Ethel Smyth, English composer (d. 1944)
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 1858 – 8 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas.
Smyth tended to be marginalised as a ‘woman composer’, as though her work could not be accepted as mainstream. Yet when she produced more delicate compositions, they were criticised for not measuring up to the standard of her male competitors. Nevertheless, she was granted a damehood, the first female composer to be so honoured.

1858Apr, 23
Ethel Smyth
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Events on 1858
- 25Jan
Felix Mendelssohn
The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional. - 30Jan
The Hallé
The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra. - 11Feb
Lourdes apparitions
Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France. - 5Aug
Transatlantic telegraph cable
Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month. - 20Aug
Evolution
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.