Eighteenth Century English Literature: CHRONOLOGY

1701

• Death of James II while in exile in France
• Captain William Kidd executed for piracy in London
• War of Spanish Succession begins in Europe
• Louisiana becomes province of France
• Society for the Propagation of the Gospel is established
• War of the Spanish Succession begins

1702

• Death of William III and accession of Queen Anne
• Daily Courant, England's first daily newspaper, begins publication

1703

• The Grand Alliance proclaims Austria's 18-year-old archduke Karl (Charles) king of Spain
• Journalist and pamphleteer Daniel Defoe (who would later write Robinson Crusoe) placed in pillory for his satirical attacks on Church
• Guadeloupe's governor Jean-Baptiste Labat arms the Caribbean island's black slaves to augment his forces and keep the English from taking the French possession

1704

• Battle of Blenheim won by troops under the command of the Duke of Marlborough
• Imprisoned Daniel Defoe begins his weekly newspaper The Review
• Boston News-letter, first newspaper in America to survive, begins weekly publication
• The Battle of the Books by English satirist Jonathan Swift is a travesty on the controversy over ancient and modern learning

1707

• Act of Union between England and Scotland, and the creation of Great Britain

1709

• The Evening Post begins publication
• The Tatler begins publication

1710

• First Copyright Act asserts the rights of authors over printers

1711

• Holy Roman Emperor Josef I dies of smallpox
• The Tatler is succeeded by the Spectator--founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

1712

• Stamp Act introduces taxes on newspapers, pamphlets and newspaper advertisements
• Medley and some other newspapers forced to close following Stamp Act
• Thomas Newcomen introduces first practical steam engine
• Pennsylvania Assembly bans future slave imports

1713

• Treaty of Utrecht ends War of the Spanish Succession and Spain cedes Gibraltar and Minorca to Britain
• The South Sea Company receives asientos to import 4,800 African slaves per year into Spain's New World colonies for the next 30 years

1714

• Death of Queen Anne and accession of George I
• Typewriter patented by Englishman, Henry Mill

1715

• First Jacobite rebellion
• France's Louis XIV dies at Versailles at age 76

1716

• The Historical Register published
• John Law introduces paper currency into France

1717

• Handel's "Water Music" first performed in London

1718

• Edward "Blackbeard" Teach blockades Charleston, South Carolina. He is later captured and killed by the British in battle off Virginia coast
• Colonist William Penn dies at age 73

1719

• French explorer Pierre de Charlevoix travels up the St. Lawrence River, through the Great Lakes, and down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans

1720

• South Sea Bubble, frenzied speculation in shares issued by the South Sea Company ends with its financial collapse
• Spain's Felipe V joins the Quadruple Alliance of Britain, France, Holland, and Austria

1721

• Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) becomes Britain's first prime minister
• The New England Courant begins publication

1723

• Yellow fever appears in Europe

1725

• New Stamp Act closes loopholes in 1712 Stamp Act, but no newspapers are forced out of business
• Russia's Peter I (the Great) dies at St. Petersburg
• The New York Gazettepublishes

1726

• Lloyd's List published in London twice weekly

1727

• Death of George I and accession of George II
• Death of Sir Isaac Newton
• The Royal Bank of Scotland founded at Edinburgh; will invent the bank overdraft which gives depositors a standing line of credit attached to a checking account

1729

• Treaty of Seville November 9 ends a 2-year war between Spain and an Anglo-French alliance
• Methodism has its beginnings at Oxford University, where fellow students call Charles Wesley, 22, a "methodist" because of his methodical study habits
• Ben Franklin purchases Pennsylvania Gazette

1730

• Grub Street Journal begins publication

1731

• Gentleman's Magazine begins monthly publication at London
• The Library Company, founded by Benjamin Franklin, is the first circulating library in North America

1732

• Poor Richard's Almanack begins publication at Philadelphia as an agricultural handbook

1733

• Britain's new Sugar and Molasses Act imposes taxes on molasses from non-British colonies
• John Kay introduces flying shuttle to textile production, revolutionizing the hand loom

1735

• Daily Gazetteer begins publication as a government newspaper, replacing the Daily Courant and other titles
• Scarlet fever strikes New England in a devastating epidemic
• Parliament passes a Copyright Act (Hogarth Act) to protect artists against pirating of their work in cheap copies

1736

• Britain repeals her statutes against witchcraft after centuries of oppressing women, many of them midwives who compete with physicians

1737

• Licensing Act restricts the number of theatres in London and elsewhere

1742

• Sir Robert Walpole falls from power
• The wood-burning Franklin stove invented by Benjamin Franklin
• The centigrade scale of temperatures devised by Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius

1745

• Second Jacobite rebellion

1746

• Jacobites defeated at the Battle of Culloden

1748

• Subscription library opens in Charleston, South Carolina
• London Stock Exchange moves from Jonathan's Coffee House on Change Alley to new building on Threadneedle Street

1750

• The Iron Act prohibits Britain's American colonists from manufacturing iron products
• Johann Sebastian Bach suffers a stroke and dies

1751

• Hallifax Gazette, first newspaper in Canada, is launched
• First volume of Diderot's Encyclopedie

1752

• Public Advertiser begins publication
• The Gregorian Adjustment--adding 11 days to the calendar--occurs in Britain resulting in widespread rural unrest as people protest against the government "stealing" time from them
• Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm at Philadelphia and demonstrates that lightning is an electrical phenomenon

1753

• British Museum established
• Hans Sloane, physician and scientist, offers his library and collections to the nation: becomes the foundation of the British Museum

1754

• Royal Society of Arts founded in London
• Scotland's Royal and Ancient Golf Club has its beginnings in an organization founded at St. Andrews

