1850

Years: 1847 1848 1849 - 1850 - 1851 1852 1853
Decades: 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January 4 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
January 29 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress
February 28 - University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah
March 7 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
March 18 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.
April 4 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
July 9 - President Zachary Taylor dies while in office and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States (he is inaugurated the next day).
August 28 - Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin premieres
September 9 - California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state.
September 9 - New Mexico Territory is organized by order of the U.S. Congress
December 16 - The first four ships arrived at Lyttelton to settle Christchurch, New Zealand.
December - Christian mystic Hong Xiuquan begins the Taiping Rebellion.
End of the Irish potato famine
The United States Republican Party is founded
Foundation of the University of Sydney, the oldest in Australia
The American System of Watch Manufacturing starts in Roxbury, Mass.U.S.A. Waltham Watch Company
Bingley Hall, the world's first purpose- built exhibition hall, opens in Birmingham, England.
Pinkerton Detective Agency
France begins to transport colonists to Algeria
Modern acoustic guitar created in Spain
Use of anesthesia in surgery increases in USA and Europe
Rifling becomes common in firearms
Entre Ríos Province in Argentina revolts - it is backed by Brazil in alliance with Paraguay and the Uruguayan Colorado Party

Births

January 21 - Paul Vinzenz Busch , ringmaster (d. 1927)
January 27 - Samuel Gompers, labor union leader (d. 1924)
May 1 - Prince Arthur of the United Kingdom, third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (d. 1942)
May 8 - Ross Barnes, baseball player (d. 1915)
May 12 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (d. 1924)
July 12 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist [[d. 1912
September 2 - Albert Spalding, baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer (d. 1915)
November 13 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (d. 1894)

Deaths

March 3 - Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader (b. 1806)
April 23 - William Wordsworth, English poet (b. 1770)
July 4 - William Kirby, English entomologist (b. 1759)
July 8 - Prince Adolphus of the United Kingdom, 1st Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)
July 9 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (b. 1784)
August 18 - Honoré de Balzac, French author (b. 1799)
August 26 - King Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)
October 2 - Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)
November 19 - Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States (b. 1780)
December 24 - Frédéric Bastiat French classical liberal author and economist (b. 1801)