* 1838 – Léon Gambetta, French statesman ( d. 1882 )

* 1838 – Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French scientist ( d. 1912 )

* 1838 – Maurice Lévy, French engineer ( d. 1910 )

* 1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French diplomat and statesman ( d. 1838 )

* 1774 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general ( d. 1838 )

* 1780 – François Carlo Antommarchi, French physician ( d. 1838 )

* 1838 – Édouard Colonne, French violinist and conductor ( d. 1910 )

* 1838 – Auguste Villiers de l ' Isle-Adam, French writer ( d. 1889 )

* 1838 – Georges Bizet, French composer ( d. 1875 )

* 1799 – René Caillié, French explorer ( d. 1838 )

After having travelled to England and discovered William James ' invention, the French physician Manuel Théodore Guillaumet, from Argentan ( Normandy ), patented in 1838 the oldest known regulator mechanism.

Oribe took Rosas's side when the French navy blockaded Buenos Aires in 1838.

This led the Colorados and the exiled Unitarios to seek French backing against Oribe and on June 15, 1838, an army led by the Colorado leader Rivera overthrew the president, who fled to Argentina.

* August 12 – Jules Brunet, French military leader ( b. 1838 )

* April 15 – Jules Dalou, French sculptor ( b. 1838 )

* August 19 – Auguste Villiers de l ' Isle-Adam, French writer ( b. 1838 )

* December 31 – Léon Gambetta, French statesman ( b. 1838 )

* February 13 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French politician ( d. 1838 )

* April 24 – Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, French physician ( d. 1838 )

** Silvestre de Sacy, French linguist and orientalist ( d. 1838 )

* July 5 – François Carlo Antommarchi, French Physician ( d. 1838 )

** Bernard Courtois, French chemist ( d. 1838 )

The French novelist Balzac wrote about a courtesan in his Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes ( 1838 – 47 ).

When news of the success of the French whaling fleet in New Zealand waters in the 1838 season reached France in 1839, a solid commercial project was added to all the others — a project which its promoters who had land to sell, hoped would develop into a scheme for effective French colonisation.

Philander McLain built on previously claimed land as the first settler in the geographically Gaines Township in 1838.

The land that would eventually become the town of Novelty was first claimed and homesteaded in October, 1838 by Cleng Pierson.

In 1838, Edward Jesse claimed that a different tree in the avenue was the real Herne's Oak, and this gained in popularity especially with Queen Victoria.

In March 1838, disillusioned church members said that Harris had publicly denied that any of the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon had ever seen or handled the golden plates — although he had not been present when Whitmer and Cowdery first claimed to have viewed them — and they claimed that Harris's recantation, made during a period of crisis in early Mormonism, induced five influential members, including three Apostles, to leave the Church.

David Jones was founded in 1838 by David Jones, a Welsh immigrant, and is claimed to be the oldest continuously operating department store in the world still trading under its original name.

Crane ( 1838 – 1872 ) may have influenced James, who Habegger claimed was interested in Crane ’ s female characters.

On April 3, 1838, Caunt again fought William Thompson on Skipworth Common, and after 75 rounds Thompson was disqualified for going down without being struck ; Caunt claimed the Heavyweight Championship of England but this was not generally accepted.

Other named suspects include Swiss butcher Jacob Isenschmid, German hairdresser Charles Ludwig, apothecary and mental patient Oswald Puckridge ( 1838 – 1900 ), insane medical student John Sanders ( 1862 – 1901 ), Swedish tramp Nikaner Benelius, and even social reformer Thomas Barnardo, who claimed he had met one of the victims ( Elizabeth Stride ) shortly before her murder.

One account states that in March 1838, Martin Harris publicly denied that either he or the other Witnesses to the Book of Mormon had literally seen the golden plates — although, of course, he had not been present when Whitmer and Cowdery first claimed to have viewed them.

In 1838 or 1839, German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius claimed to have received the papyrus from Westcar's niece.

On 21 September 1838, Darwin recorded a confused and disturbing dream in which he was involved in a public execution at which the corpse came to life and claimed to have faced death like a hero.

Harriet Martineau, writing in 1838 and recounting tales told to her by New Orleans residents during her 1836 visit, claimed LaLaurie's slaves were observed to be " singularly haggard and wretched "; however, in public appearances LaLaurie was seen to be generally polite to black people and solicitous of her slaves ' health, and court records of the time showed that LaLaurie emancipated two of her own slaves ( Jean Louis in 1819 and Devince in 1832 ).

The moral philosopher Henry Sidgwick ( 1838 – 1900 ) claimed that evolution was irrelevant for ethics because it could not be used as a justification for ethics.

* Sir Benjamin Dunbar, 3rd Baronet ( 1761 – 1843 ) also claimed to be 6th Lord Duffus from 1827 although his rights were not established by the House of Lords despite his petition 1838 ;.

In 1838, a devastating fire gutted their small shop and soon thereafter David Brown moved west to Illinois, settling on a land grant in his declining years.

Beginning in 1838, he apprenticed in the shop of Ari Davis, a master mechanic in Cambridge who specialized in the manufacture and repair of chronometers and other precision instruments.

By October 1838 there were approximately 75 Mormon families living along the banks of Shoal Creek, about 30 of them in the immediate vicinity of Haun's Mill and the blacksmith shop.

The sudden about face rejection by the London and Birmingham Railway and the ultimate signed agreement between Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Cooke to allow for Cooke to set-up shop along Brunel's Great Western Railway is revealed in this extant letter dated 30 May 1838, written by Cooke to Mrs. Sophia Macnamara Brunel Hawes.

At the insistence of his wife, Ottilie Lucia Kühler ( daughter of the Maschinentischler carpenter Karl Kühler of Vienna ), Martin moved the guitar shop in 1838 to Nazareth, Pennsylvania where it is still located.

The store was founded as a small shop in Paris during 1838, and was a fixed-price department store from about 1850.

The store dates back to 1838, when Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge went into partnership with William Alder Dunn and opened a drapers and fashion shop in Newcastle's Market Street.