1796 in Great Britain
Encyclopedia
.svg.png) 1796 in Great Britain: |
| Other years |
| 1794 1794 in Great Britain Events from the year 1794 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 23 March - British troops capture Martinique from the French.... | 1795 1795 in Great Britain Events from the year 1795 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* March - English Benedictine monks expelled from the Priory of St... | 1796 | 1797 1797 in Great Britain Events from the year 1797 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 3 January - Three of the stones making up Stonehenge fall due to heavy frosts.... | 1798 1798 in Great Britain Events from the year 1798 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* May–September - Irish Rebellion: Irish rebels stage an uprising against British rule.... |
| Sport |
| 1796 English cricket season 1796 English cricket season In the 1796 English cricket season, the Montpelier town club became prominent and played a number of matches over the next few seasons against MCC... |
Events from the year 1796 in Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
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Incumbents
- Monarch - King George IIIGeorge III of the United KingdomGeorge III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
- Prime Minister - William Pitt the YoungerWilliam Pitt the YoungerWilliam Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
, ToryToryToryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
Events
- 1 February - Protests over the price of bread culminate in Queen Charlotte being hit by a stone as she and King George return from a trip to the theatre.
- 16 February - Britain takes control of Ceylon from the DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. - 14 May - Edward JennerEdward JennerEdward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...
successfully administers the smallpox vaccineSmallpox vaccineThe smallpox vaccine was the first successful vaccine to be developed. The process of vaccination was discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796, who acted upon his observation that milkmaids who caught the cowpox virus did not catch smallpox...
to James PhippsJames PhippsJames Phipps , as an eight year old boy, was the first person given the cowpox vaccine by Edward Jenner.Edward Jenner , a British rural physician, was variolated as a boy. He had suffered greatly from the ordeal but survived fully protected from smallpox...
. - 21 June - Explorer Mungo ParkMungo Park (explorer)Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. He was credited as being the first Westerner to encounter the Niger River.-Early life:...
becomes the first European to reach the Niger RiverNiger RiverThe Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
. - 9 August - Opening to traffic of Wearmouth Bridge, designed by Thomas PaineThomas PaineThomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
in cast ironCast ironCast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
. Its span of 237 feet (72 m) makes it the world's longest single-span vehicular bridge extant at this date. - 19 August - By the Second Treaty of San IldefonsoSecond Treaty of San IldefonsoThe Second Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on August 19, 1796 between the Spanish Empire and the First French Republic. Based on the terms of the agreement, France and Spain would become allies and combine their forces against the British Empire.-See also:...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
form an alliance against Great Britain. - 5 October - Anglo-Spanish WarAnglo-Spanish War (1796–1808)The Anglo-Spanish War between 1796 and 1802, and again from 1804 to 1808, was a part of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The war ended in a alliance....
: Spain declares war on Britain. - Summer - RibchesterRibchesterRibchester is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston.The village has a long history with evidence of Bronze Age beginnings...
Hoard and helmetRibchester HelmetThe Ribchester Helmet is a Roman bronze ceremonial helmet dating to between the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD, which is now on display at the British Museum. It was found in Ribchester, Lancashire, England in 1796, as part of the Ribchester Hoard...
found in LancashireLancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
. - undated - Last resident family leaves St Ninian's IsleSt Ninian's IsleSt Ninian's Isle is a small island connected by the largest active tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland, in Scotland. The tombolo, known locally as an ayre, from the Old Norse for 'gravel bank', is 500 metres long. Except at extremely high tides, the sand is above...
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Publications
- Fanny BurneyFanny BurneyFrances Burney , also known as Fanny Burney and, after her marriage, as Madame d’Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born in Lynn Regis, now King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr Charles Burney and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney...
's novel Camilla: or, A Picture of YouthCamilla (Burney novel)Camilla, subtitled A Picture of Youth, is a novel by Frances Burney, first published in 1796. Camilla deals with the matrimonial concerns of a group of young people: Camilla Tyrold and her sisters, the sweet tempered Lavinia and the deformed, but extremely kind, Eugenia, and their cousin, the...
. - Mary HaysMary HaysMary Hays was an English novelist and feminist.- Early years :Mary Hays was born in Southwark, London on Oct. 13, 1759. Almost nothing is known of her first 17 years. In 1779 she fell in love with John Eccles who lived on Gainsford Street, where she also lived. Their parents opposed the match but...
