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 1778 in Great Britain: |
| Other years |
| 1776 | 1777 | 1778 | 1779 | 1780 |
| Sport |
| 1778 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1778 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Contents |
Incumbents
- Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom
- Prime Minister - Frederick North, Lord North, Tory
Events
- 18 January - Third Pacific expedition of James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, first view O'ahu then Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands."[1]
- 6 February - American Revolutionary War: Britain declares war on France, for aiding the Americans.[2]
- 16 June - American Revolutionary War: Spain declares war on Britain.[2]
- 28 June - American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Monmouth takes place in Monmouth, New Jersey.[3]
- 3 July - American Revolutionary War: the Wyoming Valley battle and massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a defeat of the local colonists.
- 10 July - American Revolutionary War: Louis XVI of France declares war on Great Britain.
- 27 July - American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant - British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
- September - First St. Leger Stakes horse race held.[2]
- 26 November - In the Hawaiian Islands, James Cook becomes the first European to discover Maui.
Ongoing
- American Revolutionary War 1775–1783
- First Anglo-Maratha War 1777–1783
Undated
- Joseph Bramah invents a type of flush toilet.[3]
- The HMS Victory is commissioned and remains in active service for the following 32 years, most notably at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).[4]
Births
- 19 March - Edward Pakenham, general (died 1815)
- 10 April - William Hazlitt, essayist (died 1830)
- 18 May
- Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, politician (died 1854)
- Andrew Ure, doctor and writer (died 1857)
- 7 June - Beau Brummell, arbiter of fashion (died 1840)
- 19 September - Henry Peter Brougham, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (died 1868)
- 25 November - Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, Christian writer (died 1856)
- 17 December - Humphry Davy, chemist (died 1829)
- 18 December - Joseph Grimaldi, clown (died 1837)
Deaths
- 5 March - Thomas Augustine Arne, composer (b. 1710)
- 22 April - James Hargreaves, weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b. 1720)
- 11 May - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
- 16 May - Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, diplomat and politician (b. 1718)
- 12 August - Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, general and politician (b. 1714)
References
- ^ (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ a b c Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 227-228. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ a b Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 331–332. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Icons, a portrait of England 1750-1800. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
See also
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