1771 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1771 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

*Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Frederick North, Lord North, Tory

Events

* 22 January - Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=326–327]
* 8 August - First Recorded Town Cricket Match played at Horsham. Horsham Cricket Club formed here.
* 16 November - During the night the River Tyne floods, destroying many bridges and killing several people; the main bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne is not completed until 1781.

Undated

* Joseph Priestley's discovery of Oxygen as a chemical element.
* Industrial Revolution: Richard Arkwright opens the first cotton mill at Cromford in Derbyshire. [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml|title=BBC History British History Timeline|accessdate=2007-09-03]

Ongoing events

* Captain James Cook's first voyage (1768-1771)

Publications

* Encyclopædia Britannica first published.
* Henry Mackenzie's novel "The Man of Feeling".
* Tobias Smollett's novel "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker".

Births

* 5 February - John Lingard, Roman Catholic priest (died 1851)
* 13 April - Richard Trevithick, inventor (died 1833)
* 7 July - John Britton, antiquary and topographer (died 1857)
* 15 August - Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet (died 1832)
* 11 September - Mungo Park, explorer (died 1806)
* 25 December - Dorothy Wordsworth, poet and diarist (died 1855)

Deaths

* 5 January - John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, statesman (born 1710)
* 21 May - Christopher Smart, poet (born 1722)
* 8 June - George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax,statesman (born 1716)
* 30 July - Thomas Gray, writer (born 1716)
* 17 September - Tobias Smollett, novelist (born 1721)
* 6 November - John Bevis, English physician and astronomer (born 1695)

References

ee also