1868 CE

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: Three days after his action to dismiss United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the United States House of Representatives votes 126–47 in favor of a resolution to impeach Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, the first of three Presidents to be impeached by the full House. Johnson is later acquitted by the United States Senate. Henry James O'Farrell fires a revolver into the back of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (second son of Queen Victoria) while the latter is picnicking in the beachfront suburb of Clontarf. It was Australia's first attempted political assassination. O'Farrell first claimed that he was acting under instruction from Melbourne Fenians but later retracted the claims. He had problems with alcoholism and mental illness. The M6.3–6.7 Hayward earthquake affects the San Francisco Bay Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing damage from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz.

In the 1860s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 7 – The Arkansas constitutional convention meets in Little Rock.source
  • 23 January - the first Uruguayan Civil Code is passed, approved by Law No. 917 of 23 January 1868, and was scheduled to come into force in 19 April of the same year.Uruguaysource
  • February 13 – The British War Office sanctions the formation of what becomes the Army Post Office Corps.source
  • February 24 – Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: Three days after his action to dismiss United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the United States House of Representatives votes 126–47 in favor of a resolution to impeach Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, the first of three Presidents to be impeached by the full House. Johnson is later acquitted by the United States Senate.source
  • Foreign ministers meeting in Hyōgo are persuaded to recognise the restored Emperor Meiji of Japan, with promises that harbours will be open in accordance with international treaties.source
  • 8 March – 1868 Zollparlament electionGermanysource
  • March 12 – Basutoland is proclaimed a British Protectorate, becoming independent in 1966 as Lesotho.source
  • March 12 – Basutoland is proclaimed a British Protectorate.South Africasource
  • 22 March and 12 April - Legislative election.Portugalsource
  • April 7 – The Charter Oath, drawn up by his councilors, is promulgated at the enthronement of the Emperor Meiji of Japan, promising deliberative assemblies and an end to feudalism.source
  • April 29 – General William Tecumseh Sherman brokers the Treaty of Fort Laramie, between the federal government of the United States and the Plains Indians.source
  • May 29 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Capital Punishment Amendment Act, thus ending public hanging.source
  • May 31 – Thomas Spence declares himself president of the Republic of Manitobah in Canada; he soon alienates the locals.source
  • June 1 – The Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.source
  • June – Henry G. Worthington becomes United States Ambassador to Argentina.Argentinasource
  • July 9 – The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.source
  • July 18 – The Navajo people begin their long march home.source
  • July 25 – Wyoming becomes a United States territory.source
  • July 27 – The United States Expatriation Act ("An Act concerning the Rights of American Citizens in foreign States") is adopted.source
  • July 28 – The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is adopted, including the Citizenship Clause and the Equal Protection Clause, legally, if not actually, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and equal protection, and all persons in the United States due process of law.source
  • September 23 – Grito de Lares: Rebels (some 400–600 led by Ramón Emeterio Betances) in the town of Lares declare Puerto Rico independent; the local militia easily defeats them a week later.source
  • September 24 – Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (Hrvatsko-ugarska nagodba, Horvát–magyar kiegyezés, Kroatisch-Ungarischer Ausgleich) is concluded, governing Croatia's political status in the Hungarian-ruled part of Austria-Hungary until 1918.source
  • September – Glorious Revolution: Queen Isabella II of Spain is effectively deposed and sent into exile; she formally abdicates on June 25, 1870.source
