1783 in Great Britain
Events from the year 1783 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Incumbents
Events
- 1 January – Glasgow Chamber of Commerce is founded by Patrick Colquhoun – the first in Britain.
- 4 February – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America.
- 6 February – American Revolutionary War: Spain lifts the Great Siege of Gibraltar.[1]
- 24 February – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne resigns as Prime Minister over the proposed peace terms with the United States.[2]
- 19 March – Zong massacre: the case of a British slave trader who, in 1781, threw approximately 142 slaves overboard to conserve supplies for the remainder, the owners subsequently attempting to reclaim part of their value from insurers, is revealed by Olaudah Equiano to anti-slavery activist Granville Sharp, creating new support for abolitionism.[3]
- 2 April – Fox-North Coalition: William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland becomes First Lord of the Treasury.[4]
- May – George Crabbe's narrative poem The Village is published.
- 10 May – John Moore enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.[5]
- 8 June – A sulphurous haze from the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland gives rise to the "sand-summer", thought to have caused the deaths of more than 10,000 people in Britain.[6]
- 18 August – Great Meteor passes over the east coast of Britain, sparking reports in the press of the time and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[7]
- 2 September – A preliminary treaty is signed in Paris with the Dutch Republic to end the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.
- 3 September – Peace of Paris: A treaty between Britain and the United States is signed in Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War; and treaties are signed between Britain, France and Spain at Versailles ending hostilities with the Franco-Spanish Alliance.[1]
- 7 November – The last public execution is held at Tyburn.[8]
- 25 November – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.[1]
- 9 December – Executions begin to be held in Newgate Prison.[8]
- 17 December – George III dismisses the Fox-North Coalition. It is succeeded by a government formed by William Pitt the Younger.[9]
- 19 December – William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest-ever Prime Minister of Great Britain or the United Kingdom at the age of 24.
- Winter – A severe winter follows in the wake of the Laki eruption.
Undated
Births
Deaths
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 335–336. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ↑ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 228–230. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ↑ "British History Timeline". BBC History. Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2007.
- ↑ "PMs in history, Duke of Portland. 10 Downing Street website". Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
- ↑ Aston, Nigel (2004). "Moore, John (bap. 1730, d. 1805)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 25 February 2011. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ↑ Rincon, Paul (25 May 2004). "Volcano 'drove up UK death toll' BBC news". BBC News. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
- ↑ Beech, M. "The Great Meteor of 18 August 1783", Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 1989, v.99, 3, 103
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ↑ "PMs in history, William Pitt. 10 Downing Street website". Retrieved 1 September 2007.
- ↑ Gales, W.K.V. (1981). Ironworking. Princes Risborough. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0-85263-546-X.
See also