View source for 1841

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{Year dab|1841}}
{{Year nav|1841}}
[[File:Province of Canada.JamesWyld.ca1842.jpg|thumb|250px|[[February 11]]: The [[Province of Canada]] is created from the merger of two British colonies, [[Upper Canada]] (containing much of Ontario) and [[Lower Canada]] (Quebec and Labrador).]]
[[File:The steam ship President in gale.jpg|thumb|250px|[[March 12]]: All 136 passengers and crew of the {{SS|President}} are killed in an Atlantic storm.]]
{{C19 year in topic}}{{Verification|date=February 2025}}[[File:Death of Harrison, April 4 A.D. 1841 LCCN91794698.jpg|thumb|[[April 4]]: [[Death of William Henry Harrison|U.S. President William Henry Harrison dies after only 30 days in office]].]]
[[File:Coronation of dom pedro II.jpg|thumb|[[July 18]]: Coronation of Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil]].]]
{{Year article header|1841}}

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 20]] – [[Charles Elliot]] of the United Kingdom and [[Qishan (official)|Qishan]] of the [[Qing dynasty]] agree to the [[Convention of Chuenpi]].
* [[January 26]] – Britain occupies [[Hong Kong]]. Later in the year, the first census of the island records a population of about 7,500.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Thomson|author-link=John Thomson (photographer)|url=http://irc.aa.tufs.ac.jp/thomson/vol_1/mother/102.html|chapter=Hong-Kong|title=Illustrations of China and Its People|volume=1|location=London|year=1873|archive-date=October 27, 2016|access-date=February 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027005209/http://irc.aa.tufs.ac.jp/thomson/vol_1/mother/102.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[January 27]] – The active [[volcano]] [[Mount Erebus]] in Antarctica is discovered, and named by [[James Clark Ross]].<ref>Ross, ''Voyage to the Southern Seas'', '''1''', pp. 216–218.</ref>
* [[January 28]] – Ross discovers the "Victoria Barrier", later known as the [[Ross Ice Shelf]]. On the same voyage, he discovers the [[Ross Sea]], [[Victoria Land]] and [[Mount Terror (Antarctica)|Mount Terror]].
* [[January 30]] – 
**[[El Salvador]] proclaims itself an independent republic, bringing an end to the  [[Federal Republic of Central America]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marure|first1=Alejandro|date=1895|title=Efemérides de los Hechos Notables Acaecidos en la República de Centro-América Desde el Año de 1821 Hasta el de 1842|trans-title=Ephemeris of the Notable Events that Occurred in the Republic of Central America from the Year 1821 to that of 1842|url=https://archive.org/details/efemeridesdeloshe00alejguat/page/n11/mode/2up|language=es|location=Central America|publisher=Tipografía Nacional|page=127|oclc=02933391|access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref>
**A fire destroys two-thirds of the city of [[Mayagüez, Puerto Rico]].<ref>"Mayagüez; Notas para su Historia"; by Silvia Aguilo Ramos (Author); Page: 76; Publisher: Model Offset Printing, San Juan (1984); Language: Spanish</ref>
* [[February 4]] – The first known reference is made to [[Groundhog Day]], celebrated in North America, in the diary of a James Morris.
* [[February 10]] – The [[Act of Union 1840|Act of Union]] (''British North America Act'', [[1840]]) is proclaimed in Canada.
* [[February 11]] – [[Upper Canada]] and [[Lower Canada]] are merged to create the [[United Province of Canada]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Monet|first=Jacques |title=Act of Union |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=27 September 2019 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/act-of-union}}</ref>
* [[February 18]] – The first ongoing [[filibuster]] in the [[United States Senate]] begins, and lasts until [[March 11]].
* [[March 9]] – ''[[United States v. The Amistad]]'': The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] rules in the case, that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into [[slavery]] illegally.
* [[March 12]] – All 136 passengers and crew on steamship {{SS|President}}, commanded by legendary captain [[Richard Roberts (sea captain)|Richard Roberts]] (known for saying "I'd go to sea in a bathtub"), are killed when the ship founders in rough seas.<ref>{{cite book|last = Fox|first = Stephen|title = Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel and the Great Atlantic Steamships|url = https://archive.org/details/transatlanticsam00foxs|url-access = registration|publisher =Harper Collins|year =2004|isbn =0-06-095549-X}}</ref>

