1760 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1760 in Great Britain. This year sees a change of monarch.

1760 in Great Britain:

Other years

1758 | 1759 | 1760 | 1761 | 1762

Sport

1760 English cricket season

Incumbents

• Monarch – George II (until 25 October), George III (starting 25 October)
• Prime Minister – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (Whig)
• Parliament – 11th

Events

• 22 January – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Wandiwash in India, British general Sir Eyre Coote is victorious over the French under Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau.[1]
• 15 February – HMS Royal Katherine runs aground off Bolt Head, South Devon, with the loss of 699 lives.
• 21–26 February – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland, a force of French troops under the command of privateer François Thurot captures and holds the town and castle of Carrickfergus before retiring; the force is defeated (and Thurot killed) in a naval action in the Irish Sea on 28 February.[2]
• 3 July – a lightning strike causes a major fire at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard; substantial rebuilding follows.[3][4]
• 31 July – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Warburg, the British-Hanoverian army of Ferdinand of Brunswick storms Warburg, with a heroic role being played by the British commander Lord Granby.[5]
• 8 September – Seven Years' War: Jeffery Amherst captures Montreal.[6]
• 25 October – George III ascends to the throne following the death of his grandfather George II.[1] He will reign until 29 January 1820. He surrenders the income from the Crown Estate to the government in exchange for a civil list contribution to maintaining the Royal Household.
• Thomas Braidwood establishes Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb in Edinburgh, the first school for the deaf in Britain.

Publications

• Geologist John Michell's essay "Conjectures concerning the Cause and Observations upon the Phaenomena of Earthquakes".[7]
• Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland by James Macpherson.[1]
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.[1]

Births

• 28 March – Thomas Clarkson, abolitionist (died 1846)
• 27 October – Sir Richard Strachan, 6th Baronet, Royal Navy Admiral (died 1828)
• probable – Lemuel Francis Abbott, portrait painter (died 1802)

Deaths

• 5 May – Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, murderer (hung) (born 1720)
• 25 October – King George II of Great Britain (born 1683, Hanover)

References

1. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 320. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
2. Rodger, N. A. M. (2006). The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815. London: Penguin Books; National Maritime Museum. p. 283. ISBN 0-14-102690-1.
3. "Portsmouth Dockyard". Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
4. "Chronology Of Events In Portsmouth – 1700–1799". History In Portsmouth. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
5. "BritishBattles.com". Retrieved 2007-08-02.
6. Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. p. 222. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
7. Philosophical Transactions, li. 1760

Further reading

• Annual Register...1760, London: J. Dodsley, 1789