Events in History
- Jan 13 Pierre de Beaumarchais' "Les Deux Amis" premieres in Paris
- Jan 19 Battle of Golden Hill (Lower Manhattan)
Election of Interest
Jan 28 Frederick North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain after Augustus FitzRoy resigns
Frederick North
Augustus FitzRoy
Event of Interest
Mar 5 Boston Massacre (Incident on King Street): British soldiers kill 5 men in a crowd throwing snowballs, stones and sticks at them. African American Crispus Attucks 1st to die; later held up as early black martyr. Massacre galvanizes anti-British feelings.
Crispus Attucks
Appointment of Interest
Mar 31 Immanuel Kant is appointed Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg
Immanuel Kant
Historic Discovery
Apr 19 British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia
James Cook
- Apr 20 Captain James Cook arrives in New South Wales
- Apr 28 British Captain James Cook, aboard the Endeavour, lands at Botany Bay in Australia
- May 26 The Orlov Revolt, a first attempt to revolt against the Turks before the Greek War of Independence ends in disaster for the Greeks.
- Jun 3 Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo founded in California
- Jun 11 Captain James Cook discovers Great Barrier Reef off Australia
- Jun 19 General Church of New Jerusalem established
- Jun 19 Emanuel Swedenborg reports the completion of the Second Coming of Christ in his work True Christian Religion
- Jun 28 Quakers open a school for blacks in Philadelphia
- Jul 5 Battles of Chesma and Larga between the Russian and Ottoman Empires
- Jul 6 Battle at Cesme: Russian fleet beats Turkish
- Aug 22 James Cook's expedition lands on the east coast of Australia
Birthdays in History
- Jan 25 Francis Burdett, British politician, born in Derbyshire, United Kingdom (d. 1844)
- Feb 5 Alexandre Brongniart, mineralogist/geologist (Tertiary), born in Paris, France
- Mar 2 Louis Gabriel Suchet, French Marshal (d. 1826)
- Mar 13 Daniel Lambert, English gaol keep and famous for his unusually large size (weighed 739 lbs (334 kg) at death), born in Blue Boar Lane, Leicester (d. 1809)
- Mar 20 Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (d. 1843)
- Mar 28 Sophie Mereau, German writer, born in Altenburg, Germany (d. 1806)
- Apr 3 Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general and leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821-29), born in Ramοvouni, Messenia, Ottoman Empire (d. 1843)
William Wordsworth
Apr 7 William Wordsworth, English poet laureate (The Prelude), born in Cockermouth, Cumberland (d. 1850)
- Apr 9 Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (Seebeck effect), born in Tallinn, Estonia, Russian Empire (d. 1831)
George Canning
Apr 11 George Canning, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1827) and Foreign Secretary, born in London, England (d. 1827)
George Canning
- Apr 25 Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian statesman, born in Nærøy, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway (d. 1850)
- Apr 28 Nikita P Panin, Russian diplomat and minister of Foreign affairs, born in Kharkiv, Ukraine (d. 1837)
- Apr 30 David Thompson, English-Canadian explorer (Columbia River), born in Westminster, England (d. 1857)
- May 10 Louis Nicholas Davout, French fieldmarshal (defeated Prussians)
- May 22 Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, 7th child and 3rd daughter of King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, born in Buckingham House, London (d. 1840)
Manuel Belgrano
Jun 3 Manuel Belgrano, Argentine politician and Military Leader who took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and created the Flag of Argentina, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1820)
Manuel Belgrano
Robert Jenkinson
Jun 7 Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Tory: 1812-27), born in London (d. 1828)
Robert Jenkinson
William Clark
Aug 1 William Clark, American explorer, soldier, Indian agent and territorial governor who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06 and claimed the Pacific Northwest for the United States, born in Ladysmith, Virginia (d. 1838)
William Clark
- Aug 3 Frederik Willem III, King of Prussia (1797-1840), born in Potsdam, Prussia (d. 1840)
- Aug 27 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and inventor (dialectic), born in Stuttgart, Württemberg (d. 1831)
- Oct 1 Vincenzo Cuoco, Italian historian (Naples Revolution 1799), born in Civitacampomarano, Molise, Italy (d. 1823)
- Nov 16 Étienne Pivert de Senancour, French author (Obermann), born in Paris (d. 1846)
- Nov 19 Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish sculptor (Dying Lion), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1844)
- Nov 28 Princess Louise of Orange-Nassau, daughter of viceroy Willem V & Wilhelmina of Prussia, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1819)
- Dec 26 Pierre earl de Cambronne, French general (Waterloo, Elba)
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
May 16 Marie Antoinette (14) marries future King Louis XVI (15) of France
Marie Antoinette
Louis XVI
Wedding of Interest
Jul 19 Founding Father of the United States John Dickinson (37) weds land and estate owner Mary Norris (30) in a civil ceremony
John Dickinson
Wedding of Interest
Sep 9 Founding Father of America Robert R. Livingston (23) weds John Steven's daughter Mary Stevens
Robert R. Livingston
Deaths in History
Crispus Attucks
Mar 5 Crispus Attucks, possible slave, is 1st of 5 killed during Boston Massacre at beginning of the American Revolution
Crispus Attucks
- Mar 27 Giovanni B Tiepolo, Italian painter (Banquet of Cleopatra), dies at 73
- Apr 25 Jean-Antoine Nollet, French clergyman and physicist (discovery of osmosis), dies at 69
- May 27 Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, Queen consort of Denmark and Norway (1730-46), dies at 69
- May 30 François Boucher, French painter (b. 1703)
- Jun 23 Mark Akenside, English poet and physician, dies at 48
- Jul 14 David 't Kindt, Flemish architect (Mammelokker, Ghent), dies at 71
- Jul 16 Francis Cotes, English painter (b. 1726)
- Jul 27 Robert Dinwiddie, British colonial governor of Virginia (b. 1693)
- Aug 24 Thomas Chatterton, English poet (Revenge), dies at 17
- Aug 26 Domingos dos Reis Quita, Portuguese playwright/poet, dies at 42
- Sep 9 Bernard S Albinus [Weiss], German surgeon/anatomist, dies at 73
- Sep 9 Georg Dionysius Ehret, German-English botanist and cartoonist, dies at 62
- Sep 30 Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, English politician and diplomat
George Whitefield
Sep 30 George Whitefield, English-born Methodist leader and preacher, dies in Newburyport, Massachusetts, at age 55
George Whitefield
George Grenville
Nov 13 George Grenville, British Prime Minister (1763-65) who introduced the Stamp Act (1st international tax to the colonies in America), dies at 58
George Grenville