Historical Events
"Semiramide"
Feb 2 Gioachino Rossini's opera "Semiramide" first performed at La Fenice in Venice, Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom
- Feb 20 English Captain James Weddell reaches 74°15' S, 1520 km from South Pole
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 3 Spencer Fullerton Baird, American naturalist and ornithologist (Wood's Hole Station), born in Reading, Pennsylvania (d. 1888)
- Feb 7 Richard Genee, Austrian playwright, librettist, and composer, born in Danzig, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1895)
- Feb 15 Li Hung-Tshang, Chinese modernizing politician and general (governor-general of Zhili province), born in Hefei, Anhui province, China (d. 1901)
- Feb 16 John Daniel Imboden, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1895)
- Feb 27 Ferdinand Van Derveer, American lawyer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Middletown, Ohio (d. 1892)
- Feb 27 William Buel Franklin, American Major General (Union Army), born in York, Pennsylvania (d. 1903)
- Feb 28 Ernest Renan, French philosopher, historian and scholar of religion, born in Tréguier, France (d. 1892)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 7 Ann Radcliffe, English Gothic novelist (The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Romance of the Forest), dies at 58
- Feb 16 Johann Gottfried Schict, German composer, dies at 69
- Feb 16 Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, French Romantic painter and draughtsman - allegorical paintings and portraits, dies at 64
- Feb 21 Charles Wolfe, Irish poet, dies at 31
- Feb 26 John Philip Kemble, British actor and director (Drury Lane, Covent Garden), dies at 66
Year of the Rabbit
Year of the Dragon
Year of the Snake
Year of the Horse
Year of the Goat/Sheep
Year of the Monkey