On This Day

August 1831 in History

Events in History

  • Aug 1 London Bridge opens to traffic
  • Aug 2 Ten day campaign begins, Dutch army occupies Belgium
  • Aug 8 Battle of Hasselt - Dutch army drives out Belgians
  • Aug 9 1st US steam engine train run (Albany to Schenectady, NY)
  • Aug 10 Hurricane hits Barbados; about 1,500 die
  • Aug 12 Dutch troops conquer Leuven
  • Aug 12 Netherlands & Belgium sign peace treaty

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Aug 21 Former slave Nat Turner leads uprising against slavery

Rebel Slave Nat Turner
Rebel Slave
Nat Turner

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Aug 24 John Henslow asks Charles Darwin to travel with him on the HMS Beagle

Naturalist Charles Darwin
Naturalist
Charles Darwin

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Aug 29 Michael Faraday demonstrates 1st electric transformer

Scientist and Inventor Michael Faraday
Scientist and Inventor
Michael Faraday

Birthdays in History

  • Aug 16 Edward Payson Chapin, American lawyer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Waterloo, New York (d. 1863)
  • Aug 16 John Jones Ross, Canadian politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (1884-87), born in Quebec City, Canada (d. 1901)
  • Aug 19 Stephen Gano Burbridge, "Butcher of Kentucky", American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Georgetown, Kentucky (d. 1894)
  • Aug 28 Lucy Ware Webb Hayes, 1st lady of the United States (1877-81), born in Chillicothe, Ohio (d. 1889)

Deaths in History

  • Aug 23 August WA Grave von Gneisenau, Prussian fieldmarshal, dies at 70