1749 in Great Britain
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Events from the year 1749 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
Events
- February – Admiralty revises the command structure of the Royal Navy and issues new Fighting Instructions.[1]
- 1 February – two princes of Anamaboe who have been taken prisoners and made slaves are presented to King George II of Great Britain. The British government has paid their ransoms and they are placed in the care of the Earl of Halifax.[2]
- 17 March – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Solomon first performed.[3]
- 12 April – the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, designed by James Gibbs, is opened as a library.[4]
- 27 April – the first official performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks finishes early due to the outbreak of fire. The piece was composed by Handel for a display in London's Green Park to commemorate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle which ended the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748.[3]
- 9 July – British settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia is founded.
- 12 September – the first recorded game of baseball is played, by Frederick, Prince of Wales, at Kingston upon Thames.[5]
Undated
- Henry Fielding becomes magistrate at Bow Street, and first enlists the help of the Bow Street Runners.[1]
Publications
- The second part of John Cleland's erotic novel Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) is published in February. The author is released from debtor's prison in March. The Church of England asks the Secretary of State to "stop the progress of this vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners." In November, Cleland is arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects."
- Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke's Idea of a Patriot King.[3]
- Henry Fielding's picaresque comic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling is published on 28 February.[3]
- Sarah Fielding's novel The Governess, or The Little Female Academy, generally seen as the first school story.[6]
Births
- 24 January – Charles James Fox, politician (died 1806)
- 29 January – William Sharp, engraver (died 1824)
- 17 May – Edward Jenner, physician (died 1823)
Deaths
- 18 June – Ambrose Philips, poet (born 1675)
- 3 July – William Jones, mathematician (born 1675)
- 14 September – Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, soldier and politician (born 1675)
References
- ^ a b Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 219–220. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ "February 1st". Chambers' Book of Days. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ^ a b c d Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 313. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Guest, Ivor (1991). Dr. John Radcliffe and His Trust. London: The Radcliffe Trust. p. 149. ISBN 0-9502482-1-5.
- ^ Whitehall Evening Post 1749-09-19. "Baseball: Prince of Wales played 'first' game in Surrey". BBC News. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ Foster, Shirley; Simons, Judy (1995). What Katy read: feminist re-readings of "classic" stories for girls. University of Iowa Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-87745-493-0.