1802

Events in 1802 5

• 1802 – 1870 Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) Died 5 December 1870, aged 68 Alexandre Dumas, the French novelist and playwright behind The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, died at his son's home in Puys, France, on 5 December 1870. His historical adventure novels made him one of the most widely read authors of the nineteenth century. He died as Prussian troops advanced through the region.
• 1802 – 1894 Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) Died 20 March 1894, aged 91 Kossuth led Hungary's 1848-49 struggle for independence from the Habsburg Empire and served as its regent-president before its defeat. He spent his final decades in exile, mainly in Italy, remaining a symbol of Hungarian nationalism. His death in Turin prompted mass mourning and a huge funeral procession in Budapest.
• 1802 – 1838 Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838) Died 15 October 1838, aged 36 Letitia Elizabeth Landon, known by her initials L.E.L. and one of the most widely read English poets of her generation, died suddenly at Cape Coast Castle in present-day Ghana shortly after arriving with her new husband. The cause, officially ruled accidental prussic acid poisoning, has remained disputed by biographers. Her poetry and literary annuals had made her a major figure in Romantic-era British literary culture.
• 1802 – 1885 Victor Hugo French novelist and poet Hugo wrote Les Miserables and Notre-Dame de Paris, combining Romantic storytelling with social critique.
• 1802 – 1884 Elias Lönnrot Compiler of Kalevala A physician and philologist who collected Finnish folk oral traditions to create the national epic, the Kalevala.