| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1657 | - 1657: Post Office established by Act of Parliament [others say 1660]
- 1657: A few Jews permitted to settle in England
|
| 2 | 1658 | - 1658: Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver) Lord Protector (-1660)
- 3 Sep 1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell
|
| 3 | 1659 | - 1659: Start of national meteorological Temperature records in the UK
- 6 Feb 1659: Date of first known bank cheque to be drawn
|
| 4 | 1660 | - 1660: Commonwealth registers ended, Parish Registers resumed
- 1660: Provincial Probate Courts re-established
- 1660: Clarendon code restricts Puritans' religious freedom
- 1660: Composition of light discovered by Newton
- 1660: Honourable East India Company founded by British
- 1 Jan 1660: Samuel Pepys starts his diary
- 29 May 1660: Restoration of British monarchy (Charles II) – 'Oak Apple Day' – theatres
reopened
- 17 Oct 1660: Ten Regicides are executed at Charing Cross or Tyburn
- 28 Nov 1660: Twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir
Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society
- 8 Dec 1660: First actress plays in London (Margaret Hughes as Desdemona)
|
| 5 | 1661 | - 1661: Restoration of Episcopacy in Scotland
- 1661: Board of Trade founded in London
- 1661: Hand-struck postage stamps first used
- 1661: Corporation Act prevents non-Anglicans from holding municipal office
- 30 Jan 1661: Oliver Cromwell formally 'executed', having been dead for over two years!
|
| 6 | 1662 | - 1662: 'Hearth Tax' introduced – until 1689 (1690 in Scotland)
- 1662: Poor Relief Act or "Act of Settlement" – gave JPs the power to return any wandering
poor to the parish of origin (repealed 1834)
- 1662: Tea introduced to Britain
- 24 Aug 1662: Act of Uniformity – Acceptance of Book of Common Prayer required – About
2,000 vicars and rectors driven from their parishes as nonconformists (Presbyterians and
Independents) – Persecution of all non-conformists – Presbyterianism dis-established –
Episcopalian Church of England restored
|
| 7 | 1664 | - 29 May 1664: Oak Apple Day – the birthday of Charles II and the day when he entered
London at the Restoration; commanded by Act of Parliament in 1664 to be observed as a day
of thanksgiving. A special service (expunged in 1859) was inserted in the Book of Common
Prayer and people wore sprigs of oak with gilded oak-apples on that day.
- 27 Aug 1664: Nieuw Amsterdam becomes New York as 300 English soldiers under Col.
Mathias Nicolls take the town from the Dutch under orders from Charles II. The town is
renamed after the King's brother James, Duke of York
|
| 8 | 1665 | - 1665: Great Plague of London (July-October) kills over 60,000
- 1665: Five-mile Act restricts non-conformist ministers in Britain
- 7 Nov 1665: The "London Gazette" first published – one of the official journals of record of the
United Kingdom government, and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the
United Kingdom
|
| 9 | 1666 | - 1666: Use of semaphore signalling pioneered by Lord Worcester
- 1666: Newton formulated Laws of Gravity
- 2 Sep 1666: Great Fire of London, after a drought beginning 27 June (2-6 Sep)
|
| 10 | 1668 | - 1668: British East India Company obtains control of Bombay
- 1668: Newton constructs reflecting telescope
|
| 11 | 1669 | - 31 May 1669: Last entry in Pepys's diary
|
| 12 | 1670 | - 26 May 1670: King Charles II and King Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover
|
| 13 | 1671 | - 9 May 1671: Thomas Blood caught stealing the Crown Jewels
|
| 14 | 1672 | - 1672: High Court of Justiciary established in Scotland
- 1672: War with Holland (to 1674) – British Army increased to 10,000 men
|
| 15 | 1673 | - 1673: First Test Act deprives British Catholics and Non-conformists of Public Office
|
| 16 | 1674 | - 10 Nov 1674: Treaty of Westminster – Netherlands cedes New Netherlands (on the eastern
coast of North America) to Britain
|
| 17 | 1675 | - 1675: Beginning of Whig party under Shaftsbury
- 1675: Rebuilding of St Paul's started by Wren (completed 1710)
- 4 Mar 1675: John Flamsteed appointed first Astronomer Royal of England
- 10 Aug 1675: Building of Royal Greenwich Observatory started
|
| 18 | 1676 | - 1676: Compton Census, named after its initiator Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was
intended to discover the number of Anglican conformists, Roman Catholic recusants and
Protestant dissenters in England and Wales from enquiries made in individual parishes
|
| 19 | 1677 | - 1677: Lee's "Collection of Names of Merchants in London" published
|
| 20 | 1678 | - 1678: Extension of Test Act to peers
|
| 21 | 1679 | - 1679: Tories first so named
- 27 May 1679: Habeas Corpus Act becomes law in England – (later repealed from time to
time)
|
| 22 | 1680 | - 1680: William Dockwra(y) begins his London Penny Post
- 1680: Dodo becomes extinct in Mauritius through over-hunting
