Historical Events
Penny Black
May 1 "Penny Black", the world's first adhesive postage stamp issued by Great Britain
The Hero as Divinity
May 5 Thomas Carlyle begins his famous lecture series "The Hero as Divinity", later collected in his book "On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History"
- May 6 World's first adhesive postage stamp, the "Penny Black", is first used in Great Britain
- May 7 Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317
- May 8 Alexander Wolcott patents Photographic Process
- May 20 York Minster badly damaged by fire
- May 21 Captain William Hobson proclaims British sovereignty over New Zealand; the North Island by treaty and the South Island by 'discovery'
- May 22 The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished
Famous Birthdays
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
May 7 Russian composer of the late-Romantic period (1812 Overture; The Nutcracker; Swan Lake), born in Votkinsk, Russia
- May 10 Hadzhi Dimitar, Bulgarian military leader and revolutionary who fought against Ottoman rule, born in İslimiye, Adrianople Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (d. 1868)
- May 11 Filippo Capocci, Italian organ virtuoso and composer, born in Rome, Papal States (now Italy) (d. 1911)
- May 13 Alphonse Daudet, French writer (Tartarin of Tarascon), born in Nîmes, France (d. 1897)
- May 24 Frederick Walker, British social realist painter, born in London (d. 1875)
- May 28 Hans Makart, Austrian painter (Plague in Florenz), born in Salzburg, Austria (d. 1884)
Famous Weddings
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
May 1 American women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (24) weds fellow American abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton (34), until his death in 1887
Famous Deaths
- May 5 Gottlob Benedikt Bierey, German composer, dies at 67
- May 5 Matthäus Fischer, German organist and composer, dies at 76
- May 6 Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian president and independence leader (b. 1792)
- May 7 Caspar David Friedrich, German painter, chiefly of landscapes with contemplative figures in the Romantic style, dies at 65
- May 26 Sidney Smith, British admiral, dies at 75
- May 27 Niccolo Paganini, Italian composer and violin virtuoso (Princess Lucca), dies at 57
- May 30 Dominique Jacques de Eerens, Dutch general and politician (Governor-General of Dutch East Indies 1836-40), dies in office at 59
