Events from the year

1739 Events January–March * January 1 – Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, in the South Atlantic Ocean. * January 3: A 7.6 earthquake shakes the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region ...

in Great Britain.

Incumbents

* Monarch – George II * Prime Minister –

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

( Whig) * Parliament – 8th

Events

* 14 January – Britain and Spain sign the

Convention of Pardo The Convention of Pardo, also known as the Treaty of Pardo or Convention of El Pardo, was a 1739 agreement between Britain and Spain. It sought to resolve trade issues between the two countries and agree boundaries between Spanish Florida and th ...

. * 16 January – first performance of

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

's oratorio '' Saul'' at the

His Majesty's Theatre, London Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established ...

. * February –

George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at th ...

first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire. * April –

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 ...

first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation. * 4 April – first performance of Handel's oratorio ''

Israel in Egypt ''Israel in Egypt'', HWV 54, is a biblical oratorio by the composer George Frideric Handel. Most scholars believe the libretto was prepared by Charles Jennens, who also compiled the biblical texts for Handel's ''Messiah''. It is composed ent ...

'' at the King's Theatre, London. * 12 May –

lays the foundation stone of the

New Room, Bristol John Wesley's New Room is a historic building in Broadmead, Bristol, England. Opened in 1739, it housed the earliest Methodist societies, and was enlarged in 1748. As the oldest purpose-built Methodist preaching house (chapel), it has been des ...

, the world's first Methodist meeting house. * 17 October – the

Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital in London, England, was founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" w ...

in London, established by Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter. * 23 October – " War of Jenkins' Ear" (1739–1742) begins when Britain declares war on Spain. * 20–22 November – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Porto Bello: British marine forces capture the Panamanian silver exporting town of Porto Bello from the Spanish. * 25 December–February

1740 Events January–March * January 8 – All 237 crewmen on the Dutch East India Company ship ''Rooswijk'' are drowned, when the vessel strikes the shoals of Goodwin Sands, off of the coast of England, as it is beginning its secon ...

– the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in southern England and Ireland.

Publications

* January (dated 9 February) – '' The Scots Magazine'' first published. * David Hume's anonymous ''

A Treatise of Human Nature '' A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects'' (1739–40) is a book by Scottish philosopher David Hume, considered by many to be Hume's most important work and one of the ...

'' (issued late 1738 but dated this year). *

John Mottley John Mottley (1692–1750) was an English writer, known as a dramatist, biographer, and compiler of jokes. Life He was the son of Colonel Thomas Mottley, a Jacobite adherent of James II in his exile, who entered the service of Louis XIV, and was ...

's pseudonymous '' Joe Miller's Jests, or the Wits Vade-Mecum''. * John and Charles Wesley's ''Hymns and Sacred Poems'', 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".

Births

* 6 January – David Dale, philanthropist (died

1806 Events January–March * January 1 ** The French Republican Calendar is abolished. ** The Kingdom of Bavaria is established by Napoleon. * January 5 – The body of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state in the Painted Hall ...

) * 26 January – George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (died

1817 Events January–March * January 1 – Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island. * January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing the ...

) * 4 February – John Robison, physicist (died

1805 After thirteen years the First French Empire abolished the French Republican Calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 11 – The Michigan Territory is created. * February 7 – King Anouvong become ...

) * 25 March – Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany (died

1767 Events January–March * January 1 – The first annual volume of ''The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris'', produced by British Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, gives navigators the ...

) * 16 May –

Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk, 5th Earl of Berkshire, KG, PC (16 May 1739 – 7 March 1779), was a British politician, styled Viscount Andover from 1756 to 1757. Educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, he succeeded his grandfather ...

, peer and politician (died

1779 Events January–March * January 11 – British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all territories acquired since 1773. * January 11 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manip ...

) * 5 November – Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton, peer (died

1819 Events January–March * January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, begins. * January 25 – Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia. * January 29 – Si ...

) * 4 December – Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, politician (died

1802 Events January–March * January 5 – Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, begins removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, claiming they were at risk of destruction during the Ot ...

)

Deaths

* 7 April –

Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ear ...

, highwayman (hanged) (born

1705 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Sunday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 8 – George Frideric Handel's first opera, ''Almira'' is p ...

) * 19 April – Nicholas Saunderson, scientist and mathematician (born

1682 Events January–March * January 7 – The Republic of Genoa forbids the unauthorized printing of newspapers and all handwritten newssheets; the ban is lifted after three months. * January 12 – Scottish minister James Ren ...

) * 10 August –

William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven (1700 – 10 August 1739) was an English nobleman. He inherited his father's title and estates at age eleven and made his home at Hamstead Marshall in Berkshire. He was educated in 1716 at St. John's College, C ...

, nobleman. (born

1700 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 19), where then Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 11 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 17 ...

) * 4 September – George Lillo, playwright (born

1693 Events January–March * January 11 – 1693 Sicily earthquake: Mount Etna erupts, causing a devastating earthquake that affects parts of Sicily and Malta. * January 22 – A total lunar eclipse is visible across North and South Ameri ...

) * 21 October – William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester (born

)

References

{{Year in Europe, 1739 Years in Great Britain