Famous People Born In 1855

The son of wealthy Pittsburgh banker Thomas Mellon, Andrew William Mellon had followed in his father’s footsteps, to be a banker. He had also been the American ambassador to the U.K. and the American secretary of the treasury. He owned companies such as Alcoa, Old Overholt whiskey, and Gulf Oil.

William Mulholland was initially hailed as a hero for building the first aqueduct system of Los Angeles, as the first chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. He later resigned taking responsibility for the collapse of the St. Francis Dam, which had caused countless deaths.

Born into the famous Brahmin Lowell family of Massachusetts, Percival Lowell studied at Harvard, where he excelled in math. He managed a cotton mill and also spent time in Asia as a diplomat. He is best remembered for initiating the discovery of Pluto and for studying the canals on Mars.

William Friese-Greene was a British photographer and inventor. A pioneer of motion pictures, Friese-Greene is remembered for devising a series of cameras with which he shot moving pictures in London. Despite earning substantial amount of money throughout his career, Friese-Greene died in poverty as he spent his earnings on his inventions. His life inspired a biopic titled The Magic Box.

Son of Émile Deschanel, a professor exiled due to his opposition to Napoleon III, Paul Deschanel grew up to study law. Before becoming the president of France, he had also been the president of the Chamber of Deputies. A skilled author, too, he was part of the Académie Française.

Clinton Hart Merriam was an American mammalogist, zoologist, ornithologist, ecologist, entomologist, geographer, ethnographer, physician, and naturalist. Referred to as the father of mammalogy, Merriam owned a private collection of mammal specimens. Clinton Hart Merriam is also credited with co-founding the National Geographic Society and the American Ornithologists' Union.

Apart from winning medals for fencing and heading the Oxford University Boat Club, William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough was also an adventurer who had rowed across the English Channel. A public servant, too, he had been part of the House of Commons for both the Liberals and the Conservatives.

One of the greatest 19th-century conductors, Arthur Nikisch was born to a Hungarian father and a Czech mother. Excelling as a student at the Vienna Conservatory, he later joined the Vienna Philharmonic. He was later associated with top-notch orchestras in Berlin, Budapest, and Boston. He also conducted the Ring Cycle operas.

Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque was a Portuguese cavalry officer best remembered for his service as the Governor-General of Portuguese Mozambique from 1896 to 1897. He helped Portugal annex Mozambique by defeating and capturing the tribal king Gungunhana in 1895.  

English botanist Henry Nicholas Ridley is best remembered for his contribution to the cultivation of rubber in the Malay peninsula. His passion to achieve his goal earned him the nickname Mad Ridley. Of his written works, one of the most significant was the 5-volume Flora of the Malay Peninsula.

Ecuadorian feminist author Marieta de Veintemilla served as the First Lady of Ecuador during the presidency of her uncle, Ignacio de Veintemilla, who was unmarried. She introduced the norm of women going out without male guardians and wearing bright colors in Ecuador. She also controlled the army in her uncle’s absence.

William Pitt was an Australian politician and architect best remembered as one of the greatest architects during the 1880s in Melbourne. Pitt is credited with designing some of Melbourne's most popular and detailed High Victorian commercial buildings like The Federal Coffee Palace, Old Rialto Building, Sir Charles Hotham Hotel, and Princess' Theatre.    

Uruguayan poet Juan Zorrilla de San Martín is mostly remembered for his 6-canto epic poem Tabaré. He also launched the Catholic periodical El bien público. Regarded as the National Poet of Uruguay, he also penned Hymn to the Tree, a Spanish poem that became popular as a song in various Latin American nations.

Best remembered for discovering the magnetic property of hysteresis, Alfred Ewing also taught at the University of Tokyo and King’s College, Cambridge. He had also penned papers on subjects such as metallic structure and seismology. He also headed naval education of the British Admiralty and was knighted.

Russian horticulturalist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin became a favorite of the Soviet government by developing over 300 new varieties of fruits plants. His theories of hybridization, though universally rejected and criticized, were adopted as the standard scientific principle of genetics in Russia. He also won honors such as the Order of Lenin.