Events from the year 1709 in Great Britain.
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
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
*
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 ...
–
2nd
A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI).
Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to:
Mathematics
* 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'')
* Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...
Events
* January to March – unusually cold weather (the
Great Frost of 1709
The Great Frost, as it was known in England, or ' ("The Great Winter"), as it was known in France, was an extraordinarily cold winter in Europe in 1708–1709,. and was the coldest European winter during the past 500 years.
Notability
William ...
) brings floating ice into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
.
* 10 January –
Abraham Darby I
Abraham Darby, in his later life called Abraham Darby the Elder, now sometimes known for convenience as Abraham Darby I (14 April 1677 – 5 May 1717, the first and best known of several men of that name), was an English ironmaster and foundr ...
successfully produces
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
using
coke fuel at his
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
This is where iron ore was first s ...
blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
.
* 1 or 2 February – during his first voyage, Captain
Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers ( 1679 – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer, Atlantic slave trade, slave trader and, from 1718, the first List of colonial heads of the Bahamas, Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of ...
on the ''Duke'' encounters marooned privateer
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island i ...
and rescues him after four years living on one of the
Juan Fernández Islands
The Juan Fernández Islands ( es, Archipiélago Juan Fernández) are a sparsely inhabited series of islands in the South Pacific Ocean reliant on tourism and fishing. Situated off the coast of Chile, they are composed of three main volcanic i ...
, inspiring
Defoe Defoe may refer to:
People
*Defoe (surname), most notably English author Daniel Defoe
Places
*Defoe, Webster County, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Other uses
*Defoe (comics), a zombie story
*Defoe Shipbuilding Company, a former ship ...
's book ''
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
''.
After sacking
Guayaquil
, motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America
, pushpin_re ...
, he and Selkirk will visit the
Galapagos Islands.
* 5 February – dramatist
John Dennis John Dennis may refer to:
*John Dennis (dramatist) (1658–1734), English dramatist
* John Dennis (1771–1806), Maryland congressman
*John Dennis (1807–1859), his son, Maryland congressman
*John Stoughton Dennis (1820–1885), Canadian surveyor
...
devises the
thundersheet as a new method of producing theatrical thunder for his tragedy ''Appius and Virginia'' at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...
, London.
* 12 April – first edition of ''
The Tatler
''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
'' magazine published.
* May – first influx of poor
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. families of
German Palatines
Palatines (german: Pfälzer), also known as the Palatine Dutch, are the people and princes of Palatinates ( Holy Roman principalities) of the Holy Roman Empire. The Palatine diaspora includes the Pennsylvania Dutch and New York Dutch.
In 170 ...
from the
Rhenish Palatinate, mostly
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
''en route'' to the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
colonies.
* June – ''The Worcester Post-Man'' is first published in
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
; as ''
Berrow's Worcester Journal
''Berrow's Worcester Journal'' is a weekly freesheet tabloid newspaper, based in Worcester, England. Owned by Newsquest, the newspaper is delivered across central and southern Worcestershire county.
History
16th Century Printing Press
Worces ...
'' it will continue to be published as a newspaper more than 300 years later.
* 9 July –
Christopher Slaughterford
Christopher Slaughterford of London was executed in Guildford July 9, 1709, for the murder of Jane Young, his fiancée. His case is very important, as he was the first person in modern England executed for murder based exclusively on circumstanti ...
of London is executed in
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
for the murder of Jane Young, his fiancée. He is the first person in modern England executed for murder based exclusively on
circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact—such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly—i.e., without need ...
, and he maintains his innocence to the last.
* 30 July –
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 ...
: Capture of
Tournai
Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...
by
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...
and
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...
.
* 31 August (11 September
NS) – War of the Spanish Succession:
Battle of Malplaquet
The Battle of Malplaquet took place on 11 September 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession and was fought between a French army commanded by the Duke of Villars and a Grand Alliance force under the Duke of Marlborough. In one of the blo ...
– troops of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
,
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
, Great Britain and the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...
led by the Duke of Marlborough drive the
French from the field but suffer twice as many casualties. The song "
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is a popular song that is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as a promotion, a birthday, a wedding (or playing a major part in a wedding), a retirement, a wedding anniversary, the birth of a ...
" is based on the French song "
Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
"Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" (Marlborough has left for the war), also known as "Mort et convoi de l'invincible Malbrough" (The death and burial of the invincible Marlborough), is a popular folk song in French.
History
The burlesque lament on ...
" composed following this battle.
* 9 October – War of the Spanish Succession: British army captures
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
.
[
* 11 November – ]Henry Sacheverell
Henry Sacheverell (; 8 February 1674 – 5 June 1724) was an English high church Anglican clergyman who achieved nationwide fame in 1709 after preaching an incendiary 5 November sermon. He was subsequently impeached by the House of Commons and ...
preaches an incendiary sermon ''The Perils of False Brethren'' at St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
in the City of London which leads to his impeachment by Parliament.
