1842

Events in 1842 48

• 1755 – 1842 Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) Died 30 March 1842, aged 86 French painter Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was one of the leading portraitists of the late eighteenth century. She was best known as the court painter of Marie Antoinette. After the Revolution she worked across Europe and painted hundreds of portraits.
• 1760 – 1842 Luigi Cherubini Classical opera composer Italian composer based in Paris, known for his operas and sacred music. Beethoven considered him the greatest living composer.
• 1766 – 1842 Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842) Died 25 July 1842, aged 76 French surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey was surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grande Armée. He introduced the "flying ambulance" to carry wounded men from the battlefield, and he pioneered battlefield triage. He is regarded as a founder of modern military medicine.
• 1773 – 1842 Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi (1773-1842) Died 25 June 1842, aged 69 Swiss historian and economist Sismondi wrote histories of the Italian republics and of France. His New Principles of Political Economy was an early critique of industrial capitalism and of overproduction.
• 1774 – 1842 Charles Bell (1774-1842) Died 28 April 1842, aged 67 Scottish surgeon and anatomist Charles Bell did pioneering work on the nervous system. He showed that sensory and motor nerves are distinct. Bell's palsy, a facial paralysis, is named after him.
• 1778 – 1842 Bernardo O'Higgins (1778-1842) Died 24 October 1842, aged 64 Bernardo O'Higgins led the fight for Chilean independence alongside José de San Martín. He served as Supreme Director of Chile from 1817 to 1823. He died in exile in Lima and is honoured as one of the founding fathers of Chile.
• 1778 – 1842 Clemens Brentano (1778-1842) Died 28 July 1842, aged 63 German poet and novelist Clemens Brentano was a central figure of Heidelberg Romanticism. With Achim von Arnim he compiled the folk-song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn.
• 1780 – 1842 William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) Died 2 October 1842, aged 62 American preacher William Ellery Channing was the leading voice of Unitarianism in the United States. His thought influenced the Transcendentalist movement, and he wrote against slavery.
• 1783 – 1842 Stendhal (1783-1842) Died 23 March 1842, aged 59 French novelist Marie-Henri Beyle, known as Stendhal, wrote The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma. He is known for the psychological realism of his novels. He collapsed on a street in Paris and died the next day.
• 1790 – 1842 Letitia Tyler (1790-1842) Died 10 September 1842, aged 51 Letitia Christian Tyler was the first wife of President John Tyler. She was the first First Lady to die while her husband was in office. She had been disabled by a stroke and made only one public appearance at the White House.
• 1792 – 1842 Francisco Morazán (1792-1842) Died 15 September 1842, aged 49 Honduran general Francisco Morazán was president of the Federal Republic of Central America and fought to keep the union together. He was overthrown and shot by firing squad in San José, Costa Rica. He is revered as a hero of Central American unity.
• 1795 – 1842 Thomas Arnold (1795-1842) Died 12 June 1842, aged 46 English educator Thomas Arnold was headmaster of Rugby School, and his reforms shaped the Victorian public school. He was also a historian and the father of the poet Matthew Arnold. He died of heart disease the day before his 47th birthday.
• 1810 – 1842 Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1810-1842) Died 13 July 1842, aged 31 The eldest son of King Louis-Philippe and heir to the French throne, he was killed when he jumped from a runaway carriage at Neuilly. His death weakened the Orléans monarchy, which fell in the revolution of 1848.
• 1815 – 1842 Grace Darling (1815-1842) Died 20 October 1842, aged 26 Grace Darling was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper on the Farne Islands. She became a national heroine after she and her father rowed out in a storm in 1838 to rescue survivors of the wrecked steamer Forfarshire. She died of tuberculosis.
• 1839 – 1842 First Opium War Britain forces China to open — the century of humiliation begins Britain went to war with China to force it to continue accepting opium imports from British India, which China had banned. The technologically superior British fleet defeated China decisively. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ceded Hong Kong to Britain, opened five treaty ports, and paid a massive indemnity. It was the first of the "unequal treaties" that humiliated China and began what Chinese call the "century of humiliation" lasting until 1949.
• 1842 – 1846 Anesthesia in surgery Operations become painless — modern surgery begins In 1842-1846, Crawford Long, Horace Wells, and William Morton independently demonstrated the use of ether and nitrous oxide as surgical anesthetics. Morton's public demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital on 16 October 1846 is considered the birth of modern anesthesia. Surgery was transformed from a terrifying, often fatal ordeal into a controlled medical procedure.
• 1842 – 1900 Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) Died 22 November 1900, aged 58 An English composer best known for his comic operas written with librettist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado. He also composed the hymn tune "Onward, Christian Soldiers". The Gilbert and Sullivan partnership remains a cornerstone of the English light-opera tradition.
• 1842 – 1927 Georg Brandes (1842-1927) Died 19 February 1927, aged 85 Georg Brandes was a Danish critic who led the Modern Breakthrough, a movement towards realism in Scandinavian literature. He was one of the most influential literary scholars in Europe in his time.
• 1842 – 1912 Jules Massenet (1842-1912) Died 13 August 1912, aged 70 Jules Massenet was a French composer best known for the operas "Manon" and "Werther". He died in Paris after a prolific career that produced more than thirty operas.
• 1842 – 1919 Lord Rayleigh (1842-1919) Died 30 June 1919, aged 76 John William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh, was a British physicist who co-discovered the element argon and won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics. His research also explained why the sky is blue, through what is now known as Rayleigh scattering.
• 1842 – 1921 Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) Died 8 February 1921, aged 78 Peter Kropotkin, the Russian prince turned anarchist philosopher and geographer, died near Moscow. His writings on mutual aid and anarchist communism influenced radical movements across Europe. His funeral in Moscow drew one of the last large public demonstrations tolerated by the Bolshevik government.
• 1842 Richard Owen names the Dinosauria A new group of extinct reptiles is defined British anatomist Richard Owen published the name Dinosauria, meaning "terrible lizards", for Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus. He argued that they formed a distinct group of large extinct reptiles. The name has been in use ever since.
• 1842 – 1898 Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898) Died 9 September 1898, aged 56 Stephane Mallarme was a leading French Symbolist poet whose dense, allusive style influenced generations of modern poetry. His major works include L'Apres-midi d'un faune and Un Coup de Des. He died at his home in Valvins on 9 September 1898.
• 1842 British retreat from Kabul Elphinstone's army destroyed in the Afghan passes About 16,000 British, Indian troops and camp followers left Kabul under General Elphinstone and were attacked by Afghan forces as they marched through the winter passes. The column was wiped out, with a last stand at Gandamak on 13 January. Assistant surgeon William Brydon was the only European to reach Jalalabad.
• 1842 Charles Dickens tours America The novelist's first visit to the United States Charles Dickens arrived in Boston to great acclaim and toured the eastern states and the Midwest for about five months. He campaigned for international copyright and criticised slavery. His travel book American Notes, published that autumn, offended many Americans.
• 1842 Commonwealth v. Hunt Massachusetts court rules trade unions lawful The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, led by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, ruled that a combination of workers to raise wages was not in itself a criminal conspiracy. The decision gave labour unions legal standing in the United States.
• 1842 Premiere of Verdi's Nabucco Verdi's first great success opens at La Scala Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco premiered at La Scala in Milan and made his reputation. Its chorus "Va, pensiero", sung by the exiled Hebrews, became one of the best-known pieces in Italian opera. It was later linked with the Risorgimento.
• 1842 Peel reintroduces income tax Britain revives a peacetime income tax Prime Minister Robert Peel's budget brought back income tax, at seven pence in the pound on incomes over £150. The tax was meant to be temporary and paid for cuts to tariffs. It has remained in force in Britain ever since.
• 1842 Vienna Philharmonic gives first concert Otto Nicolai leads the orchestra's debut Musicians of the Vienna Court Opera orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai, gave a concert in the Redoutensaal under their own management. The event is regarded as the founding of the Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world's leading orchestras.
• 1842 Gogol publishes Dead Souls A landmark novel of Russian literature appears Nikolai Gogol published the first part of Dead Souls, a satirical novel about a swindler who buys the names of dead serfs. The censors forced its title to be changed to The Adventures of Chichikov. It became one of the foundational works of Russian prose.
• 1842 Mayer states conservation of energy Julius Robert von Mayer publishes the mechanical equivalent of heat German physician Julius Robert von Mayer published a paper in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie arguing that heat and mechanical work can be converted into each other. He gave an estimate of the mechanical equivalent of heat. The paper is one of the founding statements of the law of conservation of energy.
• 1842 Second Chartist petition rejected Parliament refuses to hear a petition with over three million signatures The Chartists presented their second national petition to the House of Commons, calling for universal male suffrage and other reforms. The House voted by a large majority not to hear the petitioners. The rejection added to the unrest that summer.
