1772 in Great Britain
Events from the year 1772 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
Events
- 24 March - Royal Marriages Act 1772 requires the monarch's consent for the marriage of all members of the royal family.[1]
- 28 May - Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal open for traffic throughout from a junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal to the River Severn at Stourport. Engineered by James Brindley, this is the first British trunk canal completed and its dimensions determine the size of boat used throughout the narrow canal network (72 feet (22 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m)).[2]
- 10 June - Credit crisis of 1772 is triggered when, following the flight of their partner Alexander Fordyce to France, the London banking house of Neal, James, Fordyce and Down (which has been speculating in East India Company stock) suspends payment. The resultant panic causes other banks, particularly in Scotland, to fail, extends to Amsterdam and the Thirteen Colonies of British North America, and threatens the East India Company with bankruptcy.[1]
- 22 June - Somersett's Case: Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice delivers the decision that slavery is not supported by the common law of England.[3]
- 13 July - Navigator James Cook sets out from Plymouth on HMS Resolution for a second Pacific voyage.[3][4]
- 12 September - Daniel Rutherford demonstrates the method of distinguishing nitrogen from other gases.[5]
- 21 September - Birmingham Canal Navigations main line open for traffic, linking Birmingham to the River Severn via the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.[2]
- 2 November - The Morning Post newspaper published for the first time.[6]
Births
Deaths
References
- 1 2 Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 225–227. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- 1 2 Hadfield, Charles (1969). The Canals of the West Midlands (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 50. ISBN 0-7153-4660-1.
- 1 2 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 327. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ↑ Hough, Richard (1994). Captain James Cook. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-82556-3.
- ↑ Woodward, B. B. (2004). "Rutherford, Daniel (1749–1819)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- ↑ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
See also
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1772 in Great Britain: