Downs Tree » Benjamin Rowland Wilkinson Sr. (1830-1878)

Day of marriage April 16, 1853

• The temperature on April 16, 1853 was about 4.4 °C. There was 2 mm of rain. The atmospheric humidity was 81%. Source: KNMI
•  This page is only available in Dutch.
  De Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden werd in 1794-1795 door de Fransen veroverd onder leiding van bevelhebber Charles Pichegru (geholpen door de Nederlander Herman Willem Daendels); de verovering werd vergemakkelijkt door het dichtvriezen van de Waterlinie; Willem V moest op 18 januari 1795 uitwijken naar Engeland (en van daaruit in 1801 naar Duitsland); de patriotten namen de macht over van de aristocratische regenten en proclameerden de Bataafsche Republiek; op 16 mei 1795 werd het Haags Verdrag gesloten, waarmee ons land een vazalstaat werd van Frankrijk; in 3.1796 kwam er een Nationale Vergadering; in 1798 pleegde Daendels een staatsgreep, die de unitarissen aan de macht bracht; er kwam een nieuwe grondwet, die een Vertegenwoordigend Lichaam (met een Eerste en Tweede Kamer) instelde en als regering een Directoire; in 1799 sloeg Daendels bij Castricum een Brits-Russische invasie af; in 1801 kwam er een nieuwe grondwet; bij de Vrede van Amiens (1802) kreeg ons land van Engeland zijn koloniën terug (behalve Ceylon); na de grondwetswijziging van 1805 kwam er een raadpensionaris als eenhoofdig gezag, namelijk Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (van 31 oktober 1761 tot 25 maart 1825).
• In The Netherlands , there was from November 1, 1849 to April 19, 1853 the cabinet Thorbecke I, with Mr. J.R. Thorbecke (liberaal) as prime minister.
• From April 19, 1853 till July 1, 1856 the Netherlands had a cabinet Van Hall - Donker Curtius with the prime ministers Mr. F.A. baron Van Hall (conservatief-liberaal) and Mr. D. Donker Curtius (conservatief-liberaal).
• In the year 1853: Source: Wikipedia
  • The Netherlands had about 3.3 million citizens.
  • January 4 » After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.
  • January 19 » Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
  • February 22 » Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • July 2 » The Russian Army crosses the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia—providing the spark that will set off the Crimean War.
  • November 30 » Crimean War: Battle of Sinop: The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey.
  • December 30 » Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.

Day of death March 12, 1878

• The temperature on March 12, 1878 was about 5.8 °C. There was 1 mm of rain. The air pressure was 7 kgf/m² and came mainly from the west-northwest. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 68%. Source: KNMI
• Koning Willem III (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1849 till 1890 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from November 3, 1877 to August 20, 1879 the cabinet Kappeijne van de Coppello, with Mr. J. Kappeijne van de Coppello (liberaal) as prime minister.
• In the year 1878: Source: Wikipedia
  • The Netherlands had about 4.0 million citizens.
  • January 4 » Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule and designated the capital of Liberated Bulgaria.
  • January 16 » Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
  • June 4 » Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
  • June 10 » League of Prizren is established, to oppose the decisions of the Congress of Berlin and the Treaty of San Stefano, as a consequence of which the Albanian lands in the Balkans were being partitioned and given to the neighbor states of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece.
  • July 13 » Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.
  • September 3 » Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.

Source: Wikipedia

• 1898 » Zachris Topelius, Finnish-Swedish journalist, historian, and author (b. 1818)
• 1916 » Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (b. 1830)
• 1925 » Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1866)
• 1929 » Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician, 44th Mayor of Atlanta (b. 1851)
• 1935 » Mihajlo Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and chemist (b. 1858)
• 1942 » William Henry Bragg, English physicist, chemist, and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)