1849 CE

Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Romanian armed groups massacre 600 unarmed Hungarian civilians, at Nagyenyed. Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Komárom: Hungarian forces relieve the city and castle with the same name from a long Austrian siege. The Austrian imperial forces and their Croatian, Romanian and Serbian allies are chased out from Hungary, or near the borders of the country. The Mississippi River levee at Sauvé's Crevasse breaks, flooding much of New Orleans, Louisiana.

In the 1840s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 13 – The Colony of Vancouver Island is established.source
  • February 8 – The short-lived Roman Republic is proclaimed.source
  • February 14 – In New York City, James K. Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.source
  • February 14 – James Knox Polk becomes the first sitting president of the United States to have his photograph taken, in New York City.United Statessource
  • March 3 – Minnesota becomes a United States territory.source
  • March 4 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria promulgates at Olomouc the March Constitution of Austria, which abolishes the April Laws promulgated by the Hungarian Batthyány-govern, and degrades Hungary to a simple Austrian province.source
  • March 28 – The Frankfurt National Assembly adopts the Frankfurt Constitution, providing for a constitutional monarchy for Germany under a hereditary emperor and with a two-chamber parliament.source
  • March – The Frankfurt Parliament completes its drafting of a liberal constitution, and elects Frederick William IV emperor of the new German national state.source
  • 1 April - José Hilario López is elected President of the Republic of New Granada.Colombiasource
  • April 2 – The German revolutions of 1848–49 end in failure, as King Frederick William IV of Prussia refuses to accept the offer of the Frankfurt National Assembly, to be crowned as German emperor.source
  • 6 April — Shanghai French Concession createdChinasource
  • April 14 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian revolutionary parliament in Debrecen declares independence from the Habsburg Empire.source
  • May 1 - General elections and a constitutional referendum were held.Liberiasource
  • May 1 - Convention of Balta Liman agreement between Russia and the Ottoman Empire decides the political situation of the Danubian PrincipalitiesRussiasource
  • May 2 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: A new independent Hungarian government, led by Bertalan Szemere, is formed. The head of state of Hungary becomes Lajos Kossuth, as governor president.source
  • June 1 8-German revolutions of 1848–49: The chamber of the Frankfurt Parliament, since reduced to a rump parliament and moved to Stuttgart, was occupied by the Württemberg army. Repression began, which would force the liberal Forty-Eighters into exile.Germanysource
  • June 5 – Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy.source
  • June 18 – The Stuttgart Rump Parliament, made up of the remaining 154 mostly democratic and republican deputies of the Frankfurt National Assembly who moved there in early June, is dissolved by Württemberg military. Most of the liberal and conservative deputies of the National Assembly had already laid down their mandates in May under pressure of the Austrian and Prussian governments.source
  • 18 June – António Bernardo da Costa Cabral, 1st Marquis of Tomar took over as prime minister after João Carlos Saldanha de Oliveira Daun, 1st Duke of SaldanhaPortugalsource
  • July 28 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian government, led by Bertalan Szemere promulgates the Nationality Law, which gives important rights to the nationalities of Hungary, like the right to use their mother tongue in school, church, army, court and administration. The Romanians are declared a nation, and not a minority, in Transylvania. The Jews receive equality thanks to the Emancipation Decree.source
  • November 13 – The Constitution of California is ratified in a general election.source
  • December 3 – The Abgeordnetenhaus, lower house of the parliament of the Kingdom of Bavaria, passes a bill granting German Jews the same legal rights as German Christians. The measure draws a strong reaction from Christians across Bavaria, who sign petitions urging the upper house to prevent the equal rights measure from becoming law.source
  • December 22 – After 17 days of deadlock and 63 votes, Democrat Howell Cobb of Georgia is elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, by a plurality of 102 votes to 99 for the former Speaker, the Whig Party's Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts. Neither the Democrats nor the Whigs have a majority of the 230 seats in the House, and after neither candidate can obtain the required 116 votes, the Representatives agree that the plurality will decide the leadership.source
