August 1858 in History

Events in History

  • Aug 2 1st mailboxes installed in Boston and NYC streets
  • Aug 2 Government of India transferred from East India Company to the British Crown

Event of Interest

Aug 5 First transatlantic telegraph cable lands at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland spearheaded by Cyrus West Field (will fail after 3 weeks)

  • Aug 11 First ascent of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland
  • Aug 15 Regular mail to Pacific coast begins

Historic Invention

Aug 16 Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs US President James Buchanan for 1st time by transatlantic telegraph cable, he replies "it is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle."

  • Aug 17 1st bank in Hawaii opens
  • Aug 18 Netherlands & Japan sign trade agreement
  • Aug 20 Rudolf Virchov's groundbreaking medical text "Cellular Pathology" is published in Berlin, establishing the basis for modern medical science [1]
  • Aug 21 1st Lincoln-Douglas debate in Illinois
  • Aug 24 Richmond "Daily Dispatch" reports 90 blacks arrested for learning

Birthdays in History

  • Aug 1 Paul Barth, German philosopher and sociologist, born in Oleśnica, Poland (d. 1922)
  • Aug 2 Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen consort of William and Regent of the Netherlands, born in Arolsen Castle, Arolsen, Waldeck and Pyrmont, German Confederation (d. 1934)
  • Aug 2 William Watson, British poet (Prince's Quest, Father of Forest), born in Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire (d. 1935)

Christiaan EijkmanChristiaan Eijkman (1858-1930)

Aug 11 Dutch physician and bacteriologist (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1929), born in Nijkerk, Netherlands

  • Aug 15 Edith Nesbit, British children books author (The Story of the Treasure Seekers, Five Children and It), born in London, England (d. 1924)
  • Aug 16 Arthur Achleitner, German writer, born in Straubing, Germany (d. 1927)

Rudolf, Crown Prince of AustriaRudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (1858-1889)

Aug 21 Crown Prince of Austria and heir apparent to the Imperial throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, born in Schloss Laxenburg, Lower Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire

  • Aug 27 Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and glottologist, born in Spinetta, Piedmont, Italy (d. 1932)

Deaths in History

  • Aug 14 George Combe, phrenologist, dies
  • Aug 18 William Austin Burt, American scientist, surveyor and inventor who patented America's first typographer (typewriter) and the equatorial sextant, dies at 66