=== April–June ===
* [[April 4]] – President [[William Henry Harrison]] dies of [[pneumonia]], aged 68, becoming the first president of the United States to die in office, and at one month, the American president with the shortest term served. He is succeeded by Vice President [[John Tyler]].
* [[May]] – The [[Sino-Sikh War]] begins.
* [[May 3]] – [[Colony of New Zealand|New Zealand]] becomes a separate British colony,<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref> having previously been administered as part of the [[Colony of New South Wales]].
* [[May 22]] – The Georgian province of [[Guria]] [[1841 rebellion in Guria|revolts]] against the [[Russian Empire]].
* [[June 6]] – The [[United Kingdom Census 1841|United Kingdom Census]] is held, the first to record names and approximate ages of every household member, and to be administered nationally.
* [[June 21]] – St. John's College, later [[Fordham University]], is founded in [[The Bronx]] by [[Jesuits]].
* [[June 28]] – The ballet ''[[Giselle]]'' is first presented by the [[Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique]], at the [[Salle Le Peletier]] in Paris, France, with music by [[Adolphe Adam]] and Italian ballerina [[Carlotta Grisi]] in the title role.

=== July–September ===
[[File:18th Royal Irish at Amoy.jpg|thumb|[[August 26]]: [[Battle of Amoy]] in the [[First Opium War]].]]
* [[July 5]] – [[Thomas Cook]] arranges his first railway excursion in England.<ref name="Pocket On This Day"/>
* [[July 17]] – The first edition of the humorous magazine ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' is published in London.<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of "Punch"|url=https://archive.org/details/historypunch04spiegoog|first=Marion Harry|last=Spielmann|year=1895|page=[https://archive.org/details/historypunch04spiegoog/page/n48 27]}}</ref>
* [[July 18]] (Sunday)
** Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil]] is [[Coronation|crowned]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]].<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://doi.org/10.18057/icass2018.p.116 |title=BEHAVIOUR OF COMPOSITE BEAMS WITH EMBEDDED COMPRESSION FLANGE |last=Ferrante |first=César A. O. |last2=Andrade |first2=Sebastião A. L. de |last3=Lima |first3=Luciano R. O. de |last4=Vellasco |first4=Pedro C. G. da S. |date=2018-12-05 |publisher=The Hong Kong Institute of Steel Construction}}</ref>
** The sixth bishop of [[Calcutta]], [[Daniel Wilson (bishop)|Daniel Wilson]], and Dr. James Taylor, Civil Surgeon at [[Dhaka]], establish the first modern educational institution on the Indian subcontinent, [[Dhaka College]].
* [[July 20]] – The Mercantile Agency (ancestor of [[Dun & Bradstreet]]) is founded in New York City by Lewis Tappan.
* [[July 31]] – Scottish [[missionary]] [[David Livingstone]] arrives at [[Kuruman]] in the [[Northern Cape]], his first posting in Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ross | first=Andrew| title=David Livingstone : Mission and Empire |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |publication-place=London |year=2002 |pages=39–43 |isbn= 978-1-85285-285-6}}</ref>
* [[August 11]] – [[Frederick Douglass]] speaks in front of the [[Anti-Slavery Convention]] in [[Nantucket, Massachusetts]].
* [[August 16]] – U.S. President [[John Tyler]] vetoes a [[Bill (proposed law)|bill]] which called for the re-establishment of the [[Second Bank of the United States]]. Enraged [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] members riot outside the [[White House]], in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
* [[August 20]]–[[October 16]] – The [[Niger expedition of 1841]] begins sailing up the [[Niger River]] by [[paddle steamer]]s, under the auspices of the British Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and the Civilisation of Africa; it is largely abortive, due to the high incidence of disease among the crews.
* [[September 24]] – [[Kingdom of Sarawak|Sarawak]] is broken away from [[Sultanate of Brunei|Brunei]], and [[James Brooke]] is appointed [[Raja]]h.