  • Cape colonial governor Sir Harry Smith imposes authoritarian rule over the western AmaXhosa after the War of the Axe.South Africasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, enters in the Hungarian capitals, Buda and Pest. The Hungarian government and parliament flee to Debrecen.source
  • January 8 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Romanian armed groups massacre 600 unarmed Hungarian civilians, at Nagyenyed.source
  • January 21 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: At Nagyszeben (now Sibiu in Romania)– The Hungarian army in Transylvania, led by Josef Bem, is defeated by the Austrians, led by Anton Puchner.source
  • March 11 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian army of Transylvania, under general Josef Bem, defeats the Russian-Austrian army at Second Battle of Nagyszeben, capturing the city which is the headquarters of Austrian general Anton Puchner. Most of Transylvania is liberated from the Austrian rule. The Austrian and the Russian troops flee to Wallachia.source
  • March 23 – First Italian War of Independence: Battle of Novara – The Kingdom of Sardinia suffers a huge defeat after a two day battle, and King Charles Albert of Sardinia abdicates.source
  • April 1 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian Revolutionary Army, under the leadership of Arthur Görgey, starts the victorious Spring Campaign, which leads to the liberation of much of Hungary from the Austrian forces.source
  • April 6 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Isaszeg: The main Hungarian forces, led by Arthur Görgey, defeat the main imperial forces, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, forcing them to retreat westward.source
  • April 21 – The Austrian government asks Russian help against the Hungarian Revolution. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia agrees to send troops against Hungary.source
  • April 25 – James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, the Governor General of Canada, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.source
  • April 25 – For sanctioning the Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin is mobbed by Tories and the Parliament House in Montreal is burned.Canadasource
  • April 26 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Komárom: Hungarian forces relieve the city and castle with the same name from a long Austrian siege. The Austrian imperial forces and their Croatian, Romanian and Serbian allies are chased out from Hungary, or near the borders of the country.source
  • May 3 -The May Uprising in Dresden, last of the German revolutions of 1848–49, begins. Richard Wagner is among the participants.Germanysource
  • May 21 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian army, led by Arthur Görgey, captures the Castle of Buda, liberating the Hungarian capital city completely. The leader of the defending Austrian forces, General Heinrich Hentzi, dies because of his injuries. The Hungarian government moves back from Debrecen to Budapest.source
  • May 21 - Warsaw Agreement leads to Russian intervention in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848Russiasource
  • May – A clash between European settlers and Aboriginal Australians resulted in the Waterloo Bay massacre.Australiasource
  • June 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The first Russian troops, led by Lieutenant General Fyodor Sergeyevich Panyutin, who come in the aid of the Habsburgs, cross the Hungarian border at Pozsony, in order to crush the Hungarian revolution.source
  • June 17 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The main Russian forces, led by Ivan Paskevich, cross the Hungarian border, and together with the Austrian troops, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, start the final attack against the Hungarian Revolution. Now the Hungarian revolutionary troops, numbering 173,000 soldiers, which even before the Russian attack were in inferiority regarding their numbers, and the quality of their weapons and war industry, face a force of 370,000 Austro-Russian forces, and other tens of thousands of Croatian, Serbian and Romanian insurgents, who serve the Habsburg imperial interests.source
  • June 20 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Russian troops, under the command of Alexander von Lüders, break in Transylvania, and, together with the Austrian forces, start to operate against the Hungarian troops, led by Józef Bem.source
  • June 21 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Russo-Austrian army, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, defeats the Hungarians under the command of Arthur Görgey in the Battle of Pered.source
