1739 in Great Britain
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Events from the year 1739 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
- Monarch â George II
- Prime Minister â Robert Walpole (Whig)[1]
Events
- 14 January â Britain and Spain sign the Convention of Pardo.[2]
- 16 January â first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul at the His Majesty's Theatre, London.[2]
- February â George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire.
- April â John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
- 4 April â first performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt at the King's Theatre, London.[2]
- 12 May â John Wesley lays the foundation stone of the New Room, Bristol, the world's first Methodist meeting house.[3]
- 17 October â the Foundling Hospital in London, established by Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter.[2]
- 23 October â "War of Jenkins' Ear" (1739â1742) begins when Britain declares war on Spain.[2]
- 20â22 November â War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Porto Bello: British marine forces capture the Panamanian silver exporting town of Porto Bello from the Spanish.[2]
- 25 DecemberâFebruary 1740 â the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in southern England and Ireland.[4]
Publications
- January (dated 9 February) â The Scots Magazine first published.[5]
- David Hume's anonymous A Treatise of Human Nature[4] (issued late 1738 but dated this year).
- John Mottley's pseudonymous Joe Miller's Jests, or the Wits Vade-Mecum.
- John and Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems,[6] including the first publication of Charles's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", anonymously as "Hymn for Christmas-Day", opening "Hark how all the welkin rings".[7]
Births
- 6 January â David Dale, philanthropist (died 1806)
- 26 January â George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (died 1817)
- 4 February â John Robison, physicist (died 1805)
- 25 March â Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany (died 1767)
- 16 May â Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk, peer and politician (died 1779)
- 5 November â Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton, peer (died 1819)
- 4 December â Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, politician (died 1802)
Deaths
- 7 April â Dick Turpin, highwayman (hanged) (born 1705)
- 19 April â Nicholas Saunderson, scientist and mathematician (born 1682)
- 10 August â William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven, nobleman. (born 1700)
- 4 September â George Lillo, playwright (born 1693)
- 21 October â William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester (born 1700)