Events in History
- Jan 11 Most powerful earthquake in Italian recorded history strikes Sicily and Southern Italy with an estimated magnitude of 7.4. Tsunamis followed and devastated coastal villages on the Ionian Sea and the Straits of Messina.
- Feb 8 William & Mary College is chartered in Williamsburg in the Dominion and Colony of Virginia (second in North America)
Event of Interest
Apr 1 Cotton Mather's four-day-old son dies, and witchcraft is blamed
Cotton Mather
- Jun 27 1st sea battle of Lagos: a French fleet under Anne Hilarion de Tourville defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet under George Rooke
- Jul 4 Battle at Boussu-lez-Walcourt: French-English vs Dutch army
- Jul 8 NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies
- Jul 25 Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México
- Jul 29 War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen/Neerwinden - France wins Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands
- Aug 4 Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pérignon's invention of Champagne
- Oct 4 Battle of Marsaglia: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
- Oct 5 Haarlem people's revolution due to food shortages
Birthdays in History
- Jan 28 Anna "Ivanovna", tsarina of Russia (1730-40) (2/7 NS)
- Feb 4 George Lillo, bourgeois English dramatist (London Merchant)
- Feb 7 Anna Ivanova Romanova, Empress of Russia (1730-40) [NS]
- Mar 5 Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (d. 1754)
- Mar 7 Clement XIII [Carlo Rezzonico], Pope (1758-69), born in Venice (d. 1769)
James Bradley
Mar 23 James Bradley, English astronomer, 3rd Astronomer Royal, discovered Earth's nutation motion, born in Shelborne, England (d. 1762) exact date disputed
James Bradley
- Mar 24 John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer to calculate longitude while at sea, born in Foulby, Yorkshire, England (d. 1776)
- Apr 3 George Edwards, English naturalist and ornithologist (father of British ornithology), born in Stratford, Essex, England (d. 1773)
- Apr 16 Anne Sophie Reventlow, Queen of Denmark and Norway (1721-30), born in Clausholm Castle, Denmark (d. 1743)
- Jun 17 Johann Georg Walch, German theologian, born in Meiningen, Germany (d. 1775)
Thomas Pelham-Holles
Jul 21 Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1757-62), born in London (d. 1768)
Thomas Pelham-Holles
- Sep 3 Charles Radclyffe, 5th Earl of Derwentwater, British politician, born in Little Parndon, Essex (d. 1746)
Deaths in History
- Jan 6 Mehmed IV, sultan (Turkey), dies at 51
- Feb 7 Paul Pellisson, French writer, dies at 68
- Apr 5 Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (Grand Mademoiselle), dies at 65
- Apr 9 Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer, dies at 74
- May 3 Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
- May 25 Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette, French writer (b. 1634)
- Jun 2 John Wildman, English soldier and politician
- Jul 12 John Ashby, English admiral
- Jul 13 Hendrik Trajectinus, Count of Solms, Dutch lieutenant-general (b. 1636)
- Jul 31 Willem Calf, Rotterdams still life painter, dies at 73
- Jul 31 Willem Kalf, Dutch painter (still lifes), dies at 73
- Sep 14 Aert Jansse van Nes, Dutch naval commander, dies at 67
- Sep 19 Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, Slovenian polymath and natural historian, dies at 52
- Oct 1 Pedro Abarca, Spanish theologian (b. 1619)
- Oct 26 Coenraad van Beuningen, mayor of Amsterdam/diplomat, dies at 71
- Nov 24 William Sancroft, 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 76
- Dec 13 Dodoftei, Romanian metropolitan of Moldavia/writer (Saint Lives), dies
- Dec 13 Willem Van de Velde, Dutch the Old, seascape painter, dies at about 82