Events in History
- Jan 13 James Oglethorpe & 130 English colonists arrive at Charleston, South Carolina
- Jan 18 1st polar bear exhibited in America in Boston
- Feb 12 Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe, at site of Savannah
- May 12 Maria Theresa crowned Queen of Bohemia in Prague
- May 17 Great Britain passes Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions
- May 29 The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld in Quebec City
- Jul 30 Society of Freemasons opens 1st American lodge in Boston
- Sep 12 Polish Landowners select Stanislaw Lesczynski king
- Sep 15 King Frederik Willem I divides Prussia-Brandenburg in Cantons
- Sep 22 Polish King Lesczynski flees to Danzig
- Sep 26 France, Spain & Sardinia sign anti-German covenant
Declaration of War
Oct 10 France declares war on emperor Charles VI
Charles VI
- Nov 7 France & Spain sign the Treaty of the Escorial (the first 'Pacte de Famille' between the Bourbon kings of France and Spain)
Birthdays in History
- Jan 22 Philip Carteret, British Naval Officer
Benjamin Lincoln
Jan 24 Benjamin Lincoln, American military officer (Battles of Saratoga, Charleston and Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War), born in Hingham, Massachusetts (d. 1810)
Benjamin Lincoln
Joseph Priestley
Mar 24 Joseph Priestley, English chemist, theologian and author who discovered oxygen and carbonated water, born in Birstall, England (1804)
Joseph Priestley
- Apr 27 Josef Gottlieb Kölreuter, German Botanist who pioneered the study of plant hybrids, especially among the tobacco plants, born in Sulz am Neckar, Germany (d. 1806)
- May 4 Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor, born in Dax, France (d. 1799)
- May 11 Victoire of France, daughter of king Louis XV (d. 1799)
- Jun 20 Betty Washington, younger sister of George Washington, born in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia (d. 1797)
- Jul 22 Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer (d. 1790)
- Jul 27 Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer, born in Cockfield, County Durham, England (d. 1779)
- Sep 18 George Read, American judge and signer (Declaration of Independence), born in Cecil County, Maryland (d. 1798)
- Oct 14 François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal, born in Hainaut, Austrian Netherlands (d. 1798)
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Jun 12 King of Prussia Frederick the Great (21) weds duchess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (18) at Schloss Salzdahlum in Wolfenbüttel, Germany
Frederick the Great
Deaths in History
- Jan 25 Reinier V van Hompech, Dutch gen-maj cavalry, dies
- Jan 25 Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London (b. 1652)
- Feb 1 August II, the Strong, King of Poland (355 children), dies at 62
- Mar 4 Claude de Forbin, French naval commander, dies at 76
- Apr 19 Elizabeth Villiers, mistress of William III of England
- Jun 23 Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar, dies at 60
- Aug 16 Matthew Tindal, English deist (b. 1657)
- Oct 31 Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg, dies at 57
- Dec 31 Hubert K Poot, Dutch poet (Akkerleven), dies at 44