1769
1769 in topic: |
Subjects: Archaeology – Architecture – |
Art – Literature (Poetry) – Music – Science |
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Leaders: State leaders – Colonial governors |
Category: Establishments – Disestablishments |
Births – Deaths – Works |
Year 1769 (MDCCLXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 11-day earlier Julian calendar).
Events of 1769
Undated
Cugnot's steam-wagon in 1769.
- Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor (see drawing) in France.
- Famine in Bengal kills 10 million people, a third of the population, in the worst natural disaster in human history (in terms of lives lost).
- The Maharajah of Mysore forces the British to agree a treaty of mutual assistance in view of the famine, but the British East India Company increases its demands on the Bengali people to keep profits up.
- Richard Arkwright invents the spinning frame.
- The city of Brescia, Italy is devastated when the Church of San Nazaro, near Venice, is struck by lightning. The resulting fire ignites 200,000 lb (90,000 kg) of gunpowder being stored there, causing a massive explosion which destroys 1/6 of the city and kills 3,000 people. The disaster prompts the Roman Catholic Church to abandon their religious objection to using lightning rods to protect their property.
- The last wild wolf in the british isles is killed by hunters.
Ongoing events
Births
- January 10 – Michel Ney, French marshal (d. 1815)
- March 1 – François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French general (d. 1796)
- March 10 – Joseph Williamson, English philanthropist and builder of the Williamson's tunnels (d. 1840)
- March 23 – William Smith, English geologist and cartographer (d. 1839)
- March 29 – Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal (d. 1851)
- April 3 – Christian Gunther von Bernstorff, Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat (d. 1835)
- April 9 – Jakob Heinrich Laspeyres, German lepidopterist (d. 1809)
- April 11 – Jean Lannes, French marshal (d. 1809)
- April 13 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter (d. 1830)
- May 1 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, British general and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1852)
- May 6 – Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
- June 18 – Viscount Castlereagh, British statesman, diplomat, and soldier (d. 1822)
- August 15 – Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French (d. 1821)
- September 14 – Karl Salomo Zachariae Von Lingenthal, German jurist (d. 1843)
- October 6 – Isaac Brock, British general and administrator (d. 1812)
- December 13 – James Scarlett Abinger, English judge (d. 1844)
- date unknown – James Dadford, English canal engineer
Deaths
- February 2 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
- March 28 – Johann Friedrich Endersch, cartographer (b. 1705)
- April 20 – Chief Pontiac, Ottawa chief (murdered) (b. c. 1719)
- June 1 – Edward Holyoke, American President of Harvard University (b. 1689)
- August 2 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (b. 1689)
- August 29 – Edmond Hoyle, English game expert (b. 1672)
- September 22 – Antonio Genovesi, philosopher (b. 1712)
- November 23 – Constantine Mavrocordatos, Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia (b. 1711)
- November 27 – Kamo no Mabuchi, Japanese poet and philologist (b. 1697)
- December 13 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)
- December 30 – Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Austrian soldier (b. 1685)
- date unknown – Suremphaa – King of Assam