Events of 1850

January–June

• January 29 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.

• February 28 – The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah.

• March 7 – United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.

• March 16 – Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is published.

• March 19 – American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.

• April 4 – Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.

• April 15 – San Francisco, California is incorporated as a city.

• April 19 – Clayton-Bulwer Treaty is signed by the United States and Great Britain, allowing both countries to share Nicaragua and not claim complete control over the proposed Nicaragua Canal.

• May 7 – The Brigantine USS Advance is loaned to the United States Navy.

• May 16 – The French battleship Le Napoléon is launched.

• May 23 – The USS Advance puts to sea from New York to search for John Franklin's Arctic expedition.

• June 1 – The postage stamp issues of Austria begin with a series of imperforate typographed stamps featuring the coat of arms.

• June 3 – The traditional date of Kansas City, Missouri's founding. This is the date on which it is incorporated by Jackson County, Missouri as the "Town of Kansas".

July–December

• July – Taiping Rebellion: Hong Xiuquan orders the general mobilisation of rebel forces.

• July 9

• *Mírzá 'Alí-Muhammad, known as the Báb, is executed by a firing squad in Tabriz, Persia for claiming to be a prophet.

• *Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States following the death of President Taylor.

• August 28 – Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin premieres.

• September 9

• *California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state.

• *The New Mexico Territory is organized by order of the U.S. Congress.

• September 13 – First ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest summit of the eastern Alps.

• September 18 – The Fugitive Slave Law is passed by the U.S. Congress.

• September 29 – The Catholic hierarchy is re-established in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX.

• October 1 – The University of Sydney (the oldest in Australia) is founded.

• October 19 – Phi Kappa Sigma International Fraternity was founded at the University of Pennsylvania.

• October 28 – Delegate Edward Ralph May delivers speech on behalf of African American suffrage to the Indiana Constitutional Convention.

• November – Taiping Rebellion: The first clashes of the Taiping Rebellion occur between Imperialist militia and the Heavenly Army.

• November 29 – The treaty called Punctation of Olmütz is signed in Olomouc. It means diplomatic capitulation of Prussia to the Austrian Empire, which takes over the leadership of the German Confederation.

• December 16 – The first settlers for the settlement of Christchurch arrive at the Port of Lyttelton (New Zealand).

Undated

• The American System of Watch Manufacturing starts in Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (the Waltham Watch Company).

• Bingley Hall, the world's first purpose-built exhibition hall, opens in Birmingham, England.

• Allan Pinkerton forms the North-Western Police Agency, later the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

• France begins to transport colonists to Algeria.

• Rifling becomes common in firearms.

• Entre Ríos Province in Argentina revolts, backed by Brazil in alliance with Paraguay and the Uruguayan Colorado Party.

• Harriet Tubman becomes an official conductor of the Underground Railroad.

• The International Organisation of Good Templars is established, then as the order of the Knights of Jericho.

• St. Mary’s Institute (the future University of Dayton) is founded in in Dayton, OH.

• US census shows that 11.2% of the population classed as "Negro" are of mixed race.

• Manchester reaches 400,000 inhabitants.

• Europeans are 22% of the world population.

• 1850 – 1880 – 144,000 East Indian laborers go to Trinidad and 39,000 East Indians come to Jamaica.

• University of Rochester is founded in Rochester, NY.

• Lehman Brothers is established in Montgomery, Alabama.

Ongoing events

• First war of Schleswig (1848–1851)

• California Gold Rush (1848–1855)

Births

• Hortensia Antommarchi, Poet (d. 1915)

January–June

• January – John Barclay Armstrong, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal (d. 1913)

• January 4 – Frederick York Powell, English historian and scholar (d. 1904)

• January 6 – Eduard Bernstein, German social democratic theoretician and politician (d. 1932)

• January 6 – Xaver Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (d. 1924)

• January 10 – John Wellborn Root, American architect (d. 1891)

• January 11 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (d. 1917)

• January 14 – Pierre Loti, French sailor and writer (d. 1923)

• January 15

• *Mihai Eminescu, Romanian romantic poet (d. 1889)

