1731 in Great Britain
Encyclopedia
.svg.png) 1731 in Great Britain: |
| Other years |
| 1729 1729 in Great Britain Events from the year 1729 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 1 May - A tornado destroys buildings in Sussex and Kent.... | 1730 1730 in Great Britain Events from the year 1730 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:... | 1731 | 1732 1732 in Great Britain Events from the year 1732 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 7 December - The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal is opened.... | 1733 1733 in Great Britain Events from the year 1733 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 23 January - First performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Orlando in London.... |
| Sport |
| 1731 English cricket season 1731 English cricket season By the 1731 English cricket season, match reports were much more common and tended to contain more detail, sometimes including the names of patrons and players. There is consequently much more available information about the 1730s than previously. There were 26 known matches in 1731.The most... |
Events from the year 1731 in Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
.
Incumbents
- Monarch - King George II
- Prime Minister - Robert WalpoleRobert WalpoleRobert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
, WhigBritish Whig PartyThe Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
Events
- 16 March - Treaty of ViennaTreaty of Vienna (1731)The Treaty of Vienna was first signed on 16 March 1731 by Count Finzendorf and the Earl of Chesterfield. This treaty marked the collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance , the beginning of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance and the birth of the legend of the natural enmity between the Kingdom of France and...
signed between the Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, Great Britain, the Dutch RepublicDutch RepublicThe Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
and SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. - 4 June - Great fire destroys much of the centre of Blandford Forum, DorsetDorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
.
Undated
- Trader Robert Jenkins has his ear cut off by SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
coast guards in CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
leading to the War of Jenkins' EarWar of Jenkins' EarThe War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858, relates to Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship, who exhibited his severed ear in...
in 1739. - Legal proceedings in the courtCourtA court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s to be conducted in the English languageEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. - William HogarthWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
produces his A Harlot's ProgressA Harlot's ProgressA Harlot's Progress is a series of six paintings and engravings by William Hogarth. The series shows the story of a young woman, Mary Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country and becomes a prostitute...
series of paintings.
Publications
- 1 January - First edition of The Gentleman's MagazineThe Gentleman's MagazineThe Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...
published by Edward CaveEdward CaveEdward Cave was an English printer, editor and publisher. In The Gentleman's Magazine he created the first general-interest "magazine" in the modern sense....
. - Jethro TullJethro Tull (agriculturist)Jethro Tull was an English agricultural pioneer who helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1701 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows, and later a horse-drawn hoe...
's treatise The New Horse-Houghing Husbandry; or, an essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation.
Births
- February - Charles Churchill, poet (died 17641764 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1764 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - George Grenville, Whig-Events:...
) - 8 May - Beilby PorteusBeilby PorteusBeilby Porteus , successively Bishop of Chester and of London was an Anglican reformer and leading abolitionist in England...
, Bishop of London and abolitionist (died 18091809 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1809 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Tory , Spencer Perceval, Tory-Events:...
) - 10 October - Henry CavendishHenry CavendishHenry Cavendish FRS was a British scientist noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper "On Factitious Airs". Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and...
, scientist (died 18101810 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1810 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Spencer Perceval, Tory-Events:...
) - 15 November - William CowperWilliam CowperWilliam Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
, poet (died 18001800 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1800 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 8 January - First soup kitchens open in London.* 17 March - catches fire with the loss of 700 lives....
) - 12 December - Erasmus DarwinErasmus DarwinErasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
, scientist and grandfather of Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
(died 18021802 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1802 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Henry Addington, Tory-Events:...
) - date unknown - William AitonWilliam AitonWilliam Aiton was a Scottish botanist.Aiton was born near Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Philip Miller, then superintendent of the Chelsea Physic Garden...
, botanist (died 17931793 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1793 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:...
)
Deaths
- 24 April - Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
, writer (born 16601660 in EnglandEvents from the year 1660 which occurred in the Kingdom of England. This is the year of Restoration.-Events:* 1 January** Colonel George Monck with his regiment crosses from Scotland to England at the village of Coldstream and begins advance towards London in support of English Restoration.**...
) - 24 August - William Godolphin, Marquess of BlandfordWilliam Godolphin, Marquess of BlandfordWilliam Godolphin, Marquess of Blandford was an English nobleman.He was born the eldest son of The Hon. Francis Godolphin and his wife Lady Henrietta Godolphin, née Churchill...
, nobleman (born 17001700 in EnglandEvents from the year 1700 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:*27 February - The island of New Britain is discovered by William Dampier in the western Pacific....
) - 29 December - Brook TaylorBrook TaylorBrook Taylor FRS was an English mathematician who is best known for Taylor's theorem and the Taylor series.- Life and work :...
, mathematician (born 16851685 in EnglandEvents from the year 1685 in the Kingdom of England.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Charles II , King James II-Events:* 6 February - James Stuart, Duke of York becomes King James II of England.* 23 April - Coronation of King James II....
)