Rulers:
• Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (1853-1857)
• Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837-1901)
Events:
• National Portrait Gallery founded in London.
Births:
• Sargent, John Singer (1856-1925)
• Shaw, George Bernard (1856-1950)
• Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924)
Deaths:
• Schumann, Robert (1810-1856)
Literature:
• Dickens, Charles (1812-1870): The Wreck of the Golden Mary (1856)
• Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910): A Russian Proprietor, and Other Stories (1852-1859)
• Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910): Sevastopol (1855-1856)
• Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910): Youth (1856)
Art:
• Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877): L’Amazone (1856)
• Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863): Lion dévorant un lapin (1856)