WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO AUGUST 1858
Find out what all happened February to August 1858

United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty. (29. July 1858)

Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month. (5. August 1858)

Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. (15. May 1858)

The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is wound up. (16. April 1858)

Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory. (20. August 1858)

Australian rules football was founded and the first match was played between Melbourne Football Club and Scotch Grammar. The Melbourne Football Club (the oldest remaining sporting club in the world), was also founded on this day. (7. August 1858)

The Round Oak rail accident occurs in Brierley Hill in the Black Country, England. It is 'Arguably the worst disaster ever to occur on British railways'. (23. August 1858)

Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State. (11. May 1858)

Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory. (18. June 1858)

Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois. (16. June 1858)

The Battle of Morar takes place during the Indian Mutiny. (16. June 1858)

The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. (11. August 1858)

Joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society. (1. July 1858)

After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonne bell for the Palace of Westminster had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry. (10. April 1858)

U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks. (16. August 1858)

Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France. (11. February 1858)