1751 CE

In Britain and its colonies (except Scotland), the year 1751 began on 25 March as usual, but ended it on 31 December (rather than nearly three months later according to its previous rule) and had only 282 days. This was due to the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 (by which it adopted the Gregorian calendar).

In the 1750s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 1 – As the Province of Georgia undergoes the transition from a trustee-operated territory to a Crown colony, the prohibition against slavery is lifted by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America. At the time, the Black population of Georgia is approximately 400 people, who had been kept in slavery in violation of the law. By 1790, the enslaved population of Georgia increases to over 29,000 and to 462,000 by 1860.source
June 14 – The colony of South Carolina reverses a 10-year-old law that had imposed a tax of 100 pounds sterling on the purchase of imported African slaves, and reduces the tax to £10. The move effectively restores the slave trade to the colony.source
1 July – The Cameronians, at this time serving in Ireland, are formally ranked as the 26th Regiment of Foot.Scotland source
21 September - Stromstad Treaty of 1751 is signed, it defined the border between Sweden and Norway.Norway source
21 September – The final border between Sweden and Norway is recognized.Sweden source
October 22 – William V, Prince of Orange, the three-year-old son of the late William IV, becomes the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. During his minority, his mother, Princess Anne, acts as regent until her death in 1759. Upon becoming of age in 1766, he will have a corrupt reign as the Republic's head of state until the office is abolished on February 23, 1785.source
November 29 – The Cherokee nation signs a treaty with British colonial authorities at the close of the two-week Charlestown Conference in Charleston, South Carolina, with Governor James Glen signing an agreement with Cherokee war chiefs led by the "Old Skiagunsta" of Keowee, the Raven of Hiwasee, Old Caesar of Chatuga and Kittagusta of Joree.source
The Lapp Codicil of 1751 is signed, defining the land border between Denmark-Norway and Sweden.Denmark source
The Lapp Codicil of 1751 (addendum to the Stromstad Treaty) secures the right of the Sami people to continue their nomadic lifestyle between the borders.Norway source
The Lapp Codicil of 1751 defines the border between Sweden and Norway and secures the right of the Sami to continue their nomadic lifestyle between the borders.Sweden source

Conflict & Security

January 13 – For the first time, the American colony in Georgia has an elected legislature after having been administered by a corporate Board of Trustees since its founding in 1732. The original Georgia Assembly meets in Savannah with 16 representatives as the colony prepares to become a British colonial province. After electing Francis Harris as the Speaker of the unicameral Assembly, the delegates successfully ask the Trustees not to surrender control of Georgia to the neighboring Province of South Carolina.source
January 18 – In the aftermath of the Lhasa riot of 1750, Chinese General Ban Di arrives at the capital of Tibet on behalf of the Qianlong Emperor and the seven imprisoned leaders of the rebellion are turned over to his custody by the 7th Dalai Lama, Keizang Gyatzo. General Ban Di guides the interrogation under torture of rebel leader Lobsang Trashi and, after five days orders the beheading and dismemberment of the seven rebels.source
February 14 – At Lakkireddipalle in southeastern India, the new Nizam of Hyderabad, Subhadar Muzaffar Jang, leads an invasion of cavalry against the small kingdom of Kurnool and is confronted by its monarch, the Nawab Bahadur Khan. The Subhadar and the Nawab order their soldiers to stand down and then engage in hand-to-hand combat, during which the Nawab "thrust[s] a spear into the Subhadar's brain" before he is "himself hacked to pieces."source
July 28 – Battle of Kirkhbulakh: The Kingdom of Kartli defeats a large army of the Tabriz Khanate, under Erekle II.source
31 August – Robert Clive takes the Indian town of Arcot from the French.United Kingdom source
October 27 – The Hōreki period begins in Japan.source
November 14 – The 50-day long siege of the British fort of Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli) in southern India is broken when the defenders use musket fire to force a stampede of the elephants of the French-backed troops of Chanda Sahib.source
November 17 – The Pima Revolt begins in the area that now includes the Mexican state of Sonora and the U.S. state of Arizona, as Pima Indian leader Luis Oacpicagigua carries out the massacre of 18 Spanish settlers at Oacpicagigua's home in Sáric. The rebellion, which takes the lives of more than 100 Spaniards, is ended on March 18 after Governor Diego Ortiz Parilla permits the rebels to surrender for imprisonment.source
December 3 – Battle of Arnee in India (Second Carnatic War): A British East India Company–led force under Robert Clive defeats and routs a much larger Franco-Indian army, under the command of Raza Sahib, at Arni.source
3 December – Battle of Arnee in India (Second Carnatic War): A British East India Company-led force under Robert Clive defeats and routs a much larger Franco-Indian army under the command of Raza Sahib at Arni.France source
3 December – Battle of Arnee: Robert Clive defeats a Franco-Indian force.United Kingdom source

