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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1761 | - 16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
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2 | 1762 | - Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
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3 | 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
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4 | 1764 | - Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
- Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
- James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768)
- Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
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5 | 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American colonies (repealed the following year)
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6 | 1766 | - Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
- 5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
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7 | 1767 | - Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
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8 | 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
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9 | 1769 | - Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
- Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
- 6 Sep 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
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10 | 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
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11 | 1771 | - Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
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12 | 1772 | - First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
- "Morning Post" first published (until 1937)
- 14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
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13 | 1774 | - 13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
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14 | 1775 | - 19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775 - 1783)
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15 | 1776 | - Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
- 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]
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16 | 1777 | - Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
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17 | 1779 | - Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
- First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
- 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
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18 | 1780 | - Male Servants Tax
- 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
- Fountain pen invented
- 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 28: The Gordon Riots - Parliament passes a Roman Catholic relief measure - for
days, London is at the mercy of a mob and destruction is widespread
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19 | 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
- James Watt patents his steam engine
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20 | 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)
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21 | 1784 | - Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has
power to guide Indian politics
- Wesley breaks with the Church of England
- First golf club founded at St Andrews
- Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
- 2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
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22 | 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)
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23 | 1787 | - MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
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24 | 1788 | - First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
- Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not
enforced)
- First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates
more humane conditions on slave ships
- 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
- 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
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25 | 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
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26 | 1790 | - Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
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27 | 1791 | - John Bell, printer, abandons the "long s" (the "s" that looks like an "f")
- Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
- 4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
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