1768 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1768 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

Monarch - King George III
Prime Minister - William Pitt the Elder, Whig (to 14 October), Duke of Grafton, Whig

9 January - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus, with acrobats on galloping horses in London.
March - General election; Whigs remain in power.^[1]
17 March - William Cookworthy of Plymouth is granted a patent for the manufacture of true porcelain.^[2]
10 May - John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticising King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
8 August - James Cook departs Plymouth on his first voyage of discovery.^[3]
September - First Birmingham Music Festival held.
14 October - Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton succeeds William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham as Prime Minister after Pitt's resignation due to ill health.^[1]
10 December - Royal Academy founded in London, with Joshua Reynolds as its first President.^[4]

Secretary of State for colonies appointed.
Boston citizens refuse to quarter British troops.
Frederick Cornwallis enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Theatre Royal, Bath, and Theatre Royal, Norwich, assume these titles having been granted Royal Patents, making them officially the country's only legal provincial theatres.^[5]
Joseph Wright of Derby's painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump.

First of the weekly numbers of the Encyclopædia Britannica, edited by William Smellie, are published in Edinburgh; one hundred are planned.
An Essay upon Prints, containing remarks upon the principles of picturesque beauty by William Gilpin.
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne.^[6]
A Six Weeks Tour, through the southern counties of England and Wales by Arthur Young.

17 May - Caroline of Brunswick, queen of George IV (died 1821)
17 May - Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, general (died 1854)
23 August - Astley Cooper, surgeon and anatomist (died 1841)
24 September - Sharon Turner, historian (died 1847)
2 October - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, general and politician (died 1854)

1 February - Sir Robert Rich, cavalry officer (born 1685)
2 February - Robert Smith, mathematician (born 1689)
8 February - George Dance the Elder, architect (born 1695)
17 February - Arthur Onslow, politician (born 1691)
18 March - Laurence Sterne, Irish-born English novelist (born 1713)
15 June - James Short, mathematician and optician (born 1710)
24 July - Nathanial Lardner, theologian (born 1684)
3 August - Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1693)
1 October - Robert Simson, mathematician (born 1687)
17 November - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister (born 1693)
26 November - Edward Stone, polymath (born 1702)
date unknown - Mary Hervey (born 1700)

^ ^a ^b Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 224–225. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Penderill-Church, John (1972). William Cookworthy 1705-1780: a study of the pioneer of true porcelain manufacture in England. Truro: Bradford Barton.
^ "Cook's Journal: Daily Entries, 7 August 1768". http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17680807.html. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
^ "Theatre Royal - Tate Wilkinson as Manager". York Guides. http://www.yorkguides.co.uk/theatre-royal-history/tatewilkinsonasmanager.html. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.