Venceslas Victor Jacquemont, a French botanist known for his work in India, arrived in Calcutta on this day. The botanical garden of Paris had agreed to finance an expedition for him for five years and he had chosen India. In Calcutta, he learnt Urdu and got acquainted with Indian life and culture.

In November, he began to travel with six attendants in north India. As a naturalist, he was looking for plants and minerals, but also for history and art materials. He visited the Mughal court in Delhi and travelled to the Himalayas. He visited Kashmir, Ladakh and also met the Sikh leader Ranjit Singh in Lahore. He had planned to return to France and had reached Bombay, but died of cholera there.

His journal and letters, which described his Indian travels, became popular. Several plants are named after him: Felis jacmonti; the Himalayan white birch, Betula jacquemontii; the Indian tree hazel, Corylus jacquemontii; the cobra lily or Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema jacquemontii).