• 1842 Great Fire of Hamburg Fire destroys about a third of the old city A fire broke out on Deichstraße and burned for four days, destroying about a third of Hamburg's old town. Around 51 people died and some 20,000 were left homeless. The rebuilding brought a modern sewer system designed by William Lindley.
• 1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake Earthquake devastates northern Haiti A powerful earthquake and the tsunami that followed struck northern Haiti, destroying much of Cap-Haïtien and other towns. Thousands of people were killed. It was one of the most destructive earthquakes in the history of Hispaniola.
• 1842 Versailles rail accident France's first major railway disaster A train returning from Versailles to Paris derailed near Meudon when a locomotive axle broke, and the carriages caught fire. Passengers locked inside could not escape, and at least 55 people died, including the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. After the disaster, the practice of locking passengers into carriages was abandoned.
• 1842 Dorr Rebellion attack on Providence arsenal Rhode Island's suffrage dispute turns to arms Thomas Dorr, who led a rival government formed to widen voting rights, tried to seize the state arsenal in Providence. The attack failed, and his movement collapsed within weeks. The crisis led Rhode Island to adopt a new constitution that broadened the vote.
• 1842 Battle of Congella Boers and British clash at Port Natal British troops under Captain Thomas Smith attacked the Boer camp at Congella near Port Natal and were driven back. Dick King then rode about 960 kilometres to Grahamstown to get help. Reinforcements lifted the siege, and Natal was later annexed by Britain.
• 1842 Doppler effect proposed Christian Doppler links frequency to relative motion Austrian physicist Christian Doppler presented a paper in Prague arguing that the observed frequency of a wave depends on the relative motion of its source and the observer. He used the idea to explain the colours of binary stars. The Doppler effect later became basic to astronomy, radar and medical imaging.
• 1842 Chadwick's sanitary report Edwin Chadwick links poverty, disease and filth Edwin Chadwick published his Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain. It linked high death rates in towns to poor drainage, water supply and refuse removal. The report helped lead to the Public Health Act of 1848.
• 1842 Croton Aqueduct opens New York City gets a reliable water supply Water from the Croton River reached the city's receiving reservoir through a new aqueduct about 66 kilometres long. The supply was celebrated with a large public festival in October. The aqueduct transformed public health and fire protection in New York.
• 1842 Plug Plot Riots A wave of strikes sweeps industrial Britain Workers in the mills and mines of Lancashire, Yorkshire, the Midlands and Scotland went on strike against wage cuts. Strikers pulled the plugs from factory boilers to stop production. It is often described as the first general strike, and it was suppressed with troops and mass arrests.
• 1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty United States and Britain settle the Maine–New Brunswick border US Secretary of State Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton signed a treaty settling the disputed boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, along with other sections of the US–Canadian border. It also provided for cooperation against the Atlantic slave trade and for the extradition of criminals.
• 1842 Mines and Collieries Act Britain bans women and young children from underground work Parliament passed the Mines and Collieries Act after a royal commission report shocked the public with accounts of child labour in mines. The Act banned all women and girls, and boys under ten, from working underground. It also introduced inspectors of mines.
• 1842 Treaty of Nanking China cedes Hong Kong to Britain The Qing dynasty and Britain signed the treaty aboard HMS Cornwallis at Nanjing, ending the First Opium War. China ceded Hong Kong Island, opened five treaty ports to British trade and agreed to pay a large indemnity. It was the first of the treaties later called the unequal treaties.
• 1842 University of Notre Dame founded A French priest establishes a school in Indiana Father Edward Sorin of the Congregation of Holy Cross arrived at a mission site near South Bend, Indiana, with a few brothers and founded a school there. It grew into the University of Notre Dame, one of the best-known Catholic universities in the United States.
• 1842 New York Philharmonic gives first concert The oldest American symphony orchestra makes its debut The Philharmonic Society of New York, founded by Ureli Corelli Hill and others, gave its first concert at the Apollo Rooms on Broadway. The programme opened with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States.
• 1842 Premiere of Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila Glinka's second opera opens in Saint Petersburg Mikhail Glinka's opera based on Pushkin's poem premiered at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg. Audiences were cool towards it at first. Its use of Russian and Eastern idioms strongly influenced later Russian composers.
• 1842 Battle of Mier Texan raiders surrender to Mexican forces Texan volunteers crossed into Mexico and attacked the town of Mier. Superior Mexican forces made them surrender. The prisoners were later decimated in the Black Bean Episode of 1843.