1780 in Great Britain
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Events from the year 1780 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
- Monarch – George III
- Prime Minister – Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)
- Parliament – 14th (until 1 September), 15th (starting 31 October)
Events
- 16 January – American Revolutionary War: British naval victory at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent led by Admiral Sir George Rodney over a Spanish squadron.
- 8 March – American Revolutionary War: the League of Armed Neutrality is formed by Russia with Denmark and Sweden to try to prevent the Royal Navy from searching neutral vessels for contraband.[1]
- 17 March – American Revolutionary War: the British San Juan Expedition sails from Jamaica under the command of Captains John Polson and Horatio Nelson to attack the Captaincy General of Guatemala (modern-day Nicaragua) in New Spain.
- 26 March – the British Gazette and Sunday Monitor, the first Sunday newspaper in Britain, begins publication.
- 29 April – American Revolutionary War: the Spanish commander of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception on the San Juan River in modern-day Nicaragua surrenders it to the San Juan Expedition.
- 4 May – the first Epsom Derby horse race is run on Epsom Downs, Surrey.[1] The victor is Diomed.[2]
- 12 May – American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.[1]
- 2 June – an Anti-Catholic mob led by Lord George Gordon marches on Parliament leading to the outbreak of the Gordon Riots in London.[2]
- 7 June – the Gordon Riots are ended by the intervention of troops. About 285 people are shot dead, with another 200 wounded and around 450 arrested.
- July – Robert Raikes initiates a Sunday school movement, in Gloucester.[3]
- 10 July – American Revolutionary War: 6,000 French troops led by Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau land in Newport, Rhode Island but are pinned down by the British.[1]
- September – outbreak of the Second Anglo-Mysore War in India.[1]
- 9 August – American Revolutionary War: Spanish admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova captures a British convoy totalling 55 vessels amongst Indiamen, frigates and other cargo ships off Cape St. Vincent.[4][5]
- 16 August – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden – the British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.[2]
- 2 October – American Revolutionary War: British spy John André is hanged by American forces.
- 7 October – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia defeat the Loyalist militia at the Battle of Kings Mountain.[1]
- 9–20 October – Great Hurricane of 1780 in the Caribbean: At least a dozen ships of the Royal Navy, stationed in the area because of the American Revolutionary War, are totally lost, many with all (or most) hands, and others damaged; hundreds of sailors are killed.
- 20 November – American Revolutionary War: Britain declares war on the Dutch Republic to stop it from joining the League of Armed Neutrality.[1]
- 30 November – American Revolutionary War: The San Juan Expedition is forced to withdraw.
- 20 December – outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.[6]
Undated
- The Duke of Richmond calls, in the House of Lords, for manhood suffrage and annual parliaments, which are rejected.
- William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, begins development of Buxton Crescent and the Devonshire Royal Hospital to promote Buxton in the Derbyshire Peak District as a spa resort.[7]
- The market town of Middleton, Dorset, is demolished by order of the landowner, Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, and the population moved to a new model village, Milton Abbas.
- Cherhill White Horse cut in Wiltshire.
- The original Craven Cottage is built by William Craven, 6th Baron Craven, in London.
Births
- 25 January – Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, clockmaker (died 1854)
- 25 February – John Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1862)
- 21 May – Elizabeth Fry, humanitarian (died 1845)
- 26 December – Mary Somerville, née Fairfax, Scottish-born mathematician (died 1872)
- Elizabeth Philpot, paleontologist (died 1857)
Deaths
- 14 February – William Blackstone, jurist (born 1723)
- 12 May – Herod, racehorse (born 1758)
- 18 May – Charles Hardy, governor of Newfoundland (born c. 1714)
- 3 June – Thomas Hutchinson, American-born last governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (born 1711)
- 4 September – John Fielding, magistrate and social reformer (born 1721)
- 2 October – John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War (executed) (born 1750)
- 17 October – William Cookworthy, chemist (born 1705)
- 26 November – Sir James Denham Steuart, 4th Baronet, economist (born 1712)
- 26 December – John Fothergill, physician (born 1712)
- date unknown – Thomas Dilworth, cleric and writer (year of birth unknown)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 333. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ a b c Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ Berry, George (1970). Discovering Schools. Tring: Shire Publications. ISBN 0-85263-091-3.
- ^ Hattendorf, John (2000). Naval Policy and Strategy in the Mediterranean: past, present, and future. Taylor & Francis. p. 37. ISBN 0-7146-8054-0.
- ^ Harbron, John (1988). Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy. Conway Maritime Press. p. 84. ISBN 0-85177-477-6.
- ^ Edler, Friedrich (2001) [1911]. The Dutch Republic and The American Revolution. Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific. pp. 163–166. ISBN 0-89875-269-8.
- ^ "Inside Buxton's dome". BBC Derbyshire. June 2003. Retrieved 2012-07-05.