1746 in Great Britain

1746 in Great Britain:

Other years

1744 | 1745 | 1746 | 1747 | 1748

Countries of the United Kingdom

Scotland

Sport

1746 English cricket season

Events from the year 1746 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George II
• Prime Minister – Henry Pelham (Whig)^[1]

Events

• 8 January – Jacobite rising: Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "The Young Pretender") occupies Stirling.
• 17 January – Government forces suffer a defeat to Jacobite forces at the Battle of Falkirk.^[2]
• 10 February – William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath forms the Short-lived Ministry following the resignation of Henry Pelham. It lasts a mere two days.
• 21 February – Jacobite rising: Siege of Inverness ends with government forces surrendering Fort George to the Jacobite army.^[3]
• 16 April – Battle of Culloden brings an end to the Jacobite rising.^[4] Culloden is the last pitched battle fought on British soil. George Frideric Handel composes the oratorio Judas Maccabaeus to commemorate the Duke of Cumberland's victory.^[5]
• 3 May – "Battle of Loch nan Uamh": Royal Navy sloops attack French privateers which have landed money (and brandy) intended to aid the Jacobite cause in the Sound of Arisaig.^[6]
• 6 May – William Pitt the Elder appointed Paymaster of the Forces and Henry Fox appointed Secretary at War.^[5]
• 18 June – Samuel Johnson is contracted to write his A Dictionary of the English Language.
• 27 June – Charles Edward Stuart escapes to the Isle of Skye with the aid of Flora MacDonald.^[4]
• 30 July – Francis Towneley, with fellow members of the Jacobite Manchester Regiment convicted of treason, is hanged, drawn and quartered at Kennington Common in London; the heads of two of them become the last to be publicly displayed on Temple Bar, London.
• 1 August – wearing of the kilt is banned in Scotland by the Dress Act.
• 18 August – two of the four rebellious Scottish lords, the Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerinoch, are beheaded in the Tower (Lord Lovat executed 1747).
• 20 September – Charles Edward Stuart escapes to France with the aid of Flora MacDonald.^[5]
• 21 September – in India, Madras is captured by the French led by Joseph François Dupleix.^[5]

Undated

• William Cookworthy discovers kaolin in Cornwall.^[7]
• An act to enforce the execution of an act of this session of parliament, for granting to his Majesty several rates and duties upon houses, windows, or lights includes a general provision confirming that all statutes naming England apply equally to Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed.^[8]

Births

• 3 June – James Hook, composer (died 1827)
• 28 September – William Jones, philologist (died 1794)
• 22 October – James Northcote, painter (died 1831)
• Isaac Swainson, botanist (died 1812)

Deaths

• 4 February – Robert Blair, poet (born 1699)
• 14 June – Colin Maclaurin, mathematician (born 1698)
• 2 July – Thomas Baker, antiquarian (born 1656)
• 2 October – Josiah Burchett, Secretary of the Admiralty (born c. 1666)
• 6 December – Lady Grizel Baillie, poet (born 1665)
• 8 December – Charles Radclyffe, politician (born 1693)

See also

• 1746 in Wales

References