral College votes following the 1824 United States presidential election, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States in a contingent election.
 * February 10 – Simón Bolívar gives up his title of dictator of Peru and takes the alternative title of El Libertador.
 * February 12 – Second Treaty of Indian Springs: The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government and migrate west.
 * March 1 – The outbound British East Indiaman Kent is destroyed by fire in the Bay of Biscay with the loss of more than 80 lives, but over 550 are saved by passing ships.
 * March 4 – John Quincy Adams is sworn in as the sixth President of the United States.
 * March 5 – Capture of the Anne: Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful pirates in the Caribbean, is defeated by an international naval force.
 * March 17 – The Norfolk & Dedham Group is founded as The Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company in the United States.

April–June

 * April 17 – Charles X of France recognizes Haiti, 21 years after it expelled the French following the successful Haitian Revolution, and demands the payment of 150 million gold francs, 30 million of which Haiti must finance through France itself, as down payment.
 * May – History of Brisbane: The Australian city of Brisbane is founded.
 * May 26 – Two Unitarian Christian bodies, the American Unitarian Association in the United States and the British and Foreign Unitarian Association in the United Kingdom are founded, coincidentally on the same date.
 * May 29 – The Coronation of Charles X takes place at the historic site of Reims Cathedral, the last coronation of a French monarch.
 * June 2 – The United States Senate ratifies the treaties with the Great Osage and the Little Osage tribes.
 * June 3 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the treaty with the Kansas tribe.
 * June 9 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the treaty with the Poncas tribe.
 * June 15 – A rebellion is started by 200 slaves in the Guamacaro region of Cuba, and is suppressed after 12 hours; in the ensuing months, most who weren't killed in the battle would be hunted down and killed.

July–September

 * July 6
 * The Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck gains possession of Glücksburg and changes his title to Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The line of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg later becomes the royal house of Greece, Denmark and Norway.
 * The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Cheyenne tribe.
 * A new Combinations of Workmen Act in the United Kingdom makes Trades unions legal according to narrowly defined principles.
 * July 16 – The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Hunkpapa tribe.
 * July 18 – The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Ricara tribes.
 * July 30
 * Malden Island (an uninhabited island in the central Pacific Ocean) is discovered by George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.
 * The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Mandan, Belantae, Eloa and Minnetaree tribes.
 * August 4 – The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Ricara tribes.
 * August 6 – Bolivia gains its independence from Spain as a republic, at the instigation of Simón Bolívar.
 * August 11 – The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Crow tribe.
 * August 18 – Scottish adventurer Gregor MacGregor issues a £300,000 loan with 2.5% interest, through the London bank of Thomas Jenkins & Company, for the fictitious Central American republic of Poyais. His actions lead to the Panic of 1825, the first modern stock market crash, in England.
 * August 22 – The National Mexican Rite is created in Mexico City.
 * August 25 – Uruguay is declared independent of the Empire of Brazil by the Thirty-Three Orientals, a militant revolutionary group led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja.
 * September – The Lady Margaret Boat Club is founded by 12 members of St John's College, Cambridge.
 * September 25 – General Hendrik Merkus de Kock lifts the siege of Jogjakarta, the first major action of the Java War.
 * September 26 – The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Missouri and Ottoe tribes.
 * September 27 – The world's first modern railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, opens in England.
 * September 30 – The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties with the Pawnee tribe.

October–December

 * October 7 – The Miramichi Fire, a forest fire, breaks out in New Brunswick (Canada).
 * October 21 – PS Comet II sinks off Gourock (Scotland) with the loss of 62 lives.
 * October 26 – The Erie Canal opens, providing passage from Albany, New York to Buffalo and Lake Erie.
 * November 7 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the treaty with the Shawnee tribe.
 * November 15 – King Joao VI of Portugal promulgates a law recognizing his eldest son, Dom Pedro, as the Emperor of Brazil.
 * October–December – Dispute between the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the Empire of Brazil over Banda Oriental region led to the Cisplatine War.
 * December 1 (O.S.)/November 19 (N.S.) – Nicholas I of Russia succeeds his older brother Alexander I.
 * December 9 – The British began the Siege of Bharatpur.
 * December 26 (O.S.)/December 14 (N.S.) – Some Imperial Russian Army officers stage the Decembrist revolt against Nicholas's accession in Saint Petersburg, but it is thoroughly suppressed by the government.

Date unknown

 * Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan is founded as a mudfort on the Silk Road
 * The Fort Vancouver trading post is established on the lower Columbia River by the Hudson's Bay Company.
 * Hans Christian Ørsted reduces aluminium chloride to produce metallic aluminium.
 * Minh Mạng outlaws the teaching of Christianity in Vietnam.
 * The first horse-drawn omnibuses established in London.
 * The United States Postal Service starts a dead letter office.
 * London becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from Beijing.

