On This Day

The 100 Guineas Cup yacht race is held around the Isle of Wight, the first race of the oldest international sporting com

The 100 Guineas Cup yacht race is held around the Isle of Wight, the first race of the oldest international sporting competition now known as the America's Cup. In the race, US schooner "America" beats the British cutter "Aurora" by 24 minutes, prompting spectator Queen Victoria to ask who was in se

The 100 Guineas Cup yacht race is held around the Isle of Wight, the first race of the oldest international sporting competition now known as the America's Cup. In the race, US schooner "America" beats the British cutter "Aurora" by 24 minutes, prompting spectator Queen Victoria to ask who was in second place and the famous reply, "Your majesty, there is no second."

Key People

Queen Victoria

Events Before

  1. Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850 to defuse tensions between slave states and free states over territorie

    Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850 to defuse tensions between slave states and free states over territories won during the Mexican–American War

  2. French writer and playwright Honoré de Balzac marries Ewelina Hańska in Berdyczów, Ukraine

    French writer and playwright Honoré de Balzac marries Ewelina Hańska in Berdyczów, Ukraine

  3. American Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman (30) weds Eleanor Boyle Ewing in Washington, D.C., until her death

    American Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman (30) weds Eleanor Boyle Ewing in Washington, D.C., until her death in 1888

  4. Poet Alfred Tennyson (40) weds Emily Sellwood (36)

    Poet Alfred Tennyson (40) weds Emily Sellwood (36)

  5. First public demonstration of ice made via refrigeration by Florida physician John Gorrie

    First public demonstration of ice made via refrigeration by Florida physician John Gorrie

Events After

  1. National debt of Britain and Ireland is £765,126,582

    National debt of Britain and Ireland is £765,126,582

  2. Fugitive slave Frederick Douglass delivers his 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?' speech to the Ladies' Anti-Sla

    Fugitive slave Frederick Douglass delivers his 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?' speech to the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, condemning the celebration as a hypocritical sham

  3. Future US President Rutherford B. Hayes (30) weds teetotaler and abolitionist Lucy Webb (21)

    Future US President Rutherford B. Hayes (30) weds teetotaler and abolitionist Lucy Webb (21)

  4. First Chinese immigrants arrive in Hawaii

    First Chinese immigrants arrive in Hawaii

  5. British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South Africa)

    British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South Africa)

More from the 1850s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on August 22, 1851?
The 100 Guineas Cup yacht race is held around the Isle of Wight, the first race of the oldest international sporting competition now known as the America's Cup. In the race, US schooner "America" beats the British cutter "Aurora" by 24 minutes, prompting spectator Queen Victoria to ask who was in second place and the famous reply, "Your majesty, there is no second."
Why is The 100 Guineas Cup yacht race is held around the Isle of Wight, the first ra... historically important?
In the race, US schooner "America" beats the British cutter "Aurora" by 24 minutes, prompting spectator Queen Victoria to ask who was in second place and the famous reply, "Your majesty, there is no second."
Who was involved in The 100 Guineas Cup yacht race is held around the Isle of Wight, the first ra...?
Key figures include Queen Victoria.

Explore More