  • June 28 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, defeats the Hungarians, led by Ernő Poeltenberg, in the Battle of Győr. The Hungarian army is forced to retreat towards Budapest.source
  • July 2 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Second Battle of Komárom: The Hungarian army, led by Arthur Görgey, repulses the combined attack of the Austrian and Russian troops led by Julius Jacob von Haynau. During the battle Görgey suffers a heavy head injury, which prevents him from taking advantage of this success.source
  • July 11 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Third Battle of Komárom: The Hungarian army, led by Arthur Görgey, is defeated by the Austrians, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau.source
  • July 13 – Nicholas Kelly instigates the Charleston Workhouse slave rebellion in South Carolina.United Statessource
  • July 17 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Hungarians, led by Arthur Görgey, and the Russians, led by Ivan Paskevich, battle indecisively in the Second Battle of Vác. The Russians are unsuccessful in destroying the Hungarian army, which retreats towards the east.source
  • July 31 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Segesvár: The Russian troops in Transylvania, led by Alexander von Lüders, crush the Hungarian forces, under the lead of Józef Bem. Hungarian poet and revolutionary Sándor Petőfi is killed in the battle by the Russians.source
  • August 3 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian defenders of Komárom, led by György Klapka, destroy the besieging Austrian forces in the Fourth Battle of Komárom, liberating Győr and Székesfehérvár. But this victory comes too late to change the course of military events in the eastern part of the country, where the Hungarian forces are about to crumble under the heavy Austro-Russian pressure.source
  • August 9 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Temesvár: The main Russo-Austrian forces, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, win a decisive victory against the Hungarians, led by Józef Bem.source
  • August 11 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Lajos Kossuth and the Hungarian Government of Bertalan Szemere resign, and give all powers to the hands of Arthur Görgey. After this Kossuth, the ministries and many military officers leave Hungary and seek asylum in Turkey.source
  • August 13 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The main Hungarian army, under the lead of Arthur Görgey, capitulates to the Russian troops, led by Theodor von Rüdiger, at Világos. The official end of the Hungarian Revolution, although the fortress of Komárom continue to resist.source
  • 24-26 March – Rio Nuñez incident off the West African coastBelgiumsource
  • 28–29 September — Battle of Tysami, a military engagement involving a warship from the British China Squadron and the Chinese pirates of Chui A-pooChinasource
  • Annexation of Jaitpur and Sambalpur.Indiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 26 January – The Australasian Anti-Transportation League is formed during a public meeting at Launceston, Tasmania; later branches were formed in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Canterbury (New Zealand).Australiasource
  • February 28 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins, with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay. The California leaves New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounds Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrives at San Francisco after the 4-month, 21-day journey.source
  • February 28 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay. The California leaves New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounds Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrives at San Francisco, California after a 4-month-21-day journey.United Statessource
  • July – A delegation of Anishinaabe chiefs petition Lord Elgin to address the encroachment of mining interests on the shore of Lake Superior and north shore of Lake Huron in the absence of a formal treaty.Canadasource
  • October – Swedish writer and reformist Fredrika Bremer travels to the United States and lands in New York City, beginning her two year long journey across the US and Britain.Swedensource
  • November – English-born merchant Joshua Norton, the future "Emperor Norton", arrives in San Francisco.source
  • December 3 – German missionaries Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann become the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya.source
  • Jacob Jacobs, Merchant Vessels off the Turkish CoastBelgiumsource
  • The requirement for passports for journeys inside Denmark is abolished.Denmarksource
  • Gennady Nevelskoy embarks on the Amur ExpeditionRussiasource
  • The Byrne Settlers start arriving in Natal.South Africasource

