Mostly persons or events c.1789-1914
[Last updated: 01 March 2023]
JANUARY:
1 January 1818 – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley published.
3 January 1892 – JRR Tolkien born (1892-1973).
6 January 1832 – Gustave Doré born (1832-1883). French artist, printmaker, illustrator, caricaturist & sculptor.
6 January 1840 – “Fanny” (Frances) Burney dies (1752-1840). Satirical novelist, diarist & playwright.
8 January 1824 – Wilkie Collins born (1824-1889).
11 January 1928 – Thomas Hardy dies (1840-1928).
12 January 1976 – Agatha Christie dies (England, 1890-1976).
14 January 1898 – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson dies (1832-1898). [Alias, Lewis Carroll]
17 January 1820 – Anne Bronte born (1820-1849). Author of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
18 January 1936 – Rudyard Kipling dies (1865-1936).
18 January 1882 – A.A. Milne was born (1882-1956). Author of Winnie-the-Pooh.
19 January 1809 – Edgar Allan Poe born (1809-1849).
19 January 1839 – Paul Cézanne born (1839-1906). Post-Impressionist artist.
22 January 1788 – Lord Byron born (1788-1824). Poet, politician & leading figure in the Romantic movement.
23 January 1883 – Gustave Doré dies (1832-1883). French artist, printmaker, illustrator, caricaturist & sculptor.
23 January 1931 – Anna Pavlova dies (1881-1931). Ballerina.
23 January 1875 – Charles Kingsley dies (1819–1875), Church of England clergyman, university professor, Christian socialist, historian & novelist.
25 January 1759 – Robert [“Rabbie”] Burns born (1759-1796). Scottish poet & lyricist.
25 January 1882 – Virginia Woolf born (1882-1941). Writer & modernist.
27 January 1832 – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson born (1832-1898). [Alias, Lewis Carroll]
28 January 1813 – Pride & Prejudice published (Jane Austen).
29 January 1888 – Edward Lear dies (1812-1888), mostly for his nonsense poetry & prose.
29 January 1860 – Anton Chekhov born (1860-1904). Russian playwright & short story writer.
31 January 1956 – A.A. Milne dies (1882-1956). Author of Winnie-the-Pooh.
FEBRUARY:
1 February 1851 – Mary Shelley dies (1797-1851).
7 February 1812 – Charles Dickens born (1812-1870).
9 February 1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky dies (1821-1881).
10 February 1917– John William Waterhouse dies (England, 1849-1917). Artist known for painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style.
10 February 1775 – Charles Lamb was born (1775-1834). English essayist, poet & antiquarian.
11 February 1940 – John Buchan dies (1875-1940). Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician.
12 February 1809 – Charles Darwin was born (1809-1882). Scientist.
12 February 1881 – Anna Pavlova was born (1881-1931). Ballerina.
13 February 1903 – Georges Simenon born (1903-1989) Belgian writer, best known as the creator of the fictional detective, Jules Maigret.
14 February 1975 – P. G. Wodehouse dies (1881-1975).
18 February 1982 – Ngaio Marsh dies (1895-1982). New Zealand crime writer & theatre director.
18 February 1982 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain published in the United States. It was published the year before (10 December, 1884) in the United Kingdom & Canada.
21 February 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
21 February 1921 – George Dunlop Leslie dies (1835-1921). English genre painter, author and illustrator.
23 February 1821 – John Keats dies (1795-1821).
26 February 1802 – Victor Hugo born (1802-1885).
27 February 1902 – John Steinbeck born.
MARCH:
6 March 1888 – Louisa May Alcott dies (1832–1888). Author of Little Women & its sequels.
7 March 1875 – Maurice Ravel born (France, 1875-1937). Composer, pianist & conductor. Most famous for Bolero.
10 March 1787 – William Etty born (England, 1787-1849), artist.
14 March 1915 – Walter Crane dies (1845-1915). English artist & book illustrator.
18 March 1874 – Josef Mandl (Czech, 1874-1933). Artist.
28 March 1941 – Virginia Woolf dies (1882-1941). Writer & modernist.
30 March 1820 – Anna Sewell born (Black Beauty).
31 March 1855 – Charlotte Bronte dies (1816-1855). Author of Jane Eyre.
APRIL:
1 April 1854 – Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine ‘Household Words’
2 April 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen born (Emperor’s New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling)
2 April 1827 – William Holman Hunt born (England, 1827-1910). English artist and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
3 April 1783 – Washington Irving born (Sleepy Hollow)
3 April 1897 – Johannes Brahms dies (pianist & composer)
5 April 1867 – Helen Stratton born (British book illustrator)
6 April 1895 – Oscar Wilde arrested (The Importance of Being Earnest)
6 April 1849 – John William Waterhouse born (England, 1849-1917). Artist known for painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style, subjects including Greek mythology and Arthurian legend.