• *Leonard Darwin, son of the British naturalist Charles Darwin (d. 1943)

• *Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891)

• January 17 – Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (d. 1918)

• January 18 – Seth Low, American educator (d. 1916)

• January 19 – Augustine Birrell, English author and politician (d. 1933)

• January 24

• *Hermann Ebbinghaus, German psychologist (d. 1909)

• *Mary Noailles Murfree, American novelist (d. 1922)

• January 27

• *John Collier, British writer and painter (d. 1934)

• *Edward Smith, captain of the Titanic (d. 1912)

• *Samuel Gompers, American labor union leader (d. 1924)

• January 28 – Edward Merritt Hughes, U.S. Navy officer (d. 1903)

• January 29

• *Ebenezer Howard, British urban planner (d. 1928)

• *Lawrence Hargrave, Australian engineer (d. 1915)

• February 12 – William Morris Davis, American geographer (d. 1934)

• February 14 – Kiyoura Keigo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1942)

• February 15 – Albert B. Cummins, American political figure (d. 1926)

• February 17 – Alf Morgans, Premier of Western Australia (d. 1933)

• February 18 – George Henschel, English musician (d. 1934)

• February 23 – César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)

• February 27

• *Henry Huntington, American railroad pioneer and art collector (d. 1927)

• *Laura E. Richards, American author (d. 1943)

• March 7

• *Tomáš Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1937)

• *Champ Clark, American politician (d. 1921)

• *Éphrem-A. Brisebois, Canadian police officer (d. 1890)

• *Georg von Vollmar, Socialist politician in Bavaria (d. 1922)

• March 9 – Hamo Thornycroft, British sculptor (d. 1925)

• March 10 – Spencer Gore, British tennis player and cricketer (d. 1906)

• March 13 – Hugh John Macdonald, premier of Manitoba (d. 1929)

• March 26 – Edward Bellamy, American author (d. 1898)

• March 31 – Charles Doolittle Walcott, American invertebrate paleontologist (d. 1927)

• April 8 – John Peters, American 19th century baseball player (d. 1924)

• April 9 – Julius Wernher, German-born British businessman and art collector (d. 1912)

• April 10 – Fanny Davenport, actress (d. 1898)

• April 11 – Isidor Rayner, U.S. senator (d. 1912)

• April 12 – Nikolai Golitsyn, Prime Minister of Russia (d. 1925)

• April 13 – Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer (d. 1917)

• April 15

• *William Thomas Pipes, Nova Scotia politician (d. 1909)

• *Edmund Peck, Canadian missionary (d. 1924)

• April 16 – Paul von Breitenbach, German railway planner (d. 1930)

• April 18 – Joseph Labadie, American labor organizer (d. 1933)

• April 20 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931)

• April 24 – Murdo MacKenzie, Scottish-Brazilian rancher (d. 1939)

• April 26

• *Harry Bates, British sculptor (d. 1899)

• *James Drake, Australian politician (d. 1915)

• April 27 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German soldier (d. 1921)

• April 29 – George Murdoch, first mayor of Calgary (d. 1910)

• May 1 – Prince Arthur of the United Kingdom (d. 1942)

• May 3 – Johnny Ringo, American cowboy (d. 1892)

• May 4 – Emanuel Schiffers, Russian chess player (d. 1904)

• May 7 – Anton Seidl, Hungarian conductor (d. 1898)

• May 8 – Ross Barnes, U.S. baseball player (d. 1915)

• May 10 – Thomas Lipton, Scottish merchant and yachtsman (d. 1931)

• May 12

• *Henry Cabot Lodge, American statesman (d. 1924)

• *Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway, Scottish Liberal politician and jurist (d. 1934)

• May 12 – Frederick Holder, premier of South Australia (d. 1909)

• May 14 – Alva Adams, Governor of Colorado (d. 1922)

• May 18 – Oliver Heaviside, British engineer (d. 1925)

• May 21 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (d. 1914)

• May 26 – James Kenyon, British pioneer of cinematography (d. 1925)

