1852

Events in 1852 26

• 1769 – 1852 Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) Died 14 September 1852, aged 83 Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, commanded the allied army that defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 and later served as British Prime Minister. He died at Walmer Castle and was given a state funeral in London.
• 1777 – 1852 Henry Clay (1777-1852) Died 29 June 1852, aged 75 Henry Clay was a US senator and three-time presidential candidate known as "The Great Compromiser" for brokering sectional agreements including the Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850. He died in Washington, D.C.
• 1779 – 1852 Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Died 25 February 1852, aged 72 Thomas Moore was Ireland's leading Romantic poet and songwriter, best known for the collection Irish Melodies and songs such as "The Minstrel Boy". He died at his cottage in Wiltshire, England.
• 1782 – 1852 Daniel Webster (1782-1852) Died 24 October 1852, aged 70 Daniel Webster was a US senator and secretary of state renowned as one of the era's greatest orators, notably in debates over slavery and the Union. He died at his home in Marshfield, Massachusetts.
• 1783 – 1852 Vasily Zhukovsky (1783-1852) Died 24 April 1852, aged 69 Vasily Zhukovsky was a leading Russian Romantic poet and translator who tutored the future Tsar Alexander II. He died in Baden-Baden, Germany, while living abroad.
• 1809 – 1852 Louis Braille (1809-1852) Died 6 January 1852, aged 43 Louis Braille, blinded in a childhood accident, had in the 1820s developed a system of raised dots that let blind readers read and write by touch. He died of tuberculosis in Paris; his Braille system was adopted worldwide after his death.
• 1809 – 1852 Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) Died 4 March 1852, aged 42 Nikolai Gogol was a Russian novelist and playwright whose works, including Dead Souls and The Government Inspector, shaped Russian realist literature. He died in Moscow shortly after burning the manuscript of the unfinished second part of Dead Souls.
• 1815 – 1852 Ada Lovelace Mathematician & First Computer Programmer Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, was an English mathematician best known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her 1843 notes on the machine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a computer, earning her the informal title of the first computer programmer. Daughter of the poet Lord Byron, she was raised by her mother to study mathematics and science rather than poetry, a path that led her to a lifelong intellectual partnership with Babbage. Though she died young, her writings anticipated the potential of computing machines to go far beyond arithmetic.
• 1852 – 1931 Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931) Died 9 May 1931, aged 78 American physicist known for precise measurements of the speed of light and for the Michelson-Morley experiment. In 1907 he became the first American to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences. His interferometer remains a basic tool of physics.
• 1852 – 1933 George Moore (1852-1933) Died 21 January 1933, aged 80 Irish novelist whose works include Esther Waters and The Untilled Field. He was a figure of the Irish Literary Revival.
• 1852 – 1928 H. H. Asquith (1852-1928) Died 15 February 1928, aged 75 Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. His government passed the Parliament Act 1911 and old-age pensions, and it took Britain into the First World War. He was created Earl of Oxford and Asquith in 1925.
• 1852 – 1933 Hipólito Yrigoyen (1852-1933) Died 3 July 1933, aged 80 Leader of the Radical Civic Union who was twice president of Argentina. His overthrow in 1930 was the first military coup in modern Argentine history.
• 1852 – 1931 Joseph Joffre (1852-1931) Died 3 January 1931, aged 78 French general who was commander-in-chief of the French Army from 1914 to 1916. He led the Allied counter-attack at the First Battle of the Marne, which stopped the German advance on Paris. He was made a Marshal of France in 1916.
• 1852 – 1932 Lady Gregory (1852-1932) Died 22 May 1932, aged 80 The Irish dramatist and folklorist co-founded the Abbey Theatre with W. B. Yeats.
• 1852 Otis invents the safety elevator brake A new device prevents elevator cars from falling American mechanic Elisha Otis devised a safety brake that stopped an elevator car from falling if its hoisting rope broke. The invention made passenger elevators practical and later enabled the construction of tall buildings.
• 1852 Roget's Thesaurus first published Peter Mark Roget publishes his landmark reference work English scholar Peter Mark Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, grouping synonyms by concept rather than alphabetically. It became the model for all later thesauruses in English.
• 1852 – 1934 Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) Died 17 October 1934, aged 82 Spanish neuroscientist who showed that the nervous system is made up of individual neurons. He shared the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Camillo Golgi.
• 1852 Battle of Caseros Coalition forces defeat Juan Manuel de Rosas, ending his rule An allied army led by Justo José de Urquiza defeated the forces of Argentine strongman Juan Manuel de Rosas near Buenos Aires. Rosas fled into exile, opening the way to the Argentine Constitution of 1853.
• 1852 Studebaker wagon works founded Brothers open a blacksmith and wagon-making shop in Indiana Henry and Clement Studebaker opened a small blacksmith shop in South Bend, Indiana, building wagons. The business grew into one of America's largest wagon manufacturers and later a major automaker.
• 1852 Sinking of HMS Birkenhead Troopship wreck gives rise to the "women and children first" protocol The British troopship HMS Birkenhead struck rocks off the Cape Colony and sank with heavy loss of life. Soldiers held formation on deck so women and children could board the lifeboats first, an act of discipline that became known as the Birkenhead drill.
• 1852 Wells Fargo & Company founded Banking and express firm launches to serve the California Gold Rush Henry Wells and William Fargo founded Wells Fargo & Company to provide banking and express delivery services across the American West. The firm became a dominant stagecoach express and financial institution during the Gold Rush era.
• 1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin published Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel appears in book form Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, previously serialized, was published as a book and became a bestseller in the United States and Britain. Its depiction of slavery intensified sectional tensions ahead of the American Civil War.
• 1852 Second Anglo-Burmese War British forces invade and annex Lower Burma British warships bombarded and captured Rangoon, opening a second war against the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. By December Britain had seized the province of Pegu, annexing all of Lower Burma to British India.
• 1852 New Zealand Constitution Act passed British Parliament grants self-government to New Zealand settlers The UK Parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act, establishing elected provincial councils and a General Assembly for the colony. It laid the legal foundation for representative government in New Zealand.
• 1852 Franklin Pierce elected US President Democrat wins the 1852 US presidential election Franklin Pierce defeated Whig candidate Winfield Scott to become the 14th President of the United States. He took office the following March.
• 1852 Second French Empire proclaimed Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French Following a plebiscite in which French voters overwhelmingly approved restoring the empire, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte took the title Napoleon III and became Emperor of the French. The move ended the Second Republic and began the Second French Empire, which lasted until 1870.