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1699

Company of Scotland’s settlement at Darien (Panama) fails due to English intervention, Spanish opposition, and local problems in the colony. The large investment loss is a serious blow to the Scottish economy.

1701

Act of Settlement prescribes the royal succession after Princess Anne to be the Protestant descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, the granddaughter of James I.

Louis XIV declares his grandson Philip the king of Spain, beginning the War of Spanish Succession.

William forms a Grand Alliance with the United Provinces and Austria to fight the French.

Former King James II dies; his son James Edward (the Old Pretender) is recognized as king of England, Scotland, and Ireland by Louis XIV.

1702

William III dies after a riding accident. Queen Anne succeeds him.

The first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, is published in London.

John Churchill is made captain-general of English forces; a series of victories in the wars against Louis XIV gains him the title duke of Marlborough.

1703

Scottish parliament passes Act Anent Peace and War, claiming power to make separate decisions on peace and war under the next sovereign.

Methuen Treaty with Portugal; English wool and Portuguese wine are given preferential status.

1704

British forces capture Gibraltar (July).

Battle of Blenheim: Marlborough leads coalition forces to victory over France (August).

Scottish Parliament passes the Act of Security, which claims that the Scottish succession should not follow that of England but be determined in the Scottish Parliament.

Act for Preventing the Growth of Popery limits inheritance by Catholics.

1705

Alien Act by the English Parliament sets a deadline of December for Scots to begin negotiation for union, or be declared aliens in English law, thus losing rights to property and trade.

1706

Battle of Ramillies in Belgium, where Marlborough defeats the Franco-Spanish forces, ending the threat to the Netherlands and seizing the offensive against France (May).

Queen Anne appoints English and Scottish commissioners to negotiate terms of union. Treaty signed (July), and acts of ratification are passed in Scotland and England. The countries retain separate legal systems and established churches.

1707

Parliament of Great Britain meets for the first time, with 45 Scottish MPs and 16 elected peers added to the English Parliament.

1708

Jacobite invasion attempt, with French assistance, is defeated.

Battle of Oudenarde (July), another victory for Marlborough.

1709

Tatler begins publication (April).

1710

Dr. Henry Sacheverell is impeached for a sermon attacking Whig ministers for their support of dissenters. During his trial rioting breaks out in London, and half a dozen dissenting chapels are burned down (March).

1711

Formation of the South Sea Company. Occasional Conformity Act tries to prohibit dis-

senters from qualifying for public office by taking Anglican communion.

Spectator begins publication (March).

1712

Newcomen’s steam engine is invented.

1713

Treaty of Utrecht ends the War of Spanish Succession: France and Spain recognize the Hanoverian succession; Britain obtains Gibraltar and Minorca, Hudson’s Bay, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland; Spain surrenders lands in the Netherlands and Italy, and grants Britain the right to supply negro slaves to the Spanish empire (the asiento) (April–July).

1714

Schism Act requires licensed schoolmasters who are Anglican, but after the Tories leave office, it is not enforced.

Queen Anne dies, succeeded by George I (August), who arrives in England from Hanover in September. He installs a Whig ministry under Lord Stanhope.

Parliament enacts a prize of £20,000 for the measurement of longitude.

1715

Impeachment of the earl of Harley and Viscount Bolingbroke (March).

Riot Act passes (July) allowing justices of the peace to order dispersal of public meetings, which if disobeyed makes the participants guilty of felony and subject to the death penalty. The Act is triggered by the prospect of Jacobite rebellion.

The earl of Mar collects an army of 10,000 Highlanders, but they are stopped at Stirling by the duke of Argyll, and a small uprising in Lancashire is beaten (November). The belated landing of the pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart (December), is followed quickly by his return to exile.

1716

Leaders of the rebellion executed at Preston (February); forfeiture of estates enacted.

Septennial Act extends the life of a Parliament from three to seven years (May).

Mutual defense treaties with Austria and France.

1717

Triple Alliance with Britain, France, and Holland to uphold the Treaty of Utrecht is formed.

Meetings of the convocations of the Church of England are suspended.

A sinking fund is adopted; surplus government revenue is to be used to retire old debts and interest.

