1736 CE

Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, lays the foundation stone for an obelisk commemorating the Battle of the Boyne (1690) at Oldbridge, County Meath. Frederick, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London. Witchcraft Act 1735 comes into effect, introducing penalties for pretending to practice or accusing others of practising witchcraft and repealing those against its supposed actual practice, intended to end legal witch trials in the early modern period in Britain.

In the 1730s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 23 – The Civil Code of 1734 is passed in Sweden.source
January 23 – The Civil Code of 1734 is passed, thereby replacing the Kristofers landslag and the Stadslagen, giving the country and the cities the same law and Sweden its first national civil code.Sweden source
January 26 – Stanisław Leszczyński abdicates the throne of Poland, ending his second reign.source
April 14 – German adventurer Theodor Stephan Freiherr von Neuhoff is crowned King Theodore of Corsica, 25 days after his arrival on Corsica on March 20. His reign ends on November 5 when he flees the island.source
30 April – Theatrum Anatomico-chirurgicum is inaugurated in Copenhagen and an exam in surgery is introduced.Denmark source
November 5 – King Theodore of Corsica flees the island after a reign of seven months and the kingdom reverts to Genoese control.source
Neustrelitz becomes the capital of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.source

Conflict & Security

14 April – Porteous Riots in Edinburgh. John Porteous, captain of the city guard, orders his men to fire into the crowd, causing six deaths.Scotland source
April 17 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, lays the foundation stone for an obelisk commemorating the Battle of the Boyne (1690) at Oldbridge, County Meath.Ireland source
May 26 – Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans defeat French troops.source
26 May – Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans defeat French troops.United Kingdom source
July 1 – Russo-Turkish War (1735–39): Russian forces under Peter Lacy storm the Ottoman fortress of Azov.source
July 27 – riots in east London protesting at Irish immigrants to England providing cheap labour.Ireland source
27 July – riots in east London protesting at Irish immigrants providing cheap labour.United Kingdom source
Father Jean-Pierre Aulneau, Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye and 19 French voyageurs were headed from Fort St. Charles to Montreal via Fort St. Pierre. On their first night out they were massacred by Sioux warriors on a nearby island in Lake of the Woods. The date was June 8.Canada source
Hans Jacob von Arnold was appointed commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army.Norway source
Sixty soldiers are drowned after their vessel is wrecked on the Wolves rocks near Flat Holm; the incident leads to the building of a lighthouse on the island.Wales source

Exploration & Expansion

10 January – emigrants from the Scottish Highlands arrive in North America on the Prince of Wales to establish the defensive town of Darien, Georgia, originally called New Inverness, among them being Lachlan McGillivray, Lachlan McIntosh and other members of the Clan Mackintosh.Scotland source
2 May - A scientific expedition consisting of Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Alexis Claude Clairault, Pierre Charles Lemonnier, Charles Étienne Louis Camus and Anders Celsius, departs from Dunkerque and travels to Tornedalen: they arrive in Stockholm on 21 May and depart for Lappland on 6 June.Sweden source
June 19 – A French Academy of Sciences expedition, led by Pierre Louis Maupertuis, with Anders Celsius, begins work on measuring a meridian arc in Torne Valley, Finland.source
June 19 – French Academy of Sciences expedition led by Pierre Louis Maupertuis, with Anders Celsius, begins work on measuring a meridian arc in Torne Valley of Finland.France source
November 13 – Word of the discovery of silver, south of what is now the U.S.-Mexican border, reaches Sonora Governor Juan Bautista Anza and soon leads to prospectors coming to Nogales to find more silver. Late in October, a Yaqui Indian prospector, Antonio Siraumea, had discovered large slabs of silver ("Las planchas de plata"), and at the Estancia Arizona, a ranch owned by Captain Bernardo de Urrea. The region, and later the U.S. territory, and state of Arizona are named for Urrea's ranch.source