|
| 23 | 1681 | - 1681: Second Test Act (against non-conformists) passed by Westminster Parliament
- 1681: Oil lighting first used in London streets
|
| 24 | 1682 | - 1682: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
- 1682: Library of Advocates founded in Edinburgh – later National Library of Scotland
- 1682: Halley observes the comet which bears his name
|
| 25 | 1683 | - 1683: Wild boar become extinct in Britain
- 6 Jun 1683: Ashmolean Museum opened at Oxford – first museum in Britain
|
| 26 | 1685 | - 1685: James the Second (1685-1689, died 1701) – Monmouth rebellion and battle of
Sedgemoor – British Army raised to 20,000 men
- 1685: Earl of Argyll's Invasion of Scotland
- 1685: Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes – 320 executed, 800 transported
|
| 27 | 1686 | - 1686: Release of all prisoners held for their religious beliefs
|
| 28 | 1687 | - 4 Apr 1687: James II issues the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending laws against Catholics
and non-conformists
- 5 Jul 1687: Newton published his "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" – written
in Latin
|
| 29 | 1688 | - 1688: British Army raised to 40,000
- 1688: Bill of Rights limits the powers of the monarchy over parliament
- 1688: Hearth Tax abolished
- 1688: Mutiny Act
- Feb 1688: Edward Lloyd's Coffee House opens – later became Lloyd's of London
- Nov 1688: The Glorious Revolution: James II abdicates
- 5 Nov 1688: William of Orange lands at Torbay
- Dec 1688: Siege of Londonderry (began Dec 1688; ended 28 Jul 1689)
|
| 30 | 1689 | - 1689: Devonport naval dockyard established
- 13 Feb 1689: William III and Mary II, daughter of James II, jointly take the throne (only William, however, has regal power)
- 12 Mar 1689: Deposed James VII & II flees to Ireland – defeated at the Battle of the Boyne (1
Jul 1690)
- 24 May 1689: Toleration Act passed for Protestant non-conformists
- 27 Jul 1689: Battle of Killiecrankie in Scotland – Jacobites defeated Government troops but
at high cost
- 16 Dec 1689: Bill of Rights passed by Parliament, ending King's divine right to raise taxes or
wage war
|
| 31 | 1690 | - 20 May 1690: England passes Act of Grace, forgiving Roman Catholic followers of James II
|
| 32 | 1692 | - 1692: Land Tax introduced – originally designed as an annual tax on personal estate, public
offices and land. For practical purposes, however, assessors tended to avoid assessing items of
wealth other than landed property so that it became known as the Land Tax.
- 1692: French intention to invade England came to nothing
- 13 Feb 1692: The massacre of Glencoe – Clan Campbell sides with King William and
murders members of Clan McDonald
|
| 33 | 1693 | - 4 Aug 1693: Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pierre Pérignon 's invention of Champagne
|
| 34 | 1694 | - 1694: National Debt came into effect in England
- 1694: Stamp Duties introduced into Britain from Holland
- 1694: Mary II death leaves William III as sole ruler
- 1694: Triennial Act, new Parliamentary elections every three years
- 1694: Scotland: Poll Tax imposed on all over sixteen, except the destitute and insane (-1699)
- 27 Jul 1694: Bank of England founded by William Paterson (a Scot)
|
| 35 | 1695 | - 1695: Freedom of Press in England granted
- 1695: Bank of Scotland founded
- 1695: Act of Parliament imposes a fine on all who fail to inform the parish minister of the
birth of a child (repealed 1706)
- 1695: Start of "Dissenters" lists in parish registers – children born but not christened in the
parish church – some were named "Papist" and others "Protestants"
|
| 36 | 1697 | - 2 Dec 1697: Official opening of St Paul's Cathedral
|
| 37 | 1698 | - 1698: Invention of steam engine by Capt Thomas Savery
- 1698: Darien Expedition: a disastrous attempt to establish a Scots settlement in Panama
- 1698: Duties (taxes) on entries in parish registers – repealed after five years
- 4 Jan 1698: Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London destroyed by fire
- 14 Nov 1698: Eddystone Lighthouse (Henry Winstanley's) first lit; completed 10 days earlier
|
| 38 | 1700 | - 1700: Population in England and Scotland approx 7.5 million
|
| 39 | 1701 | - 1701: Act of Settlement bars Catholics from the British throne
- 23 May 1701: After being convicted of piracy and murdering William Moore, Captain
William Kidd hanged in London
|
| 40 | 1702 | - 8 Mar 1702: Anne Stuart becomes Queen
- 11 Mar 1702: First English daily newspaper The Daily Courant (till 1735)
|
| 41 | 1703 | - 4 Aug 1703: British take Gibraltar
- 24 Nov 1703: Climate: Most violent storms of the millennium cause vast damage
across southern England – about a third of Britain's merchant fleet lost, and Eddystone
lighthouse destroyed on 27 November (Nov 24 - Dec 2)
|
| 42 | 1704 | - 1704: Penal Code enacted – Catholics barred from voting, education and the military
