Events from the year

1703 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

– Anne *

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

– 1st of Queen Anne

Events

* 1 January – the case of ''

Ashby v White ''Ashby v White'' (170392 ER 126 is a foundational case in UK constitutional law and English tort law. It concerns the right to vote and misfeasance of a public officer. Lord Holt laid down the important principle that where there is injury in ...

'' is decided in the Court of King's Bench. Concerning the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, it is a leading case in the Constitution of England and

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requi ...

, establishing the principle ''for every wrong there is a remedy''. * 18 May –

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

: The Duke of Marlborough captures the cities of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, Limbourg, Huy and

Guelders The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in pr ...

. * 29–31 July –

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

is placed in a

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

(at Temple Bar, London) as part of his punishment for the crime of seditious

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

after publishing his politically

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

The Shortest Way with the Dissenters ''The Shortest Way with the Dissenters; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church'' is a pamphlet written by Daniel Defoe, first published anonymously in 1702. Defoe was prompted to write the pamphlet by the increased hostility towards ...

'' (

1702 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 2 – A total solar eclipse is visible from the southe ...

) (he is released from

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

in mid-November). * 26–29 November (7–10 December N.S.) – the Great Storm of 1703, an Atlantic

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

ravages southern England and the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, killing at least 8,000, chiefly at sea. ** 27 November ***

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

ships wrecked on the Goodwin Sands include **** HMS ''Restoration'' with loss of all 387 on board. **** HMS ''Northumberland'' with loss of all 220 on board. **** HMS ''Mary'' with loss of all but one of the 270 onboard including Rear admiral Basil Beaumont. **** HMS ''Stirling Castle'' with loss of 206. *** The

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse that is located on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 ...

near

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

is destroyed in the storm together with its designer

Henry Winstanley Henry Winstanley (31 March 1644 – 27 November 1703) was an English painter, engineer and merchant, who constructed the first Eddystone lighthouse after losing two of his ships on the Eddystone rocks. He died while working on the project duri ...

and 5 others. * 30 November –

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

is elected president of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in London, a position he will hold until his death in

1727 Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...

. * 27 December –

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s over French wines into England, while Portugal will import woollen goods from England. This leads to the increasing popularity of Port wine in Britain.

Undated

* The case of ''

Coggs v Bernard ''Coggs v Bernard'' (1703) 2 Ld Raym 909 (also ''Coggs v Barnard'') is a landmark case both for English property law and contract law, decided by Sir John Holt, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. It sets out the duties owed by a bailee – someon ...

'' is decided in the Court of King's Bench. Concerning the duties of a

bailee Bailment is a legal relationship in common law, where the owner transfers physical possession of personal property ("chattel") for a time, but retains ownership. The owner who surrenders custody to a property is called the "bailor" and the ind ...

, it is a landmark case in

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

and

property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual pro ...

. * Imposter

George Psalmanazar George Psalmanazar ( 1679 – 3 May 1763) was a Frenchman who claimed to be the first native of Formosa (today Taiwan) to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but he was eventually revealed to be of European origins. He sub ...

arrives in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Births

* 17 June –

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

, founder of Methodism (died 1791) * 26 November –

Theophilus Cibber Theophilus Cibber (25 or 26 November 1703 – October 1758) was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber. He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alex ...

, actor and writer (died 1758)

Deaths

* 18 February – Thomas Hyde, orientalist (born 1636) * 3 March –

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...

, scientist (born 1635) * 18 April –

Denis Granville Denis Granville (name altered from Grenville) (13 February 1637 – 18 April 1703) was an English non-juring cleric, Dean of Durham and then Jacobite exile. Life The youngest son of Sir Bevil Grenville, he was born 13 February 1637 and bapti ...

, exiled nonjuring clergyman (born 1637) * 20 April –

Lancelot Addison The Reverend Lancelot Addison (1632 – 20 April 1703) was an English writer and Church of England clergyman. He was born at Crosby RavensworthJohn Julian: ''Dictionary of Hymnology'', 2nd edition, p. 19. London: John Murray, 1907. in Westmorlan ...

, royal chaplain (born 1632) * 26 May –

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

, civil servant and diarist (born 1633) * 9 September – Charles de Saint-Évremond, exiled French essayist (born 1613) * 24 October –

William Burkitt William Burkitt (25 July 1650 in Hitcham, Suffolk, England – 24 October 1703 in Essex) was a biblical expositor, educational pioneer, rector of Milden, Suffolk, and vicar and lecturer of Dedham, Essex, in England. Life His father was Michael, ...

, biblical expositor, vicar in Dedham (born 1650) * 28 October –

John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal ...

, mathematician (born 1616)

References

{{Year in Europe, 1703 Years of the 18th century in England 1700s in England