* 25 December – ten ships leave for the New York Colony
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
from London carrying over 4,000 people.
Undated
* Enactment of Britain's first copyright law, the Statute of Anne
The Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act 1710 (cited either as 8 Ann. c. 21 or as 8 Ann. c. 19), was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1710, which was the first statute to provide for copyright regulated by the g ...
, coming into effect on 10 April 1710.
* The earliest known cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
match involving county teams played is between Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
.
* Construction of Marlborough House
Marlborough House, a Grade I listed mansion in St James's, City of Westminster, London, is the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations and the seat of the Commonwealth Secretariat. It was built in 1711 for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marl ...
begins in London.[
* The second ]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 ...
, erected by John Rudyerd, is completed.
* Publication of ''The Works of Mr William Shakespear'' edited by dramatist Nicholas Rowe, the first modern edition of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's plays, including scene divisions, ''dramatis personæ
Dramatis personae (Latin language, Latin: 'persons of the drama') are the main character (arts), characters in a dramatic work written in a list. Such lists are commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen. Typically, off-s ...
'' and a prefatory account of Shakespeare's life, the first substantial biography of him.
* Publication of Mrs. Delarivier Manley
Delarivier "Delia" Manley (1663 or c. 1670 – 24 July 1724) was an English author, playwright, and political pamphleteer. Manley is sometimes referred to, with Aphra Behn and Eliza Haywood, as one of "the fair triumvirate of wit", which is a la ...
's political satire
Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where Political discourse analysis, political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing ...
'' The New Atalantis''.
* Publication of ''An English-Saxon Homily on the Birth-day of St. Gregory'' by Ælfric of Eynsham
Ælfric of Eynsham ( ang, Ælfrīc; la, Alfricus, Elphricus; ) was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. H ...
, translated from Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
by Elizabeth Elstob
Elizabeth Elstob (29 September 1683 – 3 June 1756), the "Saxon Nymph", was a pioneering scholar of Anglo-Saxon. She was the first person to publish a grammar of Old English written in modern English.
Life
Elstob was born and brought up in th ...
.
Births
* 17 January – George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, (17 January 1709 – 22 August 1773), known between 1751 and 1756 as Sir George Lyttelton, 5th Baronet, was a British statesman. As an author himself, he was also a supporter of other writers and as a pat ...
, politician (died 1773)
* 16 February – Charles Avison
Charles Avison (; 16 February 1709 (baptised)9 or 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas's Church (later Newcast ...
, composer (died 1770)
* 24 July – James Harris, politician and grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
ian (died 1780)
* 18 September – Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
, English writer, critic and lexicographer (died 1784)
* 24 September ''(bapt.)'' – John Cleland
John Cleland (c. 1709, baptised – 23 January 1789) was an English novelist best known for his fictional '' Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'', whose eroticism led to his arrest. James Boswell called him "a sly, old malcont ...
, English novelist (died 1789)
* 2 November – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (12 January 1759) was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. She was the wife of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first heredita ...
, Hanoverian-born princess consort and regent of the Netherlands (died 1759)
Deaths
* 24 January – George Rooke
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schooneveld during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a captain, ...
, English admiral (born 1650)
* 15 February – John Philips
John Philips (30 December 1676 – 15 February 1709) was an 18th-century English poet.
Early life and education
Philips was born at Bampton, Oxfordshire, the son of Rev. Stephen Philips, later archdeacon of Salop, and his wife Mary Wood. H ...
, English poet (born 1676)
* 8 March – William Cowper
William Cowper ( ; 26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scen ...
, surgeon and anatomist (born 1666)
* 9 March – Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu
Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu (24 December 1638 – 9 March 1709) was an English courtier and diplomat.
Background
Ralph Montagu was the second son of Edward Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton (1616–1684), and Anne Winwood, daughte ...
, English diplomat (born c. 1638)
* 30 June – Edward Lhuyd
Edward Lhuyd FRS (; occasionally written Llwyd in line with modern Welsh orthography, 1660 – 30 June 1709) was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also named in a Latinate form as Eduardus Luidius.
Life
...
, scientist (born 1660)
* 17 July – Robert Bolling
Colonel Robert Bolling (December 26, 1646July 17, 1709), sometimes called Robert Bolling, Sr., after he gave a son his own name, was a wealthy early American settler planter and merchant.
Ancestry and early life
Robert Bolling was the son o ...
, English settler in Virginia (born 1646)
* 9 October – Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess of Castlemaine (née Barbara Villiers, – 9 October 1709), was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of En ...
, English mistress of Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
(born 1640)
* 23 November – William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland
Hans William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, (20 July 164923 November 1709) was a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of William, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder in the Netherlands, and future King of England. H ...
, favourite of William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
(born 1649, Netherlands)
References
{{Year in Europe, 1709
Years in Great Britain