1823

Events of 1823

• February 3 - Gioachino Rossini's Semiramide is first performed.
• April 13 - Eleven-year-old Franz Liszt gives a concert after which he is personally congratulated by Ludwig van Beethoven.
• July 15 - The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome is almost completely destroyed by fire.
• September 10 - Simón Bolívar is named President of Peru.
• September 22 - Joseph Smith, Jr. says that he was directed by God through the angel Moroni to the place where the Golden plates are stored.
• September 28 - Pope Leo XII succeeds Pope Pius VII as the 252nd pope.
• November 15 - Chief Lone Horn succeeds (probably) his father, and becomes chief of the Minneconjou Sioux; he will be chief until his death on 16 October1875.
• December 2 - Monroe Doctrine: The USA separates the spheres of influence between Europe and the Americas, forbidding any further European colonization.

Undated

• Orford Parish of East Hartford, Connecticut separates and is incorporated as the Town of Manchester by a special act of the Connecticut General Assembly.
• Ferdinand VII revokes the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and restores absolute monarchy (See also Mid-nineteenth century Spain)
• The word 'gallivant' is officially adopted by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary.
• The Olbers' paradox is described by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.
• Jackson Male Academy, precursor of Union University, is founded in Tennessee.
• The Oxford Union is founded.
• William Webb Ellis "invents" Rugby football.

Births

• January 1 - Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
• January 8 - Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
• January 27 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
• February 27 - Ernest Renan, French philosopher and writer (d. 1892)
• March 14 - Théodore de Banville, French writer (d. 1891)
• March 20 - Ned Buntline, American publisher, writer, and publicist (d. 1886)
• March 23 - Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
• April 3 - William Marcy Tweed, American political boss (d. 1878)
• April 23 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1861)
• May 22 - Solomon Bundy, American politician (d. 1889)
• May 26 - William Pryor Letchworth, founder of Letchworth State Park
• June 13 David Breakenridge Read, Mayor of Toronto (d.1904)
• June 21 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873)
• August 10 - Hugh Stowell Brown, Manx preacher (d.1886)
• August 13 - Goldwin Smith, English historian (d. 1910)
• December 6 - Friedrich Max Müller, German Orientalist (d. 1900)
• date unknown - James Black, American temperance movement leader (d. 1893)

Deaths

• January 21 - Gideon Olin, U.S. politician (b. 1743)
• January 26 - Edward Jenner, English physician and medical researcher (b. 1749)
• February 7 - Ann Radcliffe, English writer (b. 1764)
• February 21 - Charles Wolfe, Irish poet (b. 1791)
• March 1 - Pierre-Jean Garat, opera singer (b. 1764)
• March 14
• Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739)
• John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, British Royal Navy admiral (b. 1735)
• March 18 - Jean-Baptiste Breval, French cellist (b. 1753)
• June 1 - Louis Nicolas Davout, French marshal (b. 1770)
• August 20 - Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
• August 22 - Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (b. 1753)
• September 11 - David Ricardo, English economist (b. 1772)
• September 23 - Matthew Baillie, Scottish physician and pathologist (b. 1761)
• November 9 - Vasily Kapnist, poet and dramatist (b. 1758)