1753 CE
After a month's absence, Elizabeth Canning returns to her mother's home in London and claims that she was abducted. The following criminal trial causes uproar. The Parliament of Great Britain's Jewish Naturalization Act receives royal assent, allowing naturalization to Jews; it is repealed in 1754. The Unity of Brethren, a branch of the Moravian Church, receives a grant the Wachovia Tract, 99,985 acres of land (approximately 157 square miles), in western North Carolina, for the benefit of German-speaking immigrants to America. The area now includes Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In the 1750s, the 18th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- April 16 – The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 is passed by Britain's House of Lords, permitting Jewish immigrants to England to become naturalized citizens "without receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper". The bill, introduced by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, passes the House of Commons on May 22.source
- May 22 – The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 passes the House of Commons and later receives royal assent from King George II.source
- June 6 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act "for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage" in England and Wales. King George II adjourns Parliament the next day; the act comes into effect on March 25, 1754.source
- 6 June – Parliament passes Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act "for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage" in England and Wales, requiring marriages to be performed by licensed ministers and the reading of banns of marriage; it comes into effect in 1754. Jews and Quakers are exempted.United Kingdomsource
- July 7 – The Parliament of Great Britain's Jewish Naturalization Act receives royal assent, allowing naturalization to Jews; it is repealed in 1754.source
- 7 July – Parliament's Jewish Naturalization Act, a measure to end discrimination against Jews, receives royal assent, but widespread opposition leads to its repeal in 1754.United Kingdomsource
- July – the Parliament of Great Britain passes Lord Harwicke's Marriage Act 1753 "for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage" in England and Wales; coming into force in 1754 it will give increased incentive for couples to contract Border marriages in Scotland.Scotlandsource
- August 7 – The Unity of Brethren, a branch of the Moravian Church, receives a grant the Wachovia Tract, 99,985 acres of land (approximately 157 square miles), in western North Carolina, for the benefit of German-speaking immigrants to America. The area now includes Winston-Salem, North Carolina.source
- August 21 – After receiving a series of warnings about incursions into land claimed by the Crown Colony of Virginia (from the colony's Lieutenant Governor, Robert Dinwiddie), the cabinet of British Prime Minister Henry Pelham votes to send a warning to Britain's colonial governors "to prevent, by Force, These and any such attempts" to encroach on their lands "that may be made by the French, or by the Indians in the French interest." Britain's Secretary of State for the Southern Department, the Earl of Holderness, sends the circular order on August 28.source
- 11 September – last sitting of the Cornish Stannary Parliament.United Kingdomsource
- November 24 – José Alfonso Pizarro completes more than four years as the Spanish Viceroy of New Granada (which comprises modern-day Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador) and is succeeded by José Solís Folch de Cardona.source
- The 2nd Fort Paskoya built at a new location which became the Pas.Canadasource
- Skúli Magnússon sought a grant from the Danish king to build a better house, "which could receive young and healthy wanderers and beggars who wander around the country in groups". That building later became the Government House.Icelandsource
- Cession of the Northern Circars to the French.Indiasource
Conflict & Security
- 7 June – Archibald Cameron of Lochiel (born 1707) becomes the last Jacobite to be executed for treason when he is hanged and beheaded at Tyburn in London under a bill of attainder. On 26 March he has returned from exile in France in the service of Charles Edward Stuart to retrieve the Loch Arkaig treasure and to participate in a desperate plot to assassinate George II of Great Britain and other members of the British royal family. However, while staying secretly at Brenachyle by Loch Katrine, he has been betrayed by Alastair Ruadh MacDonnell of Glengarry (the notorious spy "Pickle") and members of his own clan and arrested.Scotlandsource
- September 3 – Tanacharison, a chief of the Oneida people tribe that is one of the "Six Nations" of the Iroquois Confederacy, meets with French officers who have come into the Ohio and Allegheny region and warns them not to advance further into the Iroquois territory.source
- October 31 – Virginia Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie commissions 21-year-old militia Major George Washington to dissuade the French from occupying the Ohio Country.source
- December 11 – Major George Washington and British guide Christopher Gist arrive at Fort Le Boeuf (near modern-day Waterford, Pennsylvania and the city of Erie), a French fortress built in territory claimed by the British Crown Colony of Virginia. Washington presents the fort's commander, French Army Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, a message from Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie advising that "The lands upon the Ohio River are so notoriously known to be the property of the Crown of Great Britain that it is a matter of equal concern and surprise... to hear that a body of French fortresses and making settlements upon that river, within His Majesty's dominions," adding that "It becomes my duty to require your peaceable departure." Captain Legardeur provides a reply for Washington to take to Dinwiddie, declaring that the rights of France's King Louis XV to the land "are incontestable", and refuses to back down, leading to beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754.source
- Renewed dispute over revenue surplus.Irelandsource
Exploration & Expansion
- September 18 – Britain's Board of Trade sends a directive to the colonial and provincial governors of Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania ordering them to send delegates to a summit meeting with the Iroquois Confederacy. The message instructs the governors that King George II has ordered "a Sum of Money to be issued for Presents to the Six Nations of Indians" and ordering New York's Governor George Clinton "to hold an Interview with them for delivering these Presents, for burying the Hatchet, and for renewing the Covenant Chain with them."source
- A trading post, to be later known as Fort de la Corne was built just below the junction of the two branches of the Saskatchewan.Canadasource
- The merchant Thomas Fearnley migrated from Hull in England to Frederikshald, establishing the Fearnley family in Norway.Norwaysource
- Isaac Wilkinson of Cumbria takes out a lease on the Bersham furnace at Wrexham, and settles at Plas Grono.Walessource
Religion & Belief
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
- February 17 – The concept of electrical telegraphy is first published in the form of a letter to Scots' Magazine from a writer who identifies himself only as "C.M.". Titled "An Expeditious Method of Conveying Intelligence", C.M. suggests that static electricity (generated by 1753 from "frictional machines") could send electric signals across wires to a receiver. Rather than the dot and dash system later used by Samuel F.B. Morse, C.M. proposes that "a set of wires equal in number to the letters of the alphabet, be extended horizontally between two given places" and that on the receiving side, "Let a ball be suspended from every wire" and that a paper with a letter on it be underneath each wire.source
- August 6 – Russian scientist Georg Richmann becomes the first person to be electrocuted by his own equipment after he uses an insulated, but improperly grounded, lightning rod in an attempt to gather data on a thunderstorm. Richmann also becomes the first victim of ball lightning during his scientific experiment, in an attempt to replicate the experiments of American Benjamin Franklin.source
- The Cramer family starts a brewing operation at Warstein in North Rhine-Westphalia, originating the Warsteiner brand.source
- Fort Rouge rebuilt by Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre at its original location.Canadasource
- Stroganov Palace started constructionRussiasource
- Bonawe ironworks begins casting.Scotlandsource
- Old Bridge of Dee, Invercauld, completed by military engineer Edward Caulfield.Scotlandsource
Science & Discovery
- 17 February – Sweden replace the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar.Swedensource
- March 1 – Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar, by skipping the 11 days difference between it and the Julian calendar, and letting February 17 be followed directly by March 1.source
- 1 May - Species Plantarum by Carl Linnaeus.Swedensource
- 20 September – Inauguration of the new observatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.Swedensource
- November 25 – The Russian Academy of Sciences announces a competition among chemists and physicists to provide "the best explanation of the true causes of electricity including their theory", with a deadline of June 1, 1755 (on the Julian calendar used in Russia, June 12 on the Gregorian calendar used in Western Europe and the New World).source
- The chemical element bismuth discovered by Claude François GeoffroyFrancesource
Health & Medicine
- 23 October – first naval patients admitted to Royal Hospital Haslar in Hampshire. When the main building is completed in 1762 this will be the world's largest hospital and Europe's largest brick building.United Kingdomsource
