1747 CE

At the Battle of Grand Pré, Col. Arthur Noble's detachment of British troops from Massachusetts, face off against a French and Mi'kmaq force under Nicholas Antoine Coulon de Villiers. Noble and around 70 of his soldiers were killed. The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat is beheaded at Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last person in Britain to be beheaded, although beheading would not be formally abolished until more than 200 years later. The ordeal of the Maryland freighter sloop Endeavour begins when the ship departs Annapolis for the West Indies and encounters a hurricane. With its masts and rigging torn away, the ship drifts for six months before finally ending up at the island of Tiree off the coast of Scotland.

In the 1740s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • May – Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 breaks the power of the Scottish clans.United Kingdomsource
  • June 9 – Emperor Momozono ascends to the throne of Japan, succeeding Emperor Sakuramachi.source
  • 17 June – Vesting Act authorizes Scottish Court of Exchequer to inquire into the value of estates forfeited from participants in the Jacobite rising of 1745, most forfeitures being upheld, although the Indemnity Act lifts some legal penalties from the participants.Scotlandsource
  • July 23 – Ahmad Shah Durrani establishes the Durrani Empire after being elected by Pashtun chieftains in a jirga at Naderabad, laying the foundation for modern Afghanistan.source
  • August 15 – Great Britain, Russia and the Dutch Republic sign the Convention of Saint Petersburg (1747).source
  • August - In the general election, William Morgan of Tredegar Park becomes MP for Monmouthshire.Walessource
  • 22 November 1747 – The Office of Stadtholder of the United Provinces is made hereditaryNetherlandssource
  • 5 December – Carl Gustaf Tessin President of the Riksdag.Swedensource
  • December 27 – The Parliament of Great Britain amends its Naturalisation Act 1740 to extend recognition to all non-Anglican Protestant denominations in its colonies.source
  • Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière was appointed to be Governor of New France.Canadasource
  • Skagen's first lighthouse is inaugurated to designs by Philip de Lange.Denmarksource
  • Convention of Saint PetersburgRussiasource

