1757 in Great Britain
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| 1755 1755 in Great Britain Events from the year 1755 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Whig-Events:... | 1756 1756 in Great Britain Events from the year 1756 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Whig , William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Whig... | 1757 | 1758 1758 in Great Britain Events 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:... | 1759 1759 in Great Britain Events from the year 1759 in Great Britain. The year was dubbed an Annus Mirabilis due to a succession of military victories in the Seven Years' War against French-led opponents.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II... |
Events from the year 1757 in Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
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Events
- 2 January - Robert CliveRobert Clive, 1st Baron CliveMajor-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...
captures Calcutta, IndiaKolkataKolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. - 14 March - Seven Years' WarSeven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
: Admiral Sir John ByngJohn ByngAdmiral John Byng was a Royal Navy officer. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to Vice-Admiral in 1747...
is executed by firing squad aboard for breach of the Articles of WarArticles of WarThe Articles of War are a set of regulations drawn up to govern the conduct of a country's military and naval forces. The phrase was first used in 1637 in Robert Monro's His expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mac-keyes regiment etc. and can be used to refer to military law in general...
. - 6 April - William Pitt the ElderWilliam Pitt, 1st Earl of ChathamWilliam Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC was a British Whig statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War...
resigns from the government after Prince William, Duke of Cumberland refuses to command the British forces in Germany in the Seven Years' War. - April–July - Caretaker Ministry1757 Caretaker MinistryThe Caretaker Ministry was the government of Great Britain for a short time in 1757, during the Seven Years' War.In 1756, King George II of Great Britain was reluctantly compelled to accept a Ministry dominated by William Pitt the Elder as Secretary of State...
takes power led by William Cavendish, 4th Duke of DevonshireWilliam Cavendish, 4th Duke of DevonshireWilliam Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, KG, PC , styled Lord Cavendish before 1729 and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain...
following the resignation of Pitt. - June - Pitt recalled to government in a coalition with Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-TyneThomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-TyneThomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...
. - 23 June - Battle of PlasseyBattle of PlasseyThe Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...
: 3000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n army under Siraj ud-DaulahSiraj ud-DaulahMîrzâ Muhammad Sirâj-ud-Daulah , more commonly known as Siraj ud-Daulah , was the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The end of his reign marks the start of British East India Company rule over Bengal and later almost all of South Asia...
at Plassey. - 2 July - The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne forms a new government.
- 26 July - Seven Years' War: Battle of HastenbeckBattle of HastenbeckThe Battle of Hastenbeck was fought as part of the Invasion of Hanover during the Seven Year's War between the allied forces of Hanover, Hesse-Kassel and Brunswick and the French...
: An Anglo-Hanoverian army under the Duke of CumberlandPrince William Augustus, Duke of CumberlandPrince William , was a younger son of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and Duke of Cumberland from 1726. He is generally best remembered for his role in putting down the Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and as such is also known as "Butcher" Cumberland...
is defeated by the FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
under Louis d'Estrées and forced out of Hanover. - 3 August–9 August- French and Indian WarFrench and Indian WarThe French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
: At the Battle of Fort William HenryBattle of Fort William HenryThe Siege of Fort William Henry was conducted in August 1757 by French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm against the British-held Fort William Henry...
a French army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm forces the British to surrender Fort William HenryFort William HenryFort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George in the province of New York. It is best known as the site of notorious atrocities committed by Indians against the surrendered British and provincial troops following a successful French siege in 1757, an event which is the...
. The French army's Indian allies slaughter the survivors, not understanding what the terms of the surrender were. - 24 December - The Pratt-Yorke opinionPratt-Yorke opinionThe Pratt-York opinion was a 1757 official legal opinion issued jointly by Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, the Attorney General for England and Wales, and Charles Yorke, the Solicitor General for England and Wales , regarding the legality of land purchases by the British East India Company from...
distinguishes oversease territories acquired by conquest from those acquired by private treaty. While the CrownThe CrownThe Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
of Great Britain enjoyed sovereignty over both, only the property of the former was vested in the Crown.