7 April 1836 – William Godwin dies (The Adventures of Caleb Williams)
8 April 1820 – The Venus de Milo discovered on Aegean island (ancient Greek statue)
9 April 1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti dies (UK, 1828-1882). Poet, illustrator, painter and translator. One of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
15 April 1843 – Henry James born (The Portrait of a Lady).
15 April 1912 – RMS Titanic sank in the early hours, North Atlantic Ocean.
16 April 1821 – Ford Madox Brown born (1821-1893). French-born British painter in the Pre-Raphaelite style.
19 April 1824 – Lord Byron dies (1788-1824). Poet, politician & leading figure in the Romantic movement.
19 April 1881 – Benjamin Disraeli dies (1804-1881). Writer, British statesman & Prime Minister.
19 April 1882 – Charles Darwin dies (1809-1882).
19 April 1989 – Daphne du Maurier dies (England, 1907-1989). Author of Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, The Birds & Don’t Look Now.
20 April 1912 – Bram Stoker dies (Dracula).
21 April 1816 – Charlotte Bronte born (1816-1855). Author of Jane Eyre.
21 April 1910 – Mark Twain dies (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).
23 April 1775 – J. M. W. Turner born (1775-1851). English Romantic painter, printmaker & watercolourist.
23 April 1895 – Ngaio Marsh born (1895-1982). New Zealand crime writer & theatre director.
25 April 1878 – Anna Sewell dies. Author of Black Beauty.
25 April 1815 – Anthony Trollope born (1815-1882). Author of the Barsetshire and Palliser novels.
27 April 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft born (England, 1759–1797), writer.
27 April 1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson dies (Essayist, lecturer & poet).
MAY:
2 May 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome born (1859-1927).
4 May 1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley born (England, 1825–1895), English biologist. Known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
7 May 1840 – Caspar David Friedrich died (1774 -1840). Artist.
7 May 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky born (1840-93). Russian composer.
8 May 1880 – Gustave Flaubert dies (1821-1880). Author of Madame Bovary.
9 May 1860 – J.M. Barrie born (1860-1937). Novelist & playwright, best remembered for Peter Pan.
10 May 1849 – Katsushika Hokusai dies (Japan, 1760-1849). Artist.
12 May 1820 – Florence Nightingale born (1820-1910). English social reformer, statistician & the founder of modern nursing.
12 May 1828 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti born (UK, 1828-1882). Poet, illustrator, painter and translator. One of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
12 May 1812 – Edward Lear born (1812-1888), mostly for his nonsense poetry & prose.
13 May 1907 – Daphne du Maurier born (England, 1907-1989). Author of Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, The Birds & Don’t Look Now.
13 May 1917 – Arthur Sullivan born (1842-1900). English composer, best known for 14 comic operas in collaboration with composer W. S. Gilbert, inc. H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.
14 May 1925 – H. Rider Haggard dies (1856-1925). English writer of adventure novels.
15 May 1886 – Emily Dickinson born (1830-1886), American poet.
15 May 1863 – Frank Hornby born (England, 1863-1936). Inventor, businessman & politician.
19 May 1898 – William Gladstone dies (1809-1898). British statesman & Prime Minister.
20 May 1898 – Margery Allingham born (1904-1966). Creator of the gentleman sleuth, Albert Campion.
22 May 1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle born (1859-1930). Author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
26 May 1897 – Publication of Dracula (1897) by Irish author, Bram Stoker.
28 May 1849 – Anne Bronte dies (1820-1849). Author of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
29 May 1874 – G.K. Chesterton born (1874-1936).
29 May 1874 – T. H. White born (1906-1964). Author of Arthurian novels.
29 May 1911 – W. S. Gilbert dies (1836-1911). English dramatist, librettist, poet & illustrator – best known for 14 comic operas in collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, inc. H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.
31 May 1819 – Walt Whitman born (Leaves of Grass)
JUNE:
2 June 1840 – Thomas Hardy born (1840-1928).
5 June 1883 – The first Orient Express train departed from Paris (to Vienna).
8 June 1829 – John Everett Millais born (England, 1829-1896). English artist and illustrator, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
9 June 1870 – Charles Dickens dies (1812-1870).
12 June 1936 – M.R. James dies. Writer & academic. Best remembered for his ghost stories.
12 June 1819 – Charles Kingsley was born (1819–1875), Church of England clergyman, university professor, Christian socialist, historian & novelist.
