1779 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1779 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

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

Events

* 9 January - First Anglo-Maratha War: British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all terrorities acquired since 1773.
* 11 February - Admiral Keppel acquitted of charges of misconduct brought against him by Sir Hugh Palliser. [cite web|url=http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/feb/11.htm|title=Chambers' Book of Days, February 11th|accessdate=2008-06-06]
* 14 February - Captain James Cook dies on the Sandwich Islands on his third and last voyage.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 23 February–25 February - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Vincennes.
* 3 March - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Briar Creek.
* 23 March - Astronomer Edward Pigott discovers the Black Eye Galaxy. [cite web|url=http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/Bios/pigott.html|title=Edward Pigott (1753 - June 27, 1825) seds.org|accessdate=2007-10-13]
* 29 March (– 12 May 1780): American Revolutionary War: Siege of Charleston by British forces.
* May - Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine, now the oldest working engine in the world, is brought into service.
* 16 June - American Revolutionary War: Spain declares war on 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=332–333]
* 20 June - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Stono Ferry.
* 6 July - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Grenada fought between British and French navies.
* 24 June - American Revolutionary War: Start of the Great Siege of Gibraltar (fourteenth and last military siege). This was an action by French and Spanish forces to wrest control of Gibraltar from the established British Garrison. The garrison, led by George Augustus Eliott, later 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, survived all attacks and a blockade of supplies.
* 15 July - American Revolutionary War: American forces led by General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, New York from British troops in the Battle of Stony Point.
* 22 July - American Revolutionary War: Goshen Militia destroyed by Joseph Brant's forces at the Battle of Minisink.
* 24 July - American Revolutionary War: the Penobscot Expedition ends in defeat for the Americans.
* September - American Revolutionary War: Spain captures Saint Vincent and Grenada from the British.
* 7 September - American Revolutionary War: Capture of Fort Bute by Spanish troops.
* 20 September–21 September - American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Baton Rouge Spanish forces defeat the British.
* 23 September - American Revolutionary War: The British ship "HMS Serapis" captured by the Americans.
* 18 October - American Revolutionary War: The Americans abandon the Siege of Savannah.

Undated

* Industrial Revolution:
** Spinning Mule invented by Samuel Crompton.
** The Iron Bridge is completed across the River Severn in Shropshire; the first all cast-iron bridge ever constructed. [cite web|url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1750-1800|title=Icons, a portrait of England 1750-1800|accessdate=2007-08-27]
* First running of the Epsom Oaks horse race.
* First performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play "The Critic" at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.
* Parliament passes the Penitentiary Act creating state prisons for the first time. [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml|title=BBC History British History Timeline|accessdate=2007-09-03]

Publications

* "Olney Hymns" by John Newton and William Cowper containg the first printed version of "Amazing Grace".
* "Dialogues concerning Natural Religion" by David Hume (posthumous).

Births

* 1 January - Edward Stanley, Bishop of Norwich (died 1849)
* 18 January - Peter Roget, lexicographer (died 1869)
* 20 February - Augustus Wall Callcott, landscape painter (died 1844)
* 14 March - William Ormsby-Gore, politician (died 1860)
* 15 March - William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1848)
* 2 May - John Galt, novelist (died 1839)
* 13 July - William Hedley, inventor and locomotive engineer (died 1843)
* 31 December - Horace Smith, author (died 1849)

Deaths

* 20 January - David Garrick, actor (born 1717)
* 22 January - Jeremiah Dixon, surveyor and astronomer (born 1733)
* 4 February - John Hamilton Mortimer, painter (born 1740)
* 7 February - William Boyce, composer (born 1711)
* 14 February - James Cook, naval captain and explorer (born 1728)
* 7 June - William Warburton, critic and Bishop of Gloucester (born 1698)
* 12 September - Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, politician (born 1711)
* 8 December - Nathan Alcock, physician (born 1707)
* 11 December - Bridget Bevan, philanthropist (born 1698)
* 23 December - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, admiral and politician (born 1724)
* "date unknown" - John Dalrymple, political writer (born 1734)

References

ee also