1724 in Great Britain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following events occurred in Great Britain in the year 1724.
Incumbents
- Monarch â George I
- Prime Minister â Robert Walpole (Whig)[1]
Events
- 20 February â Giulio Cesare in Egitto, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, is premiered in London.[2]
- 6 April â Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne becomes Secretary of State for the Southern Department; Henry Pelham becomes Secretary at War.[3]
- August â Longman, the oldest surviving publishing house in England, is founded in London by Thomas Longman.
- 31 October â Handel's opera Tamerlano is premiered in London
- 16 November â Thief Jack Sheppard is hanged in London. (His partner-in-crime, highwayman Joseph Blake, alias "Blueskin", was similarly executed five days earlier.)
- Undated â Blenheim Palace construction is completed. It has been built as a gift from the nation to the Duke of Marlborough (died 1722) for his involvement in the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.
Publications
- Daniel Defoe's A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain begins publication.[3]
- Jonathan Swift's Drapier's Letters begin publication.[3]
- Isaac Watts' textbook Logic.
Births
- 24 January â Frances Brooke, writer (died 1789)
- 28 February â George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, field marshal (died 1807)
- 19 May â Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, admiral and politician (died 1779)
- 3 June â John Gregory, physician, medical writer and moralist (died 1773)
- 8 June â John Smeaton, civil engineer (died 1792)
- 25 August â George Stubbs, painter (died 1806)
- 3 September â Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, soldier and Governor of Quebec (died 1808)
- 31 October â Christopher Anstey, writer (died 1805)[4]
- 12 December â Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, admiral (died 1816)
- 25 December â John Michell, scientist and geologist (died 1793)
Deaths
- 1 January â Charles Gildon, critic and dramatist (born c. 1665)
- 12 February â Elkanah Settle, writer (born 1648)[5]
- 21 May â Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, statesman (born 1661)
- 15 June â Henry Sacheverell, churchman and politician (born 1674)
- 29 October â William Wollaston, philosophical writer (born 1659)[6]
- 11 November â Joseph Blake (alias Blueskin), highwayman (executed) (born 1700)
- 16 November â Jack Sheppard, criminal (executed) (born 1702)
- 29 November â Laurence Braddon, writer and politician (year of birth not known)
- 27 December â Thomas Guy, philanthropist (born 1644)
