1842

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s

Years: 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 - 1842 - 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847

• February 21 - John J. Greenough[?] patents the sewing machine.
• March 5 - Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez[?] invade Texas briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution.
• March 30 - Anesthesia is used for the first time in an operation (Dr. Crawford Long[?] performed the operation and ether was used).
• August 9 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
• Massacre of Elphinstone[?]'s British army on the road from Kabul to Jallalabad[?], Afghanistan, by Mohammed Akbar[?], son of Dost Mohammed[?]
• End of Opium War
• British Empire annexes Hong Kong

Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy

• 1842 in literature:
  • The Mysteries of Paris[?] - Eugène Sue[?]

Births

• February 4 - Arrigo Boito, poet and composer
• February 25 - Karl May, writer (+ 1912)
• May 8 - Emil Christian Hansen, fermentation physiologist
• May 13 - Arthur Sullivan, composer (+ 1900)
• May 17 - August Thyssen[?], industrialist (+ 1926)
• September 21 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, future Ottoman sultan
• December 9 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist

Deaths

• March 13 - Henry Shrapnel, soldier, inventor
• March 23 - Stendhal, writer
• March 30 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, French painter
• May 8 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, explorer
• September 15 - Francisco Morazán, President of Central America