Exploration & Expansion

24 April – John Wesley arrives at Musselburgh, his destination on his first mission to Scotland.Scotland source
Fort La Jonquière was established in 1751 by Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre on the Saskatchewan River (probably in the Nipawin, Sask. area).Canada source
First turnpike act for Scotland, for improvement of the road from Edinburgh to South Queensferry.Scotland source
Hönsgummans visa by Olaus Petri CareliusSweden source
A British settlement is founded in Georgetown in North America.United Kingdom source

Religion & Belief

5 October – the title Earl of Upper Ossory is created in the Peerage of Ireland in favour of John FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Gowran.Ireland source
1751–1775 – 13 per cent of appointees to audiencias in the Spanish Empire are Creoles.source

Economy & Finance

July 17: Inredningarin, a company for the promotion of industry in Iceland, is founded at Þingvellir.Iceland source
National income - ₹8,837 millionIndia source

Technology & Infrastructure

Construction of Zinn House and Prince William Mansion is completed in Copenhagen.Denmark source
The house which will become Áras an Uachtaráin is built in Phoenix Park, Dublin, by the park's Chief Ranger, politician Nathaniel Clements, to his own design.Ireland source
Approximate date – bridge built at Bridge of Orchy.Scotland source
A new Lizard Lighthouse is built in Cornwall.United Kingdom source

Science & Discovery

Adam Smith is appointed professor of logic.source
Axel Fredrik Cronstedt discovers nickel.Sweden source

Health & Medicine

April – the Gin Act requires government inspection of distilleries and restricts sale to licensed premises.United Kingdom source
May 11 – The Pennsylvania Hospital, first hospital in the American colonies, is chartered in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania legislature, which grants the right to Benjamin Franklin and to Dr. Thomas Bond.source
November 17 – Future United States President George Washington becomes seriously ill with smallpox while he and his older brother Lawrence are visiting the island of Barbados during an epidemic Washington, 19 years old, survives the virus but is bedridden for almost a month.source
The Medical School is founded.source
Newcastle Infirmary founded in Newcastle upon Tyne.United Kingdom source

Crime & Justice

February 18 – As the Governor of French Louisiana, Pierre de Rigaud, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, issues the first police regulations for New Orleans in an attempt to combat crime in that city.source
Robert Louis Stevenson's book "Kidnapped" is based in 1751.Scotland source
William Hogarth engraves the prints Gin Lane, Beer Street and The Four Stages of Cruelty.United Kingdom source
William Williams (Pantycelyn) – Hosanna i Fab Dafydd, part 1Wales source

Disasters & Accidents

8 June - A great fire in Stockholm.Sweden source
July 31 – Fire destroys 1,000 houses in Stockholm.source

Culture & Society

January 7 – The University of Pennsylvania, conceived 12 years earlier by Benjamin Franklin and its other trustees to provide non-denominational higher education "to train young people for leadership in business, government and public service". rather than for the ministry, holds its first classes as "The Academy and Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania" in Philadelphia.source
January - Crown Prince Gustav is engaged to Sophia Magdalena of Denmark.Sweden source
February 16 – English poet Thomas Gray first publishes Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, anonymously in The Magazine of Magazines. The poem becomes more popularly known as "Gray's Elegy".source
March 25 – For the last time, New Year's Day is legally on March 25, in England and Wales and "in all his Majesty's Dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America" due to the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750. The months of January 1751, February 1751 and most of March 1751 did not exist in British territories: those months were recorded as the last three of 1750 according to the Old Style dating system; the equivalent months a year later were recorded as the first three of 1752 under the New Style system.source
25 March – legally New Year's Day for the last time in England and Wales.United Kingdom source
April 19 – The Qianlong Emperor of China visits the southern capital of Nanjing for the first time, bringing with him 3,000 staff and 6,690 horses and stays for four days.source
April 20 – A month after the death of his father, 12-year old Prince George William Frederick is formally invested as the new Prince of Wales. Nine years later, Prince George becomes King George III upon the death of his grandfather, King George II.source
20 April – George, eldest son of the late Frederick, Prince of Wales, is made Prince of Wales.Wales source
April 29 – The sport of cricket is first played in the American colonies, as a team of New Yorkers plays against a team of Englishmen and defeats them, 167 to 80, in a match in Greenwich Village. Tom Melville, The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America (Popular Press, 1998) p5source
May 27 (May 13 Old Style) – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar: Royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire. It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.source
27 May – adoption of the Gregorian calendar: royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by Parliament, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire. It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.United Kingdom source
June 28 – The first volume of Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, often referred to as le Encyclopédie, is publishedsource
28 June – The first volume of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers) is published, notably including a map of their figurative system of human knowledge.France source
August 13 – The Academy and College of Philadelphia, predecessor to the private University of Pennsylvania, opens its doors, with Benjamin Franklin as president.source
September 13 – Kalvária Banská Štiavnica in the Kingdom of Hungary is completed.source
September – Richard Morris co-founds the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion in London.Wales source
November 26 – Adolf Frederick is formally crowned as the King of Sweden. The coronation ceremony takes place almost eight months after he assumed the throne.source
December 14 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.source
Zand Iran is established by Karim Khan Zand.source
Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus publishes his Philosophia Botanica, the first textbook of descriptive systematic botanical taxonomy, and the first appearance of his binomial nomenclature.source
Ferdinando Galiani publishes the first modern economic analysis, Della Moneta.source
The actress Peg Woffington begins a 3-year residence in her native Dublin at Thomas Sheridan's Smock Alley Theatre.Ireland source
David Hume settles in Edinburgh and publishes An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.Scotland source