January–June

 * January 11 – Clement V. Rogers, Cherokee politician, father of Will Rogers (d. 1911)
 * January 25 – George Pickett, American Confederate general (d. 1876)
 * January 31 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene poet in Hungary (d. 1883)
 * February 8 – Henri Giffard, French engineer, pioneer in airship technology (d. 1882)
 * February 10 – Geoffrey Hornby, British admiral (d. 1895)
 * March 13 – Hans Gude, Norwegian romanticist landscape painter (d. 1903)
 * March 16 – Camilo Castelo Branco, Portuguese writer (d. 1890)
 * March 21 – Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian aeronautical pioneer (d. 1890)
 * March 22 – Jane Sym, second wife of Canada's second prime minister (d. 1893)
 * April 11 – Ferdinand Lassalle, Prussian-German philosopher, socialist and politician (d. 1864)
 * April 24 – Robert Michael Ballantyne, Scottish novelist (d. 1894)
 * May 4 – Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist (d. 1895)
 * May 8 – George Bruce Malleson, English officer, author (d. 1898)
 * May 9 – George Davidson, English-born geodesist, astronomer, geographer, surveyor, and engineer in the United States (d. 1911)
 * June 3 – Sophie Sager, Swedish women's rights activist (d. 1902)

July–December

 * July 2 – Émile Ollivier, French statesman (d. 1913)
 * July 19 – George H. Pendleton, American politician (d. 1889)
 * July 21 – Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, Spanish politician, eight-time prime minister of Spain (d. 1903)
 * August 31 – Robert Dunsmuir, Scottish industrialist, politician (d. 1889)
 * September 4 – Dadabhai Naoroji, Indian politician (d. 1917)
 * September 11 – Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (d. 1904)
 * September 13 – William Henry Rinehart, American sculptor (d. 1874)
 * September 17 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1893)
 * September 25 – Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (d. 1879)
 * October 8 – Paschal Beverly Randolph, American occultist (d. 1875)
 * October 10 – Paul Kruger, Boer resistance leader (d. 1904)
 * October 11 – Maria Firmina dos Reis, Brazilian abolitionist and author (d. 1917)
 * October 13 – Charles Frederick Worth, English-born fashion designer, father of haute couture (d. 1895)
 * October 25 – Johann Strauss, Junior, Austrian composer (d. 1899)
 * November 9 – A. P. Hill, American Confederate general (d. 1865)
 * November 29 – Jean-Martin Charcot, French physician, neurologist (d. 1893)
 * November 30 – William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French painter and educator (d. 1905)
 * December 2 – Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)
 * December 18 – Mariano Ignacio Prado, Peruvian general and statesman, twice President of Peru (d. 1901)
 * December 30 – Samuel Newitt Wood, American politician (d. 1891)
 * December 31 – Elizabeth Martha Olmsted, American poet (d. 1910)

Date unknown

 * Sher Ali Khan, ruler of Afghanistan (d. 1879)
 * Juan Williams Rebolledo, Chilean admiral and politician (d. 1910)

January–June

 * January 4 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)
 * January 8 – Eli Whitney, American inventor (b. 1765)
 * February 22 – Eleanor Anne Porden, English poet (b. 1795)
 * February 24 – Thomas Bowdler, English physician (b. 1754)
 * March 1
 * John Brooks (governor), Massachusetts doctor, military officer, governor (b. 1752)
 * John Haggin, Indian fighter, one of the earliest settlers of Kentucky (b. 1753)
 * March 4 – Hercules Mulligan, tailor, spy during the American Revolutionary War (b. 1740)
 * March 6 – Samuel Parr, English schoolmaster (b. 1747)
 * March 25 – Antoine Fabre d'Olivet, French writer (b. 1767)
 * March 27 – Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres, British Army general (b. 1752)
 * April 23 – Friedrich Müller, German painter, narrator, lyricist and dramatist (b. 1749)
 * April 17 – Henry Fuseli, Swiss painter and writer (b. 1741)
 * May 7 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (b. 1750)
 * May 13 – Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth, British diplomat (b. 1752)
 * May 19 – Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, French politician (b. 1760)
 * May 22 – Laskarina Bouboulina, Greek independence fighter, heroine (shot) (b. 1771)
 * May 23 – Ras Gugsa of Yejju, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia
 * June 11 – Daniel D. Tompkins, 6th Vice President of the United States (b. 1774)
 * June 14 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French architect (b. 1754)
 * June 27 – Domenico Vantini, Italian painter

July–December

 * July 12 – Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer, German scholar (b. 1770)
 * July 15 – David Ochterlony, Massachusetts-born general with the East India Company (b. 1758)
 * August 3 – Ambrogio Minoja, Italian composer, professor of music (b. 1752)
 * August 16 – Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, American politician, soldier (b. 1746)
 * August 20 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, British admiral, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753)
 * September 4 – Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (b. 1748)
 * September 26 – José Bernardo de Tagle y Portocarrero, Marquis of Torre Tagle, Peruvian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Peru (b. 1779)
 * October 6 – Bernard Germain de Lacépède, French naturalist (b. 1756)
 * October 9 – Lucia Pytter, Norwegian philanthropist (b. 1762)
 * October 13 – King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (b. 1756)
 * November 7 – Charlotte Dacre, English Gothic novelist (b. c. 1772)
 * November 14 – Jean Paul, German writer (b. 1763)
 * December 1 – Emperor Alexander I of Russia (November 19 on the Russian calendar) b. 1777)
 * December 28 – James Wilkinson, American soldier, statesman (b. 1757)
 * December 29 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)

Dates unknown

 * Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis of Puységur, French mesmerist (b. 1751)
 * Huang Peilie, Chinese bibliophile (b. 1763)
 * Maria Angela Ardinghelli, Italian scientific translator (b. 1730)

title: 1825