| |
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sentenced to death for theft and poaching - repealed in 1827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
|
| 34 | 1759 | - 1759—1759: Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels
- 15 Jan 1759—15 Jan 1759: British Museum opens to the public in London
- 16 Oct 1759—16 Oct 1759: Third Eddystone Lighthouse (John Smeaton's) completed
|
| 35 | 1760 | - 1760—1760: Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland
- 5 May 1760—5 May 1760: First use of hangman's drop
- 25 Oct 1760—25 Oct 1760: George II dies - George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes king. The date conventionally marks the start of the so-called first Industrial Revolution'
|
| 36 | 1761 | - 16 Jan 1761—16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
|
| 37 | 1762 | - 1762—1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
|
| 38 | 1763 | - 1763—1763: Treaty of Paris - gives back to France everything Pitt fought to obtain - (Newfoundland
[fishing], Guadaloupe and Martininque [sugar], Dakar [gum]) - but English displaces French
as the international language
|
| 39 | 1764 | - 1764—1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
- 1764—1764: Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
- 1764—1764: James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768)
- 1764—1764: Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
|
| 40 | 1765 | - 1765—1765: The potato becomes the most popular food in Europe
- 22 Mar 1765—22 Mar 1765: Stamp Act passed - imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the
American colonies (repealed the following year)
|
| 41 | 1766 | - 1766—1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
- 5 Dec 1766—5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
|
| 42 | 1767 | - 1767—1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
|
| 43 | 1768 | - 9 Jan 1768—9 Jan 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London
- 6 Dec 1768—6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica' published in Edinburgh by
William Smellie
|
| 44 | 1769 | - 1769—1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
- 1769—1769: Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
- 6 Sep 1769—6 Sep 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
|
| 45 | 1770 | - 1770—1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major
thoroughfare for maritime communications
- 28 Apr 1770—28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) ? Aug 21: formally claims
Australia for Britain
|
| 46 | 1771 | - 1771—1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
|
| 47 | 1772 | - 1772—1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
- 1772—1772: Morning Post' first published (until 1937)
- 14 May 1772—14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
|
| 48 | 1774 | - 13 Sep 1774—13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
|
| 49 | 1775 | - 19 Apr 1775—19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775- 1783)
- 19 Apr 1775—3 Sep 1783:
 American Revolutionary War
|
| 50 | 1776 | - 1776—1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
- 1776—1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine
- 4 Jul 1776—4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence
- 7 Sep 1776—7 Sep 1776: First attack on a warship by a submarine - David Bushnell's ?Turtle' attacked
HMS Eagle in New York harbour. The attack was perhaps spectacular (a charge did
detonate beneath the ship) but was nevertheless unsuccessful. 'Turtle' was a one man
Affair man-powered [Les Moore]
|
| 51 | 1777 | - 1777—1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
|
| 52 | 1779 | - 1779—1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
- 1779—1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
- 1779—1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
- 14 Feb 1779—14 Feb 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii
- 23 Sep 1779—23 Sep 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
|
| 53 | 1780 | - 1780—1780: Male Servants Tax
- 1780—1780: The English Reform Movement - until now, only landowners and tenants (freeholders
with 40 shillings per year or more) allowed to vote, and in open poll books
- 1780—1780: Fountain pen invented
- 1780—1780: About this time the word 'Quiz' entered the language, said to have been invented as a
wager by Mr Daly, a Dublin theatre manager
- 4 May 1780—4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
- 2 Jun 1780—2 Jun 1780: Jun 2- 8: The Gordon Riots - Parliament passes a Roman Catholic relief measure - for
days, London is at the mercy of a mob and destruction is widespread
|
| 54 | 1782 | - 1782—1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief - the way of life of the poor beginning to
alter due to industrialisation - New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce
that would adjust to new work patterns
- 1782—1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
|
| 55 | 1783 | - 1783—1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794) - led to a fall in
entries!
