1831

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1831 (MDCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Julian calendar, the 1831st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 831st year of the 2nd millennium, the 31st year of the 19th century, and the 2nd year of the 1830s decade. As of the start of 1831, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1918.

Events

January–March

• January 1 – William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator, an antislavery newspaper, in Boston, Massachusetts.
• January 14 – The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is first published by Victor Hugo.
• February–March – Revolts in Modena, Parma and the Papal States are put down by Austrian troops.
• February 2 – Pope Gregory XVI succeeds Pope Pius VIII as the 254th pope.
• February 5 – Dutch naval lieutenant Jan van Speyk blows up his own gunboat in Amsterdam rather than strike his colours on the demand of supporters of the Belgian Revolution.
• February 7 – Belgian Constitution of 1831 approved by the National Congress
• February 14 – Battle of Debre Abbay: Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills the warlord Sabagadis.
• February 20 – Battle of Olszynka Grochowska (Grochow): Polish rebel forces divide a Russian army.
• March 10 – The French Foreign Legion is founded.
• March 29 – The Bosnian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire begins.

April–June

• April 7 – Pedro I abdicates as Emperor of Brazil in favor of his 5-year-old son Pedro II, who will reign for almost 59 years.
• April 18 – University of Alabama founded.
• April 27 – Charles Albert becomes king of Sardinia after the death of King Charles Felix.
• May 26 – Battle of Ostrołęka: The Poles fight another indecisive battle.
• May–June – Merthyr Rising: Coal miners and others riot in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales for improved working conditions.
• June 1 – British Royal Navy officer James Clark Ross locates the position of the North Magnetic Pole on the Boothia Peninsula.

July–September

July 21: Coronation of Leopold I of Belgium

• c.July 15 – The volcanic island of Graham Island briefly emerges in the Mediterranean.
• July 21 – Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is inaugurated as first King of the Belgians in Brussels.
• August 2 – The Dutch Ten Days' Campaign against Belgium is halted by a French army.
• August 7 – American Baptist minister William Miller preaches his first sermon on the Second Advent of Christ in Dresden, New York, launching the Advent Movement in the United States.
• August 21 – United States: Nat Turner's slave rebellion breaks out in Southampton County, Virginia.
• September 6–September 8 – Battle of Warsaw: The Russians take the Polish capital and crush resistance.
• September 8 – The coronation of King William IV of the United Kingdom who succeeded his brother George IV. He would reign until 1837

October–December

• October 9 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, the Greek head of state and founder of Greek independence, is assassinated in Nafplion.
• October 29 – The Bristol Riots of 1831 took place, in response to the UK parliament's decision not to reform the vote, causing delays to the building of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
• November 7 – Slave trading is forbidden in Brazil.
• November 22 – After a bloody battle with the military causing 600 casualties, rebellious silk workers seize Lyon, France, beginning the First Canut Revolt.
• December 27 – Charles Darwin embarks on his historic voyage aboard HMS Beagle.
• December 31 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.

Date unknown

• The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper is first published.
• Muhammad Ali of Egypt's French-trained forces occupy Syria.
• Rifa'a al-Tahtawi returns from study in Paris to Egypt.
• Founding of:
  • Denison University in Granville, Ohio
  • Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut
  • New York University in New York City
  • Xavier University in Cincinnati (as "The Athenaeum")

Births

January–June

James Clerk Maxwell

• January 3 – Savitribai Jyotirao Phule an Indian social reformer and poet (d. 1897)
• January 7 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postal union organizer (d. 1897)
• February 24 – Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1899)
• March 3 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1897)
• March 6 – Philip Sheridan, American general (d. 1888)
• March 12 – Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer (d. 1901)
• March 16 – Elise Hwasser, Swedish actress (d. 1894)
• March 20 – Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (d. 1881)
• May 7 – Richard Norman Shaw, British architect (d. 1912)
• June 1 – John Bell Hood, American Confederate general (d. 1879)
• June 2 – Jan Gerard Palm, composer (d. 1906)
• June 13 – James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (d. 1879)
• June 28 – Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist (d. 1907)

July–December

John Pemberton

Xianfeng Emperor

Emperor Kōmei

• July 8 – John Pemberton, inventor of Coca-Cola (d. 1888)
• July 9 – Wilhelm His, Sr., Swiss anatomist (d. 1904)
• July 17 – Xianfeng Emperor of China (d. 1861)
• July 22 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (d. 1867)
• August 12 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born author and theosophist (d. 1891)
• August 20 – Eduard Suess, Austrian geologist (d. 1914)
• August 28 – Lucy Hayes, First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
• September 8 – Wilhelm Raabe, German novelist (d. 1910)
• September 18 – Siegfried Marcus, German-born automobile pioneer (d. 1898)
• September 20 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (d. 1917)
• September 29 – John Schofield, American general (d. 1906)
• October 6 – Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (d. 1916)
• October 14 – Samuel W. Johnson, British railway engineer (d. 1912)
• October 16 – Lucy Stanton, American abolitionist (d. 1910)
• October 18 – Frederick III, German Emperor (d. 1888)
• October 29 – Othniel Charles Marsh, American paleontologist (d. 1899)
• October 31
  • Paolo Mantegazza, Italian neurologist, physiologist, anthropologist, and author of fiction (d. 1910)
  • Romualdo Pacheco, Governor of California (d. 1899)
• November 5 – Anna Leonowens, Anna of The King and I (d. 1915)
• November 26 – Mathilda Linsén, Finnish blind pedagogue (d. 1872)
• November 19 – James A. Garfield, 20th United States President (d. 1881)
• December 19 – Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Hawaiian aliʻi (d. 1884)

Date unknown

• Sotirios Sotiropoulos, Greek economist and politician (d. 1898)
• Eugenia Kisimova, Bulgarian feminist, philanthropist and women's rights activist (d. 1885)

Deaths

January–June

Ludwig Achim von Arnim

• January 8 – Franz Krommer, Czech composer (b. 1759)
• January 21 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
• February 14
  • Vicente Guerrero, President of Mexico, Independence War hero (b. 1782)
  • Marye of Yejju, Ethiopian Ras
  • Sabagadis, Ethiopian warlord
• February 17 – Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (b. 1785)
• February 25 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (b. 1752)
• April 5 – Dmitry Senyavin, Russian admiral (b. 1763)
• April 20 – John Abernethy, English surgeon (b. 1764)
• April 27 – Charles Felix of Sardinia, King of Sardinia (b. 1765)
• April 30 – Collet Barker, British military officer and explorer (b. 1784)
• June 5 – Tarenorerer, Indigenous Australian Tasman freedom fighter (b. 1800)
• June 8 – Sarah Siddons, English actress (b. 1755)
• June 27 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician (b. 1776)

July–December

Georg Hegel

• July 4 – James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
• July 16 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (b. 1763)
• August 24 – August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
• September 28 – Philippine Engelhard, German writer and scholar (b. 1756)
• November 11 – Nat Turner, American slave rebel (b. 1800)
• November 14 – Georg Hegel, German philosopher (b. 1770)
• November 16 – Carl von Clausewitz, German military strategist (b. 1780)
• December 23 – Emilia Plater, Polish heroine (b. 1806)
• December 26 – Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, Indian poet (b. 1809)

Date unknown

• Marengo, Napoleon's mount in several battles (b. 1793)
• Charlotta Richardy, Swedish industrialist (b. 1751)
• Marie Anne Simonis, Belgian textile industrialist (b. 1758)

References