1720 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1720 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

17 February - Treaty of The Hague signed between Britain, France, Austria, the Dutch Republic and Spain ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance.^[1]
April - "South Sea Bubble": A scheme for the South Sea Company to take over most of Britain's unconsolidated government debt massively inflates share prices;^[1] they rise to a peak in August.
15 April - Ralph Allen of Bath is appointed to farm Cross and Bye Posts (i.e. to manage mail not going via London), leading to his reform of the system.^[2]^[3]
September - "South Sea Bubble": share prices, led by those of the South Sea Company, collapse.^[1]
16 November - Pirate captain "Calico Jack" Rackham is brought to trial at Spanish Town in Jamaica; he is hanged at Port Royal two days later.
29 December - Haymarket Theatre opens in London.

13 January - Richard Hurd, bishop and writer (died 1808)
27 January - Samuel Foote, dramatist and actor (died 1777)
9 March - Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, politician (died 1790)
18 July - Gilbert White, naturalist and cleric (died 1793)
18 August - Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, murderer (died 1760)
30 August - Samuel Whitbread, brewer and politician (died 1796)
31 December - Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (died 1788)

31 January - Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, privy councillor (born c. 1645)
20 April - George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (born 1637)
5 August - Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, English poet (born 1661)
9 August - Simon Ockley, orientalist (born 1678)
18 August - Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer, admiral (born c. 1650)
18 November - Calico Jack, pirate (born c. 1682)

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 297–298. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
↑ Blake, Richard. The Book of Postal Dates, 1635-1985. Caterham: Marden. p. 3.
↑ "Ralph Allen Biography". Bath Postal Museum. Retrieved 2009-08-21.