1759 in Great Britain
Events from the year 1759 in Great Britain. The year was dubbed an Annus Mirabilis due to a succession of military victories in the Seven Years' War against French-led opponents.
Incumbents
Events
- 15 January – The British Museum opens at Montagu House, Bloomsbury in London.[1]
- 8 April – Robert Clive captures Masulipatam in India from the French.[2]
- 1 May – Seven Years' War: British forces capture Guadeloupe from the French.[3]
- 25 July – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): In Canada, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
- 1 August – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Minden, British-Hanoverian forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat the French army of the Duc de Broglie,[2] but due to the disobedience of the English cavalry commander Lord George Sackville, the French are able to withdraw unmolested.
- 18 August – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Lagos, the British fleet of Edward Boscawen defeats a French force under Commodore de la Clue off the Portuguese coast.
- 10 September – Seven Years' War: Battle of Pondicherry – An inconclusive naval battle is fought off the coast of India between the French Admiral d'Aché and the British under George Pocock. The French forces are badly damaged and returned home, never to return.
- 13 September – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): Quebec is recaptured by British forces following General Wolfe's victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General Wolfe are fatally wounded.[2]
- 14 September – "A Journey Through Europe; or, A Play of Geography", the earliest British board game sold.[1]
- 16 October – Smeaton's Tower, John Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse, is first illuminated.[4]
- 20 November – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Quiberon Bay, the British fleet of Sir Edward Hawke defeats a French fleet under Marshal de Conflans near the coast of Brittany.[2] This is the decisive naval engagement of the War – after this, the French are no longer able to field a significant fleet and a planned French invasion of Britain is abandoned.
Unknown dates
Publications
Births
- 25 January – Robert Burns, poet (died 1796)
- 27 April – Mary Wollstonecraft, writer, philosopher and feminist (died 1797)
- 28 May – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister (died 1806)
- 7 August – William Owen Pughe, lexicographer (died 1835)
- 24 August – William Wilberforce, abolitionist (died 1833)
- 19 September – William Kirby, entomologist (died 1850)
- 24 September – Charles Simeon, evangelical clergyman (died 1836)
- 25 October – William Grenville, Prime Minister (died 1834)
- date unknown – John Mayne, poet (d. 1836)
Deaths
References
- 1 2 Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 319–320. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ↑ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. p. 222. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ↑ "Eddystone Lighthouse". Trinity House. Archived from the original on 9 September 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2006.
- ↑ Royal Observatory Greenwich souvenir guide. 2012. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-1-906367-51-0.
the first precision watch and considered by many today as the most important timekeeper ever.
- ↑ "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". World Heritage. UNESCO. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
See also
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1759 in Great Britain: 