1792 Explained
Events
January - March
- January 9 - The Treaty of Jassy ends the Russian Empire's war with the Ottoman Empire over Crimea.[1]
- January 25 - The London Corresponding Society is founded.
- February 18 - Thomas Holcroft produces the comedy The Road to Ruin in London.
- February 20
- March 1 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, the last emperor, takes office.
- March 7 - A settlement is formed in Sierra Leone in West Africa as a home for freed slaves.[4]
- March 16 - Assassination of Gustav III: King Gustav III of Sweden is shot in the back by Jacob Johan Anckarström, at a midnight masquerade at the Royal Opera in Stockholm; he lives until March 29, and is then succeeded by his 14-year-old son, Gustav IV Adolf.
- March 20 - A new capital of North Carolina, and seat of the newly formed Wake County, is established after North Carolina State senator and surveyor William Christmas submits his design for the city. A few months later, the capital is officially named Raleigh, in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh.
- March 22 - Haitian Revolution: Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets – Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the revolution.[5]
- March 25 - The National Legislative Assembly (France) agrees that the guillotine should be used for judicial executions.
April - June
- April 2 - The Coinage Act is passed, establishing the United States Mint.[2]
- April 5 - United States President George Washington vetoes a bill designed to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This is the first time the presidential veto is used in the United States.
- April 20 - France declares war against Austria, beginning the French Revolutionary Wars and the War of the First Coalition.
- April 21 - Tiradentes, a leading figure in the Inconfidência Mineira conspiracy, is executed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- April 25
- May 11 - Robert Gray's Columbia River expedition: Captain Robert Gray, on the Columbia Rediviva, becomes the first white man to discover the mouth of the Columbia River.[2]
- May 17 - The Buttonwood Agreement is signed, beginning the New York Stock Exchange.
- May 18 - War in Defence of the Constitution: Russia invades Poland.
- May 21 - 1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami: An old lava dome collapses in Kyūshū, Japan, due to activity of Mount Unzen volcano; the resulting avalanche and tsunami kill about 14,300 people.
- May 29 - The Great Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is disbanded following the Russian invasion of Poland.
- June 1 - Kentucky becomes the 15th state of the United States of America.[2]
- June 4 - Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Great Britain.
- June 13
July - September
October - December
Date unknown
- Tipu Sultan invades Kerala, India, but is repulsed.
- Hungarian astronomer Franz Xaver von Zach publishes The Tables of the Sun, an essential early work for navigation.
- Claude Chappe successfully demonstrates the first semaphore line, between Paris and Lille.
- Scottish engineer William Murdoch begins experimenting with gas lighting.
- George Anschutz constructs the first blast furnace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, one of the earliest works of feminist literature, is published in London.
- Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, future French general, becomes sub-lieutenant.
- Johann Georg Albrechtsberger becomes Kapellmeister in Vienna.
- The State Street Corporation is founded, in Boston, Massachusetts.
- The Insurance Company of North America (later Chubb) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Shiloh Meeting House, predecessor of Shiloh United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, is founded.
- The first written examinations in Europe are held at the University of Cambridge in England.
- The composer Ludwig van Beethoven moves to Vienna from Bonn to study with Haydn. He would live in Vienna for the rest of his life.
- James Johnstone establishes that Vancouver Island is an island.
