Timeline of Lewisham and National events 1700 - 1799
1700s | A Victualling Yard was established at Deptford, where ships' stores and provisions were assembled. |
1701 | Seed Drill invented by Jethro Tull, which began the Agricultural Revolution. |
1702 | William III dies Anne second daughter of James II succeeds him as Queen [1702 – 1714] |
1703 | Great Storm destroys Eddystone Lighthouse, 12 Warships and many merchant vessels |
1703 | St Mary the Virgin, Lewisham registers start |
1704 | English capture Gibraltar from Spain. Scottish Parliament pass the Act of Security, which gave a separate monarch for Scotland. Sir Christopher Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral completed. |
1704 | ‘A black boy from Mr Richard Symes called Johnne was buried’ at St Mary’s, Lewisham [2nd June] |
1705 | Dick Turpin born [1705 – 1739] |
1706 | John Evelyn dies [1620 – 1706] |
1707 | Act of Scottish parliament and England and Scotland were dissolved and became one country. |
1710 | Peking or Beijing becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from Istanbul. |
1711 | Deptford docks employed 1100 men. |
1714 | George of Hanover, Germany succeeds Queen Anne to the Throne [1714 – 1727] |
1715 | First Jacobite uprising and Riot Act passed due to riots in a number of towns. |
1716 | Pirate Edward Teach or Blackbeard raids shipping in the Caribbean. Fire at Wapping destroys 150 houses |
1717 | First ballet performed in England by dancer John Weaver |
1718 | Transportation Act courts could transport those convicted of certain crimes to the North American Colonies for 7 or 14 years. |
1718 | New Cross tollgate established on Clifton Rise by New Cross Turnpike Trust (became known as New Cross Gate, New Cross after an inn and Gate after toll. |
1719 | First Silk throwing Mill erected at Derby by Mr Lombe |
1720 | South Sea Scheme, failed. |
1721 | Sir Robert Walpole becomes England’s first Prime Minister |
1722 | Jakob Roggeveen a Dutch Admiral lands on Easter Island. Kangxi dies after the longest reign in Chinese History. His son Yinzhen [Yongzheng] succeeded him. Thomas Guy founded Guy’s Hospital |
1723 | State of Georgia founded. Workhouse Act allowed Overseer’s to make relief subject to entry to the workhouse. |
1724 | Blenheim Palace is completed a gift for the Duke of Marlborough. China expels foreign missionaries. Philosopher Immanuel Kant born [1724 – 1804] |
1725 | Peter the Great dies. Treaty of Hanover signed between England, France and Prussia. Black Watch Regiment founded in Scotland. Fire in Wapping destroys 70 houses |
1726 | Charter granted to the East India Company for Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver’s travels. |
1727 | George I died George II became King of England (1727 – 1760) and epidemics of Influenza and small pox spread through the country. Spain at war with England and France (until 1729). Royal Bank of Scotland founded by Royal Charter. Palheta smuggles coffee seeds into Brazil, coffee empire begins |
1728 | John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera premiered to great popularity. Captain and explorer James Cook born [1728 – 1779]. Scottish born Architect Robert Adam born [1728 – 1792] |
1729 | Treaty of Seville settled England’s dispute with Spain, colonial trade grew. Fire in Istanbul destroys 12000 houses and kills 7000 people. |
1730s | Tiger Head pub built by Lee Green. John Wesley came to the Limes, Lewisham many times. Many founders of Methodism such as John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were friendly with the owners of the Limes. [Plaque – Maroon 171 Lewisham High Street [site of]]. |
1730 | St Paul church Deptford was completed by Thomas Archer |
1731 | Daniel Defoe dies. 10 Downing Street built. By the Treaty of Vienna the Holy Roman Emperor dissolved the Ostend Company, England’s trading rival in cotton, spices and saltpetre in the East and West Indies |
1732 | George Washington born. Original Covent Garden [now Royal Opera House] opens. Cobalt is discovered and Isolated by Georg Brandt. |
1732 | ‘Mary a Negro from Mrs Frere’ was buried at St Mary’s, Lewisham [2nd September] |
1733 | Walpole introduced excise on tobacco and wine. The Serpentine, Hyde Park laid out. England prohibited trade between America and the West Indies by the Molasses Act. |
1733 | Joseph Pilgrim [c. 1691 – 6 January 1733] dies; he was Chief Justice for the Court of Common Pleas in Barbados. He has a monumental inscription in St Margaret’s, Lee. |
1735 | William Pitt the Elder enters Parliament. Granville Sharp born [1735 – 1813]. Ship building begins in Mumbai [Bombay] |
1736 | Porteous Riots - Captain John Porteous tried to control a mob during riots, 6 people were killed. He was charged with murder. He was lynched after crowds drag him out of his prison cell. |
1737 | Queen Caroline Dies. The war of `Jenkins’ Ear between England and Spain over trading rights in the Spanish Colonies brought to end a period of peace, lasts until 1741. |
1738 | First Cuckoo Clock produced in Black Forest |
1739 | First Camellias arrive in Europe from the Far East. |
1740 | Crucible method of making steel by heating scrap iron was founded in England. |
1740 | Sir Francis Baring (1740 -1810) Bart MP. Founder of Baring bank. Bought Manor House, Lee in 1796 and became Lord of the Manor 1798. [Maroon Plaque – Manor House Library. |
1741 | Handel completes `the Messiah’ |
1742 | Coloured printing developed in Japan |
