Great Britain-related events during the year of 1751
Events from the year 1751 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
Events
- 25 March – legally New Year's Day for the last time in England and Wales.
- 31 March – Frederick, Prince of Wales dies at Leicester House, London from a lung injury and is succeeded by his son the future George III of the United Kingdom as heir apparent to the throne; three weeks later George is made Prince of Wales.[2] George's mother, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, becomes Dowager Princess of Wales.
- April – the Gin Act requires government inspection of distilleries and restricts sale to licensed premises.[3]
- 27 May – adoption of the Gregorian calendar: royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by Parliament, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire.[2][4] It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.
- 4 June – Dr John Wall and partners establish a porcelain factory in Worcester, "The Worcester Tonquin Manufactory", the origin of Royal Worcester.[5][6]
- 31 August – Robert Clive takes the Indian town of Arcot from the French.[2]
- 20 October – Charles, Duke of Bolton, marries celebrated actress Lavinia Fenton, already the mother of his three children.
- 3 December – Battle of Arnee: Robert Clive defeats a Franco-Indian force.
Undated
Publications
Births
Deaths
- 20 January – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, politician (born 1665)
- 29 March – Thomas Coram, sea captain and philanthropist (born c.1668)
- 31 March
- 9 June – John Machin, mathematician and astronomer (b. c.1686)
- 22 August – Andrew Gordon, Scottish-born Benedictine monk, physicist and inventor (born 1712)
- 2 October – Thomas Mathews, Welsh admiral (born 1676)
- 26 October – Philip Doddridge, nonconformist religious leader (born 1702)
- 12 December – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, statesman and philosopher (born 1678)
- 17 December – Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet, Governor of Virginia (born 1681)
- 19 December – Louise of Great Britain, English-born queen of Frederick V of Denmark (born 1724)
See also
References
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