1681 in England
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 1681 in England: |
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| 1679 1679 in England Events from the year 1679 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 24 January - King Charles II dismisses the Cavalier Parliament over the Exclusion crisis.* 6 March - Charles II's third Parliament assembles and is led by the Privy Council Ministry.... | 1680 1680 in England Events from the year 1680 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 November - A second Exclusion Bill is proposed to exclude the Catholic James, Duke of York from inheriting the throne.* 15 November - The Exclusion Bill is defeated in the House of Lords.... | 1681 | 1682 1682 in England Events from the year 1682 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 11 March - The Royal Hospital Chelsea for old soldiers is founded in London.* 25 August - Following the Bideford witch trial, three women become the last known to be hanged for witchcraft in England, at Exeter.* September - Halley's... | 1683 1683 in England Events from the year 1683 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Charles II gives orders establishing the dates on which he will perform the "Touching the King's Evil" ceremony.... |
Events from the year 1681 in the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
.
Events
- 18 January - 'Exclusion Bill ParliamentExclusion Bill ParliamentThe Exclusion Bill Parliament was a Parliament of England during the reign of Charles II of England, named after the long saga of the Exclusion Bill...
' dissolved. - 14 March - William PennWilliam PennWilliam Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
receives a royal charter to establish a sectarian colonyPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in the Americas. - 21 March–28 March - The Oxford ParliamentOxford Parliament (1681)An English Parliament assembled in the city of Oxford for one week from 21 March 1681 until 28 March 1681 during the reign of Charles II of England.Succeeding the Exclusion Bill Parliament, this was the fifth and last parliament of the King's reign. Both Houses of Parliament met and the King...
meets and debates the Exclusion BillExclusion BillThe Exclusion Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic...
. The Bill is rejected by the House of LordsHouse of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. - 1 July - Oliver PlunkettOliver PlunkettSaint Oliver Plunkett was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland....
, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, falsely convicted of treason, is hanged, drawn and quarteredHanged, drawn and quarteredTo be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...
at Tyburn, LondonTyburn, LondonTyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch in present-day London. It took its name from the Tyburn or Teo Bourne 'boundary stream', a tributary of the River Thames which is now completely covered over between its source and its outfall into the...
, the last Catholic martyrMartyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
to die in England. - 2 July - Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury charged with treason, and imprisoned in the Tower of LondonTower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, but subsequently acquitted. - 22 December - King Charles II issues a warrant for the building of the Royal Hospital ChelseaRoyal Hospital ChelseaThe Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London, now the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a true hospital in the original sense of the word,...
for wounded and retired soldiers.
Publications
- John DrydenJohn DrydenJohn Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
's political satire Absalom and AchitophelAbsalom and AchitophelAbsalom and Achitophel is a landmark poetic political satire by John Dryden. The poem exists in two parts. The first part, of 1681, is undoubtedly by Dryden...
. - Nahum TateNahum TateNahum Tate was an Irish poet, hymnist, and lyricist, who became England's poet laureate in 1692.-Life:Nahum Teate came from a family of Puritan clergymen...
's play The History of King LearThe History of King LearThe History of King Lear is an adaptation by Nahum Tate of William Shakespeare's King Lear. It first appeared in 1681, some seventy-five years after Shakespeare's version, and is believed to have replaced Shakespeare's version on the English stage in whole or in part until 1838.Unlike Shakespeare's...
, adapted from ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's King LearKing LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
with a happy ending (first performed this year at the Duke's Theatre, London).
Births
- 18 March - Esther JohnsonEsther JohnsonEsther Johnson was the English friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella".Newfoundland-born author Trudy J. Morgan-Cole wrote a novel in 2006 detailing fictionalized portions of the Swift/Johnson friendship in The Violent Friendship of Esther Johnson...
, friend of Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
(died 17281728 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1728 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 29 January - First performance of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.* March - Spain ends its siege of Gibraltar....