' epistolatory novel Memoirs of Emma CourtneyMemoirs of Emma CourtneyMemoirs of Emma Courtney is an epistolary novel by Mary Hays, first published in 1796. The novel is partly autobiographical and based on the author's own unrequited love for William Frend . Mary Hay's relationship with William Godwin is reflected through her eponymous heroine's philosophical...
. - Samuel IrelandSamuel IrelandSamuel Ireland , British author and engraver, is best remembered today as the chief victim of the Ireland Shakespeare forgeries created by his son, William Henry Ireland.-Early life:...
publishes a collection of Shakespearean forgeriesIreland Shakespeare ForgeriesThe Ireland Shakespeare forgeries were a cause célèbre in 1790s London, when author and engraver Samuel Ireland announced the discovery of a treasure-trove of Shakespearean manuscripts by his son William Henry Ireland. Among them were the manuscripts of four plays, two of them previously unknown...
in his Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments Under the Hand and Seal of William Shakespeare (dated this year but actually produced on 24 December 1795). Edmond MaloneEdmond MaloneEdmond Malone was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare.Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first political and then more congenial literary pursuits. He went to London, where he...
exposes them in his An Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments on 31 March, and the forged Shakespearean play, Vortigern and RowenaVortigern and RowenaVortigern and Rowena, or Vortigern, an Historical Play is a play that was touted as a newly discovered work by William Shakespeare when it first appeared in 1796. It was eventually revealed to be a Shakespeare hoax, the product of prominent forger William Henry Ireland. Its first and only...
, is able to sustain just a single performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury LaneTheatre Royal, Drury LaneThe Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, London, on 2 April. Ireland's son, William HenryWilliam Henry IrelandWilliam Henry Ireland was an English forger of would-be Shakespearean documents and plays. He is less well-known as a poet, writer of gothic novels and histories...
, confesses to the fraud in An Authentic Account of the Shakespearean Manuscripts.
Births
- 25 January - William MacGillivrayWilliam MacGillivrayWilliam MacGillivray FRSE MWS was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist.MacGillivray was born in Old Aberdeen and brought up on the island of Harris. He returned to Aberdeen where he attended King's College, graduating MA in 1815. He studied medicine, but did not complete the course...
, naturalist and ornithologist (died 18521852 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1852 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Earl Russell, Liberal , Earl of Derby, Conservative , Earl of Aberdeen, Peelite-Events:...
) - 17 February - Frederick William BeecheyFrederick William BeecheyFrederick William Beechey was an English naval officer and geographer. He was the son of Sir William Beechey, RA., and was born in London.-Career:...
, explorer (died 18561856 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1856 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord Palmerston, Liberal-Events:...
) - 28 February - Pablo FanquePablo FanquePablo Fanque was the first black circus proprietor in Britain. His circus, in which he himself was a performer, was the most popular circus in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a period that is regarded as the golden age of the circus...
, black circus owner, popularized by The Beatles in song (died 18711871 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
) - 27 June - George Vincent, painter (died 18311831 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1831 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King William IV*Prime Minister - Earl Grey, Whig-Events:* 7 March - Royal Astronomical Society receives its Royal Charter....
) - 13 September - James Finlay Weir JohnstonJames Finlay Weir JohnstonJames Finlay Weir Johnston, FRS was a Scottish agricultural chemist.Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Johnston was educated at University of Glasgow, acquired a fortune by his marriage in 1830, and devoted himself to studying chemistry. He visited the chemist J. J...
, chemist (died 18551855 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1855 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch — Queen Victoria* Prime Minister — Earl of Aberdeen, Peelite , Viscount Palmerston, Liberal-Events:...
) - 14 September - Woodbine ParishWoodbine ParishSir Woodbine Parish KCH was a British diplomat, traveller and scientist.Educated at Eton College, he took up his first diplomatic post in 1814, and was involved in events immediately following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo...
, diplomat (died 18821882 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1882 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 25 January — London Chamber of Commerce founded....
) - 22 August - Baden PowellBaden Powell (mathematician)Baden Powell, MA, FRS, FRGS was an English mathematician and Church of England priest. He was also prominent as a liberal theologian who put forward advanced ideas about evolution. He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1827 to 1860...
, mathematician (died 18601860 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1860 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Viscount Palmerston, Liberal-Events:* 1 January — Cray Wanderers Football Club formed in St Mary Cray, north Kent....
) - 17 October - James MathesonJames MathesonSir James Nicolas Sutherland Matheson, 1st Baronet , born in Shiness, Lairg, Sutherland, Scotland, was the son of Captain Donald Matheson, a Scottish trader in India...
