1649 in England

{{Use British English|date=February 2012}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Year in England|1649}}

Events from the year 1649 in England. The Second English Civil War ends and the Third English Civil War begins.

Incumbents

Events

  • 3 January – An explosion of several barrels of gunpowder in Tower Street, London kills 67 people and destroys 60 houses.{{cite book|title=The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|url=https://archive.org/details/everydaybookhis00munsgoog|publisher=D. Appleton & Co|first=Joel|last=Munsell|year=1858}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/05/03/tower_street_feature.shtml|title=BBC London, Features, Tower Street|access-date=5 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060225175716/http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/05/03/tower_street_feature.shtml|archive-date=25 February 2006|url-status=dead}}
  • 4 January – The Rump Parliament passes an ordinance to set up a High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I for high treason in the name of the people of England.
  • 20 to 27 January – Trial and conviction of King Charles I by the High Court of Justice convened in Westminster Hall.{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Alan|last2=Palmer |first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=185–186|isbn=978-0-7126-5616-0}}
  • 30 January
  • King Charles is beheaded outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall.{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=978-0-14-102715-9|year=2006}}
  • Prince Charles Stuart declares himself King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. At this time none of the three Kingdoms have recognised him as ruler. Parliament this day has passed an "Act prohibiting the proclaiming any person to be King of England or Ireland, or the Dominions thereof".
  • HMS Garland (of Topsham), carrying some of the royal possessions into exile, is wrecked in St Ives Bay (Cornwall) with only 2 survivors of about sixty passengers and crew.{{cite web|title=HMS Garland (+1649)|url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?239371|work=Wrecksite|accessdate=2021-05-21}}
  • 9 February – Eikon Basilike: the Pourtrature of His Sacred Majestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings, purporting to be the spiritual autobiography of Charles I, is published.
  • 23 February – Ships of the Parliamentary navy are to fly the flag of England.{{cite book|first=Nick|last=Groom|title=The Union Jack: the story of the British flag|location=London|publisher=Atlantic Books|edition=Paperback|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84354-337-4|page=145}}
  • 17 March – The Rump Parliament formally abolishes the English monarchy by passing an act abolishing the kingship creating the Commonwealth of England, a republican form of government later extended to Scotland and Ireland.
  • 19 March – The House of Commons passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring that it is "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
  • March – Robert Blake is promoted to become a General at Sea of the English fleet.{{cite ODNB|first=Michael|last=Baumber|title=Blake, Robert (bap. 1598, d. 1657)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2582|access-date=24 August 2010|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2582}}
  • April – Bishopsgate mutiny: Soldiers of the New Model Army refuse to leave London – some are court martialled and one executed.
  • 2 May – Lawyer and regicide Sir Isaac Dorislaus, while in The Hague to negotiate an alliance with the Dutch Republic, is murdered by royalist exiles.{{cite ODNB|author-link1=Margo Todd|first=Margo|last=Todd|title=Dorislaus, Isaac (1595–1649)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7832|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7832}}
  • 17 May – Banbury mutiny ends – leaders of the Leveller mutineers in the New Model Army are hanged at Burford.
  • 19 May – An act declaring England to be a Commonwealth is passed by the Rump Parliament.
  • 22 May–October – Robert Blake blockades Prince Rupert's fleet in Kinsale, Ireland.
  • August
  • The Diggers abandon their last major colony, at St. George's Hill, Weybridge.
  • Sale and breaking up of the crown jewels of England under terms of the Act for the Sale of the Goods and Personal Estate of the Late King, Queen and Prince begins.{{cite book|last=Keay|first=Anna|authorlink=Anna Keay|pages=40–3|title=The Crown Jewels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwpjtwAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=London|isbn=978-0-500-51575-4}}
  • 15 August – Oliver Cromwell lands in Dublin to begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
  • 3–11 September – Siege of Drogheda in Ireland: Cromwell's New Model Army massacres the Irish Catholic Confederation garrison.
  • 2–11 October – Sack of Wexford in Ireland: New Model Army massacres the Irish Catholic Confederation garrison.
  • October – John Milton's Eikonoklastes: in Answer to a Book Intitl'd Eikon Basilike, a defence of the execution of Charles I, is published.

Births

Deaths

References

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{England year nav}}

{{Year in Europe|1649}}

Category:Years of the 17th century in England