Events from the year 1714 in Great Britain. This marks the beginning of the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Willi ...

Incumbents

* Monarch – Anne (until 1 August), George I (starting 1 August) * Regent – Sir Thomas Parker (starting 1 August, until 18 September) * Parliament –

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

Events

* March – the Scriblerus Club, an informal group of literary friends, is formed by Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope,

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

John Arbuthnot John Arbuthnot FRS (''baptised'' 29 April 1667 – 27 February 1735), often known simply as Dr Arbuthnot, was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contributions to mathematics, his membersh ...

(at whose London house they meet), Thomas Parnell, Henry St. John and Robert Harley. * 25 March – Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is endowed by Thomas Tenison,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, in Croydon. * 14 April – Queen Anne performs the last touching for the "

King's evil The disease mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis, also known as scrofula and historically as king's evil, involves a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis as well as nontuberculous (atypical) mycobacteria. Disea ...

". * 19 May – Queen Anne refuses to allow members of the House of Hanover to settle in Britain during her lifetime. * July ** Parliament offers the Longitude prize to anyone who can solve the problem of accurately determining a ship's longitude. ** First Roman Catholic seminary in Britain opens at Eilean Bàn on Loch Morar in Scotland. * 27 July – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer dismissed as Lord High Treasurer. * 29 July –

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, is founded on the site of Gloucester College, closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. * 30 July – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury becomes the new Lord High Treasurer. * 1 August ** Hanoverian succession: George, elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain on the death at

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...

of his second cousin, Queen Anne. ** Schism Act, intended to restrain dissenting academies; never enforced due to the change of monarchy. * 18 September – King George arrives in Britain for the first time, landing at Greenwich. * 20 October – Coronation of King George I at Westminster Abbey, giving rise to Coronation riots in over twenty towns in England.

Births

* 6 January – Percivall Pott, surgeon (died

1788 Events January–March * January 1 – The first edition of ''The Times'', previously ''The Daily Universal Register'', is published in London. * January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S ...

) * 25 February – Hyde Parker, admiral (died

1782 Events January–March * January 7 – The first American commercial bank (Bank of North America) opens. * January 15 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the United States Congress to recommend establish ...

) * 26 February – James Hervey, clergyman and writer (died

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...

) * 7 April – John Elwes, né Meggot, miser and politician (died

1789 Events January–March * January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet ''What Is the Third Estate?'' ('), influential on the French Revolution. * January 7 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election a ...

) * 14 April – Adam Gib, religious leader (died

) * 3 June –

John Conder John Conder D.D. (3 June 1714 – 30 May 1781) was an Independent minister at Cambridge who later became President of the Independent College, Homerton in the parish of Hackney (parish), Hackney near London. John Conder was the theological tutor ...

, Independent English minister at Cambridge (later President of the Independent College) (died

1781 Events January–March * January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, enters Parliament, aged 21. * January 1 – Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn in Eng ...

) * 1 August – Richard Wilson, painter (died

) * 3 August –

William Cole William or Bill Cole may refer to: Business * William Rossa Cole (1919–2000), American children's writer * William Washington Cole (1847–1915), part owner of the Barnum & Bailey Circus Fine arts and entertainment * William Cole (musician) ...

, antiquary (died

) * 25 October – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, philosopher and evolutionary thinker (died

1799 Events January–June * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...

) * 13 November – William Shenstone, English poet (died

1763 Events January–March * January 27 – The seat of colonial administration in the Viceroyalty of Brazil is moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. * February 1 – The Royal Colony of North Carolina officially creates Meck ...

) * ''date unknown'' – Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, politician (died

1778 Events January–March * January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS ''Resolution'' and HMS ''Discovery'', first views Oahu then Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, which he na ...

)

Deaths

* 2 February – John Sharp, Archbishop of York (born

1643 Events January–March * January 21 – Abel Tasman sights the island of Tonga. * February 6 – Abel Tasman sights the Fiji Islands. * March 13 – First English Civil War: First Battle of Middlewich – Roundheads ...

) * 24 February – Edmund Andros, governor in North America (born

1637 Events January–March * January 5 – Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy ''Le Cid'' is first performed, in Paris, France. * January 16 – The siege of Nagpur ends in what is now the Maharashtra state of India, as Kok Shah, the ...

) * 1 March – Thomas Ellwood, religious writer (born

1639 Events January–March * January 14 – Connecticut's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. * January 19 – Hämeenlinna ( sv, Tavastehus) is granted privileges, after it separates from the Vanaja parish, ...

) * 15 May – Roger Elliott, general and Governor of Gibraltar (born c.

1665 Events January–March * January 5 – The ''Journal des sçavans'' begins publication of the first scientific journal in France. * February 15 – Molière's comedy '' Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre'', based on the Spanis ...

) * 8 June – Electress

Sophia of Hanover Sophia of Hanover (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; 14 October 1630 – 8 June 1714) was the Electress of Hanover by marriage to Elector Ernest Augustus and later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of England and Scotland (later Grea ...

, heir to the throne (born 1630) * 22 June –

Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist minister and author, who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition ...

, non-conformist minister (born

1662 Events January–March * January 4 – Dziaddin Mukarram Shah becomes the new Sultan of Kedah, an independent kingdom on the Malay Peninsula, upon the death of his father, Sultan Muhyiddin Mansur. * January 10 – At the ...

) * 1 August – Queen Anne (born

) * 26 August – Edward Fowler, Bishop of Gloucester (born

1632 Events January–March * January – The Holland's Leguer, a brothel in London, is closed after having been besieged for a month. * February 22 – Galileo's ''Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems'' is pub ...

) * 1 November – John Radcliffe, physician (born

1652 Events January–March * January 8 – Michiel de Ruyter marries the widow Anna van Gelder and plans retirement, but months later becomes a vice-commodore in the First Anglo-Dutch War. * February 4 – At Edinburgh, the parl ...

) * Robert Ferguson, Presbyterian minister, plotter and pamphleteer (born c.1637 in Scotland)

References

{{Year in Europe, 1715 Years in Great Britain