1808

Events in 1808 9

• 1808 – 1863 Frederick VII of Denmark (1808-1863) Died 15 November 1863, aged 55 Frederick VII was King of Denmark from 1848 and signed the constitution establishing a constitutional monarchy. His death without an heir triggered a succession crisis over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that led directly to the Second Schleswig War.
• 1808 – 1855 Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855) Died 26 January 1855, aged 46 French poet and writer Gerard de Nerval was found dead in a Paris street, an apparent suicide, after years of mental illness. He was a leading figure of French Romanticism known for works such as Aurelia. His writing influenced later Symbolist and Surrealist poets.
• 1808 – 1845 Henrik Wergeland (1808-1845) Died 12 July 1845, aged 37 Henrik Wergeland was a Norwegian poet and one of the country's most important national writers. He campaigned for popular education and for lifting the ban on Jews entering Norway. Norway's Constitution Day celebrations owe much to his promotion of them.
• 1808 – 1879 Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) Died 10 February 1879, aged 70 Honoré Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and caricaturist renowned for his satirical lithographs of French politics and society. He produced thousands of prints for Parisian journals over a four-decade career, often targeting corruption and social injustice. Daumier died in Valmondois, France, nearly blind and in poverty.
• 1808 – 1889 Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) Died 6 December 1889, aged 81 Davis served as the only president of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. After the war he was imprisoned for two years before being released without trial, and he spent his final decades writing and speaking in defense of the Confederate cause.
• 1808 – 1848 Mohammad Shah Qajar (1808-1848) Died 5 September 1848, aged 40 Shah of Persia from 1834. His reign included a failed siege of Herat and growing British and Russian influence. His son Naser al-Din Shah succeeded him.
• 1808 – 1873 Napoleon III (1808-1873) Died 9 January 1873, aged 64 Napoleon III, the last monarch to rule France as emperor, died in exile in Chislehurst, England, following surgery for bladder stones. He had been deposed in 1870 after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and capture at Sedan. His death ended hopes of a Bonapartist restoration led by him personally.
• 1808 – 1873 Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) Died 7 May 1873, aged 65 The sixth Chief Justice of the United States, who had earlier served as Treasury Secretary under Lincoln and helped establish the national banking system, died in New York City. As Chief Justice he presided over the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
• 1808 – 1875 Andrew Johnson 17th President — impeached by Congress Andrew Johnson (Dec 29, 1808 – Jul 31, 1875) was the 17th President 1865-1869. He succeeded Lincoln after the assassination and was the first US president to be impeached, in 1868, though he was acquitted by the Senate.