Historical Events
Event of Interest
May 11 Launch of HMS Beagle, the ship that would later take a young Charles Darwin on his famous scientific voyage
Charles Darwin
Famous Birthdays
Florence Nightingale
May 12 Florence Nightingale, British nurse (Crimean War), born in Florence, Italy (d. 1910)
Florence Nightingale
- May 22 Alexander Fesca, German pianist and composer, born in Karlsruhe, Germany (d. 1849)
- May 23 James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (Eads Bridge-St Louis), born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana (d. 1887)
- May 23 Lorenzo Sawyer, 9th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, born in Le Roy, New York (d. 1891)
- May 27 Mathilde Bonaparte, French princess (daughter of Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte and his second wife, Catharina of Württemberg, daughter of King Frederick I of Württemberg) and socialite, born in Trieste, Italy (d. 1904)
- May 28 Willem Doorenbos, Dutch literary and critic, born in Deersum, Netherlands (d. 1906)
- May 30 Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, French Canadian politician (1st Premier of Quebec), born in Charlesbourg, Quebec (d. 1890)
