1824 CE

The British government buys John Julius Angerstein's art collection for £60,000 for the purpose of establishing a National Gallery in London which opens to the public in his former townhouse on 10 May. With his crew and 29 convicts aboard the Amity, John Oxley arrives at and founds the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement at what becomes Brisbane, Queensland, in Australia, after leaving Sydney. U.S. presidential election: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task to decide the winner (as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution).

In the 1820s, the 19th century.

1824 at a glance

World population
about 1.12 billion Our World in Data
United States
James Monroe (President) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
United Kingdom
George IV (King); Robert Jenkinson (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Russian Empire
Alexander I (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Qing dynasty
Daoguang (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Bourbon Restoration of France
Louis XVIII, then Charles X (King); Jean-Baptiste de Villèle (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Tokugawa shogunate of Japan
Ninkō (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931

Who led every country in 1824 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 7 – In the Florida Territory, the announcement is made from St. Augustine that the capital will be moved to Tallahassee.source
  • March 17 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 is signed to resolve territorial disputes between the British Empire and the Netherlands over control of the Malay Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies (now Malaysia and Indonesia)source
  • 17 March – Anglo-Dutch Treaty signed in London.United Kingdomsource
  • March 25: The Brazilian Constitution of 1824 was adopted, establishing a hereditary Catholic monarchy headed by the emperor Dom Pedro I.Brazilsource
  • July 2 – The Confederation of the Equator begins in Pernambuco, Brazil: Wealthy landowners against the government of Emperor Pedro I initiate a secessionist movement for the independence of Pernambuco.source
  • 2 August - The Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in Singapore was signed. The sultans of Johor cedes Singapore and its islands 10 geographical miles away from it to the British East India CompanySingaporesource
  • 12 September – Lieutenant Henry Miller is formally appointed to establish a penal colony at Moreton Bay resulting in the founding of Brisbane on the Brisbane River (Miller had arrived in Moreton Bay a couple of months prior to the formal appointment)Australiasource
  • September 16 – Charles X succeeds his brother Louis XVIII as King of France.source
  • 16 September - Charles X succeeds Louis XVIII as King of France.Francesource
  • October 4 – The First Constitution of Mexico is ratified, declaring the country to be a federal republic called the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos).source
  • December 1 – U.S. presidential election: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task to decide the winner (as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution).United Statessource
  • December 3 – 1824 United States presidential election: None of the four candidates for U.S. president— Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay or William H. Crawford— gain a majority of the electoral votes, although Jackson has a plurality of 40.5% of the popular vote. John C. Calhoun wins a majority of the electoral votes for Vice President. The election for President is carried out by the U.S. House of Representatives on February 9, 1825, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with each of the 24 states having a vote, of which Adams receives 13 votes for the minimum majority necessary .source
  • The name Australia, recommended by Matthew Flinders in 1804, is adopted by the British Admiralty as the official name of the country once known as New Holland.source
  • The Dutch sign the Masang Agreement, temporarily ending hostilities in the Padri War.source
  • William Lyon Mackenzie establishes the Colonial Advocate.Canadasource
  • Russia and the United States signed a treaty defining their spheres of influence in the Pacific Northwest of North America.Russiasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 21 – First Anglo-Ashanti War: Battle of Nsamankow – forces of the Ashanti Empire crush British forces in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), killing the British governor Sir Charles MacCarthy.source
  • 22 January – First Anglo-Ashanti War: Battle of Nsamankow – forces of the Ashanti Empire crush British forces in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), killing the British governor Sir Charles MacCarthy.United Kingdomsource
  • March 5 – The First Anglo-Burmese War begins in much of what is now Bangladesh, and lasts for almost two years until the surrender of territories by the Kingdom of Burma on February 24, 1826.source
  • 5 March – First Anglo-Burmese War begins.United Kingdomsource
  • March 11 – The United States War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.source
  • April 30 – The April Revolt (La Abrilada) in Portugal begins when Prince Miguel acts against his Liberal opponents in defiance of his father John VI.source
  • 10 May – First Burmese War: the British take Rangoon.United Kingdomsource
  • May 24 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British take Rangoon, capital of the Kingdom of Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar), in a surprise attack.source
  • July 10 – Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette and a beloved hero of the American Revolution, departs from the port of Le Havre in France on the ship Cadmus for a triumphant return to the United States; he arrives in New York on August 15.source
  • August 6 – Peruvian War of Independence: Battle of Junín – Pro-independence forces defeat the Spanish in the highlands of the Junín region.source
  • August 7 – The First Anglo-Ashanti War ends when forces of the Ashanti Empire flee the field.source
  • 7 August – First Anglo-Ashanti War ends when forces of the Ashanti Empire flee the field.United Kingdomsource
  • August 15 – The visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States begins at Staten Island. He will remain for more than a year before departing on September 7, 1825.source
  • 23 November – Great storm in the English Channel; The Cobb (Lyme Regis) and Chesil Beach are breached.United Kingdomsource
  • December 9 – Peruvian War of Independence: Battle of Ayacucho – Colombian and Peruvian forces led by Antonio José de Sucre defeat the Spanish. The commander, Viceroy de la Serna, surrenders, ending Spain's domination of South America.source
  • December 28 – In Australia, in what is now New South Wales, the Bathurst War comes to an end, with the defeat of the Wiradjuri indigenous nation and the peaceful surrender of their leader, Chief Windradyne, at a feast at Parramatta.source
  • Egyptian and Albanian troops of the Ottoman Empire overturn the Greek revolt on Crete.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 19 – American explorer Benjamin Morrell departs Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.source
  • 3 April – George Clarke arrives in the Bay of Islands having taken passage from Sydney on board the French corvette La Coquille. La Coquille is commanded by Louis Isidore Duperrey, with Jules Dumont d'Urville as second-in-command, and will go on to complete a global circumnavigation.New Zealandsource
  • April 9 – The first permanent settlers arrive to construct the new city of Tallahassee, Florida, selected to be the capital of the Florida Territory newly acquired from the Kingdom of Spain; the area has been selected because it is roughly equidistant from the territory's main cities, Pensacola and St. Augustine.source
  • 19 April – brigantine Helen of Dundee, bound for Quebec, founders on what becomes known as Helen's Reef off Rockall with fatalities.Scotlandsource
  • July 18: The first 39 German settlers from Rio Grande do Sul disembark in Porto Alegre.Brazilsource
  • August 16 – Lafayette begins his tour of the United States, departing on September 7, 1825.United Statessource
  • September 13 – With his crew and 29 convicts aboard the Amity, John Oxley arrives at and founds the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement at what becomes Brisbane, Queensland, in Australia, after leaving Sydney.source
  • September 26 – The earliest reference by the British government to an official renaming of its South Pacific Ocean territory as "Australia" comes in a dispatch titled "Taking Possession of Melville and Bathurst Islands", as the Admiral Sir Gordon Bremer refers to "the North Coast of New Holland or Australia".source
  • 28 September – John Oxley recommends a new settlement be founded at Brisbane after finding Moreton Bay unsuitable.Australiasource
  • Russians begin exploration of mainland that leads to discovery of Nushagak, Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyukuk Rivers.Canadasource
  • Shaka grants land to British traders Farewell & Fynn, who exploit it for illicit trade.South Africasource
  • Thomas Prichard – Welsh Minstrelsy: Containing the Land beneath the SeaWalessource

