1851

January–March

• January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion.
• January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College, receives its charter from the Missouri General Assembly.
• January 23 – The flip of a coin, subsequently named Portland Penny, determines whether a new city in the Oregon Territory is named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.
• January 28 – Northwestern University is founded in Illinois.
• February 6 – Black Thursday in Australia: Bushfires sweep across the state of Victoria, burning about a quarter of its area.
• February 12 – Edward Hargraves claims to have found gold in Australia.
• February 15 – In Boston, Massachusetts, members of the anti-slavery Boston Vigilance Committee rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from a courtroom, following his arrest by U.S. marshals.
• March 1 – Victor Hugo uses the phrase United States of Europe, in a speech to the French National Assembly.
• March 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto is first performed at La Fenice in Venice.
• March 27 – The first European men reportedly see Yosemite Valley.
• March 30 – A population census is taken in the United Kingdom. The population reaches 21 million. 6.3 million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, and cities of 20,000 or more account for 35% of the total English population.

April–June

• April 9 – San Luis, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Colorado, is founded by settlers from Taos, New Mexico.
• April 20 – Ramón Castilla loses power in Peru.
• April 21 – John Stuart Mill marries Harriet Taylor.
• April 28 – Santa Clara College is chartered in Santa Clara, California.
• May 1 – The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria (it runs until October 18).
  

  May 1: Great Exhibition in London.
• May 15 – The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
  

  May 15: Rama IV crowned.
  • Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, the first secret society for women, is founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia (U.S.)
  • Mongkut (Rama IV) is crowned King of Siam, at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
• Mid-May to mid-July – Great Flood of 1851: Extensive flooding sweeps across the Midwestern United States. The town of Des Moines is virtually washed away, and many rainfall records hold for 160 years.
• June 21 – The Immortal Game, a famous chess match, is played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky, during a break in the first international tournament, held in London.

July–September

• July 1
  • The Colony of Victoria separates from New South Wales.
  • Serial poisoner Hélène Jégado is arrested in Rennes, France.
• July 10 – The University of the Pacific is chartered as California Wesleyan College, in Santa Clara, California.
• July 28 – Total eclipse visible in Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Northern Europe. First solar eclipse photographed.
• July 29 – Annibale de Gasparis, in Naples, Italy discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
• August 1 – Virginia closes its Reform Constitutional Convention, deciding that all white men have the right to vote.
• August 12 – Issac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.
• August 22 – The yacht America wins the first America's Cup race, off the coast of England.
  

  August 22: America triumphs.
• September 15 – Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia.
• September 18 – The New York Times is founded.
  

  September 18: The New York Times is founded.
• September 30 – The HSwMS Eugenie leaves from Karlskrona, Sweden to begin its voyage, as the first Swedish Royal Navy vessel to circumnavigate the world.

October–December

• October – The Reuters news service is founded.
• October 15
  • The City of Winona, Minnesota is founded.
  • The Great Exhibition in London is closed.
• October 24 – Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, are discovered by William Lassell.
• November 13
  • The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, the first settlers of what later becomes Seattle.
  • The first protected submarine telegraph cable is laid, across the English Channel.
• November 14 – Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick; or The Whale is published in the U.S. by Harper & Brothers, New York, after being first published on October 18 in London, by Richard Bentley, in three volumes as The Whale.
• November 26–27 – Bombardment of Salé, Morocco: French naval forces bombard the city, in retaliation for looting of a French cargo ship.
• December 2 – French coup of 1851: In what amounts to a coup, President Louis Napoleon of France dissolves the French National Assembly, and declares a new constitution to extend his term. A year later he declares himself as Emperor Napoleon III, ending the Second Republic.
• December 6 – The trial of Hélène Jégado begins; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed by guillotine.
• December 9 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal.
• December 22 – India's first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.
• December 24 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns.
• December 26–27 – A Royal Navy warship bombards Lagos Island; Oba Kosoko is wounded, and flees to Epe.
• December 29 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
• December 31 – 1851 Chilean Revolution – Battle of Loncomilla: The rebels are defeated, ending the revolution.

Date unknown

• St. Paul's College, Hong Kong is founded.
• Western Union is founded, as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company.

January–June

Ella Giles Ruddy

Rose Coghlan, 1870s

• January 16 – William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
• January 17 – A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)
• January 19
  • David Starr Jordan, American ichthyologist, educator, eugenicist, and peace activist (d. 1931)
  • Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (d. 1922)
• February 2 – Ella Giles Ruddy, American author and essayist (d. 1917)
• February 13 – Joseph B. Murdock, United States Navy admiral, New Hampshire politician (d. 1931)
• February 15 – Antero Rubín, Spanish general, politician (d. 1935)
• February 23 – Frederick Warde, English actor (d. 1935)
• March 14 – John Sebastian Little, American politician, congressman (d. 1916)
• March 18
  • Rose Coghlan, English actress (d. 1932)
  • Julien Dupré, French artist (d. 1910)
• March 19
  • Pierre Ruffey, French general (d. 1928)
  • William Henry Stark, American business leader (d. 1936)
• March 27 – Vincent d'Indy, French composer, teacher (d. 1931)
• March 28 – Bernardino Machado, Portuguese President (d. 1944)
• March 31 – Francis Bell, 20th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
• April 1 – Bruno von Mudra, German general (d. 1931)
• April 4 – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, Irish lawyer, politician (d. 1931)
• April 6 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (d. 1932)
• April 13
  • Robert Abbe, American surgeon (d. 1928)
  • Helen M. Winslow, American editor, author, and publisher (d. 1938)
• April 15 – Auguste Dubail, French general (d. 1934)
• April 17 – Madre Teresa Nuzzo, Maltese nun, foundress of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart (d. 1923)
• April 20 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875)
• April 21 – Charles Barrois, French geologist (d. 1939)
• May 6 – Aristide Bruant, French cabaret singer, comedian (d. 1925)
• May 7 – Adolf von Harnack, German Lutheran theologian, church historian (d. 1930)
• May 14 – Anna Laurens Dawes, American author, suffragist (d. 1938)