Conflict & Security

  • 19 January – "Kelly riots" at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin when Thomas Sheridan, the proprietor, is in dispute with some gentlemen.Irelandsource
  • February 11 – King George's War: A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicolas Antoine II Coulon de Villiers, attacks and defeats British troops at Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia.source
  • 11 February – At the Battle of Grand Pré, Col. Arthur Noble's detachment of British troops from Massachusetts, face off against a French and Mi'kmaq force under Nicholas Antoine Coulon de Villiers. Noble and around 70 of his soldiers were killed.Canadasource
  • March 7 – Juan de Arechederra the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, combines his forces with those of Sultan Azim ud-Din I of Sulu to suppress the rebellion of the Moros in the Visayas.source
  • May 14 – War of the Austrian Succession – First battle of Cape Finisterre: The British Navy defeats a French fleet.source
  • 14 May – War of the Austrian Succession: First Battle of Cape Finisterre: British fleet is victorious against the French.United Kingdomsource
  • July 2 – War of the Austrian Succession – Battle of Lauffeld: France defeats the combined armies of Hanover, Great Britain and the Netherlands.source
  • July 2 – War of the Austrian Succession – Battle of Lauffeld: France defeats the armies of Hanover, Great Britain and the Netherlands.Austriasource
  • 2 July – The Battle of Lauffeld, at which the Dutch and her allies were defeated by the French under Maurice de SaxeNetherlandssource
  • 2 July – War of the Austrian Succession: British forces led by the Duke of Cumberland defeated by Marshal Maurice de Saxe's French army at the Battle of Lauffeld near Maastricht in the Netherlands.United Kingdomsource
  • July – Ulrich Frédéric Woldemar, Comte de Lowendal initiates the Siege of Bergen op ZoomNetherlandssource
  • September 13 – The Netherlands city of Bergen op Zoom falls to the Army of France after a 70 day siege during the War of the Austrian Succession.source
  • October 25 – War of the Austrian Succession – Second battle of Cape Finisterre: The British Navy again defeats a French fleet.source
  • October 25 – War of the Austrian Succession – Second battle of Cape Finisterre: The British Navy defeats the French fleet.Austriasource
  • November 17–19 – The Knowles Riot breaks out in Boston, Massachusetts, protesting impressment into the British Royal Navy.source
  • November 22 – End of Second Stadtholderless period: Prince William IV of Orange becomes stadtholder of all the United Provinces.source
  • War of the Austrian Succession: Spanish troops invade and occupy the coastal towns of Beaufort and Brunswick in the Royal Colony of North Carolina, during what becomes known as the Spanish Alarm. They are later driven out by the local militia.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • 8 May – Veteran sails from Liverpool with 149 Jacobite prisoners (including 15 women) on board to be settled as indentured slaves in the West Indies. On 28 June, the French privateer Diamant captures the ship and frees the slaves.Scotlandsource
  • June 24–October 14 – The English ships Dobbs galley and California, under Captains William Moore and Francis Smith, explore Hudson Bay, discovering there is no Northwest Passage by this route.source
  • August 24 – Seyyid Abdullah Pasha, the Turkish Governor of Cyprus, becomes the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and serves until 1750.source
  • December 7 – Benjamin Franklin forms the Pennsylvania Associators, the first militia in the colony of Pennsylvania, which had no standing militia because of its foundation by pacifistic Quakers.source
  • 9–14 August – John Wesley pays his first visit to Ireland.Irelandsource
  • William Roy's military survey of Scotland begins.Scotlandsource
  • Liverpool becomes the busiest slave trading port in Britain, overtaking Bristol.United Kingdomsource
  • James Relly reports on his missionary tour to Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire, and Birmingham.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • March 22 — The Prussian ambassador in Vienna, Count Otto Christoph von Podewils, described the then five-year-old Maria Christina as pretty and witty.Austriasource
  • 15 June – Indemnity Act ("Act of Grace") lifts further legal penalties from some participants in the Jacobite rising of 1745.United Kingdomsource
  • 11 September – Daniel O'Reilly is appointed to succeed Ross MacMahon as Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, an office he will hold until 1778.Irelandsource
  • 18 October - Høydalsmo Church was consecrated.Norwaysource
  • October 21 – King George II transfers Thomas Herring, Archbishop of York, to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury, three days after the death of John Pottersource
  • Count Adam Gottlob Moltke was made a privy councillor by Frederick V, who gave him the estate of Bregentved.Denmarksource
  • Oluf Borch was ennobled, and given the noble family name de Schouboe.Norwaysource
  • Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery Established.Russiasource
  • William Williams Pantycelyn - Aleluia (hymns)Walessource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The Vadstena adliga jungfrustift begin its activity.Swedensource
  • Construction of the Usk Bridge (Usk), designed by William Edwards, begins.Walessource
  • John Boydell - The Bridge BookWalessource

Science & Discovery

  • 2 July – Benjamin Robins presents a paper to the Royal Society describing the physics of a spinning projectile following his investigation of rifle barrels.United Kingdomsource
  • Samuel Johnson begins work on A Dictionary of the English Language in London.source

Health & Medicine

  • January 31 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.source
  • 31 January – the first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.United Kingdomsource
  • James Lind's experiment begins to prove that citrus fruits prevent scurvy.source
  • James Lind undertakes one of the first controlled experiments in clinical medicine, on the effect of citrus fruit as a cure for scurvy.Scotlandsource

Crime & Justice

  • March 19 – Simon Fraser, the 79-year old Scottish Lord Lovat, is convicted of high treason for being one of the leaders of the Jacobite rising of 1745 against King George II of Great Britain and attempting to place the pretender Charles Edward Stuart on the throne.source
  • Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 provides that trials for treason in Scotland can take place outside the shire in which the crime is committed.Scotlandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • September 21 – A hurricane in the Caribbean Sea sinks 11 British ships, most of them off the coast of Saint Kitts.source

Climate & Environment

  • October 24 – A Caribbean Sea hurricane sweeps across Saint Kitts, sinking 12 British freighters and one from France.source
  • December 13 – The ordeal of the Maryland freighter sloop Endeavour begins when the ship departs Annapolis for the West Indies and encounters a hurricane. With its masts and rigging torn away, the ship drifts for six months before finally ending up at the island of Tiree off the coast of Scotlandsource