  • October 1 – Chulalongkorn starts to rule in Siam.source
  • October 20 – Pedro Figueredo creates the Cuban national anthem, El Himno de Bayamo.source
  • October 23 – The Japanese era name (nengō) is formally changed from Keiō to Meiji; and a general amnesty is granted. The adoption of the Meiji nengō was done retroactively to January 25, 1868 (Keiō 4/Meiji 1, 1st day of the 1st month).Japansource
  • 2 November: New Zealand Mean Time adopted throughout the colony; New Zealand may be the first country to have adopted a standard time throughout the country.New Zealandsource
  • November 3 – 1868 United States presidential election: Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeats Democrat Horatio Seymour.source
  • Brisbane Grammar School is founded, providing the opportunity for secondary education for the first time in the colony of Brisbane in Australia.source
  • Burlingame Treaty, also known as the Burlingame-Seward Treaty of 1868, was a landmark treaty between the United States and Qing China, amending the Treaty of Tientsin, one of the unequal treaties, to establish formal friendly relations between the two nations, with the United States granting China the status of most favored nation in tradeChinasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, declares the Meiji Restoration, his own restoration to full power, under the influence of supporters from the Chōshū and Satsuma Domains, and against the supporters of the Tokugawa shogunate, triggering the Boshin War.source
  • January 5 – Paraguayan War: Brazilian Army commander Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, enters Asunción, Paraguay's capital. Some days later he declares the war is over. Nevertheless, Francisco Solano López, Paraguay's president, prepares guerrillas to fight in the countryside.source
  • January 10 – Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu declares the emperor's declaration "illegal", and prepares to attack Kyoto.source
  • January 27–31 – Battle of Toba–Fushimi: forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied pro-Imperial forces of the Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa Domains clash near Fushimi, Kyoto, ending in a decisive victory for the Imperial forces (although in the January 28 naval Battle of Awa, the Shogunate is victorious against Satsuma).source
  • February 19 – In the Passage of Humaitá, a Brazilian naval force succeeds in dashing past a Paraguayan fortress on the River Paraguay, considered by some the turning point in the Paraguayan War.source
  • The Flying Foam massacre, a massacre of Indigenous Australians around Flying Foam Passage in Western Australia by white colonial settlers begins and lasts until May.source
  • 12 March – Henry James O'Farrell fires a revolver into the back of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (second son of Queen Victoria) while the latter is picnicking in the beachfront suburb of Clontarf. It was Australia's first attempted political assassination. O'Farrell first claimed that he was acting under instruction from Melbourne Fenians but later retracted the claims. He had problems with alcoholism and mental illness.Australiasource
  • The Koranna War breaks out along the Orange River.South Africasource
  • April 9–13 – Battle of Magdala: A British-Indian task force under Robert Napier inflicts 700 deaths and a crushing defeat on the army of Emperor Tewodros II; the British and Indians suffer 30 wounded, two of whom subsequently die. Tewodros commits suicide and Magdala is captured, ending the British Expedition to Abyssinia.source
  • April 9 – Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia massacres at least 197 of his own people at Magdala. These are prisoners incarcerated, for the most part, for very trivial offenses, and are killed for requesting bread and water.source
  • April 11–July – Fall of Edo: The Japanese city surrenders to Emperor Meiji. Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu submits to the Emperor.source
  • May 10–14 – Boshin War – Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, Japan: Forces of the Emperor Meiji resist the retreating troops of the Tokugawa shogunate.source
  • May 30 – Memorial Day is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John A. Logan).source
  • June – Tītokowaru's War breaks out in the South Taranaki District of New Zealand's North Island between the Ngāti Ruanui Māori tribe and the New Zealand Government.source
