1781 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1781 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

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

Events

* 1 January - Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=333–334]
* 5 January - American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
* 6 January - British forces defeat the French at the Battle of Jersey.
* 17 January - American Revolutionary War: Americans under Daniel Morgan defeat British forces at the Battle of Cowpens.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* January - William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister, enters Parliament.
* 3 February - American Revolutionary War: Admiral Rodney captures the island of Sint Eustatius.
* 13 March - Sir William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus.Originally he calls it "Georgium Sidus" (George's Star) in honour of King George III.
* 15 March - American Revolutionary War: American General Nathanael Greene loses Battle of Guilford Court House to British.
* 1 July - Second Anglo-Mysore War: At the Battle of Porto Novo, the British defeat the Mysore ruler Hyder Ali.
* 6 July - American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Green Spring, the British led by Lord Cornwallis defeats the French led by marquis de La Fayette.
* 27 July - French spy Francis Henry de la Motte executed in Tyburn prison in London for high treason.
* 30 August - American Revolutionary War: French fleet under Comte de Grasse enters Chesapeake Bay, cutting British General Charles Cornwallis off from escape by sea.
* 5 September - American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of the Chesapeake, a British fleet under Thomas Graves arrives and fights de Grasse, but to no effect.
* 6 September - American Revolutionary War: The British army attacks a fort in Groton, Connecticut which became known as the Battle of Groton Heights.
* 19 October - American Revolutionary War: Following the Siege of Yorktown, General Charles Cornwallis surrenders to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the armed struggle of the American Revolutionary War.
* 29 November
** Zong Massacre: A British slave-trader orders that 133 slaves be thrown overboard from his vessel and then attempts to reclaim their value from insurers. [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml|title=BBC History British History Timeline|accessdate=2007-09-03]
** Henry Hurle officially founds the Ancient Order of Druids(AOD) in London.
* 12 December - French and British fleets fight in the Second Battle of Ushant.

Publications

* Volumes 2 and 3 of Edward Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire".

Births

* 29 May - John Walker, inventor (died 1859)
* 9 June - George Stephenson, engineer (died 1848)
* 6 July - Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore (died 1826)
* 6 November - Lucy Aikin, English writer (died 1864)
* 30 November - Alexander Berry, adventurer and Australian pioneer (died 1873)
* 11 December - Sir David Brewster, physicist (died 1868)

Deaths

* 12 January - Richard Challoner, English Catholic prelate (born 1691)
* 24 February - Edward Capell, critic (born 1713)
* 23 April - James Abercrombie, general (born 1706)
* 8 May - Richard Jago, poet (born 1715)
* 28 September - William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, diplomat and statesman (born 1717)
* 16 October - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, naval officer (born 1705)

References

ee also