1718 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1718 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

7 January – Occasional Conformity Act repealed.^[1]
15 May – James Puckle patents the Puckle Gun, an early form of machine gun.^[2]
2 August – Quadruple Alliance formed between Britain, the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic.^[3]
11 August – A British fleet under Admiral Byng defeats a Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Passaro, a prelude to the War of the Quadruple Alliance.^[4]
24 November – 'Calico Jack' Rackham becomes captain of the pirate sloop Ranger in The Bahamas.^[5]
17 December – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Britain, the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic declare war on Spain.

The Proper motion of stars discovered by Edmond Halley.^[4]
Marrow Controversy, an ecclesiastical dispute, in Scotland.^[6]
The Charitable Infirmary, Dublin, is founded by six surgeons in Ireland, the first public voluntary hospital in the British Isles.^[7]^[8]
Greenwich Hospital receives a Royal Charter (revoked in 1829).^[9]
The Transportation Act of 1718 creates the punishment of penal transportation as an alternative to a death sentence.^[10]

18 February – Robert Henry, historian (died 1790)
4 April – Benjamin Kennicott, churchman and Hebrew scholar (died 1783)
7 April – Hugh Blair, preacher and man of letters (died 1800)
17 May – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, diplomat and politician (died 1778)
23 May – William Hunter, anatomist (died 1783)
30 May – Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, politician (died 1793)
5 June – Thomas Chippendale, furniture maker (died 1779)
17 June – George Howard, field marshal (died 1796)
5 July – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, Viceroy of Ireland (died 1794)
31 July – John Canton, physicist (died 1772)
3 November – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, statesman (died 1792)

6 January – Richard Hoare, goldsmith and banker (born 1648)
1 February – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, politician (born 1660)
18 February – Pierre Antoine Motteux, dramatist (born 1663, France)
30 July – William Penn, Quaker and founder of the Pennsylvania colony (born 1644)
22 November – Blackbeard, pirate (born c. 1680)
6 December – Nicholas Rowe, poet and dramatist (born 1674)

↑ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 210–211. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
↑ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
↑ Cates, William L. R. (1863). The Pocket Date Book. Chapman and Hall.
↑ 4.0 4.1 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
↑ Konstam, Angus. Piracy: the complete history. Osprey Publishing. p. 336. ISBN 1-84603-240-7.
↑ "New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. VII: Liutprand – Moralities, Schaff, Philip (1819–1893)". Retrieved 3 September 2007.
↑ Widdess, J. D. H. (1968). The Charitable Infirmary, Jervis Street, Dublin, 1718–1968. Dublin.
↑ O'Brien, Eoin, ed. (1987). The Charitable Infirmary, Jervis Street, 1718–1987: a farewell tribute. Monkstown: Anniversary Press. ISBN 1870940016.
↑ "Royal Charters, Privy Council website". Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2007.
↑ "BBC History British History Timeline". Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2007.