- November 12 – Spain's King Fernando VI issues a set of 25 regulations and restrictions for theatrical performances, including a requirement that the directors of the acting troupes "take the greatest care that the necessary modesty is preserved" and that the actors should be reminded that chastity requires that "indecent and provocative" dances should be avoided.source
Crime & Justice
- January 29 – After a month's absence, Elizabeth Canning returns to her mother's home in London and claims that she was abducted; the following criminal trial causes an uproar.source
- 29 January – after a month's absence, Elizabeth Canning returns to her mother's home in London and claims that she was abducted. The following criminal trial causes uproar.United Kingdomsource
- Lewis Morris is briefly imprisoned at Cardigan when the local squires challenge his rights as the Crown's local representative to mine for lead. As a result of the controversy, Morris visits London for the first time.Walessource
- William Thomas, former Sheriff of Caernarvonshire, unsuccessfully brings an action in Chancery against Thomas James, Lord Bulkeley, claiming the advowson of Aber.Walessource
Disasters & Accidents
- January 3 – King Binnya Dala of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom orders the burning of Ava, the former capital of the Kingdom of Burma.source
- November 12 – A fire destroys the Emperor's Palace in Moscow.source
Culture & Society
- May 1 – Species Plantarum is published by Linnaeus (adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature as the formal start date of the scientific classification of plants).source
- June 7 – The British Museum is established in London, by Act of Parliament.source
- 7 June – the British Museum is established in London by Act of Parliament.United Kingdomsource
- 2 July – John Jones succeeds the late Johann Christoph Pepusch as organist at Charterhouse.Walessource
- 24 July - The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities is founded by Queen Louisa Ulrika.Swedensource
- 15 December – Lady Charlotte Cavendish, married to William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (future Prime Minister of Great Britain & Ireland), inherits her family's estates, including Lismore Castle, from her father, Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, bringing them into the Devonshire family.Irelandsource
- Robert Wood publishes The ruins of Palmyra; otherwise Tedmor in the desart in English and French, making the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra known to the West.source
- James Lind writes A Treatise of the Scurvy.source
- Glasgow Literary Society formed.Scotlandsource
- Foulis Academy formed in Glasgow by Robert Foulis to teach art.Scotlandsource
- Military road completed to Rest and Be Thankful.Scotlandsource
- Undated – First stage of Horace Walpole's Gothic Revival 'Castle' at Strawberry Hill in London completed.United Kingdomsource
Births
- February 12 – François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, French admiral (died 1798)source
- March 8 – William Roscoe, English writer (died 1831)source
- March 9 – Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general (died 1800)source
- March 26 – Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (died 1814)source
- April 3 – Simon Willard, American horologist (died 1848)source
- April 28– Franz Karl Achard, German chemist, physicist and biologist (died 1821)source
- May 13 – Lazare Carnot, French general, politician and mathematician (died 1823)source
- July 9 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, British admiral, Governor of Newfoundland (died 1825)source
- September 10 – John Soane, English architect (died 1837)source
- 10 September – John Soane, architect (died 1837)United Kingdomsource
- October 27 – Jean-Baptiste de Lavalette, French general (died 1794)source
- 30 October - Henrik Carstensen, businessman, timber merchant and shipowner (died 1835).Norwaysource
- November 20 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (died 1815)source
- November 25 – Robert Townsend, member of the Culper Spy Ring (died 1838)source
- December 3 – Samuel Crompton, English inventor (died 1827)source
- 10 December – Richard Thomas, Anglican priest and antiquarian (died 1780)Walessource
- Quang Trung, Vietnamese emperor (died 1792)source
- Matvei Platov, General of the Imperial Russian ArmyRussiasource
Deaths
- January 11 – Sir Hans Sloane, Irish-born physician and collector (born 1660)source
- January 14 – George Berkeley, Irish-born philosopher and bishop (born 1685)source
- January 23 – Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, French royal princess, saloniste (born 1676)source
- February 16 – Giacomo Facco, Italian composer (born 1676)source
- February 22 – Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim, German countess (born 1686)source
- May 23 – Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa, Polish dramatist (born 1705)source
- 6 June – Sir Arthur Owen, 3rd Baronet, MP for Pembroke and Lord Lieutenant of PembrokeshireWalessource
- June 7 – Archibