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What Happened in August 1856

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Historical Events

  • Aug 6 The Great Bell is cast for the Great Clock of Westminster, London (Big Ben)
  • Aug 10 Hurricane washes away 2-300 revelers at Last Island, Louisiana
  • Aug 12 Anthony Faas, of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, is granted a second patent for improvements to the accordion (Patent No. 15511A)
  • Aug 20 Wilberforce University forms in Ohio
  • Aug 21 America's first consul to Japan, Townsend Harris, arrives in Shimoda. (Traditional Japanese date: July 21, 1856)
Events in 1856

Famous Birthdays

  • Aug 1 George Coulthard, Australian rules footballer (Victoria; Carlton FC) and cricket all-rounder (1 Test; Victoria CA), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1883)

Alfred Deakin (1856-1919)

Aug 3 Second Prime Minister of Australia (3 terms between 1903-10), born in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia

Alfred Deakin

Edward L. Doheny (1856-1935)

Aug 10 American oil tycoon who drilled the 1st successful oil well in Los Angeles and set off the California oil boom, born in Fond du lac, Wisconsin

Edward L. Doheny
  • Aug 10 Paul Geisler, German conductor, composer, and pedagogue, born in Stolp, Pomerania (now Słupia, Poland) (d. 1919)
  • Aug 10 William Willett, British inventor of Daylight Saving Time, born in Farnham, Surrey, England (d. 1915)
  • Aug 12 "Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier (d. 1917)
  • Aug 15 J. Keir Hardie, Scottish politician and 1st Labour representative in British Parliament, born in Lanarkshire, Scotland (d. 1915)
  • Aug 17 Vernon Lee [Violet Paget], British author (Satan the master), born in Boulogne, France (d. 1935)
  • Aug 18 Charles H. Gabriel, American Gospel composer, born in Wilton, Iowa (d. 1932)
  • Aug 18 Jan Karol Gall, Polish conductor an composer of mostly vocal pieces (Mizerna, cicha), born in Warsaw (d. 1912)
  • Aug 20 Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer, born in Panschwitz-Kuckau, Germany (d. 1909)
  • Aug 24 Felix Mottl, Austrian conductor and composer (Agnes Bernauer), born in Unter-St.-Veit, Austria (d. 1911)
  • Aug 27 Iwan Franko, Ukrainian writer and political activist, born in Nahuievychi, Galicia (d. 1916)
  • Aug 30 Carle David Tolmé Runge, German mathematician and physicist, born in Bremen, Germany (d. 1927)
  • Aug 31 Nikoghayos Fadeyi Tigranyan, Armenian composer, born in Gyumri, Armenia (d. 1951)
Born in 1856

Famous Deaths

  • Aug 4 Johann Gottlieb Schneider, German composer, dies at 59
  • Aug 5 Robert Lucas Pearsall, English composer, dies at 61
  • Aug 14 Constant Prévost, French geologist, dies at 69
  • Aug 14 William Buckland, dean (Westminster)/geologist, dies
  • Aug 19 Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist, dies at 39
  • Aug 20 Philipp Jakob Riotte, German composer, dies at 80
  • Aug 21 Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, German composer, dies at 64
  • Aug 29 Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer, dies at 77
  • Aug 30 Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (b. 1811)
  • Aug 30 John Ross, Scottish naval officer and Artic explorer (he rediscovered Baffin Bay), dies at 79


What Happened in 1856

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