Events from the year

1798 Events January–June * January – Eli Whitney contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 muskets, which he produces with interchangeable parts. * January 4 – Constantine Hangerli enters Bucharest, as Prince of Wa ...

in Great Britain.

Incumbents

* Monarch – George III * Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger ( Tory) *

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

–

Lord Grenville William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, (25 October 175912 January 1834) was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs for the duration of ...

Events

* 2 July – the

Marine Police Force The Thames River Police was formed in 1800 to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and in the lower reaches and docks of the Thames. It replaced the Marine Police, a police force established in 1798 by magistrate P ...

is formed on the River Thames by magistrate Patrick Colquhoun to prevent pilfering in the Port of London and West India Docks; it is the first organised police force in Britain. * 1 August – French Revolutionary Wars: Admiral Nelson's fleet destroys the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

fleet at the

Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...

. * 10 September – Battle of St. George's Caye: British settlers win a victory over Spanish settlers in what is to become the colony of British Honduras. * 18 September – '' Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems'' by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is first published anonymously in Bristol, marking the beginning of English literary Romanticism. Most of the poems are by Wordsworth, including '' Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey on revisiting the banks of the Wye during a tour, 13 July 1798'', but also including the first publication of Coleridge's '' The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere''. First London publication is on 4 October. * 11 October – Elizabeth Inchbald's play '' Lovers' Vows'', adapted from Kotzebue's ''Das Kind der Liebe'', is first performed at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. * 4 December – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger announces the introduction of income tax in

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 ...

Undated

* Newspaper Publication Act 1798 restricts newspaper circulation. *

Nathan Mayer Rothschild Nathan Mayer Rothschild (16 September 1777 – 28 July 1836) was an English-German banker, businessman and financier. Born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, he was the third of the five sons of Gutle (Schnapper) and Mayer Amschel Rothschild, an ...

moves from Frankfurt in the Holy Roman Empire to England, settling up in business as a textile trader and financier in Manchester. * The first recorded excavations at

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

– among the first serious work in archaeology anywhere – are made by

William Cunnington William Cunnington FSA (1754 – 31 December 1810) was an English antiquarian and archaeologist. Cunnington was a self-educated merchant, who developed an interest in the rich archaeological landscape around the Wiltshire village of Heytes ...

and

Sir Richard Colt Hoare Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet FRS (9 December 1758 – 19 May 1838) was an English antiquarian, archaeologist, artist, and traveller of the 18th and 19th centuries, the first major figure in the detailed study of the history of his home c ...

Ongoing

* Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808 * French Revolutionary Wars

Publications

* Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth's '' Lyrical Ballads''. * Edward Jenner's work on vaccination ''An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ''. * Thomas Malthus' anonymous work ''

An Essay on the Principle of Population An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian an ...

''. *

Richmal Mangnall Richmal Mangnall (1769–1820) was an English schoolmistress and the writer of a famous schoolbook, ''Mangnall's Questions''. This had been through 84 editions by 1857. She became the headmistress of Crofton Hall, a successful Yorkshire school, ...

's initially anonymous school textbook ''Historical and Miscellaneous Questions for the Use of Young People''; this will have appeared in 84 editions by 1857. *

Regina Maria Roche Regina Maria Roche (1764–1845) is considered a minor Gothic novel, Gothic novelist, encouraged by the pioneering Ann Radcliffe. However, she was a bestselling author in her own time. The popularity of her third novel, ''The Children of the Abbe ...

Gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

'' Clermont: a tale''. * Mary Wollstonecraft's posthumous radical feminist novel '' Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman''.

Births

* March –

David Ramsay Hay David Ramsay Hay (March 1798, Edinburgh – 10 September 1866) was a Scottish artist, interior decorator and colour theorist. Life David Ramsay Hay was the son of Rebekah or Rebecca Carmichael, a published poet and friend of Robert Burns. They ...

, interior decorator (died

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

) * 28 April – Duncan Forbes, linguist (died

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

) * 12 June –

William Abbot William Abbot or Abbott (12 June 1790 – 1 June 1843) was an English actor, and a theatrical manager, both in England and the United States. Life Abbot was born in Chelsea, London, and made his first appearance on the stage at Bath in 1806, ...

, actor (died

1843 Events January–March * January ** Serial publication of Charles Dickens's novel ''Martin Chuzzlewit'' begins in London; in the July chapters, he lands his hero in the United States. ** Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" ...

) * 28 December – Thomas Henderson, astronomer (died

1844 In the Philippines, it was the only leap year with 365 days, as December 31 was skipped when 1845 began after December 30. Events January–March * January 15 – The University of Notre Dame, based in the city of the same name, receives ...

)

Deaths

* 12 May –

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

, explorer (born

1757 Events January–March * January 2 – Seven Years' War: The British Army, under the command of Robert Clive, captures Calcutta, India. * January 5 – Robert-François Damiens makes an unsuccessful assassination attempt ...

) * 19 May – William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, dueller (born

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as ...

) * 19 June – William Jennens, financier, richest commoner in England (born

1701 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Tuesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 12 – Parts of the Netherlands adopt the Gregorian cal ...

) * 25 June –

Thomas Sandby Thomas Sandby (1721 – 25 June 1798) was an English draughtsman, watercolour artist, architect and teacher. In 1743 he was appointed private secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, who later appointed him Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park, wh ...

, cartographer and architect (born

1721 Events January–March * January 6 – The Committee of Inquiry on the collapse of the South Sea Company in Great Britain publishes its findings. * February 5 – James Stanhope, chief minister of Great Britain, dies a day after ...

)

References

{{Year in Europe, 1798 Years in Great Britain 1798 by country 1798 in Europe 1790s in Great Britain