• May 27 – Thomas Neill Cream, serial killer (d. 1892)

• May 28 – Frederic William Maitland, English jurist and historian (d. 1906)

• May 30 – Frederick Dent Grant, U.S. soldier and statesman (d. 1912)

• May 31 – Alphonse Penaud, French aeronautical pioneer (d. 1880)

• June 2

• *Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent, British businessman (d. 1931)

• *Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, responsible for diabetes mellitus (d. 1935)

• June 3 – Albert M. Todd, American businessman and politician (d. 1931)

• June 5 – Pat Garrett, American bartender and sheriff (d. 1908)

• June 6 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918)

• June 12 – Roberto Ivens, Portuguese explorer of Africa (d. 1898)

• June 15 – Charles Hazelius Sternberg, American fossil collector and amateur paleontologist (d. 1943)

• June 18 – Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, American publisher (d. 1933)

• June 21 – Daniel Carter Beard, U.S. scouting pioneer (d. 1941)

• June 22 – Ignaz Goldziher, Jewish Hungarian orientalist (d. 1921)

• June 24 – Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, British field marshal and statesman (d. 1916)

• June 27

• *Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian poet (d. 1921)

• *Lafcadio Hearn, Greco-Japanese author (d. 1904)

• *Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (d. 1916)

July–December

• July 2 – Robert Ridgway, American ornithologist (d. 1929)

• July 8 – Charles Rockwell Lanman, American Sanskrit scholar (d. 1941)

• July 11 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary leader (d. 1938)

• July 12

• *Newell Sanders, American businessman and politician (d. 1938)

• *Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (d. 1912)

• July 15 – Mother Cabrini, American saint (d. 1917)

• July 20 – John G. Shedd, American businessman (d. 1926)

• July 28 – William Whittingham Lyman, U.S. vintner (d. 1921)

• July 31

• *Robert Love Taylor, Tennessee congressman (d. 1912)

• *Robert Planquette, French composer of stage musicals (d. 1903)

• August – Bernardo Reyes, Mexican general (d. 1913)

• August 5 – Guy de Maupassant, French writer (d. 1893)

• August 6 – Henri Chantavoine, French writer (d. 1918)

• August 9 – Johann Büttikofer, Swiss zoologist (d. 1929)

• August 13 – Philip Bourke Marston, English poet (d. 1887)

• August 14 – W. W. Rouse Ball, British mathematician (d. 1925)

• August 30 – Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino writer and journalist (d. 1896)

• October 1 – David R. Francis, American politician (d. 1927)

• October 1 – Thomas Vincent Welch, New York Assemblyman (d. 1903)

• November 2 – Antonio Jacobsen, maritime artist (d. 1921)

• 13 November – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (d. 1894)

Deaths

January–June

• January 2 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, interim President of Mexico (b. 1789)

• January 20 – Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1779)

• January 22

• *William Joseph Chaminade, French Catholic priest (b. 1761)

• *Saint Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary (b. 1795)

• January 26 – Francis Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic (b. 1773)

• January 27

• *Johann Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor (b. 1764)

• *Philipp Roth, composer (b. 1779)

• February 4 – Daniel Turner, officer in the United States Navy (b. 1794)

• February 20 – Valentín Canalizo, acting president of Mexico (b. 1794)

• February 23 – Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, British military officer and colonial administrator (b. 1775)

• February 25 – Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty of China (b. 1782)

• February 27 – Samuel Adams, Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas (b. 1805)

• March 3 – Oliver Cowdery, U.S. religious leader (b. 1806)

• March 13

• *Juan Martín de Pueyrredón y O'Dogan, Argentine general and politician (b. 1776)

• *Owen Stanley, British naval officer and explorer of New Guinea (b. 1811)

• March 26 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, U.S. political figure (b. 1784)

• March 27 – Wilhelm Beer, German banker and astronomer (b. 1797)

• March 28 – Gerard Brandon, Governor of Mississippi (b. 1788)

• March 31 – John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782)

• April 7 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)

• April 9 – William Prout, English chemist and physician (b. 1785)