=== October–December ===
* [[October 10]] – [[First Opium War]]: [[Battle of Chinhai]] – British capture a Chinese garrison.
* [[October 13]] – First Opium War: British occupy [[Ningbo]].
* [[October 16]] – [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] is founded in [[Kingston, Ontario]], by [[Reverend|Rev.]] [[Thomas Liddell (principal)|Thomas Liddell]], who carries a [[Royal Charter]] from [[Queen Victoria]], and becomes the school's first [[Principal (academia)|principal]].
* [[October 30]] – A fire at the [[Tower of London]] destroys its Grand Armoury and causes a quarter of a million pounds' worth of damage.<ref>{{cite book|title=The London Encyclopaedia|first=Ben|last=Weinreb|author2=Hibbert, Christopher|publisher=Macmillan|year=1995|isbn=0-333-57688-8|page=287}}</ref>
* [[November]] – The settlement of [[Dallas]], [[Republic of Texas|Texas]], is founded by [[John Neely Bryan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dallashistory.org/history/dallas/dallas_history.htm |title=Dallas History |access-date=2006-04-20 |author=Dallas Historical Society |author-link=Dallas Historical Society |date=2002-12-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422183559/http://www.dallashistory.org/history/dallas/dallas_history.htm |archive-date=April 22, 2006 }}</ref>
* [[November 13]] – Scottish surgeon [[James Braid (surgeon)|James Braid]] first sees a demonstration of ''[[animal magnetism]]'' by [[Charles Lafontaine]] in [[Manchester]], which leads to his study of the phenomenon that he (Braid) eventually calls ''[[hypnotism]]''.
* [[December 20]] – The first [[multilateral treaty]] for the suppression of the [[African slave trade]], the [[Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade]], signed in London by the representatives of [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], [[July Monarchy|France]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] and [[Russian Empire|Russia]].
* [[December 23]] – [[First Anglo-Afghan War]]: At a meeting with the [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] general [[Wazir Akbar Khan|Akbar Khan]], British diplomat Sir [[William Hay Macnaghten]] is shot dead at close quarters.
* [[December 27]] – [[Franz Liszt]] gives a piano recital at the [[Sing-Akademie zu Berlin]] to an enthusiastic audience, retrospectively marked as the beginning of [[Lisztomania]], which will accompany his tours across Europe during the decade.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Walker (musicologist)|title=Franz Liszt, The Virtuoso Years (1811–1847)|edition=revised|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1987|pages=289, 371}}</ref>

=== Date unknown ===
* [[John Augustus]] develops the concept of [[probation]] in [[Boston]], Massachusetts.

=== Ongoing ===
* [[First Opium War]] (1839–42)
* [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] (1839–42)

== Births ==

=== January–June ===
[[File:Henry M Stanley 1872.jpg|thumb|right|110px|[[Henry Morton Stanley]]]]
[[File:Pierre Auguste Renoir, uncropped image.jpg|thumb|right|110px|[[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]]]
* [[January 8]]
** [[Hakeem Noor-ud-Din]], Muslim scholar, 1st [[Caliph]] of the [[Ahmadiyya Muslim Community]] in [[Islam]] (d. [[1914]])
** [[Kate Stone]], American diarist (d. [[1907]])
* [[January 14]] – [[Berthe Morisot]], French painter (d. [[1895]])
* [[January 15]] – [[Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby]], English-Canadian politician, soldier (d. [[1908]])
* [[January 23]] – [[Benoît-Constant Coquelin]], French actor, ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (d. [[1909]])
* [[January 25]] – [[John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher]], British admiral (d. [[1920]])
* [[January 27]] – [[Alexandru Candiano-Popescu]], Romanian general, lawyer, journalist, and poet (d. [[1901]])
* [[January 28]] – [[Henry Morton Stanley|Sir Henry Morton Stanley]], Welsh explorer, journalist (d. [[1904]])
* [[January 30]] – [[Félix Faure]], President of France (d. [[1899]])
* [[February 2]] – [[François-Alphonse Forel]], Swiss hydrologist (d. [[1912]])
* [[February 4]] – [[Clément Ader]], French engineer, inventor, and airplane pioneer (d. [[1926]])
* [[February 9]] – [[Sigrid Torsk]], Swedish jewellery designer (d. [[1924]])
* [[February 10]] – [[Alfred Heaver]], English property developer (d. [[1901]])
* [[February 15]] – [[Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales]], 4th President of Brazil (d. [[1913]])
* [[February 16]] – [[Armand Guillaumin]], French painter, lithographer (d. [[1927]])
* [[February 24]] – [[Carl Gräbe]], German chemist (d. [[1927]])
* [[February 25]] – [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]], French painter (d. [[1919]])
* [[March 1]] – [[Luigi Luzzatti]], Italian financier, economist, philosopher, and jurist, 20th [[Prime Minister of Italy]] (d. [[1927]])
* [[March 8]] – [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]], [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] (d. [[1935]])
* [[March 15]] – [[Pietro Bonilli]], Italian [[Roman Catholic]] priest and blessed (d. [[1935]])
* [[April 3]] – [[Hermann Carl Vogel]], German astrophysicist, astronomer (d. [[1907]])
* [[April 9]] – [[William George Aston]], British consular official (d. [[1911]])
* [[April 13]] – [[Louis-Ernest Barrias]], French sculptor (d. [[1905]])
* [[May 10]] – [[James Gordon Bennett Jr.]], American newspaper publisher (d. [[1918]])
* [[May 14]] – Sir [[Squire Bancroft]], English actor (d. [[1926]])
* [[May 15]] – [[Clarence Dutton]], American geologist (d. [[1912]])
* [[June 1]] – [[Edward Lyon Buchwalter]], Union captain in the American Civil War, businessman, and banker (d. [[1933]])

