| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1754 | |
| 2 | 1756 | - 15 May 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
- Jun 1756: Black Hole of Calcutta
- 16 Nov 1756—25 Jun 1757: William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
William Cavendish Duke of Devonshire
|
| 3 | 1757 | - 1757: The foundation laid for the Empire of India
- 1757: Canada
Henry Evans is the first architect in English Canada
- 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)
- 2 Jul 1757—26 May 1762: Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
|
| 4 | 1758 | - 1758: India stops being merely a commercial venture
- 2 Oct 1758: Canada Parliament
First Parliament elected in Canada
|
| 5 | 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
|
| 6 | 1760 | - 1760: Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland
- 5 May 1760: First use of hangman's drop
- 25 Oct 1760: George II dies
|
| 7 | 1761 | - 16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
|
| 8 | 1762 | - 1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
- 26 May 1762—8 Apr 1763: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, UK Prime Minister (Tory)
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
|
| 9 | 1763 | - 1763: Treaty of Paris
- 16 Apr 1763—13 Jul 1765: George Grenville, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
George Grenville
|
| 10 | 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
|
| 11 | 1765 | |
| 12 | 1766 | - 1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
- 30 Jul 1766—14 Oct 1768: William Pitt 'The Elder', 1st Earl of Chatham, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
William Pitt 'The Elder', 1st Earl of Chatham
- 5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
|
| 13 | 1767 | - 1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
|
| 14 | 1768 | - 9 Jan 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London
- 14 Oct 1768—28 Jan 1770: Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
- 6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" published in Edinburgh by
William Smellie
|
| 15 | 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
|
| 16 | 1770 | - 1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major
thoroughfare for maritime communications
- 28 Jan 1770—22 Mar 1782: Lord Frederick North, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
Lord Frederick North
- 28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay)
|
| 17 | 1771 | - 1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
|
| 18 | 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
|
| 19 | 1774 | - 13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
|
| 20 | 1775 | - 1 Jan 1775: The first Loyalists arrive in Canada
- 18 Apr 1775: American Revolutionary War
- 19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775
|
| 21 | 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
|
| 22 | 1777 | - 1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
|
| 23 | 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
|
| 24 | 1780 | - 1780: Male Servants Tax
- 1780: The English Reform Movement
- 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
- 1780: Canada Quakers
The underground railroad is founded by Quakers who help slaves escape to Canada
- 4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
|
| 25 | 1782 | |
| 26 | 1783 | - 1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry
- 1783: Canada German
Pennsylvania Germans immigrate to southwestern Ontario
- 2 Apr 1783—19 Dec 1783: William Bentinck Duke of Portland, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
William Bentinck Duke of Portland
- 3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
- 3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
- 19 Dec 1783—14 Mar 1801: William Pitt 'The Younger', UK Prime Minister (Tory)
William Pitt the Younger
|
| 27 | 1784 | - 1784: Pitt's India Act
- 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)
|
| 28 | 1785 | - 1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2
million)
- 1785: Northwest Indian War
- 1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal
Register for 3 years)
|
| 29 | 1787 | - 1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
|
| 30 | 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
- 1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis
- 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)
- 26 Jan 1788: Australia New South Wales
New South Wales colony is founded by the British as a penal colony
|
| 31 | 1789 | - 28 Apr 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty
- 30 Apr 1789—3 Mar 1797: George Washington, 1st President of the United States
George Washington
- 27 Dec 1789: Canada stagecoach
Canada's first stage coach service is established between Queenston and Fort Erie
|
| 32 | 1790 | - 1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
- 1790: Australian colony
Australian colony experiences a food shortage
|
| 33 | 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
- 1791: Canada
Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario) are formed
- 4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer
|
| 34 | 1792 | - 1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press)
- 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
|
| 35 | 1793 | - 11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
|
| 36 | 1794 | - 1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
- 6 Oct 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High
Treason
|
| 37 | 1795 | - 1795: The Famine Year
- 1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
- 1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's
wage to subsistence level
- 1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce "The Gagging Acts" or "Two Bills" (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills)
- 1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
|
| 38 | 1796 | - 1796: Pitt's "Reign of Terror": More treason trials
- 1796: Legacy Tax on sums over
- 14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
|
| 39 | 1797 | - 1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
- 1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
- 1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical
publications
- 1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to
the coining press
- 22 Feb 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
- 4 Mar 1797—3 Mar 1801: John Adams, 2nd President of the United States
John Adams
- 18 Jun 1797: Canada Mail
The first mail service between Canada and the United States is established
|
1756 - 1797 (41 years)
