Major Events
- Mar 20 Republican Party formally organized in Ripon, Wisconsin
- Mar 28 Great Britain and France declare war on Russia, expanding the Crimean War
- Jun 21 First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands (Crimean War)
- Aug 31 Major outbreak of cholera occurs in Soho, London; Physician John Snow goes on to call it "the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in this kingdom."
- Sep 20 Battle of the Alma: British, French and Ottoman alliance defeat the Russian Empire in the 1st major battle of the Crimean War
- Oct 17 French and British forces bombard Sevastopol for the first time during the Crimean War
- Oct 21 Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War
- Oct 25 The infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade" during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War results in over 100 killed
- Dec 3 Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences
- More 1854 Events
Did You Know?
Alfred Tennyson's poem "Charge of the Light Brigade" is published in "The Examiner"
Alice Mary Robertson
Robert Borden
George Eastman
Oscar Wilde
Arthur Rimbaud
Benedict XV
Leoš Janáček
John Philip SousaMore People Born in 1854
Fun Fact About 1854
English newspaper "The Times" gives precise British positions in Crimea during Crimean War
Georg Ohm
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph SchellingMore 1854 Deaths
Articles About 1854
John Snow, Cholera and the Battle for Broad Street
In 1854, John Snow made his name as the father of modern epidemiology in response to the Broad Street cholera outbreak. He traced the outbreak and helped to establish the germ theory of disease.August 31
Battle of the Alma
The 2nd Rifle Brigade leading the Light Division across the river at the Battle of the Alma during the Crimean WarSeptember 20
The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale
The Charge of the Light Brigade is infamous as an act of bravery in the face all insurmountable odds. An event immortalized in poetry by Alfred Tennyson.October 25
Eureka Stockade
The battle at Eureka Stockade in Australia, crucial to developing democracy in the countryDecember 3
Famous Weddings in 1854
- Apr 24 Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (23) weds Elisabeth, Duchess of Bavaria (16) at the Augustinerkirche, Vienna
- Jun 29 English Novelist and author of "Jane Eyre" Charlotte Brontë marries curate Arthur Bell Nicholls
- Sep 22 Future railroad magnate Mark Hopkins Jr. marries Mary Sherwood
Charles Dickens
Giuseppe Verdi
Franklin Pierce
George Hamilton-Gordon