=== July–December ===
[[File: The Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier Photo C (HS85-10-16873).jpg|thumb|110px|[[Wilfrid Laurier]]]]
[[File:Dvorak.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Antonín Dvořák]]]]
* [[July 2]] – [[Alexander Mikhaylovich Zaytsev]], Russian chemist (d. [[1910]])
* [[July 4]] – [[Josef Drásal]], the tallest Czech (d. [[1886]])
* [[July 5]] – [[Mary Arthur McElroy]], ''de facto'' [[First Lady of the United States]] (d. [[1917]])
* [[August 6]] – [[Florence Baker]], Hungarian-born explorer (d. [[1916]])
* [[August 10]] – [[Oronhyatekha]], Canadian Mohawk physician, CEO of an international benefit society, native statesman, scholar, rights campaigner and international shooter (d. [[1907]])
* [[August 14]] – [[Joaquín Vara de Rey y Rubio]], Spanish general (d. [[1898]])
* [[August 24]] – [[Anna Hierta-Retzius]], Swedish women's rights activist (d. [[1924]])
* [[August 25]] – [[Emil Theodor Kocher|Emil Kocher]], Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (d. [[1917]])
* [[August 28]] – [[Louis Le Prince]], French inventor, ''Father of Cinematography'' (d. [[1890]])
* [[September 8]]
** [[Antonín Dvořák]], Czech composer (d. [[1904]])
** [[Charles J. Guiteau]], American lawyer, assassin of [[James A. Garfield]] (d. [[1882]])
* [[September 10]] – [[Yamaji Motoharu]], Japanese general (d. [[1897]])
* [[September 28]] – [[Georges Clemenceau]], French statesman (d. [[1929]])
* [[October 4]] – [[Prudente de Morais]], 3rd President of Brazil (d. [[1902]])
* [[October 7]] – King [[Nicholas I of Montenegro]] (d. [[1921]])
* [[October 16]] – Prince [[Itō Hirobumi]], 4-time prime minister of Japan (d. [[1909]])
* [[November 6]]
** [[Nelson W. Aldrich]], Senator from Rhode Island (d. [[1915]])
** [[Armand Fallières]], 9th President of France (d. [[1931]])
* [[November 9]] – King [[Edward VII]] of the United Kingdom (d. [[1910]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Edward VII |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/edward-vii |website=Westminster Abbey |access-date=7 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[November 13]] – [[Edward Burd Grubb Jr.]], [[American Civil War]] Union Brevet Brigadier General (d.[[1913]])
* [[November 20]] – [[Wilfrid Laurier|Sir Wilfrid Laurier]], 7th [[Prime Minister of Canada]] (d. [[1919]])
* [[November 25]] – [[Ernst Schröder (mathematician)|Ernst Schröder]], German mathematician and academic (d. [[1902]])<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Schroder}}</ref>
* [[December 4]] – [[Anna Tuschinski]], Esperantist from [[Danzig]] (d. [[1939]])<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-26 |title=Anna Eliza Tuschinski (1841–1939) |url=https://www.reformacja-pomorze.pl/2021/03/26/anna-eliza-tuschinski1841-1939/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=Committee for Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in Pomerania |language=pl-PL}}</ref>
* [[December 6]] – [[Frédéric Bazille]], French painter (k. [[1870]])
* [[December 20]] – [[Ferdinand Buisson]], French pacifist, recipient of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] (d. [[1932]])

