December 1859 in History

Events in History

Dec 2 Abolitionist John Brown hung for murder, treason and conspiring slaves to revolt at Charles Town, Virginia

Dec 2 Georges Seurat, French post-impressionist painter (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte), born in Paris, France (d. 1891)

Dec 5 John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, British Admiral of the Fleet, born in Southampton (d. 1935)

Dec 12 Maurice Donnay, French playwright (Lovers)
Dec 15 Ludwik L Zamenhof, Russian Poland, physician/linguist (Esperanto)
Dec 17 Paul César Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)
Dec 20 Antonius J Derkinderen, Dutch painter/etcher
Dec 21 Gustave Kahn, French poet (claimed to have invented vers libre)
Dec 26 Johan F van Bemmelen, Dutch zoologist
Dec 26 William Stephens, U.S. political figure (d. 1944)
Dec 28 John W Fortescue, military historian
Dec 29 Venustiano Carranza, Mexican revolutionary and President of Mexico (1915-20), born in Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila, Mexico (d. 1920)

Dec 2 John Brown, American abolitionist and revolutionary (Harpers Ferry), hanged at 59

Dec 8 Thomas De Quincey, English writer (Confessions of English Opium Eater), dies at 74

Dec 16 Wilhelm Grimm, German writer (Grimm's Fairy Tales), dies at 73

Dec 21 Nicolaas Christiaan Kist, Dutch Reformed theologian and church historian, dies at 66
Dec 28 Thomas Babington Macaulay, English poet and historian (Ivry, Naaseby), dies at 59