1855 ( MDCCCLV ) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar  and a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar , the 1855th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 855th year of the 2nd millennium , the 55th year of the 19th century , and the 6th year of the 1850s decade. As of the start of 1855, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events [ change | change source ]

• January 1 ? London, Ontario is incorporated as a city.
• January 23 ? The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota , a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge .
• January 23 ? The region of Wairarapa , New Zealand was hit by the strongest earthquake ever recorded in New Zealand, which reached Magnitude 8.1 on the Richter Scale . There were five deaths.
• January 29 ? Lord Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom over the management of the Crimean War .
• February 5 ? Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• February 11 ? Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II , Emperor of Ethiopia , by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam .
• March 3 ? US Congress appropriates $30,000 to create US Camel Corps
• March 16 ? Bates College in Lewiston, Maine was founded.
• May 15 ? The Great Gold Robbery of 1855 in England
• June 29 ? The Daily Telegraph begins publication
• September 3 ? Last Bartholomew Fair on London , England
• September 11 ? Sevastapol falls to the British troops
• December 22 ? Metropolitan Board of Works established.
• Stamp duty was removed from newspapers in Britain creating mass market media in the UK.
• The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean by rail as the railroad's route across Panama is completed.

Births [ change | change source ]

• May 1 - Cecilia Beaux , American painter
• May 10 - Sri Yukteswar Giri , Indian guru