1662 in England

← 1661 1660 1659 1662 in England → 1663 1664 1665
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See also:	Other events of 1662

Events from the year 1662 in England.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Charles II
• Parliament – Cavalier

Events

• 17 March – two old women are hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft at the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial.
• 9 May – Samuel Pepys witnesses a Punch and Judy show in London, the first on record.
• 14 May – Catherine of Braganza lands at Portsmouth.[1]
• 16 May – hearth tax is introduced in England, Wales and Scotland.
• 21 May – Catherine of Braganza marries Charles II of England at Portsmouth in both a secret Catholic and a public Anglican ceremony the day after they first meet.[1]
• 15 July – the Royal Society receives its royal charter.
• 23 August – an extravagant pageant on the River Thames greets the arrival of Charles II and his new queen Catherine of Braganza on their arrival at the Palace of Whitehall from Hampton Court.[1]
• 24 August – the Act of Uniformity is introduced,[2] making mandatory in the Church of England the forms of worship prescribed in the new edition of the Book of Common Prayer. This is followed by the Great Ejection of over 2000 clergy who refuse to take the required oath of conformity to the established church.
• 27 October – Charles II sells Dunkirk to France for £400 000 (2.5 million livres).[3]

Undated

• John Graunt, in one of the earliest uses of statistics, publishes information about births and deaths in London.
• The second edition of Robert Boyle's New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching The Spring of the Air, and its Effects is published in Oxford containing Boyle's Law.
• The Poor Relief Act ("Settlement Act") is passed.
• The Licensing of the Press Act is passed, restricting London printers to a total of 24. Books printed abroad are prohibited. Roger L'Estrange is granted a warrant to seize seditious books or pamphlets.

Births

• 27 January – Richard Bentley, classical scholar (died 1742)
• 30 April – Mary II of England, Scotland, and Ireland (died 1694)
• 18 May – George Smalridge, Bishop of Bristol (died 1719)
• 13 August – Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, politician (died 1748)
• 18 October – Matthew Henry, nonconformist minister (died 1714)
• 26 November – John Hudson, classical scholar (died 1719)
• 17 December – Samuel Wesley, poet (died 1735)
• unknown date – Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester (died 1722)

Deaths

• 13 February – Elizabeth of Bohemia, princess (born 1596)
• 14 April – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, statesman (born 1582)
• 19 April – Miles Corbet, Puritan politician (born 1595)
• 22 April – John Tradescant the younger, botanist and gardener (born 1608)
• 8 May – Peter Heylin, ecclesiastical writer (born 1599)
• 23 May – John Gauden, bishop and writer (born 1605)
• 14 June – Henry Vane the Younger, Governor of Massachusetts (born 1613)
• 3 September – William Lenthall, politician (born 1591)
• 22 September – John Biddle, Unitarian theologian (born 1615)
• 21 October – Henry Lawes, composer (born 1595)

References

1. Wynne, S. M. (2004). "Catherine (1638–1705)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4894. Retrieved 2012-06-04. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
2. Munsell, Joel (1858). The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. D. Appleton & Co.
3. "Correspondence and papers of the first Duke of Ormonde, chiefly on Irish and English public affairs: ref. MS. Carte 218, fol(s). 5 – date: 26 December 1662" (Description of contents of carte papers). Oxford: Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts. 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-17.