Religion & Belief

  • January 21 – General elections are held in the Papal States.source
  • 26 February – Halkyn-born Mormon missionary Dan Jones embarks with 249 Welsh converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bound for Salt Lake City from Liverpool.Walessource
  • April 7 – A large fire engulfs Toronto's downtown section. Started at 1 a.m. of an unknown cause, it started behind a tavern in the market section catching some hay then spread rapidly before destroying numerous buildings, including St. James cathedral. Flames could be seen from across Lake Ontario at St. Catharines, 40 km distant.Canadasource
  • 1 May – Jean-Baptiste Malou consecrated as bishop of BrugesBelgiumsource
  • June 6 – The settlement of Fort Worth, Texas, is founded.source
  • 1 November – Alfred Ollivant becomes Bishop of Llandaff.Walessource
  • Jianmoda Monastery built in modern QinghaiChinasource
  • Ryvarden Lighthouse was established.Norwaysource
  • Diocesan College (Bishops) is founded in Rondebosch, Cape Town by Robert Gray (bishop of Cape Town).South Africasource
  • The first Jewish Congregation is founded in Cape Town.South Africasource

Economy & Finance

  • January 27 – The Fayetteville and Western Plank Road Company is incorporated, to build a plank road from Fayetteville to Bethania, North Carolina.source
  • February 1 – The abolition of the Corn Laws by the United Kingdom's Importation Act 1846 comes fully into effect.source
  • February–May – Shareholder enquiries into the conduct of railway financier George Hudson begins his downfall.United Kingdomsource
  • March 3 – The United States Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of two additional denominations of gold coins, the gold dollar and the double eagle.source
  • March 3 – The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of gold coins.United Statessource
  • 21 April – Belgian domestic law updated in line with becoming a signatory to the Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave TradeBelgiumsource
  • December 26 – Electors ask J. McConnell, M.P.P. for Stanstead, if he favours annexation, which they believe will, alone, relieve depression.Canadasource
  • The Danish West Indian daler replaces the rigsdaler as the currency of the Danish West Indies.Denmarksource
  • Undated – Pfizer is founded by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles F. Erhart in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as a manufacturer of fine chemicals.United Statessource
  • Two shilling coin (florin), depicting the Queen crowned, introduced, partly to test public opinion on possible decimalization of the currency.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps.source
  • 4 January: The Māori language magazine, The Maori Messenger or Ko te Karere Maori publishes its first issue, replacing Te Karere o Nui Tireni which stopped publishing in 1846. The magazine continues under several titles until 1863.New Zealandsource
  • January 27 – The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the North Carolina Railroad, to complete a rail line from Goldsboro through Raleigh, and Salisbury to Charlotte.source
  • February 10 – The Governor, Ministers, MPs and Montreal's council visit St. Hyacinthe, on the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad.Canadasource
  • March 3 – The United States Department of the Interior is established, incorporating the Census Office, United States General Land Office, Office of Indian Affairs and Patent and Trademark Office.source
  • May 22 – Future President Abraham Lincoln receives a patent, for a device designed to lift boats over river obstructions.United Statessource
  • 1 July – First Belgian postage stamp issued.Belgiumsource
  • July 15 – The first airstrike in history: Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice.source
  • 1 August – Great Indian Peninsula Railway was incorporated by an act of the British ParliamentIndiasource
  • September 1 – The first segment of the Pennsylvania Railroad, from Lewistown to Harrisburg, opens for service.source
  • Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112 foundedRussiasource
  • The Bourse (Gothenburg) is opened.Swedensource
  • A uniform postal service, the Swiss Post, is introduced.Switzerlandsource

Science & Discovery

  • March 29 – Shipment containing Henry Box Brown departs Richmond for Philadelphia.United Statessource
  • April 12 – Astronomer Annibale de Gasparis discovers the asteroid 10 Hygiea.source
  • April 22 – The first Kennedy arrives in America.source
  • July 23 – French scientist Hippolyte Fizeau makes a measurement of the speed of light in air using a specially devised apparatus.source
  • William Thompson began publication (in London) of The Natural History of Ireland, with the first volume, on birds.Irelandsource
  • George Boole was appointed as first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork.Irelandsource