Culture & Society

  • 21 April – Edmund Burke sets up Burke's Club, a debating society at Trinity College Dublin, which will become the College Historical Society.Irelandsource
  • 22 July – William IV, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen, is confirmed as Stadtholder of the United ProvincesNetherlandssource
  • 4 September – The coronation of Frederick V of Denmark at Frederiksborg Chapel.Denmarksource
  • October 4 — Schlosstheater Schönbrunn opens on the name day of Maria Theresa's husband, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.Austriasource
  • November 9 – Rioters in Amsterdam demand governmental reform.source
  • November 21 – Mozart's parents, Anna Maria Mozart and Leopold Mozart, marry in Salzburg.Austriasource
  • 29 December – The Press and Journal begins publication as a weekly, Aberdeen's Journal.Scotlandsource
  • The Housing Discipline Directive, which was a decree by former King Christian VI, on the arrangements for upbringing, education and religious life, is published in parliament.Icelandsource
  • A Quaker meeting house is established at Quakers Friars in Bristol, the burial place of Llywelyn ap Dafydd.Walessource

Births

  • January 10 – Abraham-Louis Breguet, Swiss horologist, inventor (died 1823)source
  • January 15 – John Aikin, English doctor and writer (died 1822)source
  • January 19 – Johann Elert Bode, German astronomer (died 1826)source
  • February 21 – Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist (died 1795)source
  • February 28 – Justin Morgan, American horse breeder and composer (died 1798)source
  • 25 March [ O.S. 14 March] – Alexander Bezborodko, (died 1799)Russiasource
  • May 5 – Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1792)source
  • May 5 — Leopold II (Peter Leopold Josef Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard)Austriasource
  • 7 May – Judith van Dorth, aristocrat (executed 1799)Netherlandssource
  • June 23 – Michele Troja, Italian physician (died 1827)source
  • July 2 – Rose Bertin, French fashion designer (died 1813)source
  • July 6 – John Paul Jones, American naval captain (died 1792)source
  • September 9 – Thomas Coke, first American Methodist Bishop (died 1814)source
  • September 12 – Caleb Brewster, Patriot spy during the American Revolutionary War (died 1827)source
  • October 8 – Jean-François Rewbell, French politician (died 1807)source
  • December 12 – Anna Seward, English writer (died 1809)source
  • December 31 – Gottfried August Bürger, German poet (died 1794)source
  • Sir John Thomas Duckworth, a naval officer who became the governor of Newfoundland: February 9, 1747 (England) - Aug 31, 1817.Canadasource

Deaths

  • January 2 – Lord George Graham, Royal Navy officer and MP (born 1715)source
  • January 26 – Willem van Mieris, Dutch painter (born 1662)source
  • 26 January – Willem van Mieris, painter (born 1662)Netherlandssource
  • March 14 – Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, German aristocrat and general (born 1661)source
  • April 3 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (born 1657)source
  • April 7 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (born 1676)source
  • April 9 – The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat is beheaded at Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last person in Britain to be beheaded, although beheading would not be formally abolished until more than 200 years later.source
  • April 9 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief (born c. 1667)source
  • May 9 – John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (born 1673)source
  • June 19 – Nader Shah, Persian leader (born 1688)source
  • July 9 – Giovanni Bononcini, Italian composer (born 1670)source
  • 21 July - Robert Clavering, former Bishop of Llandaff, 70/71Walessource
  • August 8: Madeleine de Verchères, daughter of François Jarret, a seigneur in New France, and Marie Perrot (b.1678); Madeline (alt spelling) achieved recognition when, as a young girl, she successfully fought off Iroquois attackers and helped to save Fort Vercheres (Quebec).Canadasource
  • October 4 – Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair (born 1678)source
  • October 7 – Giulia Lama, Italian painter (born 1681)source
  • October 9 – David Brainerd, American missionary (born 1718)source
  • November 17 – Alain-René Lesage, French writer (born 1668)source
  • Ekaterina Alekseyevna DolgorukovaRussiasource