1718

Repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts.

Quadruple Alliance of Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Holland against Spain is formed. Fleet is dispatched to Sicily, where it destroys the Spanish fleet.

1719

Spanish troops invade Scotland in support of the pretender, but they are beaten at Glenshiel (June).

Peerage Bill proposes to limit new creations and increase in Scottish representation; defeated in the House of Commons (December).

1720

Peace with Spain (January).

House of Commons accepts South Sea Company proposal to take over three-fifths of the national debt in exchange for exclusive trading rights (February).

South Sea shares reach highest level (June) but then collapse (August), causing heavy losses to investors. Robert Walpole engineers a plan to restore public credit, a committee investigates the company, and directors are expelled from the House of Commons.

Declaratory Act asserts British Parliament’s power over that of Ireland and orders all legal appeals from Ireland to be heard in the British House of Lords.

1721

Walpole forms ministry. (Lord Townshend and John Carteret are secretaries of state).

1722

Francis Atterbury plot is discovered; Jacobites arrested (May). Parliament suspends habeas corpus and levies penal taxes on Catholics and nonjurors (October). Bishop Atterbury is banished.

1725

Treaty of Hanover between Britain, France, and Prussia.

1727

George I dies, succeeded by George II, who recalls Robert Walpole to lead the ministry.

Walpole introduces the first annual indemnity bill, to allow dissenters to avoid penalties in the Test and Corporation Acts.

1729

Treaty of Seville; Spain confirms asiento and cedes Gibraltar to England.

John Wesley and friends begin meeting in a strict religious society at Oxford, called “methodists.”

1731

Treaty of Vienna. The Ostend East India Company is disbanded.

Captain Robert Jenkins loses an ear in a skirmish with Spanish authorities.

1732

Founding of the colony of Georgia. Covent Garden Opera House opens.

1733

John Kay invents the flying shuttle.

Uproar over Walpole’s excise bill (March). He offers to resign, later drops his scheme.

Molasses Act bans trade between the West Indies and the mainland colonies.

1734

Anglo-Russian trade treaty.

General election; Walpole wins a majority. John Harrison produces his first marine chrono-

meter.

1736

Riots in Edinburgh after the hanging of a smuggler, and Captain John Porteus allegedly orders the Town Guard to fire on the mob. He is charged with murder, sentenced to die, given a reprieve, and then lynched by another mob.

1737

Licensing Act submits all plays to censorship by the Lord Chamberlain.

Frederick, Prince of Wales, argues with his father and openly supports the opposition in Parliament.

1738

John Wesley returns from America, comes under the influence of the Moravian church.

George Whitefield begins missionary work in America.

1739

Agitation for war with Spain finally forces Walpole to adopt that policy; complaints of Spanish harassment lead to the “War of Jenkins’ Ear.”

Capture of Porto Bello by Admiral Edward Vernon (November).

John Wesley begins open-air preaching, attracting very large numbers. He employs lay preachers and begins building chapels.

1741

A motion to dismiss Walpole loses by 184 votes (February).

In a general election, Walpole’s majority falls to 20 seats (April).

When Parliament reconvenes, Walpole loses in a series of votes (December).

1742

Walpole resigns and is replaced by John Carteret (February).

Britain allies with Prussia, supports Austria in the War of Austrian Succession, which had begun in 1740.

1743

Battle of Dettingen: when a British force is trapped by the French near the Main River, it is able to fight its way out. King George II is in the battle, the last time a British monarch personally fights in war (June).

Henry Pelham becomes first lord of the treasury.

1744

France declares war on Britain (March). George Anson returns from his circumnaviga-

tion of the globe.

Carteret resigns from office and is replaced by Henry Pelham (November).

First Methodist conference in London.

1745

Battle of Fontenoy: the duke of Cumberland is defeated by Marshall Saxe (May).

Charles Edward Stuart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) lands in Scotland and proclaims his father as king (“James VIII”) (July). Highlanders support the prince, and he enters Edinburgh in September. Ten days later his army defeats an English force at Prestonpans. The Jacobites invade England. Prince Charles reaches Derby, but finding little support in England, he decides to retreat (December).