Religion & Belief

March 17 – act of the Parliament of Ireland for rebuilding Saint Finbar's Cathedral and erecting a workhouse in Cork.Ireland source
June 19 – Charles Cobbe, at this time Church of Ireland Bishop of Kildare, purchases the Newbridge Estate in County Kildare.Ireland source
4 July - Isaac Maddox is consecrated Bishop of St Asaph. Maddox continues to reside in south-east England and rarely visits the diocese.Wales source
28 July - John Harris, Bishop of Llandaff, becomes Dean of Wells Cathedral in succession to Isaac Maddox.Wales source
September 30 – The Lebanese Council of 1736 begins, a major turning point in the reform of the Maronite Church. In the following three days, the assembled Maronite and Latin clergy presided by Yusuf ibn Siman as-Simani discuss various reforms and elaborate rules and canons.source
December 26 – Andrew Michael Ramsay gives an oration, in which he relates the heritage and internationalism of Freemasonry to that of the Crusades.source
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab writes the Kitab at-tawhidt, marking the beginning of Wahhabism.source
James Gallagher, Roman Catholic Bishop of Raphoe, publishes Sixteen Irish Sermons, in an easy and familiar stile, on useful and necessary subjects, in English characters, as being the more familiar to the generality of our Irish clergy in Dublin.Ireland source
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh receives its royal charter.Scotland source
Grand Lodge of Scotland founded within Freemasonry in Scotland.Scotland source
Thomas Frye paints the Prince of Wales for the Worshipful Company of Saddlers.Wales source

Technology & Infrastructure

7 November – Laurits S. Winther establishes a ropewalk at Sortebrødre Torv in Odense which will eventually become Roulunds Fabrikker.Denmark source
The Belgrade Fortress is completed.source
One of the earliest records of use of a bathing machine is made at Scarborough, England.source
North wing of house at Bregentved is constructed.Denmark source
Approximate date – Scots Mining Company House built at Leadhills.Scotland source
George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, becomes the first Field Marshal of Great Britain.Scotland source
One of the earliest records of use of a bathing machine is made at Scarborough, North Yorkshire.United Kingdom source

Science & Discovery

June 8 – Leonhard Euler writes to James Stirling describing the Euler–Maclaurin formula, providing a disconnection between integrals and sums.source
October 3 – French scientist Charles Marie de La Condamine and a team of surveyors begin the first measurements at the Equator to determine the exact meridian arc measurement of distance between points separated by one degree of longitude in order to make a precise calculation of the Earth's circumference. The initial measurements of this French Geodesic Mission to the Equator, made in what is now Ecuador, last until November 3. The same year the French Geodesic Mission to Lapland took place. Both confirm Isaac Newton's prediction that the Figure of the Earth is flattened at the poles.source
Charles Marie de La Condamine, with François Fresneau Gataudière, makes the first scientific observations of rubber, in Ecuador.source
Leonhard Euler produces the first published proof of Fermat's "little theorem".source

Health & Medicine

March 31 – Bellevue Hospital is founded in New York.source
September 29 – The Gin Act 1736 goes into effect, placing a steep tax on the sale of gin and license requirements for its sale, with the intent of reducing consumption of the liquor in Britain. Widely ignored, the Act is repealed in 1743.source
29 September – Gin Act 1736 comes into effect in an attempt to curtail the Gin Craze.United Kingdom source
The Haidamakas raid the shtetl of Pavoloch, killing 35.source
Mandatory confirmation is introduced.Norway source
c. October – Winchester County Hospital, established by Prebendary Alured Clarke, the first voluntary general hospital in the English provinces, begins to function in Hampshire.United Kingdom source

Crime & Justice

April 14 – The Porteous Riots erupt in Edinburgh (Scotland), after the execution of smuggler Andrew Wilson, when town guard Captain John Porteous orders his men to fire at the crowd. Porteous is arrested later.source
June 24 – Witchcraft Act 1735 (9 Geo. 2. c. 5) in Great Britain comes into effect, criminalizing claimants accusing people of practising witchcraft or of possessing magical powers, intended to end legal witch trials in the early modern period in the country.source
24 June – Witchcraft Act 1735 comes into effect, introducing penalties for pretending to practice or accusing others of practising witchcraft and repealing those against its supposed actual practice, intended to end legal witch trials in the early modern period in Britain.United Kingdom source
5 July – Captain Porteous found guilty of murder by the High Court of Justiciary.Scotland source
September 7 – An Edinburgh crowd drags John Porteous out of his cell in Tolbooth Prison, and lynches him.source
7 September – the Edinburgh mob drags Captain Porteous out of his cell in Tolbooth prison and lynches him, beats him and hangs him to death.Scotland source
7 September – Edinburgh crowd drags Captain Porteous out of his cell in Tolbooth prison and lynches him. The mob beats and hangs him to death.United Kingdom source
John Reynolds - Heraldry DisplayedWales source