13 June 1752 – “Fanny” (Frances) Burney born (1752-1840). Satirical novelist, diarist & playwright.
13 June 1893 – Dorothy L. Sayers born (1893-1957). English crime writer and poet.
14 June 1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe born (1811-1896). American abolitionist & writer. Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
14 June 1936 – G.K. Chesterton dies (1874-1936).
14 June 1927 – Jerome K. Jerome dies (1859-1927).
17 June 1898 – Edward Burne-Jones dies (1833-1898). British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
19 June 1937 – J.M. Barrie dies (1860-1937). Novelist & playwright, best remembered for Peter Pan.
22 June 1856 – H. Rider Haggard born (1856-1925). English writer of adventure novels.
26 June 1817 – Branwell Brontë born (1817–1848). English painter & writer. Only son of the famous literary family.
29 June 1895 – Thomas Henry Huxley dies (England, 1825–1895), English biologist. Known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
30 June 1966 – Margery Allingham dies (1904-1966). Creator of the gentleman sleuth, Albert Campion.
JULY:
1 July 1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe dies (1811-1896). American abolitionist & writer. Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
2 July 1835 – George Dunlop Leslie born (1835-1921). English genre painter, author and illustrator.
7 July 1930 – Arthur Conan Doyle dies (1859-1930). Author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
15 July 1799 – Lieutenant Pierre-François uncovers the Rosetta Stone in Egypt
15 July 1904 – Anton Chekhov dies (1860-1904). Russian playwright & short story writer.
18 July 1817 – Jane Austen dies (1775-1817). Author of works, including, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility & Emma.
18 July 1817 – William Makepeace Thackeray born (1811-1863). Best known for his satirical works, esp. Vanity Fair.
21 July 1899 – Ernest Hemingway born (A Farewell to Arms)
21 July 1796 – Robert [“Rabbie”] Burns dies (1759-1796). Scottish poet & lyricist.
24 July 1802 – Alexandre Dumas born (1802-1870), writer. Author of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers.
24 July 1895 – Robert Graves born (1895-1985), writer and critic.
28 July 1866 – Beatrix Potter born (Peter Rabbit)
30 July 1818 – Emily Bronte born (1818-1848). Author of Wuthering Heights.
31 July 1886 – Franz Liszt dies (1811–1886). Post-Impressionist artist. Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist & conductor. Friend & benefactor to Chopin, Wagner, Berlioz, Schumann, Grieg, Borodin & others.
AUGUST:
1 August 1862 – M.R. James born. Writer & academic. Best remembered for his ghost stories.
13 August – International Lefthanders Day
13 August 1910 – Florence Nightingale dies (1820-1910). English social reformer, statistician & the founder of modern nursing.
13 August 1896 – John Everett Millais dies (England, 1829-1896). English artist and illustrator, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
13 August – H.G. Wells dies (1866-1946), writer. Author of The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, Kipps, The History of Mr Polly.
15 August 1785 – Thomas De Quincey born (1785-1859). Journalist, translator & essayist. Best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.
15 August 1845 – Walter Crane born (1845-1915). English artist & book illustrator.
26 August 1875 – John Buchan born (1875-1940). Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician.
28 August 1833 – Edward Burne-Jones born (1833-1898). British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
29 August 1797 – Joseph Wright of Derby dies (England, 1734-1797). “Artist of the Industrial Revolution”.
30 August – Mary Shelley born (England, 1797-1851), writer. Author of Frankenstein and The Last Man.
SEPTEMBER:
1 September – Edgar Rice Burroughs born (USA, 1875-1950). Creator of Tarzan & the Mars adventurer, JohnCarter.
3 September 1734 – Joseph Wright of Derby born (England, 1734-1797). “Artist of the Industrial Revolution”.
4 September 1989 – Georges Simenon dies (1903-1989) Belgian writer, best known as the creator of the fictional detective, Jules Maigret.
5 September 1774 – Caspar David Friedrich born (1774 -1840). Artist.
6 September 1836 – John Atkinson Grimshaw born (England, 1836-1893). Artist.
7 September – Dr John Polidori born (England, 1795-1821), writer and physician. Author of The Vampyre. Some credit him as the creator of the vampire genre of fiction.