Religion & Belief

  • February 10 – Simón Bolívar is proclaimed dictator of Peru.source
  • 25 August – The Legislative Council of New South Wales sits for the first time.Australiasource
  • 19 November – Edward Kernan appointed Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, in succession to James Murphy, an office he will hold until 1844.Irelandsource
  • Steingrímur Jónsson becomes the second Bishop of Iceland, following the death of Geir Vídalín the previous year.Icelandsource
  • The Northern Yacht Club, a predecessor of the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club, is established in Rothesay.Scotlandsource
  • The Dutch Reformed Church holds its first synod.South Africasource
  • Benjamin Jones (P A Môn) – An Elegy on the death of Benjamin B. Jones, the eldest surviving child of B. Jones of HolyheadWalessource
  • Major repairs to Bangor Cathedral are begun.Walessource
  • William Owen – Drych Crefyddol yn dangos Dechreuad y Grefydd BrotestanaiddWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • March 9 – The Netherlands Trading Society (Netherlandsche Handel-Maatschappij), predecessor of the Dutch bank ABN AMRO, is founded.source
  • German shipping company F. Laeisz of Hamburg, producer of the Flying P-Liner sailing ships, is established.Germanysource
  • Slave Trade Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • Foundation of the Northern Banking Company.Irelandsource
  • Harmony Society establishes the settlement of Economy, Pennsylvania.United Statessource
  • Speyside Scotch whisky distilleries established in Scotland: Balmenach, Glenlivet and Macallan.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January – The construction of the "leat" or "leete" at Loggerheads, Denbighshire, used in the local lead mining industry, is first recorded.Walessource
  • 24 May – the foundation stone for an oil-gas works at Tanfield in Edinburgh is laid by Sir Walter Scott as company chairman.Scotlandsource
  • July 25 – The Montparnasse Cemetery opens in Paris, France.source
  • 31 August - The Revd. Henry Williams lays the keel for the 55-ton schooner Herald 1826 ship, the first sailing ship (schooner) built in New Zealand.New Zealandsource
  • October 10 – The Edinburgh Town Council founds the Edinburgh Municipal Fire Brigade, the first fire brigade in Britain, under the leadership of James Braidwood.source
  • October 21 – Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement, receiving BP 5,022 for An Improvement in the Mode of Producing an Artificial Stone.source
  • 21 October – Joshua John Moore is the first person to take out a ticket-of-occupation for the land which later became the site of CanberraAustraliasource
  • November 30 – The first sod is turned in Ontario for the first of four Welland Canals. The canal opens for a trial run five years later to the day, on November 30, 1829.source
  • The first Welland Canal is begun, partly in response to American initiatives in the Erie Canal.Canadasource
  • The Kurhaus of Baden-Baden in Germany is designed by Friedrich Weinbrenner.Germanysource
  • South Africa's first lighthouse is built at Green Point, Cape Town.South Africasource
  • Work commences on the reconstruction of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, to the design of Jeffry Wyattville.United Kingdomsource