, Member of Parliament (died 18781878 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1878 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:* January — Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London....
)
Unknown dates
- Henry FosterHenry Foster (scientist)Henry Foster was a British naval officer who took part in expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic and made various notable scientific observations....
, scientist (died 18311831 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1831 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King William IV*Prime Minister - Earl Grey, Whig-Events:* 7 March - Royal Astronomical Society receives its Royal Charter....
) - William MarsdenWilliam Marsden (surgeon)William Marsden was an English surgeon whose main achievements are the founding of two presently well-known hospitals, the Royal Free Hospital and the Royal Marsden Hospital ....
, surgeon (died 18671867 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1867 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Earl of Derby, Conservative-Events:* 5 March — Fenian rising in Ireland....
)
Deaths
- 12 February - John HamiltonJohn Hamilton (MP)John Hamilton was a Scottish MP in the British Parliament. He was the younger son of John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair and changed his name to Hamilton in 1736 when he inherited the estate of Bargeny on the death of the 4th Lord Bargeny.He represented Wigtown Burghs 1754-1761 and 1762-1768...
, Member of Parliament (born 17151715 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1715 in Great Britain.-Events:* February to March - General election results in victory for the Whigs.* 27 March - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke flees to France. His part in secret negotiations with France leading to the Treaty of Utrecht has cast suspicion on him in...
) - 27 May - Lord Charles TownshendLord Charles Townshend (1769-1796)Lord Charles Patrick Thomas Townshend was a British Member of Parliament.Townshend was the fourth son of Field Marshal George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, and his first wife Charlotte Compton, 15th Baroness Ferrers of Chartley. George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend, and Lord John...
, Member of Parliament (born 17691769 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1769 in Great Britain. This year sees several key events in the Industrial Revolution.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Duke of Grafton, Whig-Events:...
) - 16 July - George Howard, Army officer and politician (born 17181718 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1718 in Great Britain.-Events:* 7 January - Occasional Conformity Act repealed.* 15 May - James Puckle patents the Puckle Gun, an early form of machine gun....
) - 21 July - Robert BurnsRobert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
, national poet of Scotland (born 17591759 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1759 in Great Britain. The year was dubbed an Annus Mirabilis due to a succession of military victories in the Seven Years' War against French-led opponents.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II...
) - 1 August - Robert PigotRobert PigotSir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet was a British Army officer during the American Revolutionary War.Robert Pigot was born in London, England in 1720. In 1758 he was Major in the 10th Regiment of Foot. In 1764 he was Lieutenant Colonel...
, Army officer and Member of Parliament (born 17201720 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1720 in Great Britain.-Events:* 17 February - Treaty of Den Haag signed between Britain, France, Austria, the Dutch Republic and Spain ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance....
) - 6 August - David Allan, painter (born 17441744 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1744 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Henry Pelham, Whig-Events:* 22 February–23 February - War of the Austrian Succession: British fleet defeated by a Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Toulon.* 27 February - A planned French invasion...
) - 1 September - David Murray, 2nd Earl of MansfieldDavid Murray, 2nd Earl of MansfieldDavid Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield KT, PC , known from 1748 to 1793 as The Viscount Stormont, was a British politician. He succeeded to both the Mansfield and Stormont lines of the Murray family, inheriting two titles and two fortunes.-Life:Mansfield was the son of David Murray, 6th Viscount of...
, politician (born 17271727 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1727 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George I , King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* February - Spain besieges Gibraltar in order to recapture the territory....
) - October - Thomas ChristieThomas ChristieThomas Christie was a radical political writer during the late 18th century. He was one of the two original founders of the important liberal journal, the Analytical Review....
, writer (born 17611761 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1761 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Duke of Newcastle, Tory-Events:* 16 January - In India, general Sir Eyre Coote captures Pondicherry from the French....
) - 12 December - William WilsonWilliam Wilson (1720-1796)William Wilson was a politician in Great Britain, and Member of Parliament for Ilchester in Somerset from 1761 to 1768.-References:...
, Member of Parliament (born 17201720 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1720 in Great Britain.-Events:* 17 February - Treaty of Den Haag signed between Britain, France, Austria, the Dutch Republic and Spain ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance....
) - George Dixon, sea captain and explorer (born 17481748 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1748 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Henry Pelham, Whig-Events:* 28 March - A fire in the City of London causes over a million pounds worth of damage....
)