Historical Events
- Oct 1 The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.
Lincoln Denounces Slavery
Oct 4 Abraham Lincoln resumes his political career with a speech denouncing recent federal legislation extending slavery, at Illinois State Fair in Springfield; event is a precursor to his famous Peoria Speech [1]
- Oct 6 The Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead started shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured.
- Oct 9 The siege of Sevastopol begins during the Crimean War
- Oct 10 US Assay Office in NYC, New York opens
- Oct 12 Ashmun Institute (later Lincoln University) opens near Oxford, Pennsylvania
- Oct 16 Abraham Lincoln presents his Peoria Speech, denouncing recent federal legislation extending slavery, on the lawn of the Peoria County Courthouse in Peoria, Illinois [1]
- Oct 17 French and British forces bombard Sevastopol for the first time during the Crimean War
Nightingale Heads to the Crimean War
Oct 21 Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War
Charge of the Light Brigade
Oct 25 The infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade" during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War results in over 100 killed
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 2 Patrick Geddes, Scottish biologist and town planner who coined the term conurbation, born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (d. 1932)
- Oct 3 William Crawford Gorgas, American physician and 22nd Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army (help cure yellow fever), born in Toulminville, Alabama (d. 1920)
- Oct 7 Christiaan R de Wet, South African rebel leader, politician and general in the Boer War, born in Smithfield, Orange Free State (d. 1922)
- Oct 10 Gerónimo Giménez, Spanish composer, born in Seville, Spain (d. 1923)
- Oct 16 Karl Kautsky, Austrian philosopher and Marxist theorist (Socialist journal Neue Zeit), born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (d. 1938)
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Oct 16 Irish playwright and novelist (Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray), born in Dublin, Ireland
- Oct 18 Billy Murdoch, Australian cricket batsman (18 Tests Australia, 1 England; 2 x 100s; NSW, Sussex CCC, London CCC), born in Bendigo, Australia (d. 1911)
- Oct 18 Charles Scribner II, American magazine and book publisher, born in New York City (d. 1930)
- Oct 18 Salomon August Andrée, Swedish engineer, balloonist and polar explorer, born in Gränna, Sweden (d. 1897)
- Oct 20 Alphonse Allais, French humorist and author (Pass the Bile), born in Honfluer, France (d. 1905)
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)
Oct 20 French poet and adventurer (The Drunken Boat, Illuminations), born in Charleville, France
- Oct 24 Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist (Heterogenen Gleichgewichte), born in Alkmaar, Netherlands (d. 1907)
- Oct 26 August Kiehl, Dutch actor (Op hoop van zegen, De kribbebijter), born in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands (d. 1938)
- Oct 26 C. W. Post, American manufacturer of breakfast cereals, born in Springfield, Illinois (d. 1914)
- Oct 27 Sir William Alexander Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys' Brigade, born in Pennyland House, Thurso, Scotland (d. 1914)
- Oct 31 Adolf Erman, German Egyptologist (Grammar of Ancient Egypt), born in Berlin (d. 1937)
