1858
1858 is a common year starting on Friday.
| Years: 1855 1856 1857 - 1858 - 1859 1860 1861 | |
| Decades: 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s | |
| Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1858 in topic: Lists of leaders: | |
Events
- January 14 - Felice Orsini and his accomplices fail to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris but their bombs kill 156 bystanders. Because of the involvement of French émigrés living in Britain, there is a brief anti-British feeling in France but the emperor refuses to support it
- January 25 - The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter Victoria, "Vicky," the Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich of Prussia in St. James's Palace, London
- February 11 - The Virgin Mary is said appear to St Bernadette of Lourdes
- March 30 - Hyman Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser
- March 13 - would-be-assassin Felice Orsini executed by guillotine
- May 11 - Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
- June 20 - Last rebels of the Indian Mutiny surrender in Gwalior
- June 23 - Six year old Edgardo Mortara is seized by Papal authorities.
- July 29 - United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
- August 5 - Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts.
- August 11 - First ascent of the Eiger.
- August 16 - US President James Buchanan inaugurates the new trans-Atlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
- November 17 - epoch of the Modified Julian Day
- British Empire takes over powers & properties of the British East India Company (see also history of Bangladesh).
- William Marcy Tweed begins his thirteen-year term as "Boss" of Tammany Hall.
- British stop using prison hulks.
- Last Cape Lion seen.
Births
- January 7 - Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Russian-born advocate of the Hebrew language (d. 1922)
- January 10 - Heinrich Zille, German illustrator and photographer (d. 1929)
- January 11 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American department store magnate (d. 1947)
- March 10 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954)
- March 18 - Rudolf Diesel, German inventor (d. 1913)
- March 1 - Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1918)
- April 23 - Max Planck, German physicist (d. 1947)
- June 16 - King Gustav V of Sweden (d. 1950)
- June 16 - William Dickson Boyce founder of the Boy Scouts of America (d. 1929)
- July 9 - Franz Boas, German anthropologist (d. 1942)
- August 1 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (d. 1884)
- August 27 - Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (d. 1932)
- October 27 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (d. 1919)
- November 20 - Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- December 22 - Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (b. 1924)
Deaths
- January 9 - Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (suicide) (b. 1798)
- March 4 - Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, American polar explorer (b. 1794)
- April 7 - Anton Diabelli, Austrian music publisher, and composer (b. 1781)
- June 3 - Julius Reubke, German composer (b. 1834)
- June 28 - Auguste de Montferrand, French architect (b. 1786)
- September 17 - Dred Scott, American slave