Timeline: Past and Present Company

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	Date	Event(s)
1	1675	Rebuilding of St Paul's started by Wren
2	1677	Lee's "Collection of Names of Merchants in London" published
3	1678	Extension of Test Act to peers
4	1679	Tories first so named 27 May 1679: Habeas Corpus Act becomes law in England (later repealed from time to time)
5	1680	William Dockwra(y) begins his London Penny Post Dodo becomes extinct in Mauritius through over-hunting
6	1681	Second Test Act (against non-conformists) passed by Westminster Parliament Oil lighting first used in London streets
7	1682	Pennsylvania founded by William Penn Library of Advocates founded in Edinburgh later National Library of Scotland Halley observes the comet which bears his name
8	1683	Wild boar become extinct in Britain 6 Jun 1683: Ashmolean Museum opened at Oxford first museum in Britain
9	1685	James the Second (1685-1689, died 1701) Monmouth rebellion and battle of Sedgemoor British Army raised to 20,000 men Earl of Argyll's Invasion of Scotland Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes 320 executed, 800 transported
10	1686	Release of all prisoners held for their religious beliefs
11	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
12	1688	British Army raised to 40,000 Bill of Rights limits the powers of the monarchy over parliament Hearth Tax abolished 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)
13	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
14	1690	20 May 1690: England passes Act of Grace, forgiving Roman Catholic followers of James II
15	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. 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
16	1693	4 Aug 1693: Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pierre PÃ©rignon 's invention of Champagne
17	1694	National Debt came into effect in England Stamp Duties introduced into Britain from Holland Mary II death leaves William III as sole ruler Triennial Act, new Parliamentary elections every three years 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)
18	1695	Freedom of Press in England granted Bank of Scotland founded Act of Parliament imposes a fine on all who fail to inform the parish minister of the birth of a child (repealed 1706) Start of "Dissenters" lists in parish registers children born but not christened in the parish church some were named "Papist" and others "Protestants"
19	1697	2 Dec 1697: Official opening of St Paul's Cathedral
20	1698	Invention of steam engine by Capt Thomas Savery Darien Expedition: a disastrous attempt to establish a Scots settlement in Panama 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
21	1700	Population in England and Scotland approx 7.5 million
22	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
23	1702	8 Mar 1702: Anne Stuart becomes Queen 11 Mar 1702: First English daily newspaper The Daily Courant (till 1735)
24	1703	4 Aug 1703: British take Gibraltar 24 Nov 1703—2 Dec 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
25	1704	Penal Code enacted Catholics barred from voting, education and the military 13 Aug 1704: Battle of Blenheim
26	1705	First workable steam pumping engine devised by Thomas Newcomen (some say c1710 or 1711) Isaac Newton knighted (for his work at the Royal Mint)
27	1706	First evening newspaper "The Evening Post" issued in London
28	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
29	1708	First Jacobite rising in Scotland Earliest Artillery Muster Rolls
30	1709	Second Eddystone lighthouse completed First Copyright Act pass 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
31	1710	Tax on Apprentice Indentures introduced
32	1711	Incorporation of South Sea Company, in London 11 Aug 1711: First race meeting at Ascot
33	1712	Imposition of Soap Tax (abolished 1853) Last trial for witchcraft in England (Jane Wenham) Toleration Act passed first relief to non-Anglicans
34	1713	By this year there are some 3,000 coffee houses in London
35	1714	Longitude Act: prize of Â£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). Schism Act, prevents Dissenters from being schoolmasters in England 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).
36	1715	Second Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender ('The Fifteen') 1 Aug 1715: Riot Act passed
37	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) Climate: Thames frozen so solid that a spring tide lifted the ice bodily 13ft without interrupting the frost fair
38	1717	First Masonic Lodge opens in London Value of the golden guinea fixed at 21 shillings
39	1719	Third abortive Jacobite rising
40	1720	South Sea Bubble, a stock-market crash on Exchange Alley government assumes control of National Debt Manufacturing towns start to increase in population rise of new wealth Wallpaper becomes fashionable in England
41	1721	2 Apr 1721: Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742)
42	1722	Last trial for witchcraft in Scotland Knatchbull's Act, poor laws
43	1723	Excise tax levied for coffee, tea, and chocolate 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 The Workhouse Act or Test - to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
44	1724	Rapid growth of gin drinking in England Longman's founded (Britain's oldest publishing house)
45	1726	First circulating library opened in Edinburgh Invention of the chronometer by John Harrison
46	1727	Board of Manufacturers established in Scotland 11 Jun 1727: George I dies - George II Hanover becomes king
47	1729	9 Nov 1729: Treaty of Seville signed between Britain, France and Spain - Britain maintained control of Port Mahon and Gibraltar
48	1730	Irish famine
49	1731	Invention of seed drill by Jethro Tull [others say 1701] Invention of sextant by John Hadley
50	1732	7 Dec 1732: Covent Garden Opera House opens
51	1733	Excise crisis: Sir Robert Walpole wanted to add excise tax to tobacco and wine Pulteney and Bolingbroke oppose the excise tax Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed - some continued in Latin for a few years John Kay invents the flying shuttle, revolutionised the weaving industry
52	1734	Kent's Directory published
53	1737	Licensing Act restricts the number of London theatres and subects plays to censorship of the Lord Chamberlain (till 1950s)
54	1738	24 May 1738: John Wesley has his conversion experience
55	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
56	1741	Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites - Earliest Moravian registers
57	1742	England goes to war with Spain - incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) for the sake of trade
58	1743	16 Jun 1743: (June 27 in Gregorian calendar): Battle of Dettingen - last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
59	1744	Tune 'God Save the King' makes its appearance
60	1745	Jacobite rebellion in Scotland ('The Forty-five') 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
61	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
62	1747	Abolition of Heritable Jurisdictions in Scotland Act for Pacification of the Highlands
63	1749	27 Apr 1749: First performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (in Green Park, London)
64	1750	Feb 1750: Series of earthquakes in London and the Home Counties cause panic with predictions of an apocalypse (Feb/Mar) 16 Nov 1750: Original Westminster Bridge opened (replaced in 1862 due to subsidence)
65	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 Majesty's Dominions and Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, belonging or subject to the Crown of Great Britain, the said Supputation, according to which the Year of Useful dates in British history 03/01/2009 12:12 our Lord beginneth on the 25th Day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last Day of December 1751; and that the first Day of January next following the said last Day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord 1752"
66	1752	Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor 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: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England and Scotland, making this Sep 14
67	1753	Private collection of Sir Hans Sloane forms the basis of the British Museum 1 May 1753: Publication of "Species Plantarum" by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy
68	1754	Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used - Quakers & Jews exempt 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 First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India
69	1755	Publication of "Dictionary of the English Language" by Dr Samuel Johnson Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827) 2 Dec 1755: Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire
70	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
71	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
72	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
73	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
74	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"
75	1761	16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
76	1762	Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
77	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
78	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
79	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)
80	1766	Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK 5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
81	1767	Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
82	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
83	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
84	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
85	1771	Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
86	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
87	1774	13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
88	1775	19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775 - 1783)
89	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]
90	1777	Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.

John ADAM 1677 - Yes, date unknown

John ADAM
1677 - Yes, date unknown