7 September 1910 – William Holman Hunt dies (England, 1827-1910). English artist and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
9 September – Leo Tolstoy born (Russia, 1828-1910). Author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Cossacks, Death of Ivan Ilyich.
10 September 1797 – Mary Wollstonecraft dies (England, 1759–1797), writer.
11 September – D.H. Lawrence born (England, 1885-1930), writer. Author of Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, Lady Chatterleys Lover.
15 September 1890 – Agatha Christie born (England, 1890-1976).
18 September – Dr Johnson born (England, 1709-1784), writer. Author of A Dictionary of the English Language.
20 September – Jacob Grimm dies (1863). German philologist, jurist & mythologist. Collector of fairy tales [Brothers Grimm]
21 September – H.G. Wells born (1866-1946), writer. Author of The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, Kipps, The History of Mr Polly.
21 September 1936 – Frank Hornby dies (England, 1863-1936). Inventor, businessman & politician.
22 September – Michael Faraday born (1791-1867). Key research in the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
23 September – Wilkie Collins dies, writer (1824-1889). Purveyor of thumping good reads. Author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone.
24 September 1848 – Branwell Brontë dies (1817–1848). English painter & writer. Only son of the famous literary family.
24 September – F. Scott Fitzgerald born, writer (USA, 1896-1940). Author of The Great Gatsby.
25 September – William Faulkner born (USA, 1897-1962). Author of The Sound and the Fury.
26 September – T. S. Eliot born (UK, 1888-1965). Author of The Cocktail Party.
27 September 1822 – Jean-Francois Champollion announced he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone. 3 scripts: hieroglyphs, Demotic & Ancient Greek – similar text.
27 September 1840 – Thomas Nast born (1840-1902). German-born American caricaturist & cartoonist. Said by some to be the “Father of the American Cartoon”.
28 September – Herman Melville dies (1819-1891). Author of Moby Dick and Typee.
28 September 1895 – Louis Pasteur dies (1822-1895). French biologist, microbiologist & chemist, renowned for the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation & pasteurisation.
29 September 1810 – Elizabeth Gaskell born (1810-1865). English novelist, biographer & short story writer. Author of Mary Barton, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Cranford, North & South.
OCTOBER:
1 October 1861 – Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management is published.
3 October – William Morris died (1834-96), designer and writer.
6 October – Alfred, Lord Tennyson died (1809-1892). Author of The Lady of Shalott and The Charge of the Light Brigade.
6 October 1893 – Ford Madox Brown born (1821-1893). French-born British painter in the Pre-Raphaelite style.
7 October – Edgar Allan Poe born (1809-1849). Author of The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
13 October – Henry Irving died (1838-1905), actor-manager. Said to be an inspiration for Dracula, Bram Stoker was business manager of the theatre.
13 October 1893 – John Atkinson Grimshaw born (England, 1836-1893). Artist.
15 October – Friedrich Nietzsche was born (Germany, 1844-1900).
15 October – P. G. Wodehouse born (1881-1975).
16 October – Oscar Wilde born (1854-1900). Author of The Happy Prince and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
16 October – Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre was published by Smith, Elder & Co. of London, in 1847
17 October – Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) died of tuberculosis. One the world’s greatest composers.
18 October – The Whale by Herman Melville (USA, 1819-1891) was first published in London on 18 Oct 1851, and on 14 Nov in the USA as Moby Dick.
22 October – Edmund Dulac born (France/UK, 1882-1953). Birth of the Pearl (from The Kingdom of the Pearl, 1919) by Edmund Dulac.
22 October – Sarah Bernhardt was born (1844-1923). French actress.
22 October – Paul Cézanne dies (1839-1906). Post-Impressionist artist.
22 October 1811 – Franz Liszt born (1811–1886). Post-Impressionist artist. Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist & conductor. Friend & benefactor to Chopin, Wagner, Berlioz, Schumann, Grieg, Borodin et al.
25 October – Georges Bizet was born (1838-1875). French composer, best known for his operas, especially the ever popular Carmen.
26 October – Carlo Collodi died (Italy, 1826-1890). Author of Pinocchio.
27 October – Dylan Thomas born (1914-1953). Author of Under Milk Wood.
29 October 1924 – Frances Hodgson Burnett dies (1849-1924). British novelist and playwright.
30 October – Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen was published, 1811.
30 October – 1938 Orson Welles broadcast his radio play The War of the Worlds (by H.G. Wells).
31 October 1760 – Katsushika Hokusai born (Japan, 1760-1849). Artist.
NOVEMBER:
2 November – George Bernard Shaw died (1856-1950) Irish playwright, critic and polemicist. Author of Pygmalion.
6 November 1893 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky dies (1840-93). Russian composer.
7 November – Marie Curie born (1867-1934). Conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. First person to win two Nobel prizes, only person to win for two different sciences.