• April 12 – Adoniram Judson, U.S. Baptist missionary (b. 1788)

• April 16 – Marie Tussaud, French wax sculptor (b. 1761)

• April 17 – Jan Krukowiecki, Polish general (b. 1772)

• April 23 – William Wordsworth, English poet (b. 1770)

• April 24 – John Norvell, U.S. newspaperman and senator (b. 1789)

• May 1 – Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, French zoologist and anatomist (b. 1777)

• May 10 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (b. 1778)

• May 12 – Frances Sargent Osgood, U.S. poet (b. 1811)

• May 21 – Christoph Friedrich von Ammon, German theological writer and preacher (b. 1766)

• May 24

• *Jane Porter, English novelist (b. 1776)

• *Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł, Polish noble (b. 1778)

• May 31 – Giuseppe Giusti, Tuscan satirical poet (b. 1809)

• June 9 – John Green Crosse, English surgeon

• June 16 – William Lawson, British explorer of New South Wales (b. 1774)

• June 19 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist (b. 1810)

• June 30 – Richard Dillingham, American Quaker teacher (b. 1823)

July–December

• July 2 – Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1788)

• July 4 – William Kirby, English entomologist (b. 1759)

• July 7 – Timothy Hackworth, British steam locomotive engineer

• July 8 – Prince Adolphus of the United Kingdom, 1st Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)

• July 9

• *The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábí Faith (b. 1819) (executed by firing squad)

• *Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (b. 1784)

• *Jean Pierre Boyer, President of Haiti (b. 1776)

• July 12 – Robert Stevenson, Scottish lighthouse engineer (b. 1772)

• July 14 – August Neander, German theologian and church historian (b. 1789)

• July 16 – Julia Glover, Irish-born British stage actress (b. ca. 1779)

• July 25 – Richard Barnes Mason, military governor of California (b. 1797)

• August 3 – Jacob Jones, U.S. Navy officer (b. 1768)

• August 6

• *Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805)

• *Hone Heke, Maori chief and war leader

• August 13 – Martin Archer Shee, Irish painter and president of the Royal Academy (b. 1770)

• August 17 – General José de San Martín, Argentine military and South American independence hero (b. 1778)

• August 18

• *Charles Arbuthnot, British Tory politician (b. 1767)

• *Honoré de Balzac, French author (b. 1799)

• August 22 – Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (b. 1802)

• August 26 – King Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)

• August 27 – Thomas Kidd, English classical scholar and schoolmaster (b. 1770)

• September 2 – Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, British Tory politician (b. 1775)

• September 12 – Presley O'Bannon, officer in the United States Marine Corps (b. 1784)

• September 22 – Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist (b. 1783)

• September 23 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan revolutionary (b. 1764)

• October 2 – Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)

• October 29 – Marmaduke Williams, Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina (b. 1774)

• November 2 – Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., Democratic governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina (b. 1796)

• November 3 – Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois (b. 1800)

• November 4 – Gustav Schwab, German classical scholar (b. 1792)

• November 9 – François-Xavier-Joseph Droz, French writer on ethics and political science (b. 1773)

• November 19 – Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States (b. 1780)

• November 22 – Lin Zexu, Chinese politician (b. 1785)

• November 30 – Germain Henri Hess, Swiss chemist and doctor (b. 1802)

• December 4

• *Robert Gilfillan, Scottish poet (b. 1798)

• *William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor (b. 1783)

• December 10

• *Józef Bem, Polish general (b. 1794)

• *François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (b. 1787)

• December 22 – William Plumer, U.S. lawyer and lay preacher (b. 1759)

• December 24 – Frédéric Bastiat French author and economist (b. 1801)

• December 28 – Heinrich Christian Schumacher, German astronomer (b. 1780)

• date unknown

• *Edward Bickersteth, English evangelical divine (b. 1786)

• *Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of John Graves Simcoe (b. 1762)

• *Nur Singh, regent of Manipur

• *Tan Tock Seng, Singaporean businessman philanthropist

• *William Hamilton Maxwell, Scots-Irish novelist (b. 1792)