Disasters & Accidents

April 19 – A fire in Stony Stratford, England, consumes 53 houses.source
19 April – 53 houses in the Northamptonshire town of Stony Stratford are consumed by fire.United Kingdom source
August 12 – A fire in Saint Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire, destroys 2,000 buildings, the city's post office, and several palaces.source
December 7 – Benjamin Franklin builds the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia.source

Climate & Environment

March 18 – the House of Commons of Ireland passes resolutions condemning the tithe of agistment on pasturage for dry and barren cattle.Ireland source

Culture & Society

January 12 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, becomes the Second Field Marshal of Great Britain.source
February 12 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor marries Maria Theresa of Austria, ruler of the Habsburg Empire at the Augustinian Church in Vienna.source
March 8 – Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran on a date selected by court astrologers.source
17 April - Frederick, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London.Wales source
April – The Genbun era begins in Japan. The era of Kyōhō Reforms ends.source
May 8 – Frederick, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.source
8 May – marriage of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.United Kingdom source
May 22 – King George II of Great Britain departs for Europe as part of his duties as Elector of Hanover; his wife, Caroline, Queen Consort rules on his behalf as the Regent for the last time until his return on January 14, 1736.source
8 November – poet Allan Ramsay establishes the first regular public theatre company in Scotland, at Carrubber's Close in Edinburgh.Scotland source
Sir Isaac Newton's Method of Fluxions (1671), describing his method of differential calculus, is first published (posthumously) and Thomas Bayes publishes a defense of its logical foundations (anonymously).source
The University of Copenhagen introduces a Candidate of Law degree.Denmark source
The architects Lauritz de Thurah and Nicolai Eigtved are put in charge of designing the interior of the first Christiansborg Palace.Denmark source
Paul becomes the first of the Swiss Lafranchini brothers to come to Ireland where he produces rococo stucco work for the architect Richard Cassels.Ireland source
The construction of Dovre Church is finished, with a pulpit carved by Lars Pinnerud.Norway source
Fortunatus Wright marries Mary, daughter of William Bulkeley, in Dublin.Wales source

Births

January 19 – James Watt, Scottish inventor (died 1819)source
19 January – James Watt, Scottish inventor (died 1819)United Kingdom source
January 25 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician (died 1813)source
14 February – Johan Peter Wleugel, naval officer and cartographer (died 1825 in Denmark)Norway source
February 29 – Ann Lee, English-born American religious leader (died 1784)source
March 20 – Rama I, First King of Siam (died 1809)source
May 29 – Patrick Henry, American patriot (died 1799)source
June 3 – Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, Prime Minister of Naples (died 1811)source
June 14 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (died 1806)source
June 21 – Enoch Poor, American general (died 1780)source
June 25 – John Horne Tooke, English politician, philologist (died 1812)source
July – Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of the Spanish Province of New Mexico (died 1788)source
August 9 – Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé (died 1818)source
September 15 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer (died 1793)source
September 16 – Carter Braxton, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (died 1797)source
22 October - John Thomas, Anglican priest and antiquarian (died 1769)Wales source
October 27 – James Macpherson, Scottish poet (died 1796)source
Nikolai Saltykov, Imperial Field Marshal (died 1816)Russia source

Deaths

January 8 – Jean Leclerc (theologian), Swiss theologian and biblical scholar (born 1657)source
January 31 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect (born 1678)source
February 1 – James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, English politician (born 1664)source
February 7 – Stephen Gray, English dyer, astronomer, and scientist (born 1666)source
March 16 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (born 1710)source
March 25 – Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect (born c. 1661)source
March 25 - François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, explorer and soldier (born 1700).Canada source
25 March – Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect (born c. 1661)United Kingdom source
April 21 – Prince Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general (born 1663)source
April 30 – Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and bibliographer (born 1668)source
July 1 – Ahmed III, Ottoman Sultan (born 1673)source
23 July – Anna Colbjørnsdatter, national heroine (born 1665 or 1667).Norway source
September 16 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, German physicist and inventor (born 1686)source
September 26 – Louise Diane d'Orléans, youngest child of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (born 1716)source
October 22 – George Clarke, English politician, architect (born 1661)source
November 2 – Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, French duke (born 1664)source
22 November - Thomas Lewis, politician, owner of The Van estate, 56/57Wales source
December 10 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese 66th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (born 1663)source