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Arousyak Papazian]], Armenian actress, writer (d. [[1907]])

== Deaths ==

=== January–June ===
[[File:William Henry Harrison daguerreotype edit.jpg|thumb|right|100px|[[William Henry Harrison]]]]
[[File:San Pedro Chanel.jpg|thumb|right|100px|Saint [[Peter Chanel]]]]
* [[January 15]] – [[Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot]], Baltic-German naturalist, traveller (b. [[1792]])
* [[January 20]] – [[Jørgen Jørgensen]], Danish adventurer (b. [[1780]])
* [[February 12]] – [[Astley Cooper|Sir Astley Cooper]], British surgeon and anatomist (b. [[1768]])
* [[February 17]] – [[Ferdinando Carulli]], Italian guitarist (b. [[1770]])
* [[March 1]] – [[Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno]], French marshal (b. [[1764]])
* [[March 12]] – [[Richard Roberts (sea captain)|Richard Roberts]], captain of {{SS|President}} (b. [[1803]])
* [[March 16]] – [[Félix Savart]], French physicist (b. [[1791]])
* [[April 4]] – [[William Henry Harrison]], American military officer and politician, 9th [[President of the United States]] (b. [[1773]])
* [[April 10]] – [[William Lloyd (Methodist minister)|William Lloyd]], Welsh Anglican priest turned schoolteacher, Methodist preacher (b. [[1771]])
* [[April 16]] –  [[Frederick Reynolds (writer)|Frederick Reynolds]], English playwright (b. [[1764]])
* [[April 28]] – [[Peter Chanel]], French [[Roman Catholic]] priest, missionary, and saint (martyred) (b. [[1803]])
* [[April 30]] – [[Peter Andreas Heiberg]], Danish author, philologist (b. [[1758]])
* [[May 13]] – [[Maria Madeline Taylor]], Australian stage actor (b. [[1805]])
* [[May 16]] – [[Marie Boivin]], French midwife, inventor, and obstetrics writer (b. [[1773]])
* [[May 20]] – [[Joseph Blanco White]], British theologian (b. [[1775]])
* [[May 23]] – [[Franz Xaver von Baader]], German philosopher, theologian (b. [[1765]])
* [[June 1]]
** [[Nicolas Appert]], French inventor (b. [[1749]])
** [[David Wilkie (artist)|David Wilkie]], Scottish artist (b. [[1785]])

=== July–December ===
* [[July]] – [[Mary Rogers]] ("Beautiful Cigar Girl"), American murder victim (b. c. [[1820]])
* [[August 16]] – [[Fernando Errázuriz Aldunate]], Chilean politician, President of Chile (b.c [[1777]])
* [[August 24]] – [[Theodore Edward Hook]], English author (b. [[1788]])
* [[September 25]] – [[John Chandler]], American politician (b. [[1762]])
* [[October 9]] – [[Karl Friedrich Schinkel]], German architect (b. [[1781]])
* [[November 18]] – [[Agustín Gamarra]], Peruvian general and politician, 10th and 14th President of Peru (b. [[1785]])
* [[December 4]] – [[David Daniel Davis]], British physician (b. [[1777]])
* [[December 23]] – [[William Hay Macnaghten]], Anglo-Indian [[diplomat]] (b. [[1793]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=Historical Reference Book|author-link=Louis Heilprin|first=Louis|last=Heilprin|location=New York|publisher=D. Appleton and Company|year=1885|chapter=Chronological Table of Universal History|hdl=2027/wu.89097349187?urlappend=%3Bseq=165|chapter-url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89097349187?urlappend=%3Bseq=165|quote=1841|via=Hathi Trust}}

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