1844

Years: 1841 1842 1843 - 1844 - 1845 1846 1847

Decades: 1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1844 in topic: Arts Architecture - Art - Literature - Music Other topics Canada - Rail transport - Science - South Africa - Sport Lists of leaders: Colonial governors - State leaders From Categories: births - deaths

1844 was a Leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).

Events

• January 15 - University of Notre Dame receives its charter from Indiana.
• February 27 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
• February 28 - A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing two United States Cabinet members and several others.
• April - The Fleet Prison for debtors in London is abolished.
• May 23 - Persian Prophet The Báb announces His revelation, founding Bábism.
• May 24 - First electrical telegram sent by Samuel Morse from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C., saying "What hath God wrought?".
• June 6 - George Williams founds the Young Men's Christian Association in London.
• June 15 - Charles Goodyear receives a Patent for Vulcanization, a process to strengthen Rubber.
• June 27 - Joseph Smith, Jr. is murdered with his brother Hyrum in Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois.
• July 3 - The last pair of Great Auks are killed.
• August 8 - During a meeting held in Nauvoo, the Quorum of Twelve, headed by Brigham Young, is created as the leading body of the Mormon Church.
• October 22 - Date predicted by the Millerites for the Second Coming of Jesus; leads to the Great Disappointment.
• November - James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay in the U.S. presidential election
• 3 November - Debut of Giuseppe Verdi's I due Foscari, at Teatro Argentina, Rome.
• November 6 - The Dominican Republic gains its independence from Spain.

• First ever international Cricket match is played in New York City between Canada and the United States.
• Swedish chemistry professor Gustaf Erik Pasch invents the safety match
• Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx meet in Paris
• Alexander Dumas Jr meets Marie Duplessis
• Locksmith Alexander Fichet invents the first Safe
• Carlos Antonio Lopez becomes dictator of Paraguay
• Abd al-Kader is defeated at Isly in Morocco. The sultan of Morocco soon repudiates his ally.

Births

• February 17 - Aaron Montgomery Ward, American department store founder (d. 1913)
• February 20 - Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (d. 1906)
• February 20 - Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
• February 21 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
• March 10 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist (d. 1908)
• March 18 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (d. 1908)
• March 30 - Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
• April 16 - Anatole France, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
• May 17 - Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (d. 1918)
• May 21 - Henri Rousseau, French artist (d. 1910)
• May 22 - Mary Cassatt, American artist (d. 1926)
• May 23 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (d. 1921)
• June 3 - Garret A. Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States (d. 1899)
• July 11 - King Peter I of Serbia (d. 1921)
• July 22 - William Archibald Spooner, British scholar and Anglican priest (d. 1930)
• July 28 - Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (d. 1889)
• August 6 - Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
• August 17 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
• August 22 - George Washington DeLong, American naval officer and explorer (d. 1881)
• August 23 - Hamilton Disston, American land developer (d. 1896)
• August 29 - Edward Carpenter, English Socialist poet (d. 1929
• October 15 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (d. 1900)
• October 22 - Louis Riel, Canadian leader (d. 1885)
• October 22 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress
• October 23 - Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)
• October 27 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacirist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1916)
• November 2 - Mehmed V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
• November 23 - Karl Benz, German automotive pioneer
• December 1 - Alexandra of Denmark, queen of Edward VII of England (d. 1925)
• December 8 - Émile Reynaud, French science teacher and animation pioneer
• Abd ar-Rahman Khan, Emir of Afghanistan

Deaths

• January 27 - Charles Nodier, French writer (b. 1780)
• February 27 - Nicholas Biddle, president of the Second Bank of the United States (b. 1786)
• March 8 - King Charles XIV John of Sweden, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, French Napoleonic general (b. 1763)
• June 27 - Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (b. 1800)
• June 27 - Joseph Smith, Jr., American religious leader (b. 1805)
• July 27 - John Dalton, English chemist and physicist (b. 1766)
• July 28 - Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I and King of Napes and Spain (b. 1768)
• July 29 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer (b. 1791)