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- Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 - April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871-2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, though he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession ... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me". According to his critics, his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers." He is widely credited with coining the adage "There's a sucker born every minute", although no evidence has been collected of him saying this.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival, and Moby-Dick grew to be considered one of the great American novels.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Léo Delibes was born on 21 February 1836 in Saint-Germain-du-Val, La Flèche, Sarthe, France. He was a composer and writer, known for True Romance (1993), Carlito's Way (1993) and Pig (2021). He was married to Léontine Estelle Denain. He died on 16 January 1891 in Paris, France.- Writer
- Additional Crew
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Arthur Rimbaud was born on 20 October 1854 in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes, France. He was a writer, known for Ein großer graublauer Vogel (1970), Ardiente paciencia (1983) and Chelsea Walls (2001). He died on 10 November 1891 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.- Joseph Whitley was born on 17 October 1816 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was married to Sarah Whitley. He died on 12 January 1891 in New York City, New York, USA.
- William Tecumseh Sherman was a general in the Union army during the American Civil War (and the man who coined the phrase, "War is hell"). He was regarded as one of the most able generals on either side, and his famous "March to the Sea" was credited with greatly shortening the length of the war and is considered by many military historians to be one of the first examples of "total war" in the history of modern warfare.
One of eight children, Sherman was born Tecumseh Sherman (in honor of the famous Shawnee Indian warrior) in Lancaster, OH, in 1820. His father was a judge who died when William was only nine. He was adopted by William Ewing, a family friend, and Ewing's wife added "William" to his name. At 16 years of age young William received an appointment to the US Army Military Academy at West Point, NY, graduating in 1840 near the top of his class. Upon graduation Sherman was posted to Florida, where he took part in the war with the Seminole Indian tribe, and he was later transferred to Fort Moultrie, SC. When the Mexican War broke out in 1848 Sherman was stationed in California as an administrative officer and was unable to take part in it. In 1850 he married Ellen Ewing--her father William, who had adopted Sherman as a youth, was by this time the US Secretary of the Interior--and the newlyweds settled in St. Louis, MO.
Sherman resigned from the army in 1853 and traveled to California to try his luck during the Gold Rush. He wound up taking a position in San Francisco with a St. Louis banking company. His business career, however, was severely damaged by the Panic of 1857. He found himself unemployed but was helped out by two friends from his West Point days, Braxton Bragg and P.G.T. Beauregard--who would later find themselves on the opposite side of Sherman during the Civil War as generals in the Confederate army--who got him a job as the superintendent of a military academy in Louisiana. However, when the Civil War broke out in 1861, Sherman resigned from the academy and rejoined the army as a colonel in that same year.
Sherman was given command of a brigade in the army of Gen. Irvin McDowell and took part in the First Battle of Bull Run, a disastrous defeat for the Union. Despite that, Sherman was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned to Kentucky as second-in-command to Gen. Robert Anderson. He did not fit well into that position and was soon transferred to the army of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, where he served as a division commander. Sherman took part in the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, and his performance so impressed his superiors that he was promoted to the rank of Major General.
Grant and Sherman worked extremely well together They planned and executed the siege and eventual capture of Vicksburg, MS, destroying the Confederate defenses and allowing Union supplies and reinforcements to use the Mississippi River again. Although Sherman suffered a defeat at the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, he made up for that by capturing Fort Hindman, a feat that resulted in his being given command of the Union's XV Corps.
President Abraham Lincoln placed Grant in command of the Union Army in the west, and Sherman was promoted to Grant's former position of commander of the Army of the Tennessee. They took part in the Chattanooga campaign in November of 1863. In March of 1864 Grant was given command of all Union armies and Sherman was given command of the military division of the Mississippi, which included three entire armies. Sherman's campaign to invade Georgia began near Chattanooga, TN, in 1864 with 100,000 troops. Opposing Confederate forces were unable to stop them and were steadily pushed back. On Sept. 2 Sherman captured Atlanta, a major Southern industrial center and transportation hub, and its loss seriously damaged the South's war effort.
