1847

Events in 1847 39

• 1809 – 1847 Felix Mendelssohn Romantic composer & conductor German Romantic composer who rediscovered Bach, wrote the famous Wedding March and composed the Violin Concerto and Italian Symphony.
• 1847 – 1922 Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Died 2 August 1922, aged 75 Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born inventor credited with patenting the first practical telephone, died at his estate in Nova Scotia, Canada. He also contributed to work on hydrofoils, aeronautics, and hearing devices for the deaf. Telephone service across North America was briefly stopped in his honor at his funeral.
• 1847 – 1933 Annie Besant (1847-1933) Died 20 September 1933, aged 85 British social reformer, Theosophist and campaigner for Indian home rule. She served as president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.
• 1847 – 1929 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929) Died 21 May 1929, aged 82 British Liberal statesman who was Prime Minister from 1894 to 1895 after succeeding Gladstone. He was also the first chairman of the London County Council.
• 1847 Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) Died 15 May 1847, aged 71 Irish political leader known as The Liberator, who won Catholic emancipation in 1829 and campaigned for repeal of the Union. He died in Genoa while travelling to Rome.
• 1847 – 1928 Ellen Terry (1847-1928) Died 21 July 1928, aged 81 English actress who was the leading Shakespearean actress of her era. She was Henry Irving's stage partner at the Lyceum Theatre for more than twenty years. She was made a Dame Grand Cross in 1925.
• 1847 Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) Died 14 May 1847, aged 41 German composer and pianist, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, who wrote hundreds of works. She died of a stroke while rehearsing; her brother died six months later.
• 1847 – 1882 Jesse James (1847-1882) Died 3 April 1882, aged 34 James was an American outlaw who led a gang notorious for robbing banks, stagecoaches, and trains across the Midwest after the Civil War. He was shot dead in his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, by gang member Robert Ford, who sought a reward for his capture. His death made him a figure of enduring American folklore.
• 1847 – 1911 Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) Died 29 October 1911, aged 64 Pulitzer was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher who built the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and New York World into major papers and pioneered sensational "yellow journalism." His will endowed the Columbia School of Journalism and the Pulitzer Prizes. He died aboard his yacht off Charleston, South Carolina.
• 1847 – 1931 Otto Wallach (1847-1931) Died 26 February 1931, aged 83 German chemist who won the 1910 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on alicyclic compounds. His studies of terpenes laid the foundations of the essential oils industry. He died in Göttingen.
• 1847 – 1934 Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) Died 2 August 1934, aged 86 German field marshal and President of Germany from 1925. He appointed Hitler chancellor in January 1933, and his death let Hitler take absolute power.
• 1847 The Caste War of Yucatán begins Yucatán, Mexico A Maya uprising against the landowning class drove the whites to the edge of the peninsula and came close to taking Mérida. It became the longest and most successful indigenous rebellion in the Americas.
• 1847 Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) Died 31 May 1847, aged 67 Scottish minister, theologian and social reformer who led the Disruption of 1843 and founded the Free Church of Scotland.
• 1847 – 1931 Thomas Edison (1847-1931) Died 18 October 1931, aged 84 American inventor and businessman who developed the phonograph, a practical incandescent light bulb and early motion picture equipment. His Menlo Park laboratory pioneered organised industrial research. He held more than a thousand US patents.
• 1847 Irish Famine at its worst: Black '47 The deadliest year of the Great Famine in Ireland Mass starvation and disease, especially typhus, killed vast numbers across Ireland in what became known as Black '47. Soup kitchens opened under the Temporary Relief Act in the spring. Hundreds of thousands emigrated, many dying on crowded coffin ships.
• 1847 Cahuenga Capitulation Californio forces surrender to John C. Frémont Andrés Pico signed the Treaty of Cahuenga with John C. Frémont near Los Angeles, ending hostilities in Alta California. It marked the effective end of the Mexican-American War's California campaign.
• 1847 Donner Party rescued Survivors of the snowbound California emigrant group are brought out of the Sierra Nevada Relief parties reached the Donner Party trapped in the Sierra Nevada since late 1846. Of about 87 members, roughly 48 survived, some by resorting to cannibalism. The episode became among the best-known tragedies of the westward migration.
• 1847 Battle of Buena Vista Zachary Taylor repels Santa Anna in northern Mexico American forces under Zachary Taylor defeated a much larger Mexican army led by Antonio López de Santa Anna near Saltillo. The victory secured northern Mexico for the United States during the Mexican-American War. It helped carry Taylor to the presidency.
• 1847 Choctaw donation to Irish famine relief The Choctaw Nation sends funds to starving Ireland In March 1847 the Choctaw Nation collected about 170 dollars to send to Ireland for famine relief. The gesture came only years after their own forced removal along the Trail of Tears. It is remembered today as a lasting bond between the two peoples.
• 1847 Siege of Veracruz Winfield Scott captures Mexico's main Gulf port General Winfield Scott landed about 10,000 US troops near Veracruz and besieged the city, which surrendered after bombardment. It was the first major amphibious operation by the US military. The capture opened the road to Mexico City.