1746

Charles wins the Battle of Falkirk (January), retreats to Inverness (February), and faces the enemy at the Battle of Culloden (April). The duke of Cumberland takes command, and he defeats the smaller and lightly armed highlanders. Charles, who is commanding for the first time, flees the field and goes into exile. His troops are pursued and brutally dispatched. Later there are acts to ban the tartan, prohibit arms to highlanders, and end their hereditary jurisdictions. These were in addition to the usual executions and forfeitures.

1748

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of Austrian Succession.

1750

Robert Clive captures Arcot.

The Bank of England assumes responsibility for the national debt.

1751

Clive defends Arcot against the French and secures control of southern India.

Frederick, Prince of Wales, is hit by a cricket ball and dies (March).

Gregorian calendar adopted: years begins on January 1 instead of March 25; 11 days will be omitted from the calendar between September 3 and 14, 1752, in order to conform to the new calendar.

1753

Jewish Naturalization Act passes, but there is strong popular resistance, and the act is repealed in 1754.

Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act requires a license to marry and requires the banns of marriage to be published on three successive Sundays, in an effort to prevent clandestine marriages.

Government purchases the collection of antiquities of Sir Hans Sloane, thus beginning the formation of the British Museum.

1754

Henry Pelham dies, is replaced by Thomas Pelham, duke of Newcastle, as head of the ministry.

First iron rolling mill opened at Fareham. Joseph Black discovers carbonic gas.

1756

War declared against France in May, beginning the Seven Years’ War.

Admiral Byng sent to relieve Minorca, but fails (June).

In Calcutta the native ruler attacks the British; imprisonment in the “Black Hole of Calcutta” draws reprisals (June).

Henry Fox and the duke of Newcastle resign, are replaced by the duke of Devonshire and William Pitt.

1757

The duke of Cumberland loses two battles on the continent.

Admiral Byng is shot after being court-martialed for failing to relieve Minorca (March).

Clive wins the Battle of Plassey, secures control of Bengal.

Kings demands Pitt’s resignation due to defeats; Newcastle joins Pitt in a reformed ministry.

Frederick the Great of Prussia has important victories at Rossbach and Leuthen (November and December).

1758

John Wilkinson’s blast furnace at Bilston opens. Second Treaty of Westminster gives Frederick the Great an annual subsidy, and parties promise

not to make separate peace (April). Louisberg captured (July).

Fort Duquesne is retaken by British and American forces (November).

1759

The capture of Guadaloupe (May). Fort Niagara captured (July).

French fleet defeated at Lagos (August). British forces capture Quebec; General James

Wolfe dies (September).

British fleet defeats the French at Quiberon Bay (November).

1760

Montreal surrenders, leaving Canada open to British conquest (September).

George II dies, succeeded by George III (October). Josiah Wedgwood opens pottery works in Staf-

fordshire.

1761

Pondicherry (India) falls to the British (January). William Pitt wants to declare war on Spain, close ally of France; opposed by colleagues, he resigns (October). The new ministry is headed

by the duke of Newcastle and Lord Bute.

1762

War with Spain: British forces capture Havana, Martinque, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and Manila.

Bute succeeds Newcastle as first lord of the treasury (May).

John Wilkes begin publishing the North Briton (June).

1763

Treaty of Paris between Britain, France, and Spain: Britain gains Canada, Nova Scotia, Minorca, Tobago, St. Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, Senegal, and Florida (February).

Bute resigns under pressure of attacks in the press and in Parliament; he is succeeded by George Grenville (April).

Wilkes is arrested on a general warrant for attacks on the king in issue no. 45 of the North Briton (April). His arrest is declared illegal by Chief Justice Pratt (December).

1765

Stamp Act places a tax on legal documents in the American colonies, designed to provide revenue for defense of the colonies (March).

Grenville is dismissed by the king; Lord Rockingham forms a new ministry (July).

Six colonies petition against the Stamp Act. Clive becomes governor of Bengal; East India

Company assumes powers of taxation.

1766

Stamp Act repealed after the government passes the Declaratory Act, asserting full power to legislate for the colonies (March).