After capturing Atlanta, Sherman took more than 60,000 troops from his force and led them on the famous "March to the Sea", which was to end at the port city of Savannah. On its way, the army devastated the countryside, destroying railroads, farms, plantations, industrial areas, and anything that the South could use to further its war effort (it was also intended to "bring the war home" to the Southerners who had started the war in the first place). After taking Savannah Sherman turned his forces north through the Carolinas and headed for Virginia. However, the South was unable to continue the war anymore, and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to Grant at Appomattox, VA, on 4/9/1865. Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered the remainder of the Southern forces to Sherman on April 26 near Durham, SC, and the war was over.
After hostilities ended, Grant was promoted to four-star general and Sherman was promoted to Lieutenant General. Grant was elected US President in 1869, and he promoted Sherman to Commanding General of the Army, which he held until 1884. He retired to New York City, where he died in 1891. - Writer
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Author of the classic novella El sombrero de tres picos (1944), a graceful, humorous picaresque story. Liberal and anti-clerical, Alarcón was the notorious chief editor of the periodical El Látigo (The Whip). Wrote numerous novels, short stories, poetry and drama, but remained famous for abovementioned novella and the novel El escándalo (1943). Manuel de Falla made El Sombrero... into a famous ballet.- Theo van Gogh was a writer, known for Painted with Words (2010). Theo died on 25 January 1891 in Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- Ivan Goncharov was a classic Russian writer whose novel 'Oblomov' was adapted to film by director Nikita Mikhalkov.
He was born Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov on June 18, 1812, in Simbirsk, Russian Empire (now Ulyanovsk, Russia). His father, a wealthy merchant, died when Goncharov was only seven, and he was brought up by his Godfather, Nikolai Tregubov, a retired Navy sailor. Goncharov received an excellent private education at the home of his parents. From the age of 10 he studied at a private boarding school in Moscow, specializing in commerce. From 1830 - 1834 Goncharov attended Moscow University, having such schoolmates a Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Gertsen, and Ivan Turgenev among other distinguished Russians. Upon his graduation from Moscow University in 1834, Goncharov served as a government official for the next thirty years. He specialized in translations of foreign correspondence with the Russian government.
Between 1852 and 1855 Goncharov served as a secretary to the legendary Navy Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin. Goncharov took part in the historic Russo-Japanese Treaty of 1855, serving as the official interpreter between the Russian and Japanese governments. At that time Goncharov made voyages aboard the Russian Navy frigate "Pallada" ('Pallas'), visiting many countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Upon his return to Russia, Goncharov eventually experienced disillusionment with the Russian social and economic traditions. His 1858 publication of his travelogue, a chronicle of his three-year journey, became a sensation in the Tsarist Russia. His next book, Oblomov', made Goncharov a classic, and was praised by such figures as Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others.
In 1867 Goncharov fell under pressure for his independent views, and retired from his position as a government interpreter and censor. He eventually became a professional writer, living in St. Petersburg, Russia. He wrote numerous short stories, critiques, essays and memoirs, and continued traveling outside of Russia. During the 1860s Goncharov was part of the St. Petersburg cultural milieu, albeit his independent political position and his advanced and original views on Russian reality were causing him problems with the rigid hard-liners in the Russian establishment. He eventually suffered from negative criticism that was orchestrated by his conservative opponents. Goncharov struggled for twenty years writing his third big novel, 'Obryv' (aka.. The Precipice), dealing with romantic rivalry of three men, and sporting a veiled critique of disintegrating Russian society. Ivan Goncharov never married, he died if pneumonia in his home in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was laid to rest in the writer's corner of cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Ivan Goncharov's most important novel, 'Oblomov', was published in 1859, and became widely successful in Russia. It was even compared with the Shakespeare's Hamlet, albeit the title character, Oblomov, is giving the answer "No!" to the question "To be or not to be?". The story of Oblomov and Russians around him is dealing with a conundrum of problems of social and economic nature that are typical of Russia. The novel was adapted into the eponymous film, A Few Days from the Life of I.I. Oblomov (1980), by director Nikita Mikhalkov, starring Oleg Tabakov in the title role.