• 1847 Battle of Cerro Gordo Scott's army routs Santa Anna on the road to Mexico City Winfield Scott's army outflanked a Mexican force under Santa Anna in the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo. The Mexican position collapsed and thousands of prisoners were taken. The American advance toward the capital continued.
• 1847 Ignaz Semmelweis introduces handwashing Chlorinated hand disinfection cuts deaths from childbed fever in Vienna Ignaz Semmelweis, working at the Vienna General Hospital, required doctors to wash their hands in chlorinated lime solution before examining patients. Mortality from puerperal fever in his clinic fell sharply. His findings were largely rejected by contemporaries.
• 1847 Smithsonian Institution building begun Construction starts on the Castle in Washington Construction of the Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Castle, began on the National Mall. It was designed by James Renwick Jr. in Norman Revival style. The institution had been established by Congress in 1846 from James Smithson's bequest.
• 1847 Treaty of Erzurum between Persia and the Ottoman Empire Border settlement defines frontier in the Zagros The Second Treaty of Erzurum was signed between the Ottoman and Persian empires, settling territorial disputes after years of tension. It recognised Persian control of Muhammara but affirmed Ottoman sovereignty over Sulaymaniyah.
• 1847 Communist League founded in London Marx and Engels are commissioned to write its manifesto The League of the Just reorganised itself as the Communist League at a congress in London in June. At its second congress in November and December, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were asked to draft its programme. The result was the Communist Manifesto of 1848.
• 1847 Ten Hours Act passed British factory law limits working hours for women and young persons The Factory Act 1847 limited the working day of women and children aged 13 to 18 in textile mills to ten hours. It was the result of long campaigning by Lord Ashley and the factory reform movement. It took effect in May 1848.
• 1847 First adhesive postage stamps issued in the United States Five- and ten-cent stamps go on sale The US Post Office issued its first general-issue postage stamps, a five-cent Benjamin Franklin and a ten-cent George Washington. They went on sale in New York on 1 July. Use was optional until prepayment became compulsory in 1855.
• 1847 Mormon pioneers enter the Salt Lake Valley Brigham Young's company reaches the site of Salt Lake City The first Latter-day Saint pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, with Brigham Young arriving on 24 July. They began planting crops and laying out a city. The settlement became the centre of the Mormon colonisation of the American West.
• 1847 Liberia declares independence The American Colonization Society's colony becomes a sovereign republic Liberia's Declaration of Independence was adopted on 26 July, establishing Africa's first modern republic. Joseph Jenkins Roberts became its first president. The state had been founded by freed African Americans settled by the American Colonization Society.
• 1847 Battle of Chapultepec US forces storm the castle guarding Mexico City American troops stormed Chapultepec Castle, a military academy defended in part by cadets. The fall of the fortress opened the way into Mexico City, which US forces occupied on 14 September. The battle is commemorated in Mexico through the Niños Héroes.
• 1847 Capture of Mexico City US Army occupies the Mexican capital Following the fall of Chapultepec, Winfield Scott entered Mexico City on 14 September and raised the American flag over the National Palace. Fighting continued in the streets for several days. The occupation led to peace negotiations.
• 1847 Siemens & Halske founded Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske start a telegraph company in Berlin Werner von Siemens and the mechanic Johann Georg Halske founded the Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske in Berlin. It built pointer telegraphs and grew into one of the world's largest electrical engineering firms.
• 1847 Jane Eyre published Charlotte Brontë's novel appears under the name Currer Bell Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was published in London by Smith, Elder & Co. under the pseudonym Currer Bell. It was an immediate success. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey appeared later the same year.
• 1847 Sonderbund War Last Swiss Civil War A brief conflict between Catholic and Protestant cantons that led to the creation of the modern federal state.
• 1847 Chloroform anaesthesia demonstrated by James Young Simpson Edinburgh obstetrician tests chloroform on himself and colleagues On 4 November James Young Simpson and his assistants inhaled chloroform at his Edinburgh home and found its anaesthetic effect. He soon introduced it in childbirth. Its use spread rapidly, aided later by Queen Victoria's acceptance of it.
• 1847 First use of ether anaesthesia in Britain Robert Liston operates under ether in London Following the first public demonstration in Boston in 1846, surgeons in Britain adopted ether anaesthesia in December 1846 and early 1847. In January 1847 James Young Simpson in Edinburgh used ether in obstetrics. In November he demonstrated chloroform as a more convenient anaesthetic.
• 1847 Sonderbund dissolved and Swiss federal state prepared Federal victory leads to the 1848 constitution After the Federal Diet's victory in the Sonderbund war, Switzerland moved toward a new federal constitution. The conflict ended with the surrender of Lucerne in late November.
• 1847 – 1912 Bram Stoker Irish novelist Stoker wrote Dracula, defining modern vampire fiction and Gothic horror literature.
• 1847 Wuthering Heights published Emily Brontë's only novel appears under the name Ellis Bell Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was published in London by Thomas Cautley Newby under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Initial reviews were mixed and often hostile. It later came to be regarded as a classic of English literature.