1781 in Great Britain
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Incumbents
- Monarch – George III
- Prime Minister – Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)
- Parliament – 15th
Events
- 1 January – Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn.[1]
- 3 February – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Capture of Sint Eustatius – British forces led by General John Vaughan and Admiral George Rodney take the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius, with only a few shots fired. On November 26 it is retaken by Dutch-allied French forces.
- 5 January – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
- 6 January – Battle of Jersey: British troops prevent the French from occupying Jersey in the Channel Islands.
- 17 January – American Revolutionary War: the American Continental Army under Daniel Morgan decisively defeats British forces at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.[2]
- January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister, enters Parliament, aged 21.
- 3 February – American Revolutionary War and Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: The Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius (which has been supplying the United States) surrenders to Admiral Rodney.[1]
13 March: Uranus discovered [image in false colour].
- 28 February – foundation of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.[3]
- 13 March – Sir William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus.[2] Originally he calls it Georgium Sidus (George's Star) in honour of King George III.
- 15 March – American Revolutionary War: American General Nathanael Greene loses the Battle of Guilford Court House to British.[2]
- 1 July – Second Anglo-Mysore War: at the Battle of Porto Novo, the British defeat the Mysore ruler Hyder Ali.[1]
- 6 July – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Green Spring, the British led by Lord Cornwallis defeat the French led by the Marquis de Lafayette.[1]
- 27 July – French spy François Henri de la Motte executed at Tyburn (London) for high treason.
- 30 August – American Revolutionary War: French fleet under the Comte de Grasse enters Chesapeake Bay, cutting British General Charles Cornwallis off from escape by sea.
- 5 September – American Revolutionary War: in the Battle of the Chesapeake, a British fleet under Thomas Graves arrives and fights de Grasse, but is unable to break through to relieve the Siege of Yorktown.[1]
- 6 September – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Groton Heights – a British force under Benedict Arnold attacks a fort in Groton, Connecticut, achieving a strategic victory.
- 19 October – American Revolutionary War: following the Siege of Yorktown, General Charles Cornwallis surrenders to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the armed struggle of the American Revolutionary War.[1]
- 29 November
- Zong massacre: English slave traders begin to throw approximately 142 slaves taken on in Accra overboard alive from the slave ship Zong in the Caribbean Sea to conserve supplies for the remainder; the Liverpool owners subsequently attempt to reclaim part of their value from insurers.[4]
- Henry Hurle officially founds the Ancient Order of Druids in London.
- 3 December – first known building society established, in Birmingham.[5]
- 12 December – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant – the Royal Navy, commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt in HMS Victory, decisively defeats the French fleet in the Bay of Biscay.
- Last year in which the monarch participates in a regular peacetime meeting of the Cabinet.[6]
Publications
- Peter Beckford's Thoughts on Hunting.
- Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volumes 2 and 3.[1]
- John Wood, the Younger's pattern book A Series of Plans for Cottages or Habitations of the Labourer.
- The collection of children's poetry Mother Goose's Melody.[7]
Births
- 29 May – John Walker, inventor (died 1859)
- 9 June – George Stephenson, locomotive engineer (died 1848)
- 6 July – Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore (died 1826)
- 8 July – Tom Cribb, bare-knuckle boxer (died 1848)
- 14 September – James Walker, Scottish civil engineer (died 1862)
- 6 November – Lucy Aikin, English writer (died 1864)
- 30 November – Alexander Berry, adventurer and Australian pioneer (died 1873)
- 11 December – Sir David Brewster, physicist (died 1868)
Deaths
- 12 January – Richard Challoner, Catholic prelate (born 1691)
- 21 February – Matchem, racehorse (born 1748)
- 24 February – Edward Capell, critic (born 1713)
- 23 April – James Abercrombie, general (born 1706)
- 8 May – Richard Jago, poet (born 1715)
- 17 May – William Aislabie, politician (born 1700)
- 28 September – William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, diplomat and statesman (born 1717)
- 16 October – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, naval officer (born 1705)
References
- Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 333–334. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- "Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society". Manchester Lit and Phil. Archived from the original on 28 April 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
- "BBC History British History Timeline". Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2007.
- Baren, Maurice (1996). How It All Began Up the High Street. London: Michael O'Mara Books. p. 58. ISBN 1-85479-667-4.
- "Queen set to attend cabinet meeting in Downing Street". BBC News. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
- Driscoll, Michael; Hamilton, Meredith; Coons, Marie (2003). A Child's Introduction to Poetry. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. p. 10. ISBN 1-57912-282-5. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
See also
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