Births

January 12 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (died 1825)source
February 15 – Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, German painter (died 1829)source
February 20 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet (died 1826)source
March 16 – James Madison, fourth President of the United States (died 1836)source
April 5 – Marie-Aimée Lullin, Swiss entomologist (died 1822)source
May 7 – Stephen Badlam, American artisan and military officer (died 1815)source
May 24 – Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy, King of Sardinia (died 1819)source
June 4 – John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (died 1838)source
June 17 – Joshua Humphreys, American naval architect (died 1838)source
July 11 – Caroline Matilda, British princess, queen consort of Denmark (died 1775)source
July 30 – Maria Anna Mozart ("Nannerl"), Austrian musician and composer, sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (died 1829)source
July 30 (midnight) – Maria Anna Mozart ("Nannerl"), Austrian pianist, singer, composer and violinist, sister of Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAustria source
September 1 – Emanuel Schikaneder, German dramatist, actor and singer (died 1812)source
September 5 – François Joseph Westermann, French Revolutionary leader, general (died 1794)source
15 October – David Samwell (Dafydd Ddu Feddyg), naval surgeon, companion of Captain Cook and bard (died 1798)Wales source
October 30 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish dramatist, politician (died 1816)source
Philip Turnor, HBC inland surveyor (died 1799)Canada source
Niels Treschow, philosopher and politician (died 1833)Norway source

Deaths

23 January – Peter Schnitler, jurist and military officer (born 1690).Norway source
January 29 – Martin Knutzen, German philosopher (born 1713)source
March 21 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (born 1706)source
March 24 – János Pálffy, Hungarian field marshal, Palatine (born 1664)source
March 25 – King Frederick I of Sweden (born 1676)source
March 29 – Thomas Coram, English sea captain, philanthropist (born c. 1668)source
March 31 – Frederick, Prince of Wales, Hanoverian-born heir to the British throne (born 1707)source
March 31 – Frederick, Prince of Wales, heir-apparent to the British throne, dies of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 44 after a game of cricket. His 12-year-old son, Prince George, becomes the heir-apparent and will later become King George III. Frederick's widow Augusta of Saxe-Gotha becomes Dowager Princess of Wales.source
31 March – Frederick, Prince of Wales dies at Leicester House, London from a lung injury and is succeeded by his son the future George III of the United Kingdom as heir apparent to the throne; three weeks later George is made Prince of Wales. George's mother, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, becomes Dowager Princess of Wales.United Kingdom source
31 March – Frederick, Prince of Wales, 44 (pulmonary embolism)Wales source
April 5 – Sweden's King Frederick I dies at the age of 74 (March 25 on the Julian calendar, which remains in effect in Sweden and Finland until 1753), after a reign of 31 years, bringing an end to the rule of Sweden by the House of Hesse because he has no legitimate heirs. Prince Adolf Frederick of the House of Holstein-Gottorp, who had been elected as the crown prince in 1743, becomes the new King.source
April 19 – Peter Lacy, Irish-born Russian field marshal (born 1678)source
May 20 – Domènec Terradellas, Spanish opera composer (born 1713)source
August 30 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist (born 1661)source
October 26 – Philip Doddridge, English nonconformist religious leader (born 1702)source
December 12 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman, philosopher (born 1678)source
December 19 – Louise of Great Britain, queen of Frederick V of Denmark (born 1724)source
19 December – Queen Louise, Queen of Denmark-Norway (born 1724 in the United Kingdom)Denmark source