Science & Discovery

  • February 20 — William Buckland formally announces the name Megalosaurus, the first scientifically validly named non-avian dinosaur species.source
  • 20 February – Rev. Professor William Buckland becomes the first person to describe a terrestrial dinosaur in a scientific journal.United Kingdomsource
  • The Colorado potato beetle is first described, by Thomas Say.source
  • The Panoramagram is invented as the first stereoscopic viewer.source
  • Name change from ' New Holland ' to ' Australia ', recommended by Matthew Flinders in 1804, receives official sanction by the United Kingdom.Australiasource
  • The Ordnance Survey of Ireland is established.Irelandsource
  • Thomas Say begins publication of American Entomology, or Descriptions of the Insects of North America in Philadelphia, including the first description of the Colorado potato beetle.United Statessource
  • John Neal publishing serially the first written history of American literature, American Writers (1824–1825)United Statessource
  • John Howell (editor) – Blodau DyfedWalessource
  • Chess William Davies Evans develops the Evans Gambit.Walessource

Health & Medicine

  • May–July – King Kamehameha II of Hawaii and his Queen Consort Kamāmalu make a state visit to London, where they both die of measles before they can meet George IV.United Kingdomsource
  • The UK Weights and Measures Act legally abolishes use of the Irish mile for most official purposes.Irelandsource
  • George Clarke starts one of the first schools for Māori children, at Kerikeri.New Zealandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 21 June – The Vagrancy Act for the first time makes begging or sleeping in the street criminal offences in England.United Kingdomsource
  • David Davis (Castellhywel) – Telyn DewiWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • May 15 – A boiler explosion occurs on the steamship Aetna, under way in Upper New York Bay, killing more than ten passengers and injuring many more.United Statessource
  • 10 October – Edinburgh Town Council makes a decision to found a municipal fire brigade under James Braidwood, the first in Britain.Scotlandsource
  • 15–21 November – Great Fire of Edinburgh, starting in Old Assembly Close, kills 11 residents and 2 firemen, and destroys 24 tenements – leaving 400 families homeless – and other properties, including the spire of Tron Kirk.Scotlandsource

Climate & Environment

  • Floods in Saint Petersburg which caused 300 casualties.Russiasource
  • Iowa tribe removed to a reservation in Kansas.United Statessource
  • The Cumberland hunting song "D'ye ken John Peel", written by John Woodcock Graves, is probably first heard.United Kingdomsource

Culture & Society

  • 2 January - First issue of the conservative Stockholms Dagblad.Swedensource
  • January 8 – After much controversy, Michael Faraday is finally elected as a member of the Royal Society in London, with only one vote against him.source
  • March 4 – The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is founded in the British Isles.source
  • 2 April – The British government buys John Julius Angerstein's art collection for £60,000 for the purpose of establishing a National Gallery in London which opens to the public in his former townhouse on 10 May.United Kingdomsource
  • April 7 – The Mechanics' Institution is established in Manchester, England at the Bridgewater Arms hotel, as part of a national movement for the education of working men. The institute is the precursor to two Universities in the city: the University of Manchester and the Metropolitan University of Manchester (MMU).source
  • May 7 – Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (the "Choral") premieres at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. The deaf composer has to be turned around on the stage to witness the enthusiastic audience reaction.source
  • May 7 – Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (the "Choral") premieres at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. The deaf composer has to be turned around on the stage, to witness the enthusiastic audience reaction.Germanysource
  • June 16 – The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is established in Great Britain.source
  • 8 September – The Society of Cymmrodorion sponsors a major eisteddfod at Welshpool.Walessource
  • 14 October – W. C. Wentworth and Robert Wardell begin publication of The Australian, the first independent newspaper in Australia.Australiasource
  • October – Edinburgh Academy, built to the design of William Burn, opens.Scotlandsource
  • November 1 – Miami University (chartered 1809) delivers its first classes in Oxford, Ohio.United Statessource
  • November 5 – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the first technological university in the English-speaking world, is founded in Troy, New York.source
  • December 24 – The first American social fraternity, Chi Phi (ΧΦ), is founded at Princeton University.source
  • John Kelly marries (Mary) Hine-tuhawaiki and settles at Ruapuke Island. Hine may have been a relative of Tūhawaiki 'Bloody Jack', later paramount chief of Ngāi Tahu, whose stronghold was on Ruapuke.New Zealandsource

Births

  • January 8 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist (died 1889)source
  • January 21 – Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, American Confederate general (died 1863)source
  • January 24: João Manuel Mena Barreto, brigadierBrazilsource
  • February 12 – Dayananda Saraswati, Hindu religious leader, Vedic scholar who founded the reform movement Arya Samaj (died 1883)source
  • February 14 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American Civil War Union general, Democratic presidential candidate (died 1886)source
  • March 2 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (died 1884)source
  • March 9 – Amasa Leland Stanford, American tycoon, industrialist and politician, 8th Governor of California (died 1893)source
  • April 7 – Edward Jones, trespasser who continually broke into Buckingham Palace (died 1895)source
  • May 23 – Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general, inventor, politician from Rhode Island (died 1881)source
  • June 26 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist, engineer (died 1907)source
  • June 28 – Paul Broca, French physician, anthropologist (died 1880)source
  • July 1 – Casto Méndez Núñez, Spanish admiral (died 1869)source
  • 18 July – António Maria Barreiros Arrobas, colonial administrator (died 1888).Portugalsource
  • July 21 – Stanley Matthews, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1889)source
  • September 4 – Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (died 1896)source
  • December 10 – George MacDonald, Scottish writer (died 1905)source
  • date unknown - Francisco Bascuñán Guerrero (died 1873)Chilesource
  • ? – Emam Gholi Khan Haji Ilkhani, great ilkhan.Iransource

Deaths

  • January 26 – Théodore Géricault, French painter (born 1791)source
  • January – Catarina de Lencastre, Viscountess of Balsemão, noblewoman, poet and playwright (born 1749).Portugalsource
  • February 9 – Anne Catherine Emmerich, German Augustinian Canoness, mystic, Marian visionary, ecstatic and stigmatist (born 1774)source
  • February 21 – Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Joséphine de Beauharnais (born 1781)source
  • April 19 – George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, English poet (born 1788)source
  • April 19 – Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron), the British poet, dies at the age of 36 in the Greek city of Missolonghi, where he had taken ill while making plans to liberate the Greeks from Ottoman rule, "not in combat, but of a fever caught in the unhealthy conditions at Missolonghi... exacerbated, it is generally agreed, by the over-zealous actions of his doctors, who bled him excessively."source
  • July 8 – Queen Kamāmalu of Hawaii dies of measles, while accompanying her husband during a visit to the United Kingdom.source
  • July 13 – King Kamehameha II of Hawaii dies of measles, during a visit to the United Kingdom, before he can meet with King George IV. Because of the slow communications of the era, news of the King's death does not reach Hawaii until the following March; his funeral would then take place on May 11, 1825, and subsequently he is succeeded by his brother Kamehameha III.source
  • July 14 – Kamehameha II, King of Hawaii (born 1797)source
  • July 19 – Don Agustín de Iturbide, who had formerly been President of Mexico and then proclaimed himself Emperor Agustin the First, until being overthrown on March 19, 1823, is executed by a firing squad in the city of Padilla, five days after returning from exile in England.source
  • July 19 – Agustín de Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico (born 1783)source
  • 19 July – Alexander Pearce, convict and criminal (born in Ireland) (born 1790)Australiasource
  • August 20 – João José da Cunha Fidié, a Portuguese general who led the Portuguese forces in the province of Piauí and was killed in the Battle of JenipapoBrazilsource
  • September 16 – King Louis XVIII of France (born 1755)source
  • October 30 – Charles Maturin, Irish writer (born 1773)source
  • December 21 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist and political activist (born 1755)source
  • December 23 – Pushmataha, chief of the Choctaw Nation (born c. 1764)source
  • date unknown - Juan Crisóstomo LafinurChilesource