1696 in England

Events from the year 1696 in England.

Centuries:

Decades:

Incumbents

January
- Great Recoinage of 1696: The Parliament of England passes the Recoinage Act.
- Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
27 January â the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly Sovereign of the Seas) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.
15 February â a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.^[1]
March â Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.^[2]
April â window tax introduced.^[2]
May â Great Recoinage of 1696: Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.^[2]
21 November â John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[2]

Edward Lloyd probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.
Poets Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady publish New Version of the Psalms of David ("Tate and Brady"), a metrical psalter.

27 June â William Pepperrell, colonial soldier (died 1759)
14 July â William Oldys, antiquarian and bibliographer (died 1761)
12 August â Maurice Greene, composer (died 1755)
13 October â John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, statesman and writer (died 1743)
22 December â James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony (died 1785)

18 March â Robert Charnock, conspirator (born c. 1663)
30 April â Robert Plot, naturalist (born 1640)
28 May â William Gregory, politician and judge (born 1625)
30 May â Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the Admiralty (born 1638)
24 June â Philip Henry, minister (born 1631)
11 July â William Godolphin, politician (born 1635)
13 September â Caleb Banks, politician (born 1659)
8 December â Charles Porter, English-born judge (born 1631)
12 December â John Hampden (1653â1696), politician (born 1653)