1773 in Great Britain
Great Britain-related events during the year of 1773
![]() ![]() |
Other years |
1771 | 1772 | 1773 | 1774 | 1775 |
Countries of the United Kingdom |
Scotland |
Sport |
1773 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1773 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
- Monarch – George III
- Prime Minister – Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)[1]
Events
- 1 January – the words of the hymn "Amazing Grace" (written by the curate John Newton) are probably first used in a prayer meeting at Olney, Buckinghamshire.
- 17 January – second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in HMS Resolution (1771) becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.[2]
- March – General Turnpike Act regulates the system of road tolls.[3]
- 15 March – first performance of Oliver Goldsmith's comedy She Stoops to Conquer at the Covent Garden Theatre in London.[4]
- 27 April – Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
- 10 May – Tea Act comes into force.[5]
- 27 May
- Parliament passes an Act permitting assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield.
- Major landslip at Buildwas in the valley of the River Severn.
- May – England and Wales Precipitation totals 151.8 millimetres or 5.98 inches, the wettest May on record and the solitary still-standing record wet month from the eighteenth century.[6]
- 4 June – 1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole sets out from the Nore.
- 21 June – Parliament passes the Regulating Act creating the office of governor general, with an advising council, to exercise political authority over the territory under British East India Company rule in India.[5]
- June – John Harrison receives the Longitude prize for his invention of the first marine chronometer.[7]
- 1 July – Parliament passes the Inclosure Act.
- 16 December – a group of American colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, steal aboard ships of the East India Company and dump their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor in a protest against British tax policies that became known as the Boston Tea Party.[5]
Undated
- An informal Stock Exchange opens at Threadneedle Street in London.[3]
- First London catering establishment to offer curry, Norrish Street Coffee House.[8]
- Penny Post introduced in Edinburgh.[9]
Publications
- Scottish judge James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, begins publication of Of the Origin and Progress of Language, a contribution to evolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment.
- Hester Chapone publishes the conduct book for young women Letters on the Improvement of the Mind.
- The Jockey Club's first Race calendar, edited by James Weatherby.[3]
Births
- 14 January – William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst, ambassador to China and Governor-General of India (died 1857)
- 27 January – Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (died 1843)
- 6 April – James Mill, historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher (died 1836)
- 19 May – Arthur Aikin, chemist and mineralogist (died 1854)
- 13 June – Thomas Young, physicist (died 1829)
- 23 July – Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer and Governor of New South Wales (died 1860)
- 23 October – Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey, judge and literary critic (died 1850)
- 28 October – Simon Goodrich, mechanical engineer (died 1847)
- 6 November – Henry Hunt, politician (died 1835)
- 21 December – Robert Brown, botanist (died 1858)
- 27 December – George Cayley, aviation pioneer (died 1857)
Deaths
- 9 February – John Gregory, physician, medical writer and moralist (born 1724)
- 24 March – Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, statesman and man of letters (born 1694)
- 15 May – Alban Butler, Catholic priest and writer (born 1710)
- 23 July – George Edwards, naturalist (born 1693)
- 24 August – George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, politician (born 1709)
- 7 November – Andrew Brice, printer and writer (born 1690)
- 15 November – Bernard Gates, composer (born 1686)
- 16 November – John Hawkesworth, writer (born c. 1715)
- 20 November – Charles Jennens, landowner (born c. 1700)
See also
References
- ^ "History of Lord Frederick North - 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 c Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 226–227. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ "She Stoops to Conquer or The Mistakes of a Night". theatrehistory.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ a b c Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 327–328. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Hadley Center Ranked EWP
- ^ "Icons, a portrait of England 1750–1800". Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Jenner, Greg (2022) [2021]. Ask A Historian. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-4746-1862-5.
- ^ "Provincial Penny Posts". British Postal Museum & Archive. Retrieved 2010-02-18.[dead link]
- 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