) - 28 September - Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd BaronetSir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd BaronetSir Richard Vyvyan of Trelowarren, 3rd Baronet was a prominent Jacobite.Richard Vyvyan was born in Colan, Cornwall...
, Cornish Jacobite (died 17361736 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1736 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 14 April - Porteous Riots in Edinburgh...
) - 24 November - Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of HoldernessRobert Darcy, 3rd Earl of HoldernessRobert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holderness, PC was a British peer and politician.Darcy was the second son of John Darcy, Lord Conyers, himself the eldest son of Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holderness. He was styled Lord Conyers when his father died in 1688 and later inherited his grandfather's earldom...
, politician (died 17211721 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1721 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George I of Great Britain*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:...
) - Barton BoothBarton BoothBarton Booth was one of the most famous dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century.Booth was from Lancashire and was educated at Westminster School, where his success in the Latin play Andria gave him an inclination for the stage...
, actor (died 17331733 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1733 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 23 January - First performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Orlando in London....
)
Deaths
- 28 January - Richard AllestreeRichard AllestreeRichard Allestree or Allestry was a Royalist churchman and provost of Eton College from 1665.-Life:The son of Robert Allestree, descended from an old Derbyshire family, he was born at Uppington in Shropshire. He was educated at Coventry and later at Christ Church, Oxford, under Richard Busby...
, royalist churchman (born 1619) - 5 March - Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd BaronetSir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd BaronetSir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet , of Trelawny in Cornwall, was an English Member of Parliament.He was the fourth child and eldest son of Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet, High Sheriff of Cornwall, and succeeded to the baronetcy on 16 February 1664.He entered Parliament in 1660 as member for East...
, Member of Parliament (born c.1623) - 14 April - Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd BaronetSir Thomas Littleton, 2nd BaronetSir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1681....
, Member of Parliament (born c.1621) - 18 April - John LoosemoreJohn LoosemoreJohn Loosemore was an English builder of pipe organs. He is best known for his organ at Exeter Cathedral in Devon, which he completed in 1665.John Loosemore was born in Barnstaple where he was baptized on August 25, 1616...
, pipe organ builder (born 1616) - 9 June - William LillyWilliam LillyWilliam Lilly , was an English astrologer famed during his time. Lilly was particularly adept at interpreting the astrological charts drawn up for horary questions, as this was his speciality....
, astrologer and occultist (born 1602) - 15 December - James Compton, 3rd Earl of NorthamptonJames Compton, 3rd Earl of NorthamptonJames Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton , known as Lord Compton from 1630 to 1643, was an English peer, soldier and politician....
, soldier and politician (born 1622) - 22 December - Richard AlleineRichard AlleineRichard Alleine was an English Puritan divine.He was born at Ditcheat, Somerset, where his father was rector. He was a younger brother of William Alleine, the saintly vicar of Blandford...
, Puritan clergyman (born 1611) - Hezekiah BurtonHezekiah Burton-Life:He was educated in Sutton-on-Lound and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow.He was an associate of a number of intellectual figures of the day, in particular Richard Cumberland whose De legibus naturae he edited and to which he contributed an Address to the Reader. He is...
, theologian (born 1632) - Elizabeth KneppElizabeth KneppElizabeth Knepp or Knipp was a British actress, singer, and dancer. The earliest theatrical reference to Knepp is from 1664, as being intended by Thomas Killigrew to play the part of Lusetta in his play Thomaso. This means that she was probably in his troupe, the King's Company, by that time...
, actress (year of birth unknown) - William WalwynWilliam WalwynWilliam Walwyn was an English pamphleteer, a Leveller and a medical practitioner.Walwyn was a silkman in London who took the parliamentary side in the English Civil War. He advocated religious toleration and emerged as a leader of the Levellers in 1647 which led to his imprisonment in 1649...
, Leveller (born c. 1600) - John WatlingJohn WatlingJohn, or George, Watling was a 17th century English buccaneer. It was said that he would never plunder on the Sabbath and refused even to allow his crew to play cards on this holy day....
, buccaneer (year of birth unknown)