| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1720 | - 1720—1720: South Sea Bubble, a stock-market crash on Exchange Alley - government assumes
control of National Debt
- 1720—1720: Manufacturing towns start to increase in population - rise of new wealth
- 1720—1720: Wallpaper becomes fashionable in England
|
| 2 | 1721 | - 2 Apr 1721—2 Apr 1721: Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742)
|
| 3 | 1722 | - 1722—1722: Last trial for witchcraft in Scotland
- 1722—1722: Knatchbull's Act, poor laws
|
| 4 | 1723 | - 1723—1723: Excise tax levied for coffee, tea, and chocolate
- 1723—1723: The Waltham Black Acts add 50 capital offences to the penal code - people could be
sentenced to death for theft and poaching - repealed in 1827
- 1723—1723: The Workhouse Act or Test - to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
|
| 5 | 1724 | - 1724—1724: Rapid growth of gin drinking in England
- 1724—1724: Longman's founded (Britain's oldest publishing house)
|
| 6 | 1726 | - 1726—1726: First circulating library opened in Edinburgh
- 1726—1726: Invention of the chronometer by John Harrison
|
| 7 | 1727 | - 1727—1727: Board of Manufacturers established in Scotland
- 11 Jun 1727—11 Jun 1727: George I dies - George II Hanover becomes king
|
| 8 | 1729 | - 9 Nov 1729—9 Nov 1729: Treaty of Seville signed between Britain, France and Spain - Britain maintained
control of Port Mahon and Gibraltar
|
| 9 | 1730 | |
| 10 | 1731 | - 1731—1731: Invention of seed drill by Jethro Tull [others say 1701]
- 1731—1731: Invention of sextant by John Hadley
|
| 11 | 1732 | - 7 Dec 1732—7 Dec 1732: Covent Garden Opera House opens
|
| 12 | 1733 | - 1733—1733: Excise crisis: Sir Robert Walpole wanted to add excise tax to tobacco and wine -
Pulteney and Bolingbroke oppose the excise tax
- 1733—1733: Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed - some continued in
Latin for a few years
- 1733—1733: John Kay invents the flying shuttle, revolutionised the weaving industry
|
| 13 | 1734 | - 1734—1734: Kent's Directory published
|
| 14 | 1737 | - 1737—1737: Licensing Act restricts the number of London theatres and subects plays to censorship
of the Lord Chamberlain (till 1950s)
|
| 15 | 1738 | - 24 May 1738—24 May 1738: John Wesley has his conversion experience
|
| 16 | 1739 | - 1739—1739: Wesley and Whitefield commence great Methodist revival
- 7 Apr 1739—7 Apr 1739: Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York
- 23 Oct 1739—23 Oct 1739: War of Jenkins' Ear starts: Robert Walpole reluctantly declares war on Spain
|
| 17 | 1741 | - 1741—1741: Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites - Earliest Moravian
registers
|
| 18 | 1742 | - 1742—1742: England goes to war with Spain - incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham)
for the sake of trade
|
| 19 | 1743 | - 16 Jun 1743—16 Jun 1743: (June 27 in Gregorian calendar): Battle of Dettingen - last time a British
sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
|
| 20 | 1744 | - 1744—1744: Tune 'God Save the King' makes its appearance
|
| 21 | 1745 | - 1745—1745: Jacobite rebellion in Scotland ('The Forty-five')
- 19 Aug 1745—19 Aug 1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie (The Young Pretender) lands in the western Highlands -
raises support among Episcopalian and Catholic clans - The Pretender's army invades Perth,
Edinburgh, and England as far as Derby
|
| 22 | 1746 | - 16 Apr 1746—16 Apr 1746: Battle of Culloden - last battle fought in Britain - 5,000 Highlanders routed by
the Duke of Cumberland and 9,000 loyalists Scots - Young Pretender Charles flees to
Continent, ending Jacobite hopes forever - the wearing of the kilt prohibited
|
| 23 | 1747 | - 1747—1747: Abolition of Heritable Jurisdictions in Scotland
- 1747—1747: Act for Pacification of the Highlands
|
| 24 | 1749 | - 27 Apr 1749—27 Apr 1749: First performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (in Green Park,
London)
|
| 25 | 1750 | - Feb 1750—Feb 1750: Series of earthquakes in London and the Home Counties cause panic with
predictions of an apocalypse (Feb/Mar)
- 16 Nov 1750—16 Nov 1750: Original Westminster Bridge opened (replaced in 1862 due to subsidence)
|
| 26 | 1751 | - Mar 1751—Mar 1751: Chesterfield's Calendar Act passed - royal assent to the bill was given on 22
May 1751 - decision to adopt Gregorian Calendar in 1752: In and throughout all his
|
| 27 | 1752 | - 1752—1752: Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor
- 1 Jan 1752—1 Jan 1752: Beginning of the year 1752 [Scotland had adopted January as the start of the year
in 1600, and some other countries in Europe had adopted the Gregorian calendar as early as
1582]
- 3 Sep 1752—3 Sep 1752: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England and
Scotland, making this Sep 14
|
| 28 | 1753 | - 1753—1753: Private collection of Sir Hans Sloane forms the basis of the British Museum
- 1 May 1753—1 May 1753: Publication of ?Species Plantarum' by Linnaeus and the formal start date of plant
taxonomy
|
| 29 | 1754 | - 1754—1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be
used - Quakers & Jews exempt
- 1754—1754: In the General Election, the Cow Inn at Haslemere, Surrey caused a national scandal by
subdividing the freehold to create eight votes instead of one
- 1754—1754: First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India
- 1754—1763:
 The French and Indian War
|
| 30 | 1755 | - 1755—1755: Publication of Dictionary of the English Language' by Dr Samuel Johnson
- 1755—1755: Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827)
- 2 Dec 1755—2 Dec 1755: Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire
|
| 31 | 1756 | - 15 May 1756—15 May 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
- Jun 1756—Jun 1756: Black Hole of Calcutta - 146 Britons imprisoned, most die according to British
sources
|
| 32 | 1757 | - 1757—1757: The foundation laid for the Empire of India
- 14 Mar 1757—14 Mar 1757: Admiral Byng shot at Portsmouth for failing to relieve Minorca
- 23 Jun 1757—23 Jun 1757: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of
Plassey (Palashi, June 23) - the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive
|
| 33 | 1758 | - 1758—1758: India stops being merely a commercial venture - England begins dominating it
politically - The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade
|
1720 - 1758 (38 years) 
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