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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1770 | - 1770—1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major
thoroughfare for maritime communications
- 28 Apr 1770—28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) ? Aug 21: formally claims
Australia for Britain
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| 2 | 1771 | - 1771—1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
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| 3 | 1772 | - 1772—1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
- 1772—1772: Morning Post' first published (until 1937)
- 14 May 1772—14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
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| 4 | 1774 | - 13 Sep 1774—13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
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| 5 | 1775 | - 19 Apr 1775—19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775- 1783)
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| 6 | 1776 | - 1776—1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
- 1776—1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine
- 4 Jul 1776—4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence
- 7 Sep 1776—7 Sep 1776: First attack on a warship by a submarine - David Bushnell's ?Turtle' attacked
HMS Eagle in New York harbour. The attack was perhaps spectacular (a charge did
detonate beneath the ship) but was nevertheless unsuccessful. 'Turtle' was a one man
Affair man-powered [Les Moore]
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| 7 | 1777 | - 1777—1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
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| 8 | 1779 | - 1779—1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
- 1779—1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
- 1779—1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
- 14 Feb 1779—14 Feb 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii
- 23 Sep 1779—23 Sep 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
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| 9 | 1780 | - 1780—1780: Male Servants Tax
- 1780—1780: The English Reform Movement - until now, only landowners and tenants (freeholders
with 40 shillings per year or more) allowed to vote, and in open poll books
- 1780—1780: Fountain pen invented
- 1780—1780: About this time the word 'Quiz' entered the language, said to have been invented as a
wager by Mr Daly, a Dublin theatre manager
- 4 May 1780—4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
- 2 Jun 1780—2 Jun 1780: Jun 2- 8: The Gordon Riots - Parliament passes a Roman Catholic relief measure - for
days, London is at the mercy of a mob and destruction is widespread
|
| 10 | 1782 | - 1782—1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief - the way of life of the poor beginning to
alter due to industrialisation - New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce
that would adjust to new work patterns
- 1782—1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
|
| 11 | 1783 | - 1783—1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794) - led to a fall in
entries!
- 3 Sep 1783—3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
- 3 Nov 1783—3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
|
| 12 | 1784 | - 1784—1784: Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has
power to guide Indian politics
- 1784—1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England
- 1784—1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews
- 1784—1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
- 2 Aug 1784—2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
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| 13 | 1785 | - 1785—1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2
million)
- 1 Jan 1785—1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal
Register for 3 years)
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| 14 | 1787 | - 1787—1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
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| 15 | 1788 | - 1788—1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
- 1788—1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not
enforced)
- 1788—1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates
more humane conditions on slave ships
- 1788—1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis - Edmund Burke and
Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt - trying to obtain full regal powers for the
Prince of Wales
- 1788—1788: Gibbon completes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
- 26 Jan 1788—26 Jan 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13
May 1787) ? the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
|
| 16 | 1789 | - 28 Apr 1789—28 Apr 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty - Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift
and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
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| 17 | 1790 | - 1790—1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
|
| 18 | 1791 | - 1791—1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the long s' (the 's' that looks like an 'f')
- 1791—1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
- 4 Dec 1791—4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
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| 19 | 1792 | - 1792—1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) - Fox gets Libel Act through
Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel
- 1792—1792: Boyle's Street Directory published
- 1792—1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
- 1 Oct 1792—1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
- 1 Dec 1792—1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
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| 20 | 1793 | - 11 Feb 1793—11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
- 15 Apr 1793—15 Apr 1793: ?5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
|
| 21 | 1794 | - 1794—1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
- 6 Oct 1794—6 Oct 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High
Treason - he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution
to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore
treasonous
|
| 22 | 1795 | - 1795—1795: The Famine Year
- 1795—1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
- 1795—1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's
wage to subsistence level - towards the end of the eighteenth century, the number of poor and
unemployed increased dramatically - price increases during the Napoleonic Wars
(1793-1815) far outstripped wage rises - many small farmers were bankrupted by the move
towards enclosures and became landless labourers - their wages were often pitifully low
- 1795—1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce The Gagging Acts' or 'Two Bills' (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills) - outlawed the mass meeting and the political lecture.
- 1795—1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
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| 23 | 1796 | - 1796—1796: Pitt's Reign of Terror': More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
- 1796—1796: Legacy Tax on sums over ?20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and
grandparents
- 14 May 1796—14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
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| 24 | 1797 | - 1797—1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
- 1797—1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
- 1797—1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical
publications
- 1797—1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to
the coining press
- 22 Feb 1797—22 Feb 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
- 26 Feb 1797—26 Feb 1797: First ?1 (and ?2) notes issued by Bank of England
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| 25 | 1798 | - 1798—1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
- Feb 1798—Feb 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish
Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
- 1 Aug 1798—1 Aug 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
|
| 26 | 1799 | - 1799—1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
- 1799—1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
- 9 Jan 1799—9 Jan 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
- 12 Jul 1799—12 Jul 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
- 15 Jul 1799—15 Jul 1799: ?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
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| 27 | 1800 | - 1800—1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
- 1800—1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
- 1800—1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded
- 1800—1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light
- 1800—1800: Volta makes first electrical battery
- 2 Jul 1800—2 Jul 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
|
| 28 | 1801 | - 1801—1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
- 1801—1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
- 1 Jan 1801—1 Jan 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
- 10 Mar 1801—10 Mar 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
- 24 Dec 1801—24 Dec 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
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| 29 | 1802 | - 25 Mar 1802—25 Mar 1802: Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands ? the 'Peace of Amiens' as it was known brought a temporary peace of 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars ? one of its most important cultural effects was that travel and correspondence across the English Channel became possible again
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1770 - 1802 (32 years)