Births
January - June
- January 12 - Johann Arfvedson, Swedish chemist (d. 1841)
- February 17 - Karl Ernst von Baer, German naturalist (d. 1876)
- February 29 - Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)[11]
- March 3 - Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler, German church historian (d. 1854)
- March 7 - John Herschel, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1871)[12]
- April 1 - Karl Gottlob Zumpt, German classical scholar (d. 1849)
- April 2 - Francisco de Paula Santander, President of Colombia (d. 1840)
- April 4 - Thaddeus Stevens, American politician (d. 1868)
- April 23 - Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
- April 25 - John Keble, English churchman and poet (d. 1866)
- May 10 - Willie Person Mangum, American politician (d. 1861)
- May 13 - Pope Pius IX (b. Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti), Italian churchman (d. 1878)
- May 15 - James Mayer de Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1868)
- May 17 - Anne Isabella Milbanke, English wife of Lord Byron (d. 1860)
- May 18 - Margaret Ann Neve, Guernesiaise supercentenarian (d. 1903)
- May 21 - Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, French engineer and scientist (d. 1843)[13]
- June 13 - William Austin Burt, American inventor, "father of the typewriter" (d. 1858)
- June 16 - John Linnell, English painter (d. 1882)[14]
- June 21 - Ferdinand Christian Baur, German theologian (d. 1860)
July - December
- July 7 - William Henry Smith, English newsvendor and bookseller (d. 1865)
- July 10 - Frederick Marryat, British naval captain and novelist (d. 1848)[15]
- July 27 - Maria Quitéria, Brazilian national heroine (d. 1853)
- August 4 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)[16]
- August 13 - Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen of William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1849)[17]
- August 18 - John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
- August 22 - John Church Hamilton, American historian (d. 1882)
- August 26 - Manuel Oribe, 2nd President of Uruguay (d. 1857)[18]
- September 2 - Vicente Ramón Roca, 3rd President of Ecuador (d. 1858)
- September 19 - William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American business tycoon (d. 1875)
- September 26 - William Hobson, first Governor of New Zealand (d. 1842)
- October 29 - Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, explorer, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, Australia (d. 1855)
- November 4 - Carlos Antonio López, president of Paraguay (d. 1862)
- November 10 - Samuel Nelson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1873)
- November 11 - Mary Anne Evans, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1872)
- November 28 - Victor Cousin, French philosopher (d. 1867)[19]
- December 1 - Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1856)
- December 5 - Andrés de Santa Cruz, Peruvian military officer, seventh President of Peru and President of Bolivia (d. 1865)
- December 6 - William II of the Netherlands (d. 1849)
- date unknown - Nodira, Uzbek poet and stateswoman (d. 1842)
Deaths
January - June
- January 17 - George Horne, British academic and Bishop of Norwich (b.1730)
- February 15 - John Witherspoon, Scottish American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1723)
- February 23 - Sir Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)[20]
- March 1 - Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1731)
- March 3 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect and designer (b. 1728)[21]
- March 10 - John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1713)[22]
- March 23 - Luís António Verney, Portuguese philosopher and pedagogue (b. 1713)
- March 29 - King Gustav III of Sweden (assassinated) (b. 1746)
- April 3 - Sir George Pocock, British admiral (b. 1706)
- April 4 - James Sykes, American politician (b. 1725)
- April 14 - Maximilian Hell, Slovakian astronomer (b. 1720)
- April 20 - Matthias von Schoenberg, Catholic author (b. 1732)
- April 23 - Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian, adventurer (b. 1741)
- April 30 - John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English statesman (b. 1718)
- May 10 - John Stevens, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. c. 1715)
- May 12 - Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)[23]
- May 24 - George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, British naval officer (b. 1718)
- June 4 - John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)[24]
- June 22 - Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Arabian Wahhabi preacher (b. 1703)
July - December
- July 3 - Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (b. 1721)
- July 18 - John Paul Jones, American-born naval captain (b. 1747)
- July 21 - Richard Hancorne, British Royal Navy officer (b. 1754)
- July 29 - René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
- August 3 - Richard Arkwright, English inventor (b. 1732)
- August 5 - Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1732)[25]
- September 3 - Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe, French princess, courtier to Marie Antoinette (killed in September Massacres) (b. 1749)
- September 8 - Charles d'Abancour, French statesman (killed in September Massacres) (b. 1758)
- September 16 - Nguyễn Huệ, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1753)
- September 18 - August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German religious leader (b. 1704)
- September 25 - Adam Gottlob Moltke, Danish statesman (b. 1710)
- September 29 - George Browne, Russian-Irish field-marshal (b. 1698)
- October 7 - George Mason, American patriot (b. 1725)
- October 14 - Sophie Charlotte Ackermann, German actress (b. 1714)
- October 21 - Anders Rudolf du Rietz, Swedish general, count and politician (b. 1722)
- October 22 - Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer (b. 1725)
- October 28
- November - Samuel Hearne, English explorer, fur-trader, author and naturalist (b. 1745)
- December 7 – Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (Laboras de Mezières), French novelist (b. 1714)[26]
- December 8 - Henry Laurens, political leader during the American Revolutionary War, father of John Laurens (b. 1724)
- December 15
Notes and References
- Web site: Historical Events for Year 1792 | OnThisDay.com . Historyorb.com . 1792 . 2016-07-14.
- Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909, ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p169
- "Fires, Great", in The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance, Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) pp62.
- Web site: BBC History British History Timeline. 2007-09-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20070909012414/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml. 2007-09-09.
- Book: Madiou, Thomas. Thomas Madiou. Histoire d'Haïti, Tome I. 1847. French. 102.
- Book: Anne. Blanchard. Philippe. Contamine. Histoire militaire de la France. 2 : de 1715 à 1871. PUF. 1992. 264. fr. 978-2-13-044415-2. .
- Book: Palmer, Alan. Palmer . Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 232–233. 978-0-7126-5616-0.
- Book: Barros Arana
, Diego
. Diego Barros Arana . Historia General de Chile . VII . 2000 . 1886 . 2 . . Santiago, Chile . 956-11-1535-2 . es . Capítulo XVII . 66–70 .
- Eric J. Evans, The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783-1870 (Routledge, 2014)
- Robert Bisset, The Reign of George III: To which is Prefixed a View of the Progressive Improvements of England in Property and Strength to the Accession of His Majesty, Volume 2 (Edward Parker, 1822) p855
- Book: Henry Sutherland Edwards. Gioachino Rossini, 1792-1861, and His Successors. 1894. Sampson Low, Marston & Company. 3–4.
- Book: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 1872. Priestley and Weale. 123.
- Book: James Willard Nybakken. William W. Broenkow. Tracy Lowell Vallier. Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Marine Sciences. 2003. Grolier Academic Reference. 978-0-7172-5946-5. 252.
- Book: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. John Linnell. A Loan Exhibition of Drawings, Watercolours and Paintings by John Linnell and His Circle. 1973. Lund Humphries. 1787.
- Encyclopedia: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Marryat. Frederick Marryat: English naval officer and author. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2016-07-03.
- Book: William Michael Rossetti. Memoir of Percy Bysshe Shelley: (with New Preface). 1886. John Slark. 5.
- Book: Sarah Brown. A History of the Stained Glass of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. 2005. Dean and Canons of Windsor. 978-0-9539676-3-6. 246.
- Book: Grolier Incorporated. Academic American encyclopedia. 1997. Grolier. 978-0-7172-2068-7. 443.
- Book: The British Controversialist and Literary Magazine. 1867. Houlston and Stonemen. 163.
- Book: Joseph Farington. Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 2005. Pallas Athene. 978-1-84368-001-7. 151.
- Book: Frank N. Magill. The 17th and 18th Centuries: Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 4. 13 September 2013. Routledge. 978-1-135-92414-0. 7.
- Web site: History of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute - GOV.UK . www.gov.uk . 19 June 2023 . en.
- Book: Don Michael Randel. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. 1996. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-37299-3. 262.
- Book: John Rhodehamel. The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence. 2001. Library of America. 978-1-883011-91-8. 816.
- Web site: History of Lord Frederick North - GOV.UK . www.gov.uk . 1 July 2023 . en.
- Book: Samia I. Spencer. Writers of the French Enlightenment. 2005. Thomson Gale. 978-0-7876-8132-6. 108.
- Book: Burnett R. Toskey. Concertos for Violin and Viola: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia. 1983. B.R. Toskey. 978-0-9601054-8-9. 451.