1696 in England
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Events from the year 1696 in England.
Incumbents
Events
- January
- Great Recoinage of 1696: The Parliament of England passes the Recoinage Act.
- Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
- 27 January – the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly HMS Sovereign of the Seas, 1638) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.
- 15 February – a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.[1]
- March – Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.[2]
- April – window tax introduced.[2]
- May – Great Recoinage of 1696: Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.[2]
- 21 November – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.[2]
Undated
- Board of Trade and Plantations established.[3]
- Main façades of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire completed in a pioneering English Baroque style.
Publications
- Edward Lloyd (coffeehouse owner) probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.
- Poets Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady publish New Version of the Psalms of David ("Tate and Brady"), a metrical psalter.
Births
- 27 June – William Pepperrell, colonial soldier (died 1759)
- 14 July – William Oldys, antiquarian and bibliographer (died 1761)
- 12 August – Maurice Greene, composer (died 1755)
- 13 October – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, statesman and writer (died 1743)
- 22 December – James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony (died 1785)
Deaths
- 18 March – Robert Charnock, conspirator (born c. 1663)
- 30 April – Robert Plot, naturalist (born 1640)
- 30 May – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the Admiralty (born 1638)
References
- ^ Moody, T. W.; et al., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821744-2.
- ^ a b c d Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 200–201. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 287. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.