Login
Login

1712 in Great Britain

{{short description|none}}

{{Year in Great Britain|1712}}

Events from the year 1712 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

Events

  • 1 January – War of the Spanish Succession: Peace congress opens at Utrecht.
  • 2 January – In the British House of Lords, twelve new Tory peers known as Harley's Dozen take their seats.
  • 17 January – Robert Walpole imprisoned in the Tower of London following charges of corruption.{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Hywel |title=Cassell's Chronology of World History |url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/293 |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=2005 |isbn=0-304-35730-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/293 293–294]}}
  • 3 March – Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 comes into effect, leading to incorporation of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
  • 15 March – {{HMS|Dragon|1660|6}}, a 38-gun fourth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, is wrecked on Les Casquets rocks to the west of Alderney.{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/alderneylocalhistory/Home/1700s/1712-wreck-of-hms-dragon |title=1712 Wreck of HMS Dragon|work=Alderney Local History}}
  • 30 March – Queen Anne administers the Royal touch, a ritual with the intent to cure illness, for the last time; 300 scrofulous people are touched, the last of whom is Samuel Johnson.
  • 18 April – Louisa Maria Stuart, considered by Jacobites to be Princess Royal and heir to the throne of her brother James, dies of smallpox in French exile. Her brother also falls ill but recovers.
  • May – British Army in Flanders under the Duke of Ormonde receives "restraining orders" that prevents them taking part in any offensive against France due to ongoing peace talks.
  • 8 July – The Royal Navy 50-gun ship {{HMS|Advice|1712|6}} is launched at Deptford Dockyard.
  • 24 July – War of the Spanish Succession: At the Battle of Denain, the French defeat a combined Dutch-Austrian force following the withdrawal of British troops.{{cite book |chapter=1712 |title=The People's Chronology |editor=Everett, Jason M. |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2006}}
  • 1 August – The Stamp Act 1712 is passed, imposing a tax on publishers, particularly of newspapers.
  • 23 August – The Royal Navy 60-gun ship {{HMS|Rippon|1712|6}} is launched at Deptford Dockyard.
  • September – Composer George Frideric Handel re-locates to London.[http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/handel-conquers-london Richard Wigmore, "Handel conquers London". Gramophone, 10 August 2012. Accessed 22 February 2013]
  • 3 October – In Scotland a warrant is issued for the arrest of outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor by Sir James Stewart (Lord Advocate).{{cite web |title=Notable Dates in History |url=http://scotsindependent.scot/oldsitearchive/scotind/dates1-d.htm |work=The Flag in the Wind |publisher=The Scots Independent |access-date=2016-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126115905/http://scotsindependent.scot/oldsitearchive/scotind/dates1-d.htm |archive-date=26 January 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}
  • 4 November – Bandbox Plot: Jonathan Swift foils an attempted murder of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.{{cite web |url=http://ecs.bathspa.ac.uk/swift/archives/000032.html |title=The Bandbox Plot |access-date=2007-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000346/http://ecs.bathspa.ac.uk/swift/archives/000032.html |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead}}
  • 12 November – Hamilton–Mohun duel takes place in London. The Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun fight a duel in Hyde Park in which both are killed.
  • 22 November – The first performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Il pastor fido takes place at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London.

=Undated=

Publications

=Poetry and Songs=

  • Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: a philosophical poem
  • John Dennis, Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakspear: with Some Letters of Criticism to the SpectatorPaul, Harry Gilbert, [https://archive.org/details/johndennishisli02paulgoog John Dennis: His Life and Criticism], p 64, New York: Columbia University Press, 1911, retrieved via Google Books on February 26, 2019
  • Thomas Ellwood, Davideis: The Life of King David of Israel{{cite book|editor=Cox, Michael|title=The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-19-860634-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conciseoxfordchr00coxm}}

=Drama=

Births

  • 17 January – John Stanley, composer (died 1786)
  • 19 February – Arthur Devis, portrait painter (died 1787)
  • 8 March – John Fothergill, physician (died 1780)
  • 22 March – Edward Moore, writer (died 1757){{cite book |title=Restoration and 18th-Century Drama |date=November 1980 |publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education |isbn=978-1-349-16422-6 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OD9dDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |language=en}}
  • 14 October – George Grenville, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1770){{cite web |title=History of George Grenville - GOV.UK |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/george-grenville |website=www.gov.uk |access-date=19 June 2023 |language=en}}
  • 21 October – Sir James Denham Steuart, 4th Baronet, economist (died 1780)
  • Richard Glover, poet (died 1785)
  • Sarah Clayton, industrialist (died 1779)

Deaths

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{GB year nav}}

{{Year in Europe|1712}}

Category:1712 by country

Category:1710s in Great Britain

Category:1712 in Europe