Undated
- Matthew Hutton enthroned as Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. - BaskervilleBaskervilleBaskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni and Firmin Didot.The...
typefaceTypefaceIn typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
designed by John BaskervilleJohn BaskervilleJohn Baskerville was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and typographer.-Life:...
in BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
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Publications
- Edmund BurkeEdmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
's treatise A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is a 1757 treatise on aesthetics written by Edmund Burke. It attracted the attention of prominent Continental thinkers such as Denis Diderot and Immanuel Kant....
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Births
- 1 February - John Philip KembleJohn Philip KembleJohn Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...
, actor (died 18231823 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1823 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George IV*Prime Minister - Lord Liverpool, Tory-Events:...
) - 20 February - John 'Mad Jack' FullerJohn 'Mad Jack' FullerJohn Fuller , better known as "Mad Jack" Fuller , was Squire of the hamlet of Brightling, in Sussex , and is well known as a builder of follies, and as a philanthropist, patron of the arts and sciences, and a supporter of slavery...
, philanthropist (died 18341834 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1834 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King William IV*Prime Minister - Earl Grey, Whig , Lord Melbourne, Whig , Duke of Wellington, Tory, , Robert Peel, Tory...
) - 9 April - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount ExmouthEdward Pellew, 1st Viscount ExmouthAdmiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...
, admiral (died 18331833 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1833 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King William IV*Prime Minister - Earl Grey, Whig-Events:* 3 January - British forces re-establish British rule on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic....
) - 30 May - Henry Addington, 1st Viscount SidmouthHenry Addington, 1st Viscount SidmouthHenry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....
, Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
(died 18441844 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1844 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Peel, Conservative-Events:* 28 February — The Grand National at Aintree is won by the 5/1 joint favourite Discount....
) - 22 June - George VancouverGeorge VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
, explorer (died 17981798 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1798 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* May–September - Irish Rebellion: Irish rebels stage an uprising against British rule....
) - 9 August - Thomas TelfordThomas TelfordThomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
, engineer (died 18341834 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1834 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King William IV*Prime Minister - Earl Grey, Whig , Lord Melbourne, Whig , Duke of Wellington, Tory, , Robert Peel, Tory...
) - 13 August - James GillrayJames GillrayJames Gillray , was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810.- Early life :He was born in Chelsea...
, caricaturist (died 18151815 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1815 in the United Kingdom. 1815 marked the end of years of war between the United Kingdom and France when Duke of Wellington won a decisive victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Fighting in the War of 1812 between the UK and the United States also ceased...
) - 14 October - Charles Abbot, 1st Baron ColchesterCharles Abbot, 1st Baron ColchesterCharles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester PC, FRS was a British barrister and statesman. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1802 and 1817.-Background and education:...
, barrister, statesman, Speaker of the Houser of Commons (died 18291829 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1829 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George IV*Prime Minister - Duke of Wellington, Tory-Events:* 8 January - Hanging of body-selling murderer William Burke in Edinburgh...
) - 13 November - Archibald AlisonArchibald Alison (Scottish author)Archibald Alison FRS FRSE was a Scottish episcopalian priest and essayist.-Early life:He was born at Edinburgh on 13 November, 1757, to Patrick Alison, the provost of the Diocese of Edinburgh, himself a younger son of an Alison of Newhall, near Coupar Angus.After studying at the University of...
, author (died 18391839 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1839 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord Melbourne, Whig-Events:* January — The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson....
) - 28 November - William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, English poet (died 18271827 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1827 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George IV*Prime Minister - Lord Liverpool, Tory , George Canning, coalition , Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, Tory...
) - date unknown - Sir Thomas Foley, Welsh admiral (died 18331833 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1833 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King William IV*Prime Minister - Earl Grey, Whig-Events:* 3 January - British forces re-establish British rule on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic....