Ivan Goncharov's writings are included in the Russian school curriculum and reissued in massive printings. - Music Department
- Soundtrack
William Cool White was born on 28 July 1821 in Pennsylvania, USA. William Cool is known for My Darling Clementine (1946), Her Lucky Night (1945) and Hoosier Holiday (1943). William Cool was married to Mrs. Eliza F. Foster, née Bonnet and ? (second). William Cool died on 23 April 1891 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.- Soundtrack
John H. Hopkins was born on 28 October 1820 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. John H. died on 14 August 1891 in Hudson, New York, USA.- George Hearst was born on 3 September 1820 in Franklin County, Missouri, USA. He was married to Phoebe Apperson Hearst. He died on 28 February 1891 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
- She was born at her family's home at 18 Crucifix Lane in Bermondsey (Southwark, London) on September 17, 1859. Her father, James William Coles, was a 39 year-old master boot maker from Publow, Somerset. Her mother, Mary Ann Carney, was a 29 year-old from Armagh, Ireland. The Coles already had two daughters, 7 year-old Mary Ann (b. ca 1853), and Selina Adelina, who was almost four (born on October 25, 1855). Their last child, and only son, James Jr., would born on August 30, 1862.
Frances found a job as a trainee in the packing department of a soap and toiletries manufacturer called James Sinclair & Son, at 65 Southwark Street, and she moved into a lodging house at 192 Union Street. She told the people at Sinclair's and at the lodging house that her name was Coleman.
Frances was around 22 and still living at 192 Union Street when the 1881 census was taken, and still calling herself Coleman. She reported the occupation as "powder packer". She had already left her job at Sinclair's and was working at Winifred Hora & Co., a small wholesale druggist company in the East End, located at 58 Minories Street. It took her 40 minutes to walk from home to work. The company's flagship product was Macord's Transparent Waterproof Isinglass Plaster, but they also produced a variety of medicinal drugs and medicated powders for the wholesale and export market, packaging them in square glass bottles that were sealed with snug-fitting cork stoppers. Paper labels were then affixed to the bottles to identify the contents. Frances took turns between inserting the cork stoppers, or "stoppering the bottles" as she called it, and applying the paper labels with glue. The stoppers had to be forcibly twisted into the medicine bottles by hand, and Frances soon developed calluses on her knuckles. According to her foreman at Hora's, Frances was "an exceptionally quiet, retiring, and well-behaved girl (...), thoroughly respectable." Frances wasn't a full time employee at Hora's, she was a day laborer. When things were slow she didn't work or get paid. Some weeks she didn't earn anything. She worked there as an occasional day laborer for at least a few years but her last separation might have been as early as 1883. The next time the company had some work for her, they sent a telegram to her last known address, a Christian mission on Commercial Road, but she no longer lived there. The people at Hora's never tried to contact her again.
By 1883 Frances was living in a new residence, Wilmott's Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street in Spitalfields. Wilmott's catered exclusively to women, and it was small by East End standards, having about seventy beds. Around this time, when she was around 24 years old, she met laborer James Murray and their relationship lasted for about four years.
Frances never held a permanent job again and while no one knows when she first became involved with prostitution, she probably began as an occasional one during her furloughs from work at Hora's. She had to do something to come up with the money she needed for food and shelter. Frances never earned enough to allow her to escape Thrawl Street, and her clothes had become so worn and dingy they kept her from being considered for any type of employment and she reached the point where she had no choice but walk the streets. Frances was extremely quiet, almost aloof. She tried to avoid people (clients) she considered "rough," and she "hated" the low-class prostitutes she encountered. At some point she picked up the street name "Carroty Nell".
James Thomas Sadler, a merchant seaman and fireman, first met Frances around September 1889, and he is quoted saying: "When I first knew her she was a very reserved kind of girl, keeping to herself, and never mixing with any women of her class. When I came home last time [18 months later, February 1891], though, I found her very much altered so far as her position went. She had come down in the world like they all do in time, but even then, she hated the women with whom she had to associate."
Regardless of the circumstances, her fall from grace was a secret she did her best to keep from her family. She still crossed the Thames every Friday to visit her father in the Bermondsey Workhouse on Tanner Street. She also went to see him every holiday and on most Sundays as well.
The last time James Coles saw his daughter Frances was on Friday, February 6 1891, only a week before her murder. She apparently revealed the fact that she had left her position at the chemist's, but she told him that she was still renting a room in the home of a respectable older woman at 32 Richard Street.
