William III
& Mary II
1689 - 1702 |
| 1697 | William Hogarth, artist and satirist, born |
| 1698 | The earliest evidence of organised trading in marketable securities in London, later becoming the Stock Exchange in 1773 |
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William III
& Mary II
1689 - 1702 |
| 1697 | William Hogarth, artist and satirist, born |
| 1698 | The earliest evidence of organised trading in marketable securities in London, later becoming the Stock Exchange in 1773 |
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William III
& Mary II
1689 - 1702 |
| 1701 | The Act of Settlement ensures a protestant successor to the crown |
| 1702 | England's first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant is founded |
| 1703 | St Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Peter the Great |
| 1704 | America's first newspaper "The Boston News Letter" published |
| 1704 | Duke of Marlborough wins the Battle of Blenheim |
| 1705 | Thomas Newcomen patents first steam engine |
| 1706 | Thomas Twinings opened his tea shop in London. |
| 1707 | England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain and on Oct 23, The first Parliament of Great Britain met. |
| 1709 | Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano |
| 1709 | British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe" which was published in 1719 |
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George I
1714 - 1727 |
| 1710 | Matthias Lock, rococo draughtsman, born (d.1765) |
| 1711 | Horse racing began at the Royal Ascot track west of London. |
| 1712 | The first sperm whale is captured at sea by an American from Nantucket. |
| 1714 | Typewriter patented by Englishman Henry Mill (built years later). |
| 1714 | Tea is introduced for the first time into the American Colonies. |
| 1715 | A French manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella. |
| 1716 | The 1st lighthouse in US was lit in Boston Harbour. |
| 1717 | Edmund Halley invents the diving bell |
| 1718 | Thomas Chippendale, furniture-maker, born (d.1779) |
| 1718 | Blackbeard the pirate dies. |
| 1719 | Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe published |
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George I
1714 - 1727 |
| 1721 | Robert Walpole becomes first Prime Minister |
| 1722 | French C. Hopffer patents the fire extinguisher |
| 1724 | Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the first Mercury Thermometer |
| 1726 | Jonathan Swift's Gullivers Travels published |
| 1727 | Brazil planted its first coffee. |
| 1727 | George Hepplewhite, furnituremaker, born (d.1786) |
| 1728 | Robert Adam, architect and designer, born (d.1792) |
| 1729 | John Linnell, designer, born (d.1796) |
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George II
1727 - 1760 |
| 1730 | In Germany A. Ketterer invented the cuckoo clock |
| 1730 | Josiah Wedgewood, potter, born (d.1795) |
| 1731 | The first American Public Library is founded in Philadelphia |
| 1732 | George Washington born (d.1799) |
| 1733 | The 1st polar bear exhibited in America was in Boston. |
| 1734 | Richard Gillow, cabinetmaker, born (d.1811) |
| 1735 | Robert Walpole became the 1st British PM to live at 10 Downing Street |
| 1739 | Dick Turpin, the infamous highwayman, was executed in England for horse stealing. |
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George II
1727 - 1760 |
| 1740 | Thomas Arne's song "Rule Britannia," which celebrated Britain's military and commercial prowess, was performed for the 1st time. It grew to become the unofficial anthem. |
| 1742 | May 28, 1st indoor swimming pool opened at Goodman's Fields, London. |
| 1744 | World's first golf club formed in Edinburgh |
| 1747 | Simon Fraser, 12th baron Lovat (Jacobite), became the last man to be officially beheaded in England |
| 1748 | The ruins of Pompeii were found |
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George II
1727 - 1760 |
| 1751 | Voltaire published "Micromegas" in which he mentioned "aliens from outer space." This is believed to be the first mention of such aliens in literature. |
| 1751 | Thomas Sheraton, cabinetmaker, born (d.1806) |
| 1752 | Benjamen Franklin's kite is struck by lightning |
| 1754 | Chippendale publishes "The Gentleman & Cabinet Maker's Director" |
| 1755 | Dr Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language published |
| 1756 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, musician, born (d.1791) |
| 1758 | Halley's Comet appears for the first time after Halley's discovery |
| 1759 | British Museum opens in Montague House, London |
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George III
1760 - 1820 |
| 1761 | John Harrison invents the navigational clock or marine chronometer for measuring longitude. |
| 1767 | Joseph Priestley invents carbonated water - soda water. |
| 1768 | Sir Joshua Reynolds becomes first President of the Royal Academy |
| 1769 | Napoleon Bonaparte born (d.1821) |
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George III
1760 - 1820 |
| 1770 | Captain Cook reaches Eastern Coast of Australia |
| 1770 | Ludgwig Van Beethoven born (d.1827) |
| 1773 | The Boston Tea Party |
| 1773 | The first public museum in the U.S. is established in Charleston, South Carolina. |
| 1774 | Joseph Priestly discovers oxygen (We all breath a huge sigh of relief) |
| 1775 | Joseph Mallord William Turner, artist, born (d.1851) |
| 1776 | Congress of Philadelphia declares American Independence |
| 1776 | John Constable, artist, born (d.1837) |
| 1776 | Bolshoi Ballet Company established |
