What Happened in March 1851

Historical Events

  • Mar 3 Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin (3 cent piece)

Love in a Maze

Mar 6 Dion Boucicault's play "Love in a Maze" premieres in London

  • Mar 7 Poll tax levied on Russo-Polish Jews entering Austrian Galicia ends

Rigoletto

Mar 11 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" premieres in Venice

  • Mar 25 Yosemite Valley discovery made public by Major James D. Savage and Captain John Boling after being shown by Indian guides in California

Famous Birthdays

  • Mar 3 Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author (The Murderess), born in Skiathos, Greece (d. 1911)
  • Mar 15 Józef Surzyński, Polish organist, composer, conductor, and theologian, born in Śrem, Poland (d. 1919)
  • Mar 16 Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (1st to coin the name virus), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1931)
  • Mar 19 Roque Saenz Pena, Argentine politician and lawyer (President of Argentina 1910-14), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1914)
  • Mar 19 William Henry Stark, American business leader, born in St. Augustine, Texas (d. 1936)
  • Mar 27 Ruperto Chapí, Spanish composer, born in Villena, Spain (d. 1909)

Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931)

Mar 27 French composer (Symphony on a French Mountain Air), and teacher, born in Paris

  • Mar 28 Bernardino Machado, President of Portugal (1915–17, 1925–26), born in Rio de Janeiro (d. 1944)

Famous Deaths

  • Mar 4 James Richardson, British explorer (Sahara Desert), dies of an illness near Lake Chad at 41
  • Mar 4 Michael Henkel, German composer and organist, dies at 70
  • Mar 6 Alexander Aliabiev, Russian composer remembered as one of the fathers of Russian art song, dies at 63

Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851)

Mar 9 Danish physicist who discovered electromagnetism and chemist (View of Chemical Law), dies at 73

  • Mar 11 George McDuffie, Governor of South Carolina (b. 1790)