Health & Medicine

  • 12 January – General conscription is introduced in Denmark a few weeks after the First Schleswig War has been resumed after a winter break.Denmarksource
  • January 23 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor.source
  • 23 February – Public meeting in Perth calls for introduction of convicts to the help the colony's depressed economy, first consignment arrive in the following June.Australiasource
  • 13 May – A case of cholera is recorded in Cardiff, the beginning of an outbreak that spreads to Merthyr, Dowlais and Aberdare, and kills 800 people.Walessource
  • A cholera epidemic in New York kills 5,000.source
  • Global healthcare and pharmaceutical company Pfizer founded in New York, United States.source
  • Military rule introduced in British Kaffraria, with harsh punishments for minor crimes, cattle impounding, and indentured labour of black youths to white farmers.South Africasource
  • The 1846–1860 cholera pandemic claims 52,000 lives in England and Wales between 1848 and 1850.United Kingdomsource

Crime & Justice

  • July 31–August 1 – Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of Araucanía, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribes murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo.source
  • September 17 – The Stony Monday Riot takes place in BytownCanadasource
  • November 13 – Swiss-born Marie Manning and her husband Frederick are publicly hanged for the murder of her lover in London, before a crowd of 30,000-50,000.source
  • November 16 – A Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group, the Petrashevsky Circle. Facing a firing squad on December 23, the group members are reprieved at the last moment, and exiled to the katorga prison camps in Siberia.source
  • November 16 - Fyodor Dostoevsky (a member of the Petrashevsky Circle) was sentenced to death, a decision that was later reversedRussiasource
  • Seven of the "best known" opium clippers go missing: Sylph, Coquette, Kelpie, Greyhound, Don Juan, Mischief, and Anna Eliza.source
  • Louis Gallait, Art and LibertyBelgiumsource
  • Admiralty Offences (Colonial) Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • The drapers' store of Arthur & Fraser, predecessor of the House of Fraser, is established in Glasgow by Hugh Fraser and James Arthur.Scotlandsource
  • The second of the von Schwerin Estate's Scandals attracts attention.Swedensource
  • California Gold Rush (January 24, 1848–1855)United Statessource
  • Robert Elis (Cynddelw) – Yr AdgyfodiadWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 17 February – 65 people, almost all under the age of 20, are crushed to death in a panic caused by a small fire in the Theatre Royal, Glasgow.United Kingdomsource
  • 19 February – Theatre Royal disaster: 65 people, almost all under the age of 20, are crushed to death in a panic caused by a small fire in the Theatre Royal, Dunlop Street, Glasgow.Scotlandsource
  • April 29 – Brig Hannah carrying emigrants from Newry in Ireland fleeing the Great Famine to Canada hits ice and sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her senior officers abandon the passengers to their fate. Around one-third of those on board, 49, die.Canadasource
  • 29 April – Brig Hannah carrying emigrants from Newry fleeing the Great Famine to Canada hit ice and sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her senior officers abandoned the passengers to their fate. Around one-third of those on board, 49, died.Irelandsource
  • May 17 – The St. Louis Fire starts when a steamboat catches fire and nearly burns down the entire city.source
  • 10 August – Underground explosion at Lletty Shenkin colliery, Cwmbach, kills 52.Walessource
  • The British propose to ship convicts to the Cape Colony, but the Cape population strongly object during the Convict Crisis of 1849. The proposal is eventually squashed with the help of British MP Charles Bowyer Adderley and Heerengracht in Cape Town is changed to Adderley Street in honour.South Africasource

Climate & Environment

  • 21 April – Great Famine (Ireland): 96 inmates of the overcrowded Ballinrobe Union Workhouse die over the course of the preceding week from illness and other famine-related conditions, a record high. This year's potato crop again fails and there are renewed outbreaks of cholera.United Kingdomsource
  • May 3 – The Mississippi River levee at Sauvé's Crevasse breaks, flooding much of New Orleans.source
  • May 3 – The Mississippi River levee at Sauvé's Crevasse breaks, flooding much of New Orleans, Louisiana.United Statessource

Culture & Society

  • January 1 – King's College becomes the University of TorontoCanadasource
  • June 6 – Fort Worth, Texas is founded.United Statessource
  • 6 July - The University of Santiago, Chile is established.Chilesource
  • 26 July – The official inauguration of the Norwegian Royal Palace (Slottet or formally Det kongelige slott), which occurred during the reign of Oscar I.Norwaysource
  • 28 August – Grand Steeple-Chase des Flandres first heldBelgiumsource
  • November – Austin College receives a charter in Huntsville, Texas.source
  • Langabúð, one of Iceland's oldest buildings is completed in Djúpivogur.Icelandsource
  • Nakhichevansky Uyezd establishedRussiasource
  • The Museum of Cultures is establishedSwitzerlandsource

Births

  • January 6 – Nezam Al Olama Estahbanati, Islamic jurist and scholar.Iransource
  • January 18 – Sir Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (died 1920)source
  • January 22 – August Strindberg, Swedish author, playwright, and painter (died 1912)source
  • February 13 – Lord Randolph Churchill, British statesman (died 1895)source
  • March 7 – Luther Burbank, American biologist, botanist (died 1926)source
  • March 19 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral (died 1930)source
  • April 24 – Joseph Gallieni, French general (died 1916)source
  • April 24 – Alfred Kleiner, physicist (died 1916)Switzerlandsource
  • May 3 – Bernhard von Bülow, 8th Chancellor of Germany (died 1929)source
  • August 23 – William Ernest Henley, English poet, writer, critic (died 1903)source
  • September 14 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1936)source
  • October 7 – James Whitcomb Riley, American poet and author (died 1916)source
  • 7 November – Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro, politician (died 1907)Portugalsource
  • November 24 – Frances Hodgson Burnett, English-American playwright, author (died 1924)source
  • 5 December - Rafael Reyes, politician, (Died 1921)Colombiasource
  • December 6 – August von Mackensen, German field marshal (died 1945)source
  • December 7 – Saionji Kinmochi, Japanese prince and prime minister (died 1940)source
  • December 19 – Henry Clay Frick, American industrialist, art collector (died 1919)source

Deaths

  • 13 January - Francisco Ramón Vicuña (born 1775)Chilesource
  • March 28 – Four Christians are ordered to be burnt alive in Antananarivo, Madagascar, by Queen Ranavalona I; 14 others are executed.source
  • April 10 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Vác: The Hungarians, led by János Damjanich, defeat the Austrians, led by Christian Götz, who dies after the battle due to his injuries.source
  • April 21 – Great Famine (Ireland): 96 inmates of the overcrowded Ballinrobe Union Workhouse died over the course of the preceding week from illness and other famine-related conditions, a record high.source
  • May 10 – The Astor Place Riot takes place in Manhattan, over a dispute between two Shakespearean actors; over 20 people are killed when troops fire on the rioters.source
  • May 10 – Hokusai, Japanese Ukiyo-e Artist (born 1760)source
  • May 22 – Maria Edgeworth, Irish novelist (born 1767)source
  • May 28 – Anne Brontë, English author (born 1820)source
  • June 15 – James Knox Polk, 53, 11th president of the United States (born 1795)source
  • 3 July – José Homem Correia Teles, judge and politician (born 1780).Portugalsource
  • July 28 – King Charles Albert of Sardinia (born 1798)source
  • August 2 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt (born 1769)source
  • August 12 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American politician (born 1761)Switzerlandsource
  • October 6 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The 13 Martyrs of Arad are executed after the Hungarian War of Independence, in repression by the Austrian authorities led by Julius Jacob von Haynau (these martyrs being the generals of the Hungarian revolutionary army, who did not flee from Hungary after the suppression of the Hungarian revolution by the Russo-Austrian forces). Also today, Lajos Batthyány, the first Hungarian prime minister, is executed by Austrian authorities in Pest.source
  • October 7 – Edgar Allan Poe, American writer (born 1809)source
  • October 17 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French musician, composer (born 1810)source
  • December 2 – Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen of William IV of the United Kingdom (born 1792)source
  • ? – Báb, founder of Bábism and, according to the Baháʼís, predecessor of Baháʼu'lláh.Iransource