1696 in England

Events from the year 1696 in the Kingdom of England.

Incumbents

*Monarch - William III of England

Events

* 27 January - the ship HMS "Royal Sovereign" (formerly "HMS Sovereign of the Seas" 1638) caught fire and burned at Chatham, after 57 years of service.
* March - Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 200-201|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* April - Window tax introduced.
* May - Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.

Undated

* Jacobites make an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate King William III.
* Board of Trade and Plantations established.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=287]

Publications

* John Vanbrugh's play "The Relapse", first performed at Drury Lane theatre.

Births

* 27 June - William Pepperrell, colonial soldier (died 1759)
* 14 July - William Oldys, antiquarian and bibliographer (died 1761)
* 12 August - Maurice Greene, composer (died 1755)
* 13 October - John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, statesman and writer (died 1743)
* 22 December - James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia (died 1785)

Deaths

* 18 March - Robert Charnock, conspirator (born c.1663)
* 30 April - Robert Plot, naturalist (born 1640)
* 30 May - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the Admiralty (born 1638)

References

ee also