William Pitt becomes earl of Chatham, forms a new government, but is taken ill and unable to manage daily affairs.

1767

Charles Townshend’s revenue act imposes duties on colonial imports.

1768

John Wilkes is elected MP for Middlesex (March). After he is sentenced to two years in prison for the acts of 1763, rioting breaks out in London, and a mob tries to free him. Eleven people are killed in the “massacre” of St. George’s Fields (May).

Pitt resigns, and the duke of Grafton forms a ministry (October).

Royal Academy is founded; Sir Joshua Reynolds is the first president (December).

Richard Arkwright invents the water frame.

1769

Wilkes is expelled from the House of Commons after vote declaring him guilty of seditious libel on the massacre of St. George’s Fields (February). The Supporters of the Bill of Rights is organized to support Wilkes and to promote parliamentary reform.

The anonymous “Letters of Junius” attack leading members of the government.

James Watt receives patent for steam engine.

1770

Grafton resigns, and Frederick, Lord North, becomes first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer (January).

Import duties are repealed, except that on tea (March).

Boston Massacre (March).

Edmund Burke’s Thoughts on the Causes of the Present Discontents is published, condemning the influence of the Crown on politics.

1771

House of Commons debates are printed, and London officials are imprisoned for breach of parliamentary privilege (March). But debates continue to be printed from this time.

Captain James Cook returns from his first Pacific voyage.

1772

Warren Hastings becomes governor of Bengal.

1773

Robert Clive defends his actions in India before the House of Commons.

Regulating Act places the East India Company under government control.

Tea Act allows direct importation of tea to America (October). Colonists resist imports; in the Boston Tea Party 340 chests of tea are dumped into Boston harbor (December).

1774

Parliament closes the port of Boston; this and other “intolerable acts” fuel American resistance.

Quebec Act allows toleration of Roman Catholics in Canada.

Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia. Robert Clive commits suicide.

Warren Hastings is made governor-general of India.

John Wilkinson patents cylinder-boring process. John Wilkes is elected lord mayor of London.

1775

Proposals for conciliation of the American colonies are defeated in the House of Commons.

Clashes between colonists and British troops at Lexington and Concord (April).

Second Continental Congress meets (May), creates army under George Washington.

Battle of Bunker Hill (June).

Proclamation of state of rebellion in the colonies (August).

1776

British troops withdraw from Boston (March). Declaration of Independence is drafted (July).

1777

Washington wins Battle of Princeton (January). British win Battle of Brandywine Creek (Sep-

tember).

General Gates defeats General Burgoyne at Saratoga (October), which victory helps the colonists forge an alliance with France and Holland.

1778

War with France, renewed fighting in the West Indies and India.

Lord North’s Reconciliation Bill (with the Americans) defeated.

Catholic Relief Act permits Catholic worship, and it inspires the formation of the Protestant Association.

1779

War with Spain.

Irish Volunteer Movement raises a force of 40,000 to defend Ireland.

Irish agitation against trade restrictions. Christopher Wyvill conducts Yorkshire meeting

for parliamentary reform.

1780

Petition from Yorkshire for parliamentary (and “economical”) reform. The Yorkshire Association is replicated in many other counties.

Reformers’ convention in London (March). Famous resolution by John Dunning, “that the

influence of the crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished,” passes the House of Commons in April.

Gordon Riots: Lord George Gordon’s Protestant Association presents a petition to repeal the Catholic Relief Act, an effort that leads to riots and general mayhem in which London is under mob rule for six days (June).

Robert Raikes founds Sunday schools in Gloucester; they become a national movement and an early step toward general elementary education.

War with Holland (December).

1781

Lord Cornwallis surrenders to Washington at Yorktown (October).

1782

Lord North resigns; Lord Rockingham forms a ministry (March).

Reform act disqualifies government contractors from sitting in the House of Commons (May).

Another act disenfranchises government revenue officers (June).

Civil List Act controls royal expenditure, pensions, and offices (July).

Rockingham dies, is replaced by Earl Shelburne (July).

Irish Parliament repeals Poynings’ Laws and Declaratory Act.

Gilbert’s Act allows parishes to combine for poor law purposes; the infirm to be sent to workhouses, the able-bodied to be given work.

