Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

49

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Étienne Stéphane Mallarmé

Stéphane Mallarmé

France

18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898 (56 years old)

Intellectual leader of French Symbolism whose weekly Tuesday gatherings (Les Mardis) mentored Gide, Valéry, and Proust, and whose hermetic masterpieces—L'Après-midi d'un faune and Un Coup de dés—pioneered modern abstract poetry.

Valvins (Avon, Seine-et-Marne), France

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Arts & Music

36

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Félicien Rops

Félicien Rops

Belgium

1833 – 1898 (65 years old)

Belgian Symbolist printmaker and illustrator whose dark, erotic, and satirical prints—such as 'Pornokrates'—illustrated Baudelaire and captured the decadent spirit of late 19th-century Europe.

Namur, Belgium

36 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

37

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Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck

Germany

1815-04-01 – 1898-07-30 (83 years old)

Unified Germany into a dominant European power and invented the modern social security system to integrate the working class into the state.

Friedrichsruh, Germany

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Arts & Music

32

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Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones

Edward Burne-Jones

Great Britain

1833 – 1898 (64 years old)

Leading late Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist painter whose dreamy Arthurian legends, stained glass for William Morris, and masterworks like 'The Golden Stairs' brought medieval romance to life.

Brighton, United Kingdom

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Humanitarian & Peace

38

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Samuel Plimsoll

Samuel Plimsoll

Great Britain

1824 – 1898 (74 years old)

Parlementaire et réformateur social britannique surnommé « l'Ami des marins », inventeur de la ligne de charge (ligne de Plimsoll) empêchant le naufrage des navires surchargés.

Cheriton, Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

41

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William Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

Great Britain

1809-12-29 – 1898-05-19 (88 years old)

Dominant moral voice of Victorian British politics; introduced the secret ballot, expanded the voting franchise, and fought for Irish self-determination.

Hawarden, Flintshire, Great Britain

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Humanitarian & Peace

42

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Dr. Louis Paul Amédée Appia

Louis Paul Amédée Appia

Germany

13 October 1818 – 1 May 1898 (79 years old)

Dr. Louis Appia was a Swiss-German surgeon and co-founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The preeminent battlefield doctor among the 'Committee of Five', he was the first person in history to wear a Red Cross armband during an active military conflict during the Second Schleswig War in 1864, testing international humanitarian medical neutrality in the field.

Geneva, Switzerland

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Resistance & Human Rights

36

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Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana

Mbuya Nehanda

🌐 Zimbabwe

c. 1840 – 1898 (~58 years old)

Spiritual medium of the Shona people whose leadership of the First Chimurenga against Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company made her Zimbabwe's foremost national symbol.

Harare, Zimbabwe

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Arts & Music

38

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Gustave Moreau

Gustave Moreau

France

1826 – 1898 (72 years old)

Patriarch of French Symbolism whose jewel-encrusted, mythological masterworks like 'The Apparition' and 'Jupiter and Semele' mentored Henri Matisse and Georges Rouault.

Paris, France

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Arts & Music

34

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Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin

Иван Иванович Шишкин

Russia

1832 – 1898 (66 years old)

Supreme Russian landscape painter of majestic pine forests and ancient oak groves whose masterwork 'Morning in a Pine Forest' is the most recognizable painting in Russian culture.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Zachris Topelius

Zacharias Topelius

Finland

1818-01-14 – 1898-03-12 (80 years old)

Distinguished Finnish author, historian, and poet celebrated as 'the fairy-tale uncle' who wrote Fältskärns berättelser (The Surgeon's Stories) and the foundational school reader Boken om vårt land.

Helsinki, Finland

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Humanitarian & Peace

35

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Johann Georg Ferdinand Müller

George Müller

Germany

1805 – 1898 (92 years old)

Philanthrope et pasteur anglo-prussien, qui fonda les orphelinats d'Ashley Down à Bristol, hébergeant, soignant et instruisant plus de 10 000 orphelins sans jamais faire appel aux fonds publics ni demander un don.

Bristol, United Kingdom

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Humanitarian & Peace

34

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Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard

Frances Willard

United States

1839 – 1898 (58 years old)

Réformatrice sociale américaine, présidente de la WCTU et pionnière du droit de vote des femmes et de la paix internationale.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Alphonse Daudet

Alphonse Daudet

France

1840 – 1897 (57 years old)

Beloved French novelist and storyteller whose sun-drenched Provençal tales Lettres de mon moulin and comic masterpiece Tartarin de Tarascon brought the humour, pathos, and warmth of southern France into world literature.

Paris, France

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Literature & Poetry

12

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Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri

أحمد بن خالد الناصري

Morocco

1835 – 1897 (62 years old)

Foremost Moroccan historian of the 19th century who served in high administrative posts under Sultan Moulay Hassan I and authored the monumental 9-volume national history Kitab al-Istiqsa.

Salé, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Khurshidbanu Natavan

Xurşidbanu Natəvan

Azerbaijan

1832-08-15 – 1897-10-08 (65 years old)

Renowned nineteenth-century princess of the Karabakh Khanate, lyrical poet, and philanthropist who founded the Majlisi-Uns literary salon and funded the first aqueduct in Shusha.

Aghdam, Azerbaijan

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Science

2

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Salomon August Andrée

Salomon August Andrée

Sweden

1854-10-18 – 1897-10-01 (42 years old)

Visionary Swedish engineer and aeronaut who led the ill-fated 1897 Arctic Balloon Expedition in the hydrogen balloon 'Örnen' attempting to fly across the North Pole.

Solna, Sweden

2 Full Record →

Politics

2

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Amor De Cosmos

William Alexander Smith

Canada

1825 – 1897 (71 years old)

Eccentric and visionary Nova Scotia-born journalist who legally changed his name to 'Lover of the Universe', founded The British Colonist, and led British Columbia into Confederation in 1871.

Victoria (British Columbia), Canada

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