| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1754 | - 1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be
used – Quakers & Jews exempt
- 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: First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India
|
| 2 | 1755 | - 1755: Publication of "Dictionary of the English Language" by Dr Samuel Johnson
- 1755: Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827)
- 2 Dec 1755: Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire
|
| 3 | 1756 | - 15 May 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
- Jun 1756: Black Hole of Calcutta – 146 Britons imprisoned, most die according to British
sources
|
| 4 | 1757 | - 1757: The foundation laid for the Empire of India
- 14 Mar 1757: Admiral Byng shot at Portsmouth for failing to relieve Minorca
- 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
|
| 5 | 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
|
| 6 | 1759 | - 1759: Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels
- 15 Jan 1759: British Museum opens to the public in London
- 16 Oct 1759: Third Eddystone Lighthouse (John Smeaton's) completed
|
| 7 | 1760 | - 1760: Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland
- 5 May 1760: First use of hangman's drop
- 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"
|
| 8 | 1761 | - 16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
|
| 9 | 1762 | - 1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
|
| 10 | 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
|
| 11 | 1764 | - 1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
- 1764: Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
- 1764: James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768)
- 1764: Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
|
| 12 | 1765 | - 1765: The potato becomes the most popular food in Europe
- 22 Mar 1765: Stamp Act passed – imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the
American colonies (repealed the following year)
|
| 13 | 1766 | - 1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
- 5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
|
| 14 | 1767 | - 1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
|
| 15 | 1768 | - 9 Jan 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London
- 6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" published in Edinburgh by
William Smellie
|
| 16 | 1769 | - 1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
- 1769: Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
- 6 Sep 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
|
| 17 | 1770 | - 1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major
thoroughfare for maritime communications
- 28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) — Aug 21: formally claims
Australia for Britain
|
| 18 | 1771 | - 1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
|
| 19 | 1772 | - 1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
- 1772: "Morning Post" first published (until 1937)
- 14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
|
| 20 | 1774 | - 13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
|
| 21 | 1775 | - 19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775–1783)
|
| 22 | 1776 | - 1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
- 1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine
- 4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence
- 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]
|
| 23 | 1777 | - 1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
|
| 24 | 1779 | - 1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
- 1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
- 1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
- 14 Feb 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii
- 23 Sep 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
|
| 25 | 1780 | - 1780: Male Servants Tax
- 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: Fountain pen invented
- 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: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
- 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
|
| 26 | 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: James Watt patents his steam engine
|
| 27 | 1783 | - 1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry – repealed 1794) – led to a fall in
entries!
- 3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
- 3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
|
| 28 | 1784 | - 1784: Pitt's India Act – the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has
power to guide Indian politics
- 1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England
- 1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews
- 1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
- 2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
|
| 29 | 1785 | - 1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2
million)
- 1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal
Register for 3 years)
|
| 30 | 1787 | - 1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
|
| 31 | 1788 | - 1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
- 1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not
enforced)
- 1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade – stipulates
more humane conditions on slave ships
- 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: Gibbon completes "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
- 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
|
| 32 | 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
|
| 33 | 1790 | - 1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
|
| 34 | 1791 | - 1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the "long s" (the "s" that looks like an "f")
- 1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
- 4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer – world's oldest Sunday newspaper
|
| 35 | 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: Boyle's Street Directory published
- 1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
- 1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
- 1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
|
| 36 | 1793 | - 11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
- 15 Apr 1793: £5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
|
1754 - 1793 (38 years)
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