1783

Shelburne replaced by the duke of Portland and the unnatural allies Lord North and Charles James Fox (April).

Treaty of Versailles between the United States, Britain, and France: the independence of the former colonies is recognized, and Britain and France exchange colonial territories elsewhere (September).

Fox introduces an India Bill, to place the authority of the East India Company under commissioners appointed by Parliament. The king opposes this and puts pressure on the House of Lords to reject the bill. Ministers are dismissed, and William Pitt (the younger) is asked to form a government (December).

1784

General election yields a majority of 100 for Pitt (March).

Pitt reorganizes government finance, reintroduces window tax and other indirect taxes, and sets up a Board of Taxes to supervise collection.

Pitt’s India Act establishes a Board of Control to supervise the East India Company.

1785

Power loom invented by Edmund Cartwright. Pitt presents moderate parliamentary reform

proposals, and they are defeated by the Commons (April).

Warren Hastings resigns as governor-general of India, returns to England.

1786

Pitt reestablishes a Sinking Fund (May). Commercial treaty with France (September).

1787

Anti-Slavery Society organized. Impeachment of Warren Hastings begins.

1788

Penal colony at Botany Bay begins settlement of Australia.

Sierra Leone is used as a refuge settlement for Africans and ex-slaves.

George III has mental collapse, debate begins on a possible regency (November).

1789

King recovers (February). Mutiny on the Bounty (April).

Storming of the Bastille and the beginning of the French Revolution (July).

The Revolution Society meets to commemorate the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and praises the events in France (November).

1790

Edmund Burke publishes his Reflections on the Revolution in France, attacking the upheaval and destruction of the French radicals.

1791

Thomas Paine publishes The Rights of Man (Part I) (March).

The Society of United Irishmen is founded. Riots in Birmingham destroy dissenting chapels

and the home of Joseph Priestley (July). Canada Act divides that government into two

provinces.

1792

Founding of the London Corresponding Society, a group of artisans in favor of reform (January).

William Wilberforce carries a motion to abolish slavery (April).

Proclamation against seditious publications issued.

Paine tried in absentia for seditious libel.

Loyalist associations formed.

The French Republic is established (September).

1793

Execution of Louis XVI (January).

French invasion of the Low Countries, declaration of war on Britain (February). Britain signs alliances with Russia, Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, and Prussia.

British Convention meets in Edinburgh (October). Friendly Societies Act recognizes legal status of these mutual-aid groups and protects their

funds.

Catholic Relief Act grants Roman Catholics in Ireland the franchise and the right to hold office, except as members of Parliament.

1794

Trials of leaders of British Convention (January– September).

Arrest and trial of English reformers; secret committees investigate radicals.

Britain agrees to subsidy for the Netherlands and Prussia.

Some provisions of the habeas corpus act suspended (May)

Treason trials of Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke, and John Thelwall end in acquittals (December).

1795

Food riots occur in many parts (July); antiwar demonstrations in London.

London Corresponding Society organizes a mass meeting.

Speenhamland system of outdoor poor relief inaugurated.

During the procession to open Parliament, stones are thrown at the king’s coach by protesters (October).

Parliament passes a Treason Act and a Seditious Meetings Act, designed to stiffen the definitions and the punishments for those actions.

Methodists formally separate from the Church of England.

Orange Order founded by Irish Protestants to combat Catholics.

1796

Insurrection Act gives government powers to suppress insurgents in Ireland. United Irishmen take up arms and are suppresssed by the military.

French attempt to land in Bantry Bay fails (December).

1797

Bank crisis, cash payments suspended (February). Spanish fleet beaten at Cape St. Vincent (Feb-

ruary).

French landing in Pembrokeshire fails (February). Naval mutinies at Spithead (April) and the Nore

(June).

Dutch fleet defeated at Camperdown (October). Pitt introduces plan for income tax (November).

1798

Rebellion in Ireland has early success in Wexford (May).

Defeat of rebels at Vinegar Hill (June).

Treaty with Russia and the Second Coalition against France (June).

French landing in Mayo (August). Nelson wins Battle of the Nile (August).

