1721 in Great Britain
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Events from the year 1721 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
- Monarch â George I
- Prime Minister â Robert Walpole (Whig) (starting 3 April)[1]
Events
- 6 January â The Committee of Inquiry on the collapse of the South Sea Company publishes its findings.
- 5 February â Lord Stanhope, chief minister, dies a day after collapsing while vigorously defending his government's conduct over the "South Sea Bubble" in Parliament.
- 9 March â John Aislabie imprisoned in the Tower of London, found guilty of corruption for his part in the collapse of the South Sea Company as Chancellor of the Exchequer.[2]
- c. March â Atterbury Plot to restore the Stuart monarchy begins.
- 4 April â Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister (although this is more a term of disparagement at this time).[3]
Undated
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduces smallpox inoculation to Britain: the Princess of Wales is persuaded to test the treatment and the procedure becomes fashionable.[2]
- Thomas Guy founds Guy's Hospital in London.[4]
- Regular mail service between London and New England is established.[5]
Publications
- Nathan Bailey publishes An Universal Etymological English Dictionary.[2]
- Thomas Parnell's A Night-Piece on Death is published, inaugurating the "Graveyard poets" movement.
Births
- 2 January â John Manners, Marquess of Granby (died 1770)
- 19 March â Tobias Smollett, physician and author (died 1771)
- 15 April â Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, military leader (died 1765)
- 14 July â John Douglas, Anglican bishop and man of letters (died 1807)
- 4 August â Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, politician (died 1803)
- 31 August â George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, statesman (died 1775)
- 9 November â Mark Akenside, poet and physician (died 1770)
- 6 December â James Elphinston, philologist (died 1809)
Deaths
- 27 January â Joshua Churchill, politician
- 5 February â James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, statesman and soldier (born c. 1673)
- 16 February â James Craggs the Younger, politician (born 1686)
- 24 February â John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, statesman and poet (born 1648)
- 16 March â James Craggs the Elder, politician (born 1657)
- April â Mary Read, pirate, in Jamaica
- 11 June â Sir Anthony Deane, naval architect and politician (born 1633)
- 8 July â Elihu Yale, East India merchant and educationist (born 1649 in Massachusetts)
- 3 August â Grinling Gibbons, sculptor (born 1648 in Rotterdam)
- 18 September â Matthew Prior, poet and diplomat (born 1664)
- 11 October â Edward Colston, merchant, slave trader and philanthropist (born 1636)
- 13 December â Alexander Selkirk, sailor, at sea (born 1676 in Scotland)
- 17 December â Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, statesman (born 1650)