Historical Figures Born in 1778

  • Jan 3 Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (d. 1861)
  • Jan 6 Thomas Lincoln, American farmer, carpenter, and father President Abraham Lincoln, born in Linville Creek, Virginia (d. 1851)
  • Jan 24 Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, son of French King Charles X, born in Versailles, France (d. 1820)
  • Jan 31 Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky, Bohemian and Austrian statesman (Minister-President of Austria 1848), born in Prague (d. 1861)
  • Feb 4 A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
  • Feb 6 Ugo Foscolo, Italian poet (Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis), born in Zakynthos Island, Greece (d. 1827) (26 Jan Greek calendar)
  • Feb 22 Rembrandt Peale, American portrait and historical painter (Margaret Irvine Miller ,1805; Court of Death, 1820), and museum keeper (Baltimore), born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (d. 1860)

José de San MartínJosé de San Martín (1778-1850)

Feb 25 Argentine General, liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru from Spanish rule, born in Yapeyú, Argentina

  • Mar 3 Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Hanover as the wife of King Ernest Augustus (1837-41), born in Electorate of Hanover, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1841)
  • Mar 19 Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
  • Mar 31 Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (d. 1858)
  • Apr 10 William Hazlitt, English essayist and critic, born in Kent, England (d. 1830)
  • May 18 Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (d. 1854)
  • Jun 7 Beau [George Bryan] Brummel, English dandy, born in London, England (d. 1840)
  • Jul 11 Juan Lovera, Venezuelan artist, born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 1841)
  • Jul 28 Charles Stewart, Rear Admiral (Union Navy), (d. 1869)
  • Aug 12 Francis Horner, Scottish political economist and politician (1810 Bullion Report), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1817)
  • Aug 20 Bernardo O'Higgins, Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule (Supreme Director of Chile 1817-23), born in Chillán, Captaincy General of Chile (d. 1842)
  • Sep 2 Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland (d. 1846)
  • Sep 4 Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, French King of Netherlands (1806-10), born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Kingdom of France (d. 1846)
  • Sep 8 Clemens Brentano, German poet and author (The Story of the Just Casper and Fair Annie), born in Ehrenbreitstein, Germany (d. 1842)
  • Sep 19 Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, born in Cowgate, Edinburgh (d. 1868)

Gustav IV AdolfGustav IV Adolf (1778-1837)

Nov 1 King of Sweden (1792-1809), born in Stockholm Palace, Sweden

  • Nov 25 Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer, born in Birmingham (d. 1856)
  • Nov 27 John Murray II, Scottish publisher (publisher Lord Byron) (d. 1843)
  • Dec 6 Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist, born in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, Kingdom of France (d. 1850)
  • Dec 15 Godert van der Capellen, Dutch governor-general (Dutch-Indies), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1848)
  • Dec 17 Humphry Davy, English chemist, studied electro-chemistry, invented the Davy lamp), born in Penzance, Cornwall, England (d. 1829)
  • Dec 19 Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, born at the Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France (d. 1851)
  • Dec 21 Anders Sandøe Ørsted, Danish politician, born in Rudkøbing, Denmark (d. 1860)
  • Dec 28 Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d. 1846)