Famous People Born In 1785
Discover the most famous people born in 1785. The list includes people like John James Audubon, Lady Caroline Lamb, Mahmud II, Thomas De Quincey, Louis XVII of France and many more. This list of celebrities is loosely sorted by popularity. People featured on this list, include novelists, poets, educators and composers born in 1785. This list includes people from England, United States, Germany and many more countries.
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1
John James Audubon(US Artist and Ornithologist Known for His Drawings of North American Birds)
Birthdate: 26th April
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Les Cayes
Died: January 27, 1851
American artist and ornithologist John James Audubon is remembered mostly for his illustrations of North American birds. Born as an illegitimate child in France, he later moved to the US and then to Canada, for business, but ended up documenting birds. His best-known work is the pioneering ornithological work The Birds of America.
Birthdate: 20th July
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: İstanbul, Turkey
Died: July 1, 1839
Mahmud II reigned as the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 to 1839. His reign was marked by the extensive military, administrative, and fiscal reforms which he initiated. The reforms that he initiated eventually led to the formation of the modern Turkish Republic. He is also credited with rebuilding a strong naval force for the empire.
3
Jacob Grimm
(Discoverer of ‘Grimm’s Law of Linguistics' and Co-author of the Largest German Dictionary 'Deutsches Wörterbuch')
Birthdate: 4th January
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Hanau, Germany
Died: September 20, 1863
Part of the legendary folklorist duo known as the Brothers Grimm, Jacob Grimm gave to the world Grimm’s Fairy Tales, along with his younger brother, Wilhelm Grimm. The son of a lawyer, he, too, had initially studied law. He also contributed immensely to Germanic linguistics, with his Grimm's law.
4
Oliver Hazard Perry
(Former U.S. naval officer who became a national hero when he defeated a British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812)
Birthdate: 23rd August
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States
Died: August 23, 1819
Birthdate: 27th March
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Versailles, France
Died: June 8, 1795
Birthdate: 30th August
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Fuzhou, China
Died: November 22, 1850
7
William Beaumont
(American Surgeon and the First Person to Observe and Study Human Digestion as It Occurs in the Stomach)
Birthdate: 21st November
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Lebanon, Connecticut, United States
Died: April 25, 1853
Nineteenth-century U.S. Army surgeon William Beaumont pioneered the study of human digestion. While treating a person named Alexis St. Martin, who had been near-fatally shot in the stomach, Beaumont discovered a lot of gastric processes and later published them as a treatise on the physiology of digestion.
8
Shah Shujah Durrani
(Emir of the Durrani Empire)
Birthdate: 4th November
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Unknown
Died: April 5, 1842
Shah Shujah Durrani reigned as the Emir of the Durrani Empire on two separate occasions; from 13 July 1803 to 3 May 1809 and again from 7 August 1839 until his demise on 5 April 1842. Shujah was notorious for his cruelty; he would have his courtiers mutilated by removing their noses, ears, testicles, and tongues when they displeased him.
9
Karl Drais
(German Forest Official and Significant Inventor)
Birthdate: 29th April
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Karlsruhe, Germany
Died: December 10, 1851
10
Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
(General)
Birthdate: 28th March
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Coburg, Germany
Died: August 27, 1851
11
Florestan, Prince of Monaco
(Prince)
Birthdate: 10th October
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: June 20, 1856
Birthdate: 18th November
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Cults, Scotland
Died: June 1, 1841
13
William Jackson Hooker
(British Botanist and Botanical Illustrator Best Known for Expanding and Developing the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew)
Birthdate: 6th July
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Norwich, England
Died: August 12, 1865
Botanist William Jackson Hooker made history as the first director of the Kew Gardens, or the Royal Botanic Gardens. Born to a merchant’s clerk who was also an amateur botanist, Hooker developed an interest in insects, birds, and plants at an early age. He was also known for his plant illustrations.
14
Pierre Louis Dulong
(French Physicist and Chemist Who Helped Formulate the 'Dulong–Petit Law' of Specific Heats)
Birthdate: 12th February
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Rouen, France
Died: July 19, 1838
French physicist and chemist Pierre Louis Dulong FRS FRSE is best-remembered for proposing the thermodynamic law called the Dulong–Petit law with fellow scientist Alexis Petit. Subjects of his scientific studies included the elasticity of steam, specific heats of gases and conduction of heat. He discovered nitrogen trichloride, worked on specific heat capacity, and expansion and refractive indices of gases.
Birthdate: 15th January
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Horton, England
Died: April 9, 1850
16
Jonker Afrikaner
(Politician)
Birthdate: 30th November
Birthplace: South Africa
Died: August 18, 1861
Birthdate: 11th November
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Died: January 8, 1855
18
Claude-Louis Navier
(physicist, economist, mathematician, engineer of roads and bridges)
Birthdate: 10th February
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Burlada
Died: August 21, 1836
19
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte
(Socialite)
Birthdate: 6th February
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Died: April 4, 1879
20
John McLean
(Jurist and politician)
Birthdate: 11th March
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Morris County, New Jersey, United States
Died: April 4, 1861
21
Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann
(Historian)
Birthdate: 13th May
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wismar, Germany
Died: December 5, 1860
22
Jeongye Daewongun
(Prince)
Birthdate: 21st March
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: South Korea
Died: November 2, 1841
Birthdate: 15th August
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Manchester
Died: December 8, 1859
Essayist Thomas De Quincey is best remembered for his iconic book Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, which initially appeared in the London Magazine. The work was an autobiographical account of his own addiction to opium, which he had begun consuming to help him deal with the pain of his facial neuralgia.
