1721 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1721 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

9 March - John Aislabie imprisoned in the Tower of London, found guilty of corruption for his part in the collapse of the South Sea Company as Chancellor of the Exchequer.^[1]
4 April - Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister (although this is more a term of disparagement at this time).^[2]

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduces smallpox inoculation to Britain: the Princess of Wales is persuaded to test the treatment and the procedure becomes fashionable.^[1]
Thomas Guy founds Guy's Hospital in London.^[3]

2 January - John Manners, Marquess of Granby (died 1770)
19 March - Tobias Smollett, physician and author (died 1771)
15 April - Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, military leader (died 1765)
14 July - John Douglas, Anglican bishop and man of letters (died 1807)
4 August - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, politician (died 1803)
31 August - George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, statesman (died 1775)
9 November - Mark Akenside, poet and physician (died 1770)
6 December - James Elphinston, philologist (died 1809)

5 February - James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, statesman and soldier (born c. 1673)
16 February - James Craggs the Younger, politician (born 1686)
24 February - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, statesman and poet (born 1648)
16 March - James Craggs the Elder, politician (born 1657)
8 July - Elihu Yale, educationist (born 1649, Massachusetts)
3 August - Grinling Gibbons, sculptor (born 1648, Rotterdam)
18 September - Matthew Prior, poet and diplomat (born 1664)
11 October - Edward Colston, merchant and philanthropist (born 1636)
13 December - Alexander Selkirk, sailor (born 1676)
17 December - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, statesman (born 1650)

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
↑ "Sir Robert Walpole". 10. HM Government. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
↑ "History of Guy's and St Thomas' Charity". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-03.