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Deaths
- 15 January - George Gilmer, Sr.George Gilmer, Sr.Dr. George Gilmer served as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1746 to 1747.Gilmer was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1700. He studied medicine at the Edinburgh University. In 1731, Dr. Gilmer emigrated to Virginia, settling in Williamsburg...
, politician (born 17001700 in ScotlandEvents from the year 1700 in the Kingdom of Scotland.-Births:* April - John Kennedy, 8th Earl of Cassilis * 27 August - Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore * 11 September - James Thomson, poet -Full date unknown:...
) - 19 January - Thomas RuddimanThomas RuddimanThomas Ruddiman was a Scottish classical scholar.-Life:He was born at Raggal, Banffshire, where his father was a farmer, and educated at the University of Aberdeen. Through the influence of Dr Archibald Pitcairne he became an assistant in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh...
, Scottish classical scholar (born 1664) - 5 February - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of WoltertonHoratio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of WoltertonHoratio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, PC , English diplomatist, was a son of Robert Walpole of Houghton, Norfolk, and a younger brother of the Prime Minister of Great Britain Sir Robert Walpole....
, English diplomat (born 16781678 in EnglandEvents from the year 1678 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 31 May - The Godiva Procession, a commemoration held in honour of Lady Godiva's legendary naked ride on horseback through the streets of Coventry in protest against her husband's treatment of the citizens, begins.* 6 September - Titus...
) - 1 March - Edward Moore, writer (born 17121712 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1712 in Great Britain.-Events:* 1 January - War of the Spanish Succession: Peace congress opens at Utrecht.* 17 January - Robert Walpole imprisoned in the Tower of London following charges of corruption....
) - 8 March - Thomas BlackwellThomas BlackwellThomas Blackwell the younger, , classical scholar and historian, was born on 4 August 1701 in the city of Aberdeen, son of Rev. Thomas Blackwell , one of the ministers of Aberdeen. He attended the Grammar School of Aberdeen and studied Greek and philosophy at Marischal College, graduating M.A. in...
, Scottish classical scholar (born 17011701 in ScotlandEvents from the year 1701 in the Kingdom of Scotland.-Events:* 16 September - On the death of the deposed King James VII of Scotland, James Francis Edward Stuart declares himself James VIII -Births:...
) - 14 March - John ByngJohn ByngAdmiral John Byng was a Royal Navy officer. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to Vice-Admiral in 1747...
, admiral (executed) (born 17041704 in EnglandEvents from the year 1704 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 18 May - Robert Harley becomes Secretary of State for the Northern Department....
) - 6 May - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of GraftonCharles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of GraftonCharles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton KG PC was an Irish and English politician.He was born the only child of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Isabella Bennet, 2nd Countess of Arlington...
, politician (born 16831683 in EnglandEvents from the year 1683 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Charles II gives orders establishing the dates on which he will perform the "Touching the King's Evil" ceremony....
) - 28 August - David HartleyDavid Hartley (philosopher)David Hartley was an English philosopher and founder of the Associationist school of psychology. -Early life and education:...
, English philosopher (born 17051705 in EnglandEvents 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....
) - 12 November - Colley CibberColley CibberColley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
, English poet (born 16711671 in EnglandEvents from the year 1671 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 May - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught because he is too drunk to run with the loot...
) - 11 December - Edmund CurllEdmund CurllEdmund Curll was an English bookseller and publisher. His name has become synonymous, through the attacks on him by Alexander Pope, with unscrupulous publication and publicity. Curll rose from poverty to wealth through his publishing, and he did this by approaching book printing in a mercenary...
, English bookseller and publisher (born 16751675 in EnglandEvents from the year 1675 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 March - John Flamsteed appointed as "astronomical observator", in effect, the first Astronomer Royal.* 25 March - Loss of HMY Mary off Anglesey....
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