1737 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1737 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig

Events

* 28 May - The planet Venus passed in front of Mercury. The event is witnessed during the evening hours by the amateur astronomer John Bevis at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. As of 2006, it is still the only such planet/planet occultation that has been directly observed.
* 10 October - King George II expels Frederick, Prince of Wales from the royal court for criticising the government.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 215-216|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]

Undated

* The Licensing Act 1737 requires plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for censorship and reduces the number of theatres.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8]
* John Potter enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
* Construction of the Radcliffe Camera library at Oxford University begins.

Births

* 29 January - Thomas Paine, pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical and intellectual (died 1809, New York)
* 27 April - Edward Gibbon, historian (died 1794)
* 2 May - William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister (died 1805)
* 11 August - Joseph Nollekens, sculptor (died 1823)
* 14 August - Charles Hutton, mathematician (died 1823)
* 1 October - Charles Towneley, antiquary (died 1805)
* "date unknown" - Frances Abington, actress (died 1815)

Deaths

* 24 January - William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1657)
* 29 January - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, soldier (born 1666)
* 1 February - Hew Dalrymple, Lord North Berwick, Lord President of the Court of Session (born 1652)
* 14 February - Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor (born 1685)
* 4 May - Eustace Budgell, writer (born 1686)
* 27 September - John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, privy councillor (born 1680)
* 20 November - Caroline of Ansbach, queen of George II of Great Britain (born 1683, Ansbach)
* 11 December - John Strype, historian and biographer (born 1643)
* 27 December - William Bowyer, printer (born 1663)

References

ee also