James Thomas Sadler was discharged from the ship S.S. Fez on February 11 1891, and proceeded to make his way toward Commercial Street and The Princess Alice pub (or "The Alice"). He was a 53 year-old belligerent hard drinking big man, only two inches shy of 6 feet tall. While having some drinks he met Frances, who called him Jim (whereas all his friends called him Tom).
At 2:15am from Friday February 13th 1891, P.C. Ernest Thompson was on his beat along Chamber Street, only minutes away from Leman Street Police Station. He had been on the police force less than two months, and this was his first night on the beat alone. Thomspon heard the retreating footsteps of a man in the distance, apparently heading toward Mansell Street. Only a few seconds later he turns his vision to the darkest corner of Swallow Gardens and shines his lamp upon the body of Frances Coles. Thompson had passed the spot 15 minutes before and was adamant that she hadn't been there then. Blood was flowing profusely from her throat, and to Thompson's horror, he saw her open and shut one eye. Since the woman was alive, police procedure dictated that Thompson remain with the body - his inability to follow the retreating footsteps of the man he believed to have been her killer would haunt him for the rest of his days. Thompson immediately blew his whistle to raise the alarm and the neighboring beat officers, PC Frederick Hyde and PC Hinton, came running to the scene. They were soon joined by Police-constable George Elliott who was on plain clothes duty in adjacent Royal Mint-street. Checking for signs of life, the officers found her to be quite warm and they also felt a very faint pulse. PC Hyde was then sent to fetch the local medic, Dr Frederick Oxley, who arrived at the scene and pronounced life extinct.
James Thomas Sadler was captured by the police, but the Seamen's Union paid for his proper legal representation. At the inquest, the jury returned a verdict of "Willful Murder against some person or persons unknown" on February 27, and four days later the Thames Magistrate's Court dropped all charges against Sadler. As he left the court on March 3rd 1891, crowds of people cheered his release. - Jan Neruda was born on 9 July 1834 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria [now Czech Republic]. Jan was a writer, known for Vzhuru nohama (1938), Kam s ním? (1924) and Trhani (1936). Jan died on 22 August 1891 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic].
- Music Department
Franco Faccio was born on 8 March 1840 in Verona, Italy. Franco is known for Faccio: Hamlet (2017). Franco died on 21 July 1891 in Italy.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Théodore de Banville was born on 14 March 1823 in Moulins, Allier, France. Théodore was a writer, known for Les joies de la vie (1957), L'île aux enfants (1974) and Symphonie de printemps (1963). Théodore was married to Marie-Élisabeth Rochegrosse. Théodore died on 13 March 1891 in Paris, France.- Soundtrack
J.A. Butterfield was born on 18 May 1837 in England, UK. J.A. was married to Caroline S. Sheppard. J.A. died on 6 July 1891 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born on 26 September 1820 in Birsingha, Bengal Province, British India. Ishwar Chandra was a writer, known for Bhranti Bilas (1963). Ishwar Chandra died on 29 July 1891 in Calcutta, Bengal Province, British India.
- Francesco Mastriani was born on 23 November 1819 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was a writer, known for La sepolta viva (1916), Medea di Portamedina (1919) and Ciccio, il pizzaiuolo del Carmine (1916). He died on 7 January 1891 in Naples, Campania, Italy.
- Gergely Csiky was born on 8 December 1842 in Pankota, Hungary [now Pancota, Romania]. He was a writer, known for A Nagymama (1916), A nagymama (1935) and A nagymama (1986). He died on 19 November 1891 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Francisco Gomes de Amorim was born on 13 August 1827 in Averomar, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal. He was a writer, known for A Proibição (1959). He was married to Maria Luisa da Silva Barbosa. He died on 4 November 1891 in Lisbon, Portugal.
- Georges Seurat, one of the members of 'Salon des Refuses' who learned from classical training and from contemporary art and was rejected by the official Salon, became the founder of Pointilism (Divisionism) in art.