24
Friedrich Kalkbrenner
(First Pianist to Introduce Long and Rapid Octave Passages in Both Hands)
Birthdate: 2nd November
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: near Kassel, Germany
Died: June 10, 1849
Friedrich Kalkbrenner was a German pianist, piano teacher, composer, and piano manufacturer. He is credited with composing over 200 piano works, including several piano operas and concertos. He also taught many future pianists like Camille-Marie Stamaty and Marie Pleyel. Friedrich Kalkbrenner was also a successful businessman who became enormously rich through his business deals.
25
Henry Miller Shreve
(Inventor)
Birthdate: 21st October
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: New Jersey, United States
Died: March 6, 1851
26
Jean Charles Athanase Peltier
(Physicist)
Birthdate: 22nd February
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Ham, France
Died: October 27, 1845
27
Alessandro Manzoni
(Italian Poet, Novelist and Senator of the Kingdom of Italy)
Birthdate: 7th March
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Milan, Italy
Died: May 22, 1873
Alessandro Manzoni was a 19th-century Italian poet, novelist, and philosopher. His novel The Betrothed is generally counted among the masterpieces of world literature. He is credited to have contributed to the stabilization of the modern Italian language. He was politically active and was a member of the Italian Senate. He was a proponent of Liberal Catholicism.
28
Hans Karl von Diebitsch
(Soldier)
Birthdate: 13th May
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wielka Lipa, Poland
Died: June 10, 1831
29
Edward Bransfield
(Explorer)
Birthdate: 30th November
Birthplace: Ballinacurra, County Cork, Ireland
Died: October 31, 1852
Birthdate: 13th November
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Dorset, England, United Kingdom
Died: January 25, 1828
Better known as one of Lord Byron’s lovers, Lady Caroline Lamb met a 24-year-old Byron when she was 26, married, and has an autistic son with her husband, future British prime minister William Lamb. An author, too, she is known for her anonymously published Gothic novel Glenarvon.
Birthdate: 19th August
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Wolcott, Connecticut, United States
Died: January 29, 1859
32
Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut
(Military general)
Birthdate: 21st April
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: September 1, 1870
33
Zwangendaba
(African king)
Birthdate: 30th November
Birthplace: Not known
Died: 1848 AD
Birthdate: 27th November
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Died: March 11, 1848
35
Prince Paul of Württemberg
(Prince)
Birthdate: 19th January
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: April 16, 1852
36
August Immanuel Bekker
(Philologist)
Birthdate: 21st May
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: June 7, 1871
37
William Francis Patrick Napier
(Soldier)
Birthdate: 7th December
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Celbridge, Ireland
Died: February 12, 1860
38
Bettina von Arnim
(Former Writer most famously wrote the 1835 work, Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (Goethe's correspondence with a child))
Birthdate: 4th April
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Frankfurt, Germany
Died: January 20, 1859
Birthdate: 22nd March
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Dent
Died: January 27, 1873
Adam Sedgwick was a British Anglican priest and geologist. He is credited with guiding and mentoring Charles Darwin during his early years. However, Sedgwick went on to oppose Darwin's theory of evolution. The world's oldest student-run geological society, The Sedgwick Club, was established in his honor in 1880.
40
Thomas Love Peacock
(Novelist)
Birthdate: 18th October
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Weymouth, England
Died: January 23, 1866
41
Jean-Louis Michel
(French Fencer)
Birthdate: 30th November
Birthplace: Saint-Domingue
Died: 1865 AD
42
Karl August Varnhagen von Ense
(German Diplomat, Biographer, and Soldier)
Birthdate: 21st February
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Düsseldorf, Germany
Died: October 10, 1858
43
Thomas Barnes
(Journalist)
Birthdate: 11th September
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: London, England
Died: May 7, 1841
44
Thomas Peacock
(English Novelist and Poet)
Birthdate: 18th October
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Weymouth, Dorset, England
Died: January 23, 1866
45
James Pollard Espy
(US Meteorologist Known for His Work on the Thermodynamics of Cloud Formation)
Birthdate: 9th May
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Pennsylvania, United States
Died: January 24, 1860
US meteorologist James Pollard Espy developed the first known theory to explain the thermodynamics of cloud formation. He also made pioneering use of the telegraph to collect meteorological observations. He also served as a meteorologist for US War and Navy and penned the iconic book The Philosophy of Storms.
46
Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge
(Former Governor-General of India)
Birthdate: 30th March
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Wrotham, England
Died: September 24, 1856
47
Dorothea Lieven
(Diplomat)
Birthdate: 17th December
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Latvia
Died: January 27, 1857
48
José Miguel Carrera
(Chilean General & One of the Founding Fathers of the Nation)
Birthdate: 15th October
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Santiago, Chile
Died: September 4, 1821
José Miguel Carrera was a Chilean general and an important member of the famous Carrera family. The most prominent leader of the War of Independence in Chile, Carrera is widely regarded as a co-founder of independent Chile. Today, he is counted among the Fathers of the Nation in Chile. José Miguel Carrera is also credited with ending slavery in Chile.
49
Alphonse Bérenger de la Drôme
(Lawyer)
Birthdate: 31st May
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Valence, France
Died: March 1, 1866
50
Victor de Broglie
(Politician)
Birthdate: 28th November
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: January 25, 1870