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| align="center" colspan=2 | Years:
1851 1852 1853 - 1854 - 1855 1856 1857
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| align="center" colspan=2 | 1830s 1840s - 1850s ''' - 1860s 1870s 1880s
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| align="center" | - 19th Century ''' - 20th Century
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1854 was a Common Year Starting On Sunday (see link for calendar).
Events
January
February
March
April
June
July
August
September
- , the French - British alliance wins the first battle of the war.
October
November
December
showing the clusters of Cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854]].
Unknown dates
- The '' Polyglotta Africana '', an early classification of African Languages based on field work under freed slaves in Freetown , Sierra Leone , is published by Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle .
- Frederick Augustus Albert succeeds to the throne of Saxony .
- Stockholm, Wisconsin is founded by immigrants from Karlskoga , Sweden (cf 1252 ).
- Chemistry Professor Benjamin Silliman , of Yale University is the first to fractionate Petroleum by Distillation .
- Abraham Pineo Gesner invents a process for extracting Kerosene from Coal .
- Said Pasha succeeds his nephew Abbas as pasha of Egypt .
- A Russia n fort is established at the present site of Almaty .
- Aurora, Ontario is first settled.
- Spiegelthal excavates the tomb of Alyattes II .
- The Ambrotype is introduced for Photography .
- Election of New York City Mayor Fernando Wood begins the ascendancy of Tammany Hall .
- An epidemic of Cholera in London kills 10,000. Dr John Snow traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single Water Pump , validating his theory that Cholera is water-borne, and forming the starting point for Epidemiology .
- The Iceland trade is opened to foreigners.
- The future site of Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire is purchased by Captain Asa Brewer .
Births
- January 18 - Thomas Watson , American telephone pioneer (d. 1934 )
- February 17 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp , German industrialist (d. 1902 )
- March 14 - Paul Ehrlich , German scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (d. 1915 )
- March 14 - Thomas R. Marshall , Vice President Of The United States (d. 1925 )
- March 15 - Emil Adolf Von Behring , German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (d. 1917 )
- April 22 - Henri La Fontaine , Belgian lawyer and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1943 )
- April 29 - Henri Poincaré , French mathematician and physicist (d. 1912 )
- May 11 - Albion Woodbury Small , American sociologist (d. 1926 )
- May 24 - John Riley Banister , law officer, cowboy, and Texas Ranger (d. 1918 )
- June 26 - Robert Laird Borden , eighth Prime Minister Of Canada (d. 1937 )
- July 3 - Leos Janacek , Czech composer (d. 1928 )
- July 12 - George Eastman , American inventor (d. 1932 )
- July 27 - Takahashi Korekiyo , Prime Minister Of Japan (d. 1936 )
- August 2 - Milan I , King Of Serbia (d. 1901 )
- August 23 - Moritz Moszkowski , Polish/German composer (d. 1918 )
- September 1 - Engelbert Humperdinck , German composer (d. 1921 )
- September 6 - Georges Picquart , French general and Minister of War (d. 1914 )
- October 16 - Oscar Wilde , Irish writer (d. 1900 )
- October 20 - Arthur Rimbaud , French poet (d. 1891 )
- November 5 - Paul Sabatier , French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941 )
- November 6 - John Philip Sousa , American composer and conductor (d. 1932 )
- November 17 - Hubert Lyautey , Marshal of France (d. 1934 )
- November 21 - Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922 )
- December 23 - Victoriano Huerta , President Of Mexico (d. 1916 )
- December 24 - Thomas Stevens , English cyclist (d. 1935 )
- Edward Harkness , American philanthropist (d. 1940 )
- C. W. Post , American cereal manufacturer (d. 1914 )
Deaths
- January 8 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford , British general and politician (b. 1768 )
- February 17 - John Martin , English painter (b. 1789 )
- March 6 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess Of Londonderry (b. 1778 )
- March 11 - Willard Richards , American religious leader (b. 1804 )
- March 13 - Thomas Noon Talfourd , English jurist (b. 1795 )
- April 15 - Arthur Aikin , English chemist and mineralogist (b. 1773 )
- April 29 - Henry Paget, 1st Marquess Of Anglesey , British general (b. 1768 )
- July 6 - Georg Ohm , German physicist
- September 8 - Angelo Mai , Italian cardinal and philologist (b. 1782 )
- December 15 - Kamehameha III , King Of Hawaii (b. 1814 ?)
- Abbas I , Pasha of Egypt (b. 1813 )
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