1731 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1731 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

16 March - Treaty of Vienna signed between the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic and Spain.^[1]
4 June - Great fire destroys much of the centre of Blandford Forum, Dorset.^[2]
5 June - Tiverton fire of 1731, great fire in Tiverton, Devon^[3]
23 October - Fire at Ashburnham House in London damages the nationally-owned Cotton library, housed there at this time.

Trader Robert Jenkins has his ear cut off by Spanish coast guards in Cuba leading to the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739.^[4]
Legal proceedings in the courts to be conducted in the English language.^[5]
William Hogarth produces his A Harlot's Progress series of paintings.^[4]

1 January - First edition of The Gentleman's Magazine published by Edward Cave.^[6]
Jethro Tull's treatise The New Horse-Houghing Husbandry; or, an essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation.

February - Charles Churchill, poet (died 1764)
8 May - Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London and abolitionist (died 1809)
10 October - Henry Cavendish, scientist (died 1810)
15 November - William Cowper, poet (died 1800)
12 December - Erasmus Darwin, scientist and grandfather of Charles Darwin (died 1802)
date unknown - William Aiton, botanist (died 1793)

↑ Cates, William L. R. (1863). The Pocket Date Book. Chapman and Hall.
↑ "Blandford, Dorset 1731". FireNet. 2009. Archived from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
↑ Dickens, Charles (1869). All the year round. Charles Dickens. p. 258. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
↑ 4.0 4.1 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 303. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
↑ Friar, Stephen (2001). The Sutton Companion to Local History (rev. ed.). Stroud: Sutton Publishing. p. 241. ISBN 0-7509-2723-2.
↑ Munsell, Joel (1858). The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. D. Appleton & Co.