Emile Berliner

• May 20 – Emile Berliner, German-born American telephone and recording pioneer (d. 1929)
• May 21 – Léon Bourgeois, French statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1925)
• June 7 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist, politician (d. 1922)
• June 12 – Sir Oliver Lodge, British physicist (d. 1940)
• June 13 – Anton Haus, Austro-Hungarian admiral (d. 1917)
• June 16 – Georg Jelinek, German legal philosopher (d. 1911)
• June 21 – Frederick Green (footballer), English Footballer (d. 1928)

July–December

Dora Montefiore

• July 5 – Hannibal di Francia, Italian priest, saint (d.1927)
• July 8 – Arthur Evans, British archaeologist (d. 1941)
• July 15 – Eduardo Gutiérrez, Argentinian author (d. 1889)
• July 20 – Arnold Pick, Czechoslovakian neurologist, psychiatrist (d. 1924)
• July 24 – Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (d. 1935)
• August 14 – Doc Holliday, American gambler, gunfighter (d. 1887)
• September 1 – Carl Kellner (mystic), German mystic (d. 1905)
• September 7 – David King Udall, American politician (d. 1938)
• September 13 – Walter Reed, American army physician, bacteriologist (d. 1902)
• September 14 – H. E. Beunke, Dutch writer (d. 1925)
• September 16 – Eduard Reuss, German composer, music biographer (d. 1911)
• September 21 – Arthur Schuster, German-British physicist (d. 1934)
• September 29 – Hardwicke Rawnsley, English clergyman, poet, writer of hymns and conservationist (d. 1920)
• October 2 – Ferdinand Foch, French commander of Allied forces in World War I (d. 1929)
• October 5 – Thomas Pollock Anshutz, American painter, educator (d. 1912)
• October 13 – Knut Beckeman, Swedish architect
• October 20 – George Gandy, American entrepreneur (d. 1946)
• November 5 – Charles Dupuy, 3-time Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
• November 10
  • Richard Armstedt, German historian (d. 1931)
  • José Maria de Yermo y Parres, Mexican Roman Catholic priest and saint (d. 1904)
• November 16 – William Elbridge Sewell, American naval officer, Governor of Guam (d. 1904)
• November 24 – John Indermaur, British lawyer (d. 1925)
• November 27 – Friedrich Sixt von Armin, German general (d. 1936)
• December 10 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification (d. 1931)
• December 20 – Dora Montefiore, English suffragist, socialist (d. 1933)
• December 24 – Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau, French general (d. 1944)
• December 30 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman, politician (d. 1929)

January–June

Mary Shelley

Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi

• January 10 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (b. 1775)
• January 19 – Esteban Echeverría, Argentine poet, writer (b. 1805)
• January 21 – Albert Lortzing, German composer (b. 1801)
• January 23 – Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny, Scottish politician (b. 1809)
• January 27 – John James Audubon, French-American naturalist, illustrator (b. 1785)
• January 31 – David Spangler Kaufman, Congressman from Texas (b. 1813)
• February 1 – Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797)
• February 3 – Benjamin Williams Crowninshield, Congressman from Massachusetts, secretary of U.S. Navy (b. 1772)
• February 18 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician (b. 1804)
• February 23 – Joanna Baillie, Scottish poet, dramatist (b. 1762)
• February 28 – Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie, Marshal of France (b. 1775)
• March 9 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish scientist (b. 1777)
• April 25 – Mor Sæther, Norwegian herbalist (b. 1793)
• May 13 – Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg (b. 1788)
• May 14 – Manuel Gómez Pedraza, 6th President of Mexico (b. 1789)
• May 22 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American writer, journalist (b. 1785)
• June 10 – Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, British politician (b. 1771)

July–December

Louis Daguerre

Karl Drais

• July 10 – Louis Daguerre, French artist, chemist (b. 1787)
• July 17 – Roger Sheaffe, British general (b. 1763)
• August 8 – James Broadwood, English piano manufacturer (b. 1772)
• August 24 – James McDowell, American politician (b. 1795)
• September 10 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (b. 1787)
• September 11 – Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist, inventor (b. 1794)
• September 14 – James Fenimore Cooper, American writer (b. 1789)
• October 4 – Manuel Godoy, Spanish statesman (b. 1767)
• October 19 – Madame Royale Marie Thérèse of France (b. 1778)
• October 25 – Giorgio Pullicino, Maltese painter, and architect (b. 1779)
• October 31 – Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Montenegrin statesman, religious leader and poet (b. 1813)
• November 26 – Jean-de-Dieu Soult, French marshal, politician (b. 1769)
• December 19
  • J. M. W. Turner, English artist (b. 1775)
  • Karl Drais, German inventor (b. 1785)

Date unknown

• John Brown Russwurm, American abolitionist (b. 1799)
• Gustafva Lindskog, Swedish athlete (b. 1794)