1755

• Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of English Language

1756

• Seven Years War begins--also known as French and Indian Wars in American colonies

1757

• London Chronicle begins publication, the first newspaper to combine news with feature articles
• Admiral Byng executed by firing squad for not doing his utmost in Battle of Minorca
• Battle of Plassey--Robert Clive's victory in Bengal begins British colonial dominance of India
• Master printer Charles Baskerville introduces his typeface

1758

• The Annual Register, edited by Robert Dodsley, is launched

1759

• British Museum opens to the public at Montague House
• British forces under Wolfe capture Quebec from the French, leading to British dominance of Canada

1760

• Death of George II and accession of George III
• London's Botanical Gardens open at Kew

1761

• London physician John Hill makes the first association between tobacco and cancer

1762

• Britain declares war on Spain as the Seven Years' War threatens to engulf all of the European powers
• Catherine the Great becomes ruler of Russia

1763

• Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years War
• Spain cedes Florida to Britain and regains all of Britain's conquests in Cuba

1764

• John Wilkes tried and found guilty for seditious libel for his attack on George III's government and the Treaty of Paris
• The Currency Act passed by Parliament forbids Britain's colonies from printing paper money
• The Connecticut Courant begins weekly publication at Hartford

1765

• British Parliament issues Stamp Act for taxing American colonies; a declaration of rights and liberties is drawn up at the Stamp Act Congress in New York by the delegates from nine colonies

1766

• Russia's Catherine II (the Great) grants freedom of worship

1767

• Public protests in Boston against taxes on imports imposed by Townshend Revenue Acts

1768

• Massachusetts Assembly refuses to assist collection of taxes
• Boston citizens refuse to accommodate British troops
• First of the weekly number of 'Encyclopaedia Britannica'
• First Royal races held at Ascot Park outside London

1769

• James Watt patents improved piston engine steam engine
• England's first Shakespeare Festival opens at Stratford-upon-Avon

1770

• Boston Massacre, a confrontation between Boston citizens and British troops
• Industrial revolution begins spreading over Europe
• The Massachusetts Spy begins publication
• Captain James Cook discovers Botany Bay in Australia

1771

• Lloyd's of London insurance founded at Lloyd's Coffee Shop
• Richard Arkwright introduces his patented mechanical water frames to cotton mill: creates first industrial era factory

1772

• Boston Assembly threatens secession, demands rights of colonies

1773

• Boston Tea Party
• Philadelphia Museum founded
• Explorer James Cook crosses the Antarctic Circle

1774

• A new Quartering Act passed by Parliament requires colonists to house British troops in their own homes where barracks, barns, or public inns are not available

1775

• The American War of Independence begins April 19 at the Battles of Lexington and Concord

1776

• Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense--a pamphlet that leads public opinion in favor of American independence
• Adam Smith publishes An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
• The Declaration of Independence signed July 4 in Philadelphia
• The Continental Congress starts a national lottery to raise money for the Continental Army

1777

• Bass Ale is introduced at Burton-upon-Trent by English entrepreneur William Bass

1779

• Robert Walpole and scores of other British merchants smuggle arms and provisions to the American colonies through the West Indies
• Actor-playwright-theater manager David Garrick dies at age 61

1780

• Anti-Catholic Gordon riots in London
• The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is founded at Boston

1781

• Lord Cornwallis surrenders to Gen. George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown, the last major conflict of the War of Independence
• The Continental Congress charters the Bank of North America

1782

• London's Newgate Prison is completed to replace an earlier prison burnt down in the Gordon riots of 1780

1783

• William Pitt the Younger becomes Prime Minister at the age of 24
• Britain recognizes independence of the U.S
• Montgolfier brothers successfully demonstrate hot air balloon flights

1785

• Daily Universal Register launches, precursor to The Times
• Power loom developed by Edmund Cartwright which further fuels British dominance of global textile market
• Congress establishes the dollar as the official currency of the new United States

1787

• The First Fleet, transporting convicts to Australia, leaves London
• William Wilberforce introduces motion for the abolition of the slave trade to Parliament where it fails
• Marylebone Cricket Club founded: codifies laws of cricket

1788

• Daily Universal Register becomes The Times
• King George III suffers first bouts of mental illness

1789

• Fall of the Bastille in Paris and beginning of the French Revolution
• George Washington becomes first U.S. President and Constitution of the United States goes into effect
• The Mutiny on the Bounty--Capt. Bligh set adrift in South Pacific

1791

• The Bill of Rights becomes U.S. law

1792

• Libel Act ends government prosecutions of newspapers for seditious libel
• Denmark abandons the slave trade and becomes the first nation to do so

1793

• Louis XVI of France, and Queen Marie Antoinette executed

1794

• France's Convention frees slaves in all French colonies, making France the first nation to emancipate her slaves
• Eli Whitney patents cotton gin--leads to major expansion of cotton industry

1795

• Beethoven recognized in Vienna as a musical virtuoso
• English physician Edward Jenner pioneers the use of vaccination against smallpox

1797

• Naval battle of Cape St Vincent won through the actions of Horatio Nelson
• John Adams becomes second U.S. President
• Naval mutinies at Spithead and the Nore raise concerns that French republicanism is spreading to England
• Hatchards on Piccadilly founded, widely regarded as oldest English bookshop

1798

• Naval battle of the Nile won by forces under Horatio Nelson
• Thomas Malthus publishes Essay on Principle of Population: his forecast of a famine induced population crash influences a generation of social and political reformers
• William Wordsworth publishes Lyrical Ballads--launches Romantic period in British literature

1799

• Napoleon assumes power in France as First Consul
• The world's first general income tax bill passes Parliament
• Rosetta Stone discovered, instrumental in understanding hieroglyphic writings

1800

• The Library of Congress is established at Washington, D.C.