1828 - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 4 - The Vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Comte de Villèle as Prime Minister of France.
• January 22 - The Duke of Wellington succeeds Lord Goderich as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He repeals the Test Act, emancipating all Catholics, and introduces the Roman Catholic Relief Act the following year.
• April 26 Russia declares war on Turkey, in support of the Greek struggle for independence.
• May 26 - Mysterious foundling Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg, Germany.
• June 23 - King Miguel I of Portugal overthrows his niece Queen Maria II of Portugal, beginning the Liberal Wars
• August 9 - The Egyptians evacuate Greece, practically ending hostilities there.
• August 27 - The Russians defeat the Turks at Akhaltzikke.
• August 27 – Brazil and Argentina recognize the independence of Uruguay
• September 29 – Police force of Sir Robert Peel starts in London - 101 uniformed officers and 5 civil servants
• December 3 - U.S. presidential election, 1828: Challenger Andrew Jackson beats incumbent John Quincy Adams and is elected President of the United States.

• Urea becomes the first organic compound to be artificially synthesised, by Friedrich Wöhler (see Biochemistry)
• White comedian Thomas D. Rice introduces blackface and the song "Jim Crow" to American audiences.
• Henri Ollivier becomes the first Onion Johnny in England.

Births

• February 8 - Jules Verne, author (d. 1905)
• March 1 - James Fleming Fagan
• March 20 - Henrik Ibsen, (d. 1906)
• May 8 - Jean Henri Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross movement (d. 1910)
• May 12 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet, painter (d. 1882)
• August 17 - Maria Deraismes, French feminist (d. 1894)
• September 9 - Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (Anna Karenina, War and Peace) (d. 1910)
• November 11 - Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji, Hindu saint

Deaths

• May 16 - William Congreve, British rocket pioneer (b. 1772)
• July 15 - Jean Antoine Houdon, sculptor (b. 1741)
• November 5 - Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg, Empress Dowager of Paul I of Russia (b. 1759)
• November 19 - Franz Schubert, composer (b. 1797)
• December 22 - William Hyde Wollaston, noted English chemist (b. 1766)
• December 22 - Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson, wife of President-elect Andrew Jackson (b. 1767)