Events of 1831

• 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 14 – Battle of Debre Abbay: Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills the warlord Sabagadis.

• February 20 – Battle of Grochow: Polish rebel forces divide a Russian army.

• March 10 – The French Foreign Legion is founded.

• March 29 – The Great Bosnian uprising against the Ottoman Empire breaks out.

July 21: Léopold I of Belgium

• April 7 – Pedro I of Brazil abdicates as emperor of Brazil in favor of his son Pedro II of Brazil.

• April 18 – University of Alabama founded

• April 27 – Charles Albert of Sardinia become king of Sardinia after the death of king Charles Felix of Sardinia

• May 26 – Battle of Ostroleka: The Poles fight another indecisive battle.

• May-June – Merthyr Rising 1831: Coal miners and others riot in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales for improved working conditions.

• July 21 – Léopold I of Belgium is inaugurated as first king of the Belgians.

• August 2 – The Dutch ten-day campaign in 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 – USA: Nat Turner's slave rebellion breaks out in Southampton County, Virginia.

• September 6–8 – Battle of Warsaw: The Russians take the Polish capital and crush resistance.

• November 7 – Slave trading is forbidden in Brazil.

• December 27 – Charles Darwin embarks on his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle.

• December 31 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.

Undated

• The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper is first published.

• Muhammad Ali of Egypt's French-trained forces occupy Syria.

• Founding of:

• *Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut

• *New York University in New York City

• *Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio (as "The Athenaeum")

Births

• 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 12 – Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer (d. 1901)

• March 16 – Elise Hwasser, Swedish artist (d. 1894)

• March 20 – Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (d. 1881)

• 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 22 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (d. 1867)

• 12 August – Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Russian-born author and theosophist (d. 1891)

• September 18 – Siegfried Marcus, German-born automobile pioneer (d. 1898)

• September 20 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (d. 1917)

• October 6 – Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (d. 1916)

• October 18 – Emperor Frederick III of Germany (d. 1888)

• October 31 – Romualdo Pacheco, Governor of California (d. 1899)

• November 19 – James A. Garfield, 20th United States President (d. 1881)

• November 26 – Anna Leonowens, Anna of The King and I

• December 19 – Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Hawaiian aliʻi

Deaths

• January 21 – 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 (surgeon) (b. 1764)

• April 27 – Charles Felix of Savoy, King of Sardinia (b. 1765)

• June 27 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician (b. 1776)

• 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)

• 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 26 – Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, Indian Poet (b. 1809)