8 November 1847 – Bram Stoker born (Ireland, 1847-1912). Author of Dracula. Writer & theatre manager.
11 November 1821 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky born. Author of Crime & Punishment, Notes from Underground)
12 November 1865 – Elizabeth Gaskell dies (1810-1865). English novelist, biographer & short story writer. Author of Mary Barton, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Cranford, North & South.
13 November 1850 – Robert Louis Stevenson born (1850 – 1894). Author of Treasure Island and many other stories.
13 November 1849 – William Etty dies (England, 1787-1849), artist.
14 November 1883 – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was first published as a book by Cassell & Co.
17 November 1917 – Auguste Rodin dies (1840-1917), French sculptor.
18 November 1917 – b. W. S. Gilbert born (1836-1911). English dramatist, librettist, poet & illustrator – best known for 14 comic operas in collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan.
20 November 1910 – Leo Tolstoy dies (War & Peace)
22 November 1917 – Arthur Sullivan dies (1842-1900). English composer, best known for 14 comic operas in collaboration with composer W. S. Gilbert, inc. H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.
22 November 1819 – Mary Anne Evans born [alias, George Eliot] (1819-1880), poet and novelist. Works include: Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda.
24 November 1859 – On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was published.
24 November 1877 – Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1820-1878) was published.
24 November 1849 – Frances Hodgson Burnett born (1849-1924), British novelist and playwright.
26 November 1865 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland published.
29 November 1898 – C. S. Lewis born (1898-1963). Creator of Narnia.
29 November 1898 – Louisa May Alcott born (1832-1888). Author of Little Women.
30 November 1835 – Mark Twain born (1835–1910). Author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
30 November 1900 – Oscar Wilde dies (The Importance of Being Earnest)
DECEMBER:
3 December 1894 – Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) dies. Works include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.
3 December 1830 – Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) was born. English painter & sculptor.
5 December 1830 – Christina Rossetti born (1830-1894). Writer and poet.
5 December 1933 – Josef Mandl dies (Czech, 1874-1933). Artist.
5 December 1870 – Alexandre Dumas dies (1802-1870), writer. Author of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers.
6 December 1882 – Anthony Trollope dies (1815-1882). Author of the Barsetshire and Palliser novels.
7 December 1985 – Robert Graves born (1895-1985), writer and critic.
7 December 1902 – Thomas Nast dies (1840-1902). German-born American caricaturist & cartoonist. Said by some to be the “Father of the American Cartoon”.
8 December 1859 – Thomas De Quincey dies (1785-1859). Journalist, translator & essayist. Best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.
10 December 1830 – Emily Dickinson born (1830-1886), American poet.
12 December 1821 – Gustave Flaubert born (1821-1880). Author of Madame Bovary.
15 December 1832 – Gustave Eiffel born (1832-1923). French civil engineer & architect. Best known for the Eiffel Tower (Paris) & his contribution to the Statue of Liberty (New York).
16 December 1775 – Jane Austen born (1775-1817). Author of works, including, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility & Emma.
17 December 1957 – Dorothy L. Sayers dies (1893-1957). English crime writer & poet.
19 December 1848 – Emily Bronte dies (1818-1848). Author of Wuthering Heights.
19 December 1843 – Publication of A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
19 December 1851 – J. M. W. Turner dies (1775-1851). English Romantic painter, printmaker & watercolourist.
21 December 1804 – Benjamin Disraeli born (1804-1881). Writer, British statesman & Prime Minister.
22 December 1880 – Mary Anne Evans dies [alias, George Eliot] (1819-1880), poet and novelist. Works include: Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda.
23 December 1815 – Emma by Jane Austen published
24 December 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray dies (1811-1863). Best known for his satirical works, esp. Vanity Fair.
27 December 1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.
27 December 1822 – Louis Pasteur born (1822-1895). French biologist, microbiologist & chemist, renowned for the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation & pasteurisation.
27 December 1834 – Charles Lamb dies (1775-1834). English essayist, poet & antiquarian.
27 December 1871 – Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll published.
28 December 1937 – Maurice Ravel dies (France, 1875-1937). Composer, pianist & conductor. Most famous for Bolero.
29 December 1894 – Christina Rossetti dies (1830-1894). Writer and poet.
30 December 1865 – Rudyard Kipling born (Jungle Book)
The Long Victorian 