1751 in Great Britain
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Events from the year 1751 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
- Monarch â George II
- Prime Minister â Henry Pelham (Whig)[1]
Events
- 25 March â legally New Year's Day for the last time in England and Wales.
- 31 March â Frederick, Prince of Wales dies at Leicester House, London from a lung injury and is succeeded by his son the future George III of the United Kingdom as heir apparent to the throne; three weeks later George is made Prince of Wales.[2] George's mother, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, becomes Dowager Princess of Wales.
- April â the Gin Act requires government inspection of distilleries and restricts sale to licensed premises.[3]
- 27 May â adoption of the Gregorian calendar: royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by Parliament, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire.[2][4] It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.
- 4 June â Dr John Wall and partners establish a porcelain factory in Worcester, "The Worcester Tonquin Manufactory", the origin of Royal Worcester.[5][6]
- 31 August â Robert Clive takes the Indian town of Arcot from the French.[2]
- 20 October â Charles, Duke of Bolton, marries celebrated actress Lavinia Fenton, already the mother of his three children.
- 3 December â Battle of Arnee: Robert Clive defeats a Franco-Indian force.
Undated
- A British settlement is founded in Georgetown in North America.[2]
- Newcastle Infirmary founded in Newcastle upon Tyne.
- A new Lizard Lighthouse is built in Cornwall.
- William Hogarth engraves the prints Gin Lane, Beer Street and The Four Stages of Cruelty.[3]
Publications
- 15 February â Thomas Gray's anonymous Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard.[7]
- Henry Fielding's novel Amelia.[2]
- Eliza Haywood's anonymous novel The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless.[8]
- David Hume's book An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.[2]
- Tobias Smollett's anonymous picaresque novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.[2]
Births
- 31 January â Priscilla Wakefield (née Bell), Quaker writer and philanthropist (died 1832)
- 2 May â John André, soldier (died 1780)
- 4 June â John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, Lord Chancellor (died 1838)
- 11 July â Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, posthumously-born daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales and later queen consort of Denmark (died 1775)
- 30 October â Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish-born dramatist and politician (died 1816)
- 14 November â Capel Lofft, lawyer, writer and astronomer (died 1824 in France)
- date unknown
- Helen Craik, Scottish novelist and poet (died 1825) (probable year)
- Thomas Sheraton, furniture designer (died 1806)
Deaths
- 20 January â John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, politician (born 1665)
- 29 March â Thomas Coram, sea captain and philanthropist (born c.1668)
- 31 March
- Frederick, Prince of Wales (born 1707)
- Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford (born 1701)
- 9 June â John Machin, mathematician and astronomer (b. c.1686)
- 22 August â Andrew Gordon, Scottish-born Benedictine monk, physicist and inventor (born 1712)
- 2 October â Thomas Mathews, Welsh admiral (born 1676)
- 26 October â Philip Doddridge, nonconformist religious leader (born 1702)
- 12 December â Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, statesman and philosopher (born 1678)
- 17 December â Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet, Governor of Virginia (born 1681)
- 19 December â Louise of Great Britain, English-born queen of Frederick V of Denmark (born 1724)