Events in History
Appointment of Interest
Aug 12 Robert Southey is appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III

George III
- Aug 14 British warship Pelican attacks & captures US war brigantine Argus

Napoléon Bonaparte
- Aug 30 Battle of Kulm: French forces defeated by Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance.
Birthdays in History
- Aug 5 Carnot Posey, American Confederate brigadier general, born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi (d. 1863)
- Aug 5 Ivar Aasen, Norwegian linguist and poet, born in Ørsten, Norway (d. 1896)
- Aug 15 Jules Grévy, 2nd President of the French Third Republic, born in Mont-sous-Vaudrey, France (d. 1891)
- Aug 18 Benjamin Alvord, American scientist and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Vancouver, Washington (d. 1884)
- Aug 21 Jean Stas, Belgian chemist, born in Leuven, Belgium (d. 1891)
- Aug 26 Nicaise de Keyser, Flemish painter (Battle of Guilder Tracks)
- Aug 30 Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria, born in Augsburg, Germany (d. 1862)
Deaths in History
- Aug 11 Henry James Pye, English poet, British Poet Laureate (1790-1813), dies at 68
- Aug 21 Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, Queen consort of Sweden, dies at 67
- Aug 23 Alexander Wilson, Scottish ornithologist and naturalist, dies at 47
- Aug 26 Karl Theodor Korner, German poet (Vetter aus Bremen), dies at 21