- 13 Aug 1704: Battle of Blenheim
|
| 43 | 1705 | - 1705: First workable steam pumping engine devised by Thomas Newcomen (some say c1710
or 1711)
- 1705: Isaac Newton knighted (for his work at the Royal Mint)
|
| 44 | 1706 | - 1706: First evening newspaper "The Evening Post" issued in London
|
| 45 | 1707 | - 16 Jan 1707: Union with Scotland – Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English
Parliament in return for full trading privileges – Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in
March
- 1 May 1707: English and Scottish Parliaments united by an Act of the English Parliament –
The Kingdom of Great Britain established – largest free-trade area in Europe at the time
|
| 46 | 1708 | - 1708: First Jacobite rising in Scotland
- 1708: Earliest Artillery Muster Rolls
|
| 47 | 1709 | - 1709: Second Eddystone lighthouse completed
- 1709: First Copyright Act pass
- 1709: Bad harvests throughout Europe – bread riots in Britain
- 2 Feb 1709: Alexander Selkirk rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book
Robinson Crusoe (published in 1719) by Daniel Defoe
|
| 48 | 1710 | - 1710: Tax on Apprentice Indentures introduced
|
| 49 | 1711 | - 1711: Incorporation of South Sea Company, in London
- 11 Aug 1711: First race meeting at Ascot
|
| 50 | 1712 | - 1712: Imposition of Soap Tax (abolished 1853)
- 1712: Last trial for witchcraft in England (Jane Wenham)
- 1712: Toleration Act passed – first relief to non-Anglicans
|
| 51 | 1713 | - 1713: By this year there are some 3,000 coffee houses in London
|
| 52 | 1714 | - 1714: Longitude Act: prize of £20,000 offered to the inventor of a workable method of
determining a ship's longitude (won by John Harrison in 1773 for his chronometer).
- 1714: Schism Act, prevents Dissenters from being schoolmasters in England
- 1714: Landholders forced to take the Oath of Allegiance and renounce Roman Catholicism
- 1 Aug 1714: Queen Anne Stuart dies – George I Hanover becomes king (1714-1727).
|
| 53 | 1715 | - 1715: Second Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender ('The Fifteen')
- 1 Aug 1715: Riot Act passed
|
| 54 | 1716 | - 1716: The Septennial Act of Britain leads to greater electoral corruption – general elections
now to be held once every 7 years instead of every 3 (until 1911)
- 1716: Climate: Thames frozen so solid that a spring tide lifted the ice bodily 13ft without
interrupting the frost fair
|
| 55 | 1717 | - 1717: First Masonic Lodge opens in London
- 1717: Value of the golden guinea fixed at 21 shillings
|
| 56 | 1719 | - 1719: Third abortive Jacobite rising
|
| 57 | 1720 | - 1720: South Sea Bubble, a stock-market crash on Exchange Alley – government assumes
control of National Debt
- 1720: Manufacturing towns start to increase in population – rise of new wealth
- 1720: Wallpaper becomes fashionable in England
|
| 58 | 1721 | - 2 Apr 1721: Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742)
|
| 59 | 1722 | - 1722: Last trial for witchcraft in Scotland
- 1722: Knatchbull's Act, poor laws
|
| 60 | 1723 | - 1723: Excise tax levied for coffee, tea, and chocolate
- 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: The Workhouse Act or Test – to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
|
| 61 | 1724 | - 1724: Rapid growth of gin drinking in England
- 1724: Longman's founded (Britain's oldest publishing house)
|
| 62 | 1726 | - 1726: First circulating library opened in Edinburgh
- 1726: Invention of the chronometer by John Harrison
|
| 63 | 1727 | - 1727: Board of Manufacturers established in Scotland
- 11 Jun 1727: George I dies – George II Hanover becomes king
|
| 64 | 1729 | - 9 Nov 1729: Treaty of Seville signed between Britain, France and Spain – Britain maintained
control of Port Mahon and Gibraltar
|
| 65 | 1730 | |
| 66 | 1731 | - 1731: Invention of seed drill by Jethro Tull [others say 1701]
- 1731: Invention of sextant by John Hadley
|
| 67 | 1732 | - 7 Dec 1732: Covent Garden Opera House opens
|
| 68 | 1733 | - 1733: Excise crisis: Sir Robert Walpole wanted to add excise tax to tobacco and wine –
Pulteney and Bolingbroke oppose the excise tax
- 1733: Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed – some continued in
Latin for a few years
- 1733: John Kay invents the flying shuttle, revolutionised the weaving industry
|
| 69 | 1734 | - 1734: Kent's Directory published
|
| 70 | 1737 | - 1737: Licensing Act restricts the number of London theatres and subects plays to censorship
of the Lord Chamberlain (till 1950s)
|
| 71 | 1738 | - 24 May 1738: John Wesley has his conversion experience
|
| 72 | 1739 | - 1739: Wesley and Whitefield commence great Methodist revival
- 7 Apr 1739: Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York
- 23 Oct 1739: War of Jenkins' Ear starts: Robert Walpole reluctantly declares war on Spain
|
1655 - 1739 (83 years)
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