Historical Events
- May 25 American Unitarian Association founded
Famous Birthdays
- May 1 George Inness, American landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap), born in Newburgh, New York (d. 1894)
- May 4 Augustus Le Plongeon, French-American photographer and antiquitarian, born in Island of Jersey, France (d. 1908)
- May 4 Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist (comparative anatomy), born in Ealing, Middlesex, England (d. 1895)
- May 6 Joseph Bailey, American civil engineer and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Morgan County, Ohio (d. 1867)
- May 8 George Bruce Malleson, English officer in India and author, born in Wimbledon, London (d. 1898)
- May 10 Rudolf Viole, German pianist and composer, born in Schochwitz, Germany (d. 1867)
- May 20 Antoinette Brown Blackwell, American minister (1st ordained US female minister), born in Henrietta, New York (d. 1921)
- May 21 George Lafayette Beal, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Norway, Maine (d. 1896)
- May 26 Felipe Gutiérrez Y Espinosa, Puerto Rican composer, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico (d. 1899)
- May 29 David Bell Birney, American businessman, lawyer, and Major General (Union Army), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1864)
Famous Weddings
Wilhelm Grimm
May 15 Author and scholar Wilhelm Grimm (39) weds Henriette Dorothea
- May 21 Prince Willem FK marries Louise AWA of Prussia
Famous Deaths
Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
May 7 Italian composer (Tarare; La Fiera), opera director (Habsburg Court, 1774-92), and Kapellmeister (Austrian Imperial Court, 1788-1824), dies in Vienna at 74
- May 12 Elias Mann, American composer, dies at 75
- May 12 Stanislao Mattei, Italian composer, teacher, musicologist, and monk dies at 75
- May 19 Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, French political philosopher (b. 1760)
- May 20 Papaflessas, Greek priest and government official (b. 1788)
- May 22 Domenico Corri, Italian composer, dies at 80
- May 23 Ras Gugsa of Yejju, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia
