1787 in Great Britain
Great Britain-related events during the year of 1787
1787 in Great Britain: |
Other years |
1785 | 1786 | 1787 | 1788 | 1789 |
Countries of the United Kingdom |
Scotland |
Sport |
1787 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1787 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
- Monarch – George III
- Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger (Tory)[1]
Events
- 1 January – George III writes his first letter to Arthur Young's Annals of Agriculture, under the name of Ralph Robinson of Windsor.
- 11 January – William Herschel discovers the Uranian moons Titania and Oberon.[2]
- 19 February – William Herschel first uses the 40-foot telescope under construction for him at Slough.
- 13 May – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth with the eleven ships of the First Fleet carrying around 700 convicts and at least 300 crew and guards to establish a penal colony in Australia.[3]
- 22 May – Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade with support from John Wesley, Josiah Wedgwood and others.[3]
- 31 May – the original Lord's Cricket Ground holds its first cricket match;[4] Marylebone Cricket Club founded.[5]
- July – Principal Triangulation of Great Britain begun under the direction of General William Roy from Hounslow Heath; in the autumn it is extended to France.[6]
- Summer – Calton Weavers Strike in the west of Scotland. On 3 September, six of the Calton weavers are killed by troops.
- 23 December – Captain William Bligh sets sail from Spithead for Tahiti on HMS Bounty.[4]
Publications
- Freed slave Ottobah Cugoano publishes Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species.
- The Scots Musical Museum begins publication.
Births
- 7 January – Patrick Nasmyth, Scottish landscape painter (died 1831)
- 10 February – William Bradley, Britain's tallest ever man (died 1820)
- 17 February – George Mogridge (Old Humphrey), miscellaneous writer and poet (died 1854)
- 10 March – William Etty, painter, especially of nudes (died 1849)
- 28 March – Claudius Rich, archaeologist and anthropologist (died 1821)
- 7 June – William Conybeare, geologist (died 1857)
- 28 June – Harry Smith, military commander (died 1860)
- 24 July – William Ward, cricketer (died 1849)
- 13 September – John Adamson, antiquary and expert on Portuguese (died 1855)
- 13 October – William Brockedon, painter (died 1854)
- 4 November – Edmund Kean, actor (died 1833)
- 21 November – Bryan Procter (Barry Cornwall), poet (died 1874)
- 22 November – Copley Fielding, watercolour landscape painter (died 1855)
- 16 December – Mary Russell Mitford, novelist and dramatist (died 1855)
- Ignatius Bonomi, architect (died 1870)
- John Dobson, architect (died 1865)
- Harriet Gouldsmith, landscape painter and etcher (died 1863)
- Approximate date – Ikey Solomon, receiver of stolen goods (died 1850 in Australia)
Deaths
- 1 April – Floyer Sydenham, classical scholar (born 1710)
- 2 April – Thomas Gage, General (born 1719)
- 10 May – William Watson, physician and scientist (born 1715)
- 25 July – Arthur Devis, portrait painter (born 1712)
- 3 November – Robert Lowth, bishop and grammarian (born 1710)
- 18 December
- Francis William Drake, British admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (born 1724)
- Soame Jenyns, English writer (born 1704)
See also
References
- ^ "History of William Pitt 'The Younger' - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ a b "BBC History British History Timeline". Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ a b Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 339–340. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 230–231. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Hewitt, Rachel (2011) [2010]. Map of a Nation: a biography of the Ordnance Survey. London: Granta. pp. 84–6. ISBN 978-1-84708-254-1.
- v
- t
- e
Years in Great Britain (1707–1800) → 1801–present
- 1707
- 1708
- 1709
- 1710
- 1711
- 1712
- 1713
- 1714
- 1715
- 1716
- 1717
- 1718
- 1719
- 1720
- 1721
- 1722
- 1723
- 1724
- 1725
- 1726
- 1727
- 1728
- 1729
- 1730
- 1731
- 1732
- 1733
- 1734
- 1735
- 1736
- 1737
- 1738
- 1739
- 1740
- 1741
- 1742
- 1743
- 1744
- 1745
- 1746
- 1747
- 1748
- 1749
- 1750
- 1751
- 1752
- 1753
- 1754
- 1755
- 1756
- 1757
- 1758
- 1759
- 1760
- 1761
- 1762
- 1763
- 1764
- 1765
- 1766
- 1767
- 1768
- 1769
- 1770
- 1771
- 1772
- 1773
- 1774
- 1775
- 1776
- 1777
- 1778
- 1779
- 1780
- 1781
- 1782
- 1783
- 1784
- 1785
- 1786
- 1787
- 1788
- 1789
- 1790
- 1791
- 1792
- 1793
- 1794
- 1795
- 1796
- 1797
- 1798
- 1799
- 1800