1703 in England
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 1703 in England: |
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| 1701 1701 in England Events from the year 1701 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 May - After being convicted of murder and piracy, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.* 24 June - The Act of Settlement 1701, by the Parliament of England, becomes law... | 1702 1702 in England Events from the year 1702 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 8 March - William III dies; Princess Anne Stuart becomes Queen Anne of England.... | 1703 | 1704 1704 in England Events from the year 1704 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 18 May - Robert Harley becomes Secretary of State for the Northern Department.... | 1705 1705 in England Events from the year 1705 which occurred in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 16 April - Isaac Newton knighted by Queen Anne.* May - General election results in no clear majority for either political faction in Parliament.... |
Events from the year 1703 in the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
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Events
- 18 May - War of the Spanish SuccessionWar of the Spanish SuccessionThe War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
: The Duke of MarlboroughJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of MarlboroughJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
captures the cities of CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, LimbourgLimbourgLimbourg is a medieval town located in the province of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium.On 1 January 2008 Limbourg had a total population of 5,680. The total area is 24.63 km² which gives a population density of 231 inhabitants per km²...
, HuyHuyHuy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the sillon industriel, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia, home to about two-thirds of the Walloon population...
and GueldersGueldersGuelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.-Geography:...
. - 29 July–31 July - Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
is placed in a pilloryPilloryThe pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...
for the crime of seditious libel, after publishing a politically satirical pamphletPamphletA pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
. - 24 November to 2 December - the Great StormGreat Storm of 1703The Great Storm of 1703 was the most severe storm or natural disaster ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain. It affected southern England and the English Channel in the Kingdom of Great Britain...
ravages southern England and the English ChannelEnglish ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, killing thousands, chiefly at sea.- 27 November
- Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
ships wrecked on the Goodwin SandsGoodwin SandsThe Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile-long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east off Deal in Kent, England. The Brake Bank lying shorewards is part of the same geological unit. As the shoals lie close to major shipping channels, more than 2,000 ships are believed to have been wrecked...
include- HMS RestorationHMS Restoration (1678)HMS Restoration was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, named after the English Restoration. She was built by Betts of Harwich and launched in 1678.She took part in the Battle of Barfleur on 19 May 1692...
with loss of all 387 onboard. - HMS NorthumberlandHMS Northumberland (1679)HMS Northumberland was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Bristol in 1679.-Service:She fought in the War of the Grand Alliance....
with loss of all 220 onboard. - HMS Stirling Castle with loss of 206.
- HMS MaryHMS Mary (1650)Speaker was a 50-gun third-rate frigate and the name ship of the , built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Christopher Pett at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1650. At the Restoration she was renamed HMS Mary...
with loss of all but one of the 270 onboard including Rear-admiral Beaumont.
- HMS Restoration
- The Eddystone LighthouseEddystone LighthouseEddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss....
near PlymouthPlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
is destroyed in the storm together with its designer Henry WinstanleyHenry WinstanleyHenry Winstanley was an English engineer who constructed the first Eddystone lighthouse.-Early life and career:He was born in Saffron Walden, Essex, and baptised there on 31 March 1644...
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- Royal Navy
- 27 November
- 27 December - PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and England sign the Methuen TreatyMethuen TreatyThe Methuen Treaty was an offensive military and commercial treaty between Portugal and England signed in 1703 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession....
which gives preference to Portuguese imported wineWineWine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
s over French wines into England, while Portugal will import woollen goods from England. This leads to the increasing popularity of Port winePort winePort wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
in Britain.
Undated
- George PsalmanazarGeorge PsalmanazarGeorge Psalmanazar claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but was later revealed to be an impostor...
arrives in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
becomes the chairman of the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
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Births
- 17 June - John WesleyJohn WesleyJohn Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
, founder of Methodism (died 17911791 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1791 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:...
) - 26 November - Theophilus CibberTheophilus CibberTheophilus Cibber was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alexander Pope satirized Theophilus Cibber in his Dunciad as a youth who "thrusts his person full...
, actor and writer (died 17581758 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1758 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Whig-Events:...
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Deaths
- 18 February - Thomas HydeThomas HydeThomas Hyde was an English orientalist. The first use of the word dualism is attributed to him, in 1700.-Life:He was born at Billingsley, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, on 29 June 1636...
, orientalist (born 1636) - 3 March - Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
, scientist (born 1635) - 20 April - Lancelot AddisonLancelot AddisonReverend Lancelot Addison was born at Crosby Ravensworth in Westmorland. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford.Rev...
, royal chaplain (born 1632) - 26 May - Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, civil servant and diarist (born 1633) - 28 October - John Wallis, mathematician (born 1616)