1866
Year 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar.
Events
January–March
April–June
- May 11 – London bank Overend, Gurney and Company collapses, precipitating a financial crisis.
- May 16 – The U.S. Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5-cent coin (nickel), eliminating its predecessor, the half dime.
- May 24 – Battle of Tuyutí: 32,000 soldiers of the Triple Alliance defeat 24,000 Paraguayan soldiers few miles north of the Paraná, Argentina, with 16,000 casualties.
- May 26 – First Production of Cox and Box by Francis Burnand and Arthur Sullivan at Moray Lodge, Kensington
- June 2 – Fenian forces skirmish with Canadian militia at Ridgeway and Fort Erie.
- June 5 – Calculations indicate Pluto reaches its most recent aphelion (furthest point from Sun) on this day (the next aphelion will occur in August 2113).
- June 8 – The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa.
- June 11 – The Agra High Court is established (later shifted to the Allahabad High Court).
- June 14 – The Austro-Prussian War begins, when the Austrians and most of the medium German states declare war on Prussia.
- June 20 – The Kingdom of Italy declares war on Austria.
- June 27–June 29 – Battle of Langensalza: The Prussians defeat the Hanoverian army.
July–September
October–December
Date unknown
Births
January–June
- January 13 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (d. 1901)
- January 15 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1931)
- January 29 – Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- February 9 – George Ade, American writer, newspaper columnist, and playwright (d. 1944)
- March 5 – Arthur Leopold Busch, American Submarine pioneer (d. 1956)
- March 7 – Hans Fruhstorfer, German lepidopterist (d. 1922)
- March 30 – George Van Haltren, baseball player (d. 1945)
- April 1 – Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1924)
- April 13 – Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (d. 1909)
- April 14 – Anne Sullivan, tutor of Helen Keller (d. 1936)
- April 17 – Ernest Starling, British physiologist (d. 1927)
- April 24 – Ishii Kikujiro, Japanese diplomat (d. 1945)
- May 5 – Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (d. 1938)
- May 17 – Erik Satie, French composer (d. 1925)
- May 22 – Charles F. Haanel, American New Thought author and businessman (d. 1949)
- June 4 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (d. 1952)
- June 26 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier of Egyptian excavations (d. 1923)
July–December
- July 3 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (d. 1906)
- July 6 – Charles Mangin, French general (d. 1925)
- July 13 – La Goulue, French dancer (d. 1929)
- July 28 – Beatrix Potter, English children's author (Peter Rabbit & Jemima Puddle-Duck) (d. 1943)
- August 8 – Matthew Henson, American explorer (d. 1955)
- August 12 – Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
- August 17 – Julia Marlowe, stage actress (d. 1950)
- September 1 – James J. Corbett, American boxer (d. 1933)
- September 7 – Tristan Bernard, French writer (d. 1947)
- September 10 – Jeppe Aakjaer, Danish poet and novelist (d. 1930)
- September 21
- September 22 – Witmer Stone, American ornithologist and botanist (d. 1939)
- September 27 – Eurosia Fabris, Italian Catholic Blessed (d. 1932)
- September 25 – Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1945)
- October 12 – Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1937)
- November 12 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary (d. 1925)
- November 28 – David Warfield, stage actor (d. 1951)
- November 30 – Robert Broom, Scottish paleontologist (d. 1951)
- December 12 – Alfred Werner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
- December 16 (December 4 O.S.) – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born painter (d. 1944)
Date unknown
Deaths
January–June
- January 23 – Thomas Love Peacock, English satirist (b. 1785)
- January 31 – Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (b. 1788)
- January – Thomas Baldwin Marsh, American religious leader (b. 1799)
- March 4 – Alexander Campbell, Irish/U.S. founder of the Disciples of Christ (b. 1788)
- March 6 – William Whewell, English scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (b. 1794)
- March 20 – Rikard Nordraak, Norwegian composer (b. 1842)
- March 21 – Nadezhda Durova, first female Russian military officer (b. 1783)
- March 28 – Solomon Foot, American politician (b. 1802)
- April 4 – William Dick, founder of Edinburgh Veterinary College (b. 1793)
- April 5 – Thomas Hodgkin, British physician (b. 1798)
- April 12 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English Member of Parliament and developer (b. 1801)
- May 13 – Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician of Czech origin (b.1796)
- May 29 – Winfield Scott, American general and presidential candidate (b. 1786)
- June 7 – Chief Sealth, Native American whom Seattle is named for (b. c. 1786)
July–December
References