1853 (MDCCCLIII) was a common yearstarting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendarand a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1853rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 853rd year of the 2ndmillennium, the 53rd year of the 19thcentury, and the 4th year of the 1850s decade. As of the start of 1853, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

• October 4–5 – the Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire begins war with the Russian Empire
• August 24 - George speck, AKA George Crum, prepares the first ever Potato chip in Saratoga Springs, New York.

• March 30 – Vincent van Gogh, painter
• July 18 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and mathematician

• March 30 – Abigail Fillmore, wife of U.S. President Millard Fillmore