- 3 Sep 1783—3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
- 3 Nov 1783—3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
|
| 56 | 1784 | - 1784—1784: Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has
power to guide Indian politics
- 1784—1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England
- 1784—1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews
- 1784—1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
- 2 Aug 1784—2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
|
| 57 | 1785 | - 1785—1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2
million)
- 1785—1795:
 Northwest Indian War
- 1 Jan 1785—1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal
Register for 3 years)
|
| 58 | 1787 | - 1787—1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
|
| 59 | 1788 | - 1788—1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
- 1788—1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not
enforced)
- 1788—1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates
more humane conditions on slave ships
- 1788—1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis - Edmund Burke and
Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt - trying to obtain full regal powers for the
Prince of Wales
- 1788—1788: Gibbon completes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
- 26 Jan 1788—26 Jan 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13
May 1787) ? the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
|
| 60 | 1789 | - 28 Apr 1789—28 Apr 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty - Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift
and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
- 30 Apr 1789—4 Mar 1797:
 George Washington U.S. Presidency
|
| 61 | 1790 | - 1790—1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
|
| 62 | 1791 | - 1791—1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the long s' (the 's' that looks like an 'f')
- 1791—1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
- 4 Dec 1791—4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
|
| 63 | 1792 | - 1792—1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) - Fox gets Libel Act through
Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel
- 1792—1792: Boyle's Street Directory published
- 1792—1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
- 1 Oct 1792—1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
- 1 Dec 1792—1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
|
| 64 | 1793 | - 11 Feb 1793—11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
- 15 Apr 1793—15 Apr 1793: ?5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
|
| 65 | 1794 | - 1794—1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
- 6 Oct 1794—6 Oct 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High
Treason - he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution
to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore
treasonous
|
| 66 | 1795 | - 1795—1795: The Famine Year
- 1795—1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
- 1795—1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's
wage to subsistence level - towards the end of the eighteenth century, the number of poor and
unemployed increased dramatically - price increases during the Napoleonic Wars
(1793-1815) far outstripped wage rises - many small farmers were bankrupted by the move
towards enclosures and became landless labourers - their wages were often pitifully low
- 1795—1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce The Gagging Acts' or 'Two Bills' (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills) - outlawed the mass meeting and the political lecture.
- 1795—1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
|
| 67 | 1796 | - 1796—1796: Pitt's Reign of Terror': More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
- 1796—1796: Legacy Tax on sums over ?20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and
grandparents
- 14 May 1796—14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
|
| 68 | 1797 | - 1797—1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
- 1797—1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
- 1797—1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical
publications
- 1797—1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to
the coining press
- 22 Feb 1797—22 Feb 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
- 26 Feb 1797—26 Feb 1797: First ?1 (and ?2) notes issued by Bank of England
- 4 Mar 1797—4 Mar 1801:
 John Adams U.S. Presidency
|
| 69 | 1798 | - 1798—1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
- Feb 1798—Feb 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish
Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
- 7 Jul 1798—30 Sep 1800:
 Franco-American War
- 1 Aug 1798—1 Aug 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
|
| 70 | 1799 | - 1799—1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
- 1799—1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
- 9 Jan 1799—9 Jan 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
- 12 Jul 1799—12 Jul 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
- 15 Jul 1799—15 Jul 1799: ?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
|
| 71 | 1800 | - 1800—1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
- 1800—1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
- 1800—1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded
- 1800—1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light
- 1800—1800: Volta makes first electrical battery
- 2 Jul 1800—2 Jul 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
|
| 72 | 1801 | - 1801—1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
- 1801—1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
- 1 Jan 1801—1 Jan 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
- 4 Mar 1801—4 Mar 1809:
 Thomas Jefferson U.S. Presidency
- 10 Mar 1801—10 Mar 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
- 10 May 1801—10 Jun 1805:
 First Barbary War
- 24 Dec 1801—24 Dec 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
|
| 73 | 1802 | - 25 Mar 1802—25 Mar 1802: Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands ? the 'Peace of Amiens' as it was known brought a temporary peace of 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars ? one of its most important cultural effects was that travel and correspondence across the English Channel became possible again
|
| 74 | 1803 | - 1803—1803: Poaching made a Capital offense in England if capture resisted
- 1803—1803: Richard Trevithick built another steam carriage and ran it in London as the first
self-propelled vehicle in the capital and the first London bus
- 1803—1803: Semaphore signaling perfected by Admiral Popham
- 30 Apr 1803—30 Apr 1803: Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
- 12 May 1803—12 May 1803: Peace of Amiens ends ? resumption of war with France ? The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
- 23 Jul 1803—23 Jul 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to
Croydon, horse-drawn)
|
| 75 | 1804 | - 1804—1804: Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed 'Australia'
- 21 Feb 1804—21 Feb 1804: Richard Trevithick runs his railway engine on the Penydarren Railway (9.5 miles
from Pen-y-Darren to Abercynon in South Wales) this hauled a train with 10 tons of
iron and 70 passengers. It was commemorated by the Royal Mint in 2004 in the form of
A ?2 coin.
- 3 Mar 1804—3 Mar 1804: John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal
Horticultural Society
- 2 Dec 1804—2 Dec 1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
- 12 Dec 1804—12 Dec 1804: Spain declares war on Britain
|
| 76 | 1805 | - 1805—1805: London docks opened
- 21 Oct 1805—21 Oct 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
- 2 Dec 1805—2 Dec 1805: Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
|
| 77 | 1806 | - 1806—1806: Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
- 9 Jan 1806—9 Jan 1806: Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
|
1720 - 1806 (~ 86 years) 
Submit Photo / Document
English