| 1778 | Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, created the "$" symbol. |
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George III
1760 - 1820 |
| 1780 | Charles Bunbury on Diomed wins first Epsom Derby |
| 1780 | Giles Grendey, cabinetmaker, dies (b. 1693) |
| 1781 | Pierre Langlois, French ébéniste, dies (b. 1759) |
| 1781 | Uranus Discovered by Astronomer William Herschel |
| 1782 | The first commercial bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, opens in Philadelphia. |
| 1783 | Treaty of Paris signed. America gets its Independence |
| 1783 | Dollar adopted as monetary unit in USA |
| 1783 | Montgolfier brothers launch first hot-air balloon (unmanned) |
| 1785 | "Daily Universal Register" forerunner of The Times publishes first issue |
| 1785 | The first balloon flight across English Channel (Blanchard & Jeffries) |
| 1786 | George Smith Cabinetmaker, born (d. 1828) |
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George III
1760 - 1820 |
| 1790 | Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutti" premieres, Vienna |
| 1790 | Lifeboat first tested at sea by Mr Greathead, the inventor |
| 1791 | NYC traffic regulation created the 1st 1-way street. |
| 1791 | United States "Bill of Rights" amends the constitution |
| 1792 | Denmark becomes the first country to abolish slavery |
| 1792 | The New York Stock Exchange established |
| 1793 | Louis XVI executed |
| 1796 | Edward Jenner creates the small pox vaccine |
| 1797 | Bank of England issues first £1-note |
| 1798 | Admiral Horatio Nelson wins the Battle of the Nile |
| 1799 | Napoleon seizes power as first consul of France |
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George III
1760 - 1820 |
| 1800 | Washington, DC, established as capital city of the United States |
| 1800 | James Ross discovers North Magnetic pole |
| 1803 | The Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the United States. |
| 1804 | Napoleon crowned Emperor |
| 1805 | Admiral Horatio Nelson dies at the Battle of Trafalgar |
| 1805 | William Wilberforce, anti-slavery champion, born |
| 1807 | London's Pall Mall is first street lit by gaslight |
| 1809 | Abraham Lincoln born (d.1865) |
| 1809 | Robert Fulton patents the steamboat |
| 1809 | William Gladstone, English politician and statesman, born (d.1898) |
| 1809 | Charles Darwin born (d. 1882) |
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George III
1760 - 1820 |
| 1810 | Peter Durand, a British merchant, was granted a patent by King George III for his idea of preserving food in "vessels of glass, pottery, tin (tin can), or other metals or fit materials." |
| 1811 | The first Women's Golf Tournament held at Musselburgh, Scotland. |
| 1812 | British PM Spencer Perceval was shot by Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons (see link to memorable pieces for the chair Perceval was seated in) |
| 1813 | The first pineapples planted in Hawaii |
| 1814 | Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was the first person to take a photograph. |
| 1815 | Wellington defeats Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo |
| 1816 | Jane Austin completed her last novel, "Persuasion." |
| 1816 | Lord Elgin sold his Parthenon sculptures to the British government for 35,000 pounds. A request in 1811 for 62,400 pounds had been rejected. |
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George IV
1820 - 1830 |
| 1822 | Hieroglyphs deciphered by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion using the Rosetta Stone |
| 1823 | Mackintosh (raincoat) invented by Charles Mackintosh of Scotland |
| 1827 | Ludwig Van Beethoven dies |
| 1824 | The name Australia, recommended by Matthew Flinders in 1804, is finally adopted as the official name of the country once known as New Holland |
| 1825 | The world's first modern railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opens in England |
| 1826 | John Walker invents friction match in England |
| 1828 | Zoological Gardens at Regent's Park London, opens |
| 1829 | Oxford University Boat Club win the very first boat race |
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William IV
1830 - 1837 |
| 1831 | In the first recorded bank heist in US history, $245,000 taken |
| 1831 | HMS Beagle, sets sail around the world with Charles Darwin returns in 1843 |
| 1833 | Parliament passes the Abolition of Slavery Bill giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom (enacted 1834) |
| 1834 | Sandpaper patented by Isaac Fischer Jr, Springfield, Vermont |
| 1835 | Charles Darwin reaches the Galapogos Islands aboard the HMS Beagle |
| 1836 | Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo |
| 1839 | The first Henley Royal Regatta is held and the first photograph of the moon was taken by Daguerre |
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Victoria
1837 - 1901 |
| 1840 | Britain issues the Penny Black, world's first postage stamp |
| 1842 | Anaesthesia used for the first time in an operation |
| 1848 | Gold is discovered in California by James Marshall at Sutters Mill triggering the San Francisco gold rush of '49 |
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Victoria
1837 - 1901 |
| 1863 | The first underground passenger railway opens in London |
| 1876 | Alexander Graham Bell Patents the telephone |
| 1883 | Brooklyn Bridge opens |
| 1887 | Sherlock Holmes appears in print for the first time in 'A Study in Scarlet' |
| 1889 | Monsieur Eiffel opens his tower. |
| 1896 | Henry Ford test drives his first car |
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