1788 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1788 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

*Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory

Events

* 1 January - First edition of "The Times", previously "The Daily Universal Register", was published. [cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 9 January - Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa founded.
* 18 January - Captain Arthur Phillip's ship arrives at Botany Bay.
* 26 January - Eleven ships of First Fleet from Botany Bay led by Arthur Phillip land in what would become Sydney, Australia. Britain establishes the prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.
* 31 January - Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain as King Henry IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism.
* 17 February - the uninhabited Lord Howe Island was discovered by the brig HMS "Supply", commanded by Lieutenant Ball, who was on his way from Botany Bay to Norfolk Island with convicts to start a penal settlement there.
* 14 March - The "Edinburgh Evening Courant" carries a notice of £200 reward for capture of William Brodie, town councilor doubling as a burglar.
* 20 May - Marylebone Cricket Club publishes revised Laws of Cricket, establishing their position as the final arbiter of the rules of the game.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 230-231|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 13 August - The Triple Alliance is formed between Britain, Prussia and the Dutch Republic.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=340]
* 22 August - Britain signs a treaty with the chiefs of Sierra Leone allowing the creation of a settlement for freed slaves. [cite web|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-hGTbfi9TVMC|title=International Law Reports|author=Elihu Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood|date=1971|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=14|accessdate=2008-02-28]
* 27 August - Trial of William Brodie begins in Edinburgh. He is sentenced to death by hanging.
* 1 October - William Brodie hanged.
* November–February 1789: A period of a mental instability for the King George III causes a regency crisis only averted by his sudden recovery the following year.cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml|title=BBC History British History Timeline|accessdate=2007-09-03]

Undated

* Parliament begins an investigation into the slave trade led by Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce.

Births

* 21 January - William Henry Smyth, astronomer and admiral (died 1865)
* 22 January - George Byron, 6th Baron Byron, poet (died 1824)
* 5 February - Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1850)
* 10 March - Edward Hodges Baily, sculptor (died 1867)
* 22 September - Theodore Edward Hook, author (died 1841)

Deaths

* 31 January - Charles Edward Stuart, claimant to the British throne (born 1720)
* 2 February - James Stuart, archaeologist, architect and artist (born 1713)
* 18 February - John Whitehurst, clockmaker and scientist (born 1713)
* 29 March - Charles Wesley: Co-founder (with brother, John Wesley) of the religious movement now known as Methodism (born 1707)
* 18 June - Adam Gib, religious leader (born 1714)
* 2 August - Thomas Gainsborough, painter (born 1727)
* 15 October - Samuel Greig, admiral (born 1736)
* 6 December - Jonathan Shipley, bishop and politician (born 1714)
* 22 December - Percivall Pott, surgeon (born 1714)

References

ee also