1742 | Edmond Halley, astronomer dies and is buried at St Margaret’s church, Lee. `William son of a negro was baptised’ at St Mary’s Lewisham (8th August) |
1744 | Anders Celsius dies (1701 – 1744) he devised the Celsius Scale of Temperature, with 0 as the freezing point of water and 100 as the boiling point. |
1746 | Bonnie Prince Charlie is defeated at the Battle of Culloden. |
1746 | `John Leeds a Black of Mr Kirk Patricks at Sydenham, aged 19 years was baptised’ at St Mary’s, Lewisham. (11th December) |
1750 | Halifax Nova Scotia was founded. |
1752 | Benjamin Franklin proves that lightening is electricity |
1753 | British Museum opened. |
1756 | Surajah Dowlah seizes Calcutta and shuts the British residents up in the ‘Black Hole’. |
1757 | First canal in Britain is completed. England recaptures Calcutta |
1759 | Sayes Court [John Evelyn’s old house at Deptford] used as a workhouse (until 1848). James Purcell (c. 1716 – 8 July 1759) dies he was Governor of the Virgin Islands [1750 – 1751], there is a monumental inscription to him in St Mary’s church. Lewisham. |
1763 | Josiah Wedgwood produces a new kind of earthenware. |
1763 | **Hester Susannah Lynch [c. 1742 – 6 November 1763] dies, she was the wife of Patrick Lynch of Barbados. She has a monumental inscription at St Margaret’s, Lee. |
1764 | Hargreaves invents the spinning Jenny |
1767 | Arkwright introduced the spinning frame. |
1768 | Captain Cook began his first voyage. |
1771 | ‘Thomas Lee the Indian Black servant of Governor Verelst was baptised’ at St Margaret’s, Lee. [17th July] |
c. 1772 | The Manor House Lee was built |
1773 | William Hastings was appointed the first Governor General of India. |
1775 | Hatcham House rebuilt (on site of old manor house?). |
1776 | America declares independence from Britain. |
1776 | The Manor Hose, Lee was sold to Sir Francis Baring, founder of Baring Brothers bank. |
1777 | British defeated by George Washington at the Battle of Princeton. Dolly Pentreath dies, said to be the last Cornish speaker |
1778 | 3rd Pacific expedition led by Captain James Cook. First Iron bridge built. |
1778 | Joseph Hardcastle leased Hatcham Park House until 1819. He was an abolitionist. House was situated between Monson Road and Hatcham. |
1779 | Captain James Cook [1728 – 44] dies on the Sandwich Islands. |
1779 | Joseph Innes [c. 1745 – 7 September 1779] dies in Jamaica on public duty, there is a monumental inscription to him at St Mary’s church, Lewisham. |
1780's | Industrial Revolution Begins. |
1780s | Victualling Yard, Deptford extended by James Arrow |
1780 | Sunday Schools started to be established and the first Derby was run at Epsom; the winner was Diomed. League of Unarmed Neutrality formed between Denmark, Sweden and Russia. Gordon Riots in London. Mainly Protestant uprising against the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1778 repealed 1780. Great hurricane flattens Barbados, Martinique and St Eustatius, 22,000 killed |
1781 | Thomas Stamford Raffles founder of Singapore is born (1781 – 1826) and famous hotel there named after him. |
1781 | Independent, Medway Place Chapel, registers began. |
1782 | Spain defeat the British at Minorca and conquer Florida. America’s first commercial bank opens, Bank of North America. Bald Eagle chosen as the emblem of the United States. American Privateers attack Luneburg, Nova Scotia. Foot patrols begin in London for public security. |
1783 | William Pitt the Younger became Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister. Steam powered cotton mill invented by Sir Richard Arkwright. Last public hanging in England took place when John Austin, a forger, was executed at Tyburn and the first execution took place at Newgate Prison. |
1784 | First ascent was made in Britain by James Tytler at Edinburgh and Italian aeronaut Vincenzo Lunardi. |
1785 | The Daily Universal Register London’s Oldest newspaper was first published, renamed The Times in 1788. First aerial crossing of the English Channel by Jean Paul Blanchard and Doctor John Jeffries in a hot air balloon. |
1785 | Congregational, Butt Lane later High Street, registers began. |
1786 | Lord Cornwallis sent out as Governor General of India and Mont Blanc [Europe’s tallest peak] was climbed for the first time. |
1787 | Constitution of the United States of America signed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed Eine Kleine Nachtmusik [A Little Night Music]. |
1787 | Alexander Glenny [c. 1737 – 3 January 1787] dies. He was of the island of Dominica and died at Bromley Hill. There is a monumental inscription to his family at St Mary’s church, Lewisham. |
1788 | First convict ships are sent to Australia and Joseph Banks [English Botanist] founded the African Association for arousing interest in exploration and trade. British Settlement in Sierra Leone was founded. |
1788 | Victualling Yard gateway at Deptford built (still standing). |
1789- 95 | French Revolution |
1789 | Crew of the Bounty led by Fletcher Christian mutinied against Captain Bligh and the French Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man. |
1790 | George Washington gives the first State of the Union Address |
1790 - 1810 | Georgian villas built in Forest Hill: Hill House, White House and Ashberry Cottage. |
1791 | Semaphore machine unveiled in Paris |
1792 | First experimental use of the Guillotine in France |
page revision: 3, last edited: 24 Apr 2015 12:04