He was born Georges-Pierre Seurat on December 2, 1859, in Paris, France. He was the youngest of three children in the family of a wealthy lawyer, Chrysostome-Antoine Seurat. His mother, named Ernestine Faivre, came from a prosperous Parisian family. During the early 1870s young Seurat was taking private drawing lessons from his uncle, painter Paul Haumonte, who took him on regular art expeditions. From 1875 he studied drawing under the sculptor Justin Lequien. From 1878-1879 Seurat studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His teacher Henri Lehmann was a disciple of the great neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, who was the student of Jacques-Louis David. That training was formative for his meticulous working procedure, which Seurat developed in his mature works. Having served at Brest Military Academy for one year, he returned to Paris and continued his art studies.
During the year of 1883 Seurat was working on his first large painting 'La baignade a Asnieres' (Bathers at Asnieres 1883), which was rejected by the official Salon. However, the painting was exhibited by the Societe des Artistes Independants, which was organized as a second 'Salon des Refuses' (Salon of Refugees). At their initial show in 1884, Seurat's 'Bathers at Asnieres' was exhibited along with the works by Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, 'Vincent Van Gogh', and Paul Signac. That was the beginning of Seurat's friendship with Signac, who connected him to the avant-garde group 'Les Vingdt' in Brussels. There Seurat exhibited seven of his works in 1887. His collaboration with Signac led to foundation and development of Neo-Impressionism, the artistic movement also known as Pointillism or Divisionism. Seurat himself preferred the term Divisionism.
Seurat was a man of modest means and modest lifestyle. He was abstinent from alcohol, or any substances and stayed totally devoted to his art. He was known as a quiet and at times depressed, but robust and generous person. He was always helping his friends and arranging their exhibitions and hanging the paintings. He lived in his art-studio with his young model Madeleine Knobloch, whom he met in 1889. She came from a working class family and was not fully accepted by Seurat's established friends. In February of 1890, she gave birth to their son Pierre-George. Seurat was secretive about his private life, a trait he inherited from his father. He became traumatized at the news of the death of Vincent van Gogh in 1890. Seurat introduced his young family to his parents just days before he was "choked to death" by a throat infection, diagnosed as diphtheria, which also killed his little son two weeks later, and killed his father after another month. Seurat died on March 29, 1891, and was laid to rest in the Cimitiere du Pere-Lachaise in Paris, France.
Georges Seurat produced most of his works during the 1880's, which are regarded as one of the most salient periods of aesthetic change. He exhibited his last ambitious work, 'Le Circque' (The Circus 1891), while it was still unfinished. It was Seurat's visual retelling of the story of 'Freres Zemgano', a novel by 'Edmont De Goncourt' . During his short life Seurat made only seven large paintings, working for a year or more on each one. At the same time he made about five hundred smaller paintings and drawings. Seurat produced a strong stimulating effect on his fellow artists. Neo-Impressionists were later joined by Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Rousseau, and other artists who developed the idea of Pointillism (or Divisionism) in other artistic movements, such as Fauvism.
Dividing colors in order to produce special effects was attempted by many artists. Seurat was the first one to meticulously fill every centimeter of his paintings with swirling swarms of small colorful dots which represented the desired color, when a painting was watched from a distance. His work quality ascended to such an artistic height, that it attracted masses of followers and made a lasting impact on generations of artists, designers, architects, photographers, cinematographers, and even on today's cutting-edge digital software developers. Seurat's influence on fashion design was evident in some successful fashion collections from such acclaimed couturiers as Oleg Cassini, whose use of color patterns alluded to those of Seurat's, as well, as Vyacheslav Zaytsev and Pierre Cardin among many others.
Seurat's visual language, his innovative and thoughtful interplay of colors, possesses the ability to tune up our mind into a special state of awareness, that enables us to see the fullness of images in the visual feast of this wonderful world. - Composer
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Fredrik Pacius was born on 13 March 1809 in Hamburg, Germany. He was a composer, known for Blyge Anton (1940), Helmikuun manifesti (1939) and Portraits of Women (1970). He was married to Nina Lucia Martin. He died on 8 January 1891 in Helsinki, Finland.- Soundtrack
Calixa Lavallée was born on 28 December 1842 in Sainte-Théodosie-de-Verchères, Québec, Canada. Calixa was married to Joséphine Gentilly. Calixa died on 21 January 1891 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.- W.G. Wills was born on 28 January 1828 in Ireland. He was a writer, known for Tense Moments from Great Plays (1922), The Eternal Strife (1915) and A Royal Divorce (1923). He died on 13 December 1891 in London, UK.