1852
1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).
Events
January 14 - President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic.
January 17 - United Kingdom recognizes independence of the Transvaal
Devil's Island penal colony opens
February 11 - First British public toilet for women opens in Bedford Street, London
February 15 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children , London , admits first patient
February 16 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established
February 19 - The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
March 1 - Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
April 1 - Start of Second Burmese War
September 24 - French engineer Henri Giffard makes the first airship trip from Paris to Trappes
November - Franklin Pierce defeats Winfield Scott in the U.S. presidential election
November 4 - Count Cavour becomes Piedmont prime minister
November 7 - President Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor Napoleon III of France
November 11 - New Palace of Westminster opened in Britain
November 21 /November 22 New French Empire confirmed by plebiscite: 7,824,000 for , 253,000 against
December 2 - Napoleon III becomes Emperor of France .
Births
March 1 - Théophile Delcassé , French statesman (d. 1923 )
April 1 - Edwin Austin Abbey , American painter (d. 1911 )
April 13 - F.W. Woolworth , American merchant/businessman, founder of Woolworth's (d. 1919 )
April 22 - William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1912 )
May 4 - Alice Pleasance Liddell , inspiration for the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (d. 1934 )
May 31 - Julius Richard Petri , German bacteriologist , inventor of Petri dish.
July 12 - Hipólito Yrigoyen , President of Argentina (d. 1933 )
September 12 - Herbert Henry Asquith , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1928 )
November 3 - Mutsuhito of Japan , later the Meiji Emperor
November 11 - Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , Chief of Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army for much of World War I (d. 1925 )
December 15 - Henri Becquerel , French physicist
Deaths
January 6 - Louis Braille , teacher, developed writing system for the blind
March 4 - Nikolai Gogol , writer (b. 1809 )
March 10 - Augusta Louisa Lyons (née Rogers), Novelist and wife of British Admiral, Sir Edmund Lyons (later 1st Lord Lyons)
September 4 - William MacGillivray , naturalist and ornithologist
September 14 - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , British commander at the Battle of Waterloo and Prime Minister.
September 20 - Philander Chase , founder of Kenyon College
October 24 - Daniel Webster , American lawyer/speaker/Minister of Foreign affairs, dies at 70.
November 30 - Junius Brutus Booth , English actor .