  • July 4 – Battle of Ueno: Imperial Japanese troops defeat the Shōgitai (elite forces remaining loyal to the shōgun).source
  • 20 July - due to the death of Venancio Flores, the General Assembly declared a day of national mourning his day of death in 19 February 1869 and that day yearly. This would be held until 1914, when all the holidays of mournings were repealed.Uruguaysource
  • July 25 – Paraguayan War: The Allies, in an amphibious operation, capture the fortress of Humaitá.source
  • August 22 – The Yangzhou riot in China targets a station of the China Inland Mission, and nearly leads to war between Britain and China.source
  • September 3 – Emperor Meiji of Japan announces that the name of the city of Edo is to be changed to Tokyo.source
  • September 3 (Keiō 4, 17th day of the 7th month) – Emperor Meiji announces that the name of the city of Edo was being changed to Tokyo, or "eastern capital".Japansource
  • September 7 – Tītokowaru's War: Māori leader Tītokowaru defeats a New Zealand military force at Te Ngutu o Te Manu, North Island.source
  • September 19–27 - Glorious Revolution (Spain)Spainsource
  • September 28 – The Opelousas massacre, one of the bloodiest massacres of the Reconstruction era in the United States.source
  • October 10 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes declares a revolt against Spanish rule in Cuba, in an event known as El Grito de Yara or the Ten Years' War, initiating a war that lasts ten years (Cuba ultimately loses the war at a cost of 400,000 lives and widespread destruction).source
  • October 23 – The current Japanese era name is changed to the Meiji period. The Edo period ends.source
  • November 7 – The Battle of Moturoa, New Zealand, ends in a British defeat, due to an underestimate of Tītokowaru and his fortifications. There are heavy casualties for the colonial army and light casualties for the Māori defenders.source
  • November 27 – American Indian Wars – Battle of Washita River: In the early morning, United States Army Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack on a band of Cheyenne living on reservation land with Chief Black Kettle, killing 103 Cheyenne.source
  • November 27 – Indian Wars – Battle of Washita River: In the early morning, United States Army Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack on a band of Cheyenne living on reservation land with Chief Black Kettle, killing 103 Cheyenne.United Statessource
  • December 6 – Paraguayan War – Battle of Ytororó or Itororó: Field-Marshal Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, leads 13,000 Brazilian troops against a Paraguayan fortified position of 5,000 troops.source
  • December 25 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.source
  • Remnants of resistance crushed by the combined forces of the government's troops and the Ever Victorious Army.Chinasource
  • The siege of Samarkand takes place in modern day Uzbekistan (previously part of the Russian empire) between the fourteenth of June to the eighteenth of June.Russiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.source
  • 2 January – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.United Kingdomsource
  • January 6 – Asa Mercer and a number of new "Mercer Girls" sail from Massachusetts for the West Coast, arriving in Seattle on May 23.United Statessource
  • January 9 – Penal transportation from Britain to Australia ends, with arrival of the convict ship Hougoumont in Western Australia, after an 89-day voyage from England. There are 62 Fenians among the transportees.source
  • 9 January – penal transportation from Britain to Australia ends with arrival of the convict ship Hougoumont in Western Australia after an 89-day voyage from England.United Kingdomsource
  • French geologist Louis Lartet discovers the first identified skeletons of Cro-Magnon, the first early modern humans (early Homo sapiens sapiens), at Abri de Crô-Magnon, a rock shelter at Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France.source
  • May to October – The first Australian cricket team to tour overseas plays against several English teams, winning 14 matches, losing 14 and drawing 19.Australiasource
  • Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover develops Japan's first coal mine on Hashima Island.source
  • George Baxter opens a grocery shop in Fochabers, the origin of Baxters foods.Scotlandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 28 January – Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps enthroned as Archbishop of Mechelen.Belgiumsource
  • 7 June - The Presbyterian Church in Chile is founded. It is the first Protestant church in Chile.Chilesource
  • July 5 – Preacher William Booth establishes the Christian Mission, predecessor of The Salvation Army, in the East End of London.source
  • 7 August – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Copenhagen is established.Denmarksource
  • October 25 – The Uspenski Cathedral, designed by Aleksey Gornostayev, is inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.source
  • 12 November – Archibald Tait is offered the post of Archbishop of Canterbury.United Kingdomsource
  • The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson is established as the Apostolic Vicariate of Arizona in 1868, taking its territory from the former Diocese of Santa Fe. The Diocese of Tucson is canonically erected on May 8, 1897.source
  • United Methodist Church of SwedenSwedensource
  • The Roman Catholic See of Tucson is established as the Apostolic Vicariate of Arizona in 1868, taking its territory from the former Diocese of Santa Fe. The Diocese of Tucson is canonically erected on May 8, 1897.United Statessource
  • Establishment of Cementerio del Cerro, Montevideo.Uruguaysource
  • William Forbes Skene – The Four Ancient Books of WalesWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • March 24 – The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed, in New York City.source
  • June 2 – The first Trades Union Congress is held in Manchester, England.source
  • 2 June – the first Trades Union Congress is held in Manchester.United Kingdomsource
  • The Dortmunder Actien Brauerei is founded in Germany.source
  • Tata Group is founded by Jamsetji Tata as a trading company in India.source
  • The Herrenhäuser Brewery is founded in Hanover.Germanysource
  • Dadabhai Naroji computed the National Income of India ( Annual Per capita Income ) to be Rs. 20.Indiasource
  • Tata Group is founded By Jamsethji Tata.Indiasource
  • The Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust is founded by Philip Rose as The Foreign & Colonial Government Trust, the world's first collective investment scheme.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 1 February – At the bridge over the Severn at Caersws an approach embankment, damaged by flood water, collapses under a train. The driver and fireman are killed.Walessource
  • March 27 – The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad Company is organized in Oswego, New York.source
  • 24 April – The Port of Esbjerg construction act provides for the construction of a new export port at Esbjerg, until then a tiny community, as a replacement for the harbour in Altona, which had previously been Denmark's most important North Sea harbour.Denmarksource
  • 25 April – HMS Repulse, the last wooden battleship constructed for the Royal Navy, is launched as an ironclad (with auxiliary steam propulsion) at Woolwich Dockyard.United Kingdomsource
  • May 31 – The first popular bicycle race is held at Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris.source
  • June 20 – Fort Fred Steele is established to protect what is at this time the western terminus of the Union Pacific Railway, near modern-day Sinclair, Wyoming.source
  • July 1 – The cable-operated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway in Manhattan becomes the first elevated railway in the United States.source
  • 19 August – the clipper Thermopylae is launched at Walter Hood & Company's Aberdeen shipyard for George Thompson's Aberdeen Line.Scotlandsource
  • 7 September – Third international workers congress opens in Brussels.Belgiumsource
  • 19 September – inauguration of Dalsland Canal.Swedensource
  • 12 October- The final stretch of the railway line Randsfjordbanen between Drammen and Hønefoss makes Norway's fifth railway complete.Norwaysource
  • October 28 – Thomas Edison applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder.source
  • December 4 – Thomas Humber invented the safety bicycle.source
  • December 9 – The world's first traffic signal lights are installed at the junction of Great George Street and Bridge Street in the London Borough of Westminster.source
  • Herrenhäuser Brewery is established in Hanover, Germany.source
  • Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron patents methods of color photography.source
  • Indian Railway Companies Act (British statute)Indiasource