French expedition to Lough Swilly; capture of Wolfe Tone (October).

1799

Income tax of 10 percent imposed on incomes over £200 (April).

Combination Act (July).

Military expedition to Holland (August–October). Political societies (Corresponding Society, United

Irishmen) banned.

1800

Peace proposals from Napoleon are rejected by Pitt (January).

Act of Union with Ireland (August); the Irish Parliament is dissolved, Ireland to send 100 MPs to the British House of Commons, 32 peers to the House of Lords when the Parliament of the United Kingdom convenes on January 1, 1801. Pitt wants to include a measure for

Catholic emancipation, but that is blocked by George III.

1801

Pitt resigns over the failure to include Catholic emancipation; he is replaced by Henry Addington (February).

Nelson destroys the Danish fleet at Copenhagen (April).

Peace terms discussed with France (October). The first census is taken.

1802

Peace of Amiens: English conquests (except Ceylon and Trinidad) are surrendered, and France evacuates conquests around the Mediterranean (March).

1803

War with France resumes (May).

British fleet captures Tobago and St. Lucia. Emmet’s Rebellion in Ireland is suppressed (July).

1804

Addington (Lord Sidmouth) resigns; Pitt returns to office (May).

Napoleon assembles a large fleet and an army of 150,000 at Dunkirk for an invasion of England (July).

British and Foreign Bible Society formed.

1805

Third Coalition formed by Britain, Austria, and Prussia (August).

Napoleon moves his army from the channel toward central Europe.

Nelson defeats the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar (October).

Napoleon wins Battle of Austerlitz (December).

1806

Pitt dies; George Grenville forms a new government (January–February).

Berlin Decrees: Napoleon orders all European ports closed to British shipping (November). Britain counters with Orders in Council, which

require neutral vessels to clear British ports and pay duties.

1807

Administration of duke of Portland is formed (March).

Slave trade abolished (May). Bombardment of Copenhagen (September).

Milan Decrees: Napoleon orders confiscation of neutral vessels which have used British ports (November).

Cotton weavers petition for minimum wage.

1808

Convention of Cintra: French withdraw from Portugal (August). Unrest in Spain, ruled by Napoleon’s brother Joseph. Spanish guerilla forces request British intervention.

Cotton workers’ strike in Manchester idles 60,000 looms.

1809

Battle of Corunna; Sir John Moore killed (January).

Committee investigates charges surrounding duke of York’s sale of army commissions.

British win Battle of Talavera; Wellesley created duke of Wellington.

Walcheren expedition fails to take Antwerp (October).

Portland resigns; Spencer Perceval administration formed.

1810

George III loses his sanity; regency inaugurated. Anglo-Portuguese alliance resists French assault

at Torres Vedras.

London printers prosecuted for conspiracy. Lancashire and Cheshire cotton spinners strike

for four months.

1811

Luddite disturbances in the Midlands (March). Framework breaking spreads through Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Leicestershire.

1812

Luddite riots spread to Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire.

Spencer Perceval is assassinated; Lord Liverpool becomes chief minister (May).

British victory at Salamanca (July).

Napoleon invades Russia, takes Moscow (September). The city is set afire, and Napoleon retreats, leaving disorganized army behind (October).

1813

The duke of Wellington wins Battle of Vittoria (June).

Fourth Coalition is formed. Napoleon is defeated at Leipzig (October).

Wellington enters southern France (November).

1814

Treaties of Chaumont maintain the alliance (March).

Napoleon abdicates (April).

First Peace of Paris (May) gives France her frontiers of 1792.

Congress of Vienna convenes (September).

1815

Napoleon returns from Elba (March); during his “Hundred Days” he raises the French army and faces the revived coalition forces of Britain and Prussia.

Napoleon defeated at Waterloo (June), exiled to St. Helena.

Congress of Vienna reconvenes (June).

Second Peace of Paris: France is held to 1790 frontiers, has to pay an indemnity and have an army of occupation (November).

Corn law passed, brings wave of petitions, London riots.

1816

Abolition of income tax (April).

Poverty and distress lead to riots, and depression follows the war as the ranks of unemployed are swollen by demobilized veterans.