What Happened in October 1847

Historical Events

Siemens & Halske

Oct 1 German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske

  • Oct 1 Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet

Jane Eyre

Oct 16 Charlotte Brontë's book "Jane Eyre" published

  • Oct 20 12-year-old English boy William Nelman poisons his grandpa with arsenic, would become famous court case

Famous Birthdays

  • Oct 1 Annie Besant, English social reformer and supporter of Indian independence, born in London (d. 1933)

Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934)

Oct 2 German WW1 general and President of Germany (1925-34), born in Posen, Duchy of Posen, Prussia

  • Oct 6 Adolf von Hildebrand, German sculptor, born in Marburg, Germany (d. 1921)
  • Oct 8 Rose Scott, Australian social reformer and suffragette, born in Glendon, New South Wales, Australia (d. 1925)
  • Oct 9 Andre Dumont, Belgian mine engineer (Limburg's coal basin), born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1920)
  • Oct 9 Stephanus Jacobus du Toit, South African theologist and journalist (Afrikaner Bond), born in Paarl, South Africa (d. 1911)
  • Oct 10 Gheorghe Dima, Romanian composer, born in Șcheii Brașovului, Romania (d. 1925)
  • Oct 16 Maria Pia of Savoy, Queen of Portugal (1862-89), born in the Royal Palace, Turin, Sardinia (d. 1911)
  • Oct 21 Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian playwright, poet, and librettist (Puccini's "La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly"), born in Colleretto Parella, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy) (d. 1906)

Koos de la Rey (1847-1914)

Oct 22 Boer leader and general in the South African War (1899–1902), born in Winburg, Orange River Sovereignty, British Empire

  • Oct 31 Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist and electrical engineer, born in Livorno Ferraris, Italy (d. 1897)

Famous Deaths

  • Oct 7 Alexandre Brongniart, French geologist and mineralogist (arranged geologic formations of the Tertiary Period), dies at 77
  • Oct 14 William Michael Rooke, composer, dies at 53
  • Oct 22 Sahle Selassie, Negus of Shewa