Science & Discovery

  • 4 February - the first Uruguayan Mining Code is passed, approved by Law No. 920 of 4 February 1868.Uruguaysource
  • February – The Benjamin Franklin "Z Grill" postage stamp is issued; it will be among the rarest ever.United Statessource
  • 8 August – HDMS Lindormen is launched at Nyholm in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • August 18 – The element later named as helium is first detected in the spectrum of the Sun's chromosphere, by French astronomer Jules Janssen, during a total eclipse in Guntur, British India, but is assumed to be sodium.source
  • 18 August - The element later named as helium is first detected in the spectrum of the Sun's chromosphere by astronomer Jules Janssen during a total eclipse in Guntur, India, but assumed to be sodium (on 20 October English astronomer Norman Lockyer identifies it).Francesource
  • August – meteorological observatory set up on Valentia Island.Irelandsource
  • October 20 – English astronomer Norman Lockyer observes and names the D 3 Fraunhofer line in the solar spectrum, and concludes that it is caused by a hitherto unidentified element, which he later names helium.source
  • 20 October – astronomer Norman Lockyer observes and names the D 3 Fraunhofer line in the solar spectrum and concludes that it is caused by a hitherto unidentified chemical element which he later names helium.United Kingdomsource
  • November 2 – Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time, to be observed nationally.source
  • Thomas Henry Huxley discovers what he thinks is primordial matter and names it bathybius haeckelii (he admits his mistake in 1871).source
  • Documentary Evidence Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • John Ceiriog Hughes – Oriau eraillWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • 17 July – judicial decision of the House of Lords in Rylands v Fletcher, a leading case in English tort law, establishing a standard of strict liability in negligence actions.United Kingdomsource
  • 31 July – Pharmacy Act 1868 regulates the profession of pharmacist and restricts sale of poisons and dangerous drugs.United Kingdomsource
  • October 6 – The City of New York grants Mount Sinai Hospital a 99-year lease for a property on Lexington Avenue and 66th Street, for the sum of $1.00.source
  • October 10 – Anne Hazen McFarland, physician and medical journal editor (unknown year of death)United Statessource
  • October – Kilmarnock Infirmary opened.Scotlandsource
  • The population of Japan reaches c. 30 million.source
  • Jean-Martin Charcot describes and names multiple sclerosis.Francesource
  • 1–6 February: The Great storm of 1868 sweeps across the country causing major damage and loss of life. There were several fatalities in Temuka.New Zealandsource
  • The Western General Hospital is established in Edinburgh.Scotlandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 15 January – Lucie Ingemannm painter (born 1792)Denmarksource
  • January – American transport entrepreneur George Francis Train is arrested in Cork for debt and spends much of the year imprisoned in Ireland.Irelandsource
  • February 16 – In New York City, the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).source
  • March 12 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Edinburgh, is shot in the back in Sydney, Australia, at a fundraising event for the Sydney Sailors Home, by Irishman Henry James O'Farrell. The prince survives and quickly recovers; O'Farrell is executed on April 21, despite attempts by the prince to gain clemency for him.source
  • 2 April – last public hanging of a woman in Britain – Frances Kidder outside Maidstone Prison by William Calcraft for drowning her stepdaughter.United Kingdomsource
  • May 16 and 26 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.United Statessource
  • May 26 – Fenian bomber Michael Barrett becomes the last person publicly hanged in the United Kingdom.source
  • 23 October – Frederick Doulton, MP, brought to trial in Brussels on charges of fraud in public works, but acquitted of having broken any law.Belgiumsource
  • Indian Prize Money Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • William Low grocery shop established by William Rettie and James Low.Scotlandsource
  • Iron Age crannog is discovered on an island in Llangorse Lake, near Brecon.Walessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 10 January – The last convict ship to Western Australia, the Hougoumont, arrives in Western Australia. This brought the end of penal transportation to Australia.Australiasource
  • 13 January – The brig Albion runs aground off Whitford Point and is abandoned by her seven crew members, all of whom drown.Walessource
  • 22 January – Sixteen vessels are lost in a gale off the Burry estuary, with a total of thirty lives lost.Walessource
  • 24 March – 20 killed when soldiers shoot on striking miners from the Epine mine in Dampremy.Belgiumsource
  • April 21 – Alfred Henry Maurer, modernist painter (suicide 1932)United Statessource
  • 20 August – Abergele train disaster kills 32 passengers and a fireman.United Kingdomsource
  • 20 August – Abergele rail disaster: 33 people die in a fire resulting from a collision between a mail train and a set of trucks at Llandulas station near Abergele, the greatest loss of life in a railway accident in Wales.Walessource

Climate & Environment

  • August 13 – The 8.5–9.0 Mw Arica earthquake strikes southern Peru, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin-wide tsunami, that affects Hawaii and New Zealand.source
  • 13 August: A tsunami caused by the 1868 Arica earthquake in South America causes the only fatalities recorded from tsunamis in New Zealand, with about twenty people swept away in the Chatham Islands.New Zealandsource
  • October 21 – The M6.3–6.7 Hayward earthquake affects the San Francisco Bay Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing damage from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz.United Statessource
  • Jules-Emile Planchon and colleagues propose Phylloxera as the cause of the Great French Wine Blight.Francesource
  • Among the Conservative members who lose their seats are Crawshay Bailey and Henry Austin Bruce, the latter replaced by two MPs for the expanded constituency of Merthyr Tydfil: Richard Fothergill and Henry Richard.Walessource
  • Farmers in Cardiganshire are evicted for returning a Liberal MP, Thomas Lloyd.Walessource

Culture & Society

  • 28 January – The Leipzig Opera House is inaugurated. It was destroyed during the 1943 Bombing of Leipzig.Germanysource
  • February 24 – The first parade to have floats takes place at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.source
  • March 4 — Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario establishedCanadasource
  • March 23 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California, when the Organic Act is signed into California law.source
  • The first transnational women's organization, Association internationale des femmes, is founded.source
  • April 1 – The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is established in Hampton, Virginia.source
  • September 18 – The University of the South holds its first convocation in Sewanee, Tennessee.source
  • October 7 – Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, is opened, with an initial enrollment of 412 men the following day.United Statessource
  • 30 November – A bronze statue of King Charles XII is unveiled in Stockholm's Kungsträdgården park.Swedensource
  • December 24 – The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.source
  • The Académie Julian, a major art school in Paris, France, that admits women, is established.source
  • Maryland School for the Deaf is established.source
  • Louis Jehotte's equestrian statue of Charlemagne inaugurated in LiègeBelgiumsource
  • Magasin du Nord is established in Aarhus as Emil Vett & Co. by Theodor Wessel and Emil Vett.Denmarksource
  • Coromandel Gold Rush (1867–68)New Zealandsource
  • The local newspaper Bergens Tidende was established.Norwaysource

Births

  • January 18 – Suzuki Kantarō, admiral, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (died 1948)Japansource
  • February 4 – Constance Markievicz, née Gore-Booth, Irish politician (died 1927)source
  • February 16 – Edward S. Curtis, American photographer, ethnologist, and film director (died 1952)source
  • February 23 – W. E. B. Du Bois, African American civil rights leader (died 1963)source
  • March 28 – Maxim Gorky, Russian author (died 1936)source
  • April 1 – Vosugh od-Dowleh, Prime Minister of Iran.Iransource
  • 7 April – José de Castro, lawyer, journalist and politician (died 1929)Portugalsource
  • May 18 (O. S. May 6) – Nicholas II of Russia (died 1918)source
  • May 29 – Abdülmecid II, last Caliph of the Ottoman Empire (died 1944)source
  • June 5 – James Connolly, Irish-Scots socialist (died 1916)source
  • June 6 – Robert Falcon Scott, English Antarctic explorer (died 1912)source
  • June – Fusajiro Yamauchi, Japanese entrepreneur and founder of Nintendo (died 1929 or 1940)source
  • July 14 – Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist, writer, spy and administrator (died 1926)source
  • 4 October – Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, politician and future President of Argentina (died 1942)Argentinasource
  • November 8 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (died 1942)source
  • November 9 – Marie Dressler, Canadian actress (died 1934)source
  • December 5 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German theoretical physicist (died 1951)source
  • December 9 – Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1934)source

Deaths

  • February 10 – Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist (born 1781)source
  • February 19 – Venancio Flores (59), Uruguayan politician and military figure, president of Uruguay in the period 1853-1855 and interim governor in the period 1865-1868; assassinated (born 1808).Uruguaysource
  • February 29 – King Ludwig I of Bavaria (born 1786)source
  • March 28 – James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, British military leader (born 1797)source
  • April 13 – Emperor Theodore or Tewodros II of Ethiopia by suicide (born 1818)source
  • April 23 - Ramón María Narváez, 1st Duke of ValenciaSpainsource
  • May 7 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1778)source
  • May 11 – John Crawfurd, Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat and author, last British Resident of Singapore (born 1783)source
  • May 23 – Kit Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent (born 1809)source
  • June 1 – James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (born 1791)source
  • June 10 – Mihailo Obrenović, Prince of Serbia, is assassinated in Košutnjak, Belgrade.source
  • July 19 – Okita Sōji, captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi (born 1844)Japansource
  • August 11 – Thaddeus Stevens, American politician (born 1792)source
  • August 20 – Abergele rail disaster in Wales: An Irish Mail passenger train collides with 4 cargo trucks loaded with paraffin oil (more akin to modern kerosine); 33 are killed (the first major train disaster in Britain).source
  • October 1 – Mongkut (Rama IV), King of Siam (Thailand) (born 1804)source
  • October 17 – Laura Secord, Canadian patriot (born 1775)source
  • 23 October – Mariquita Sánchez, Buenos Aires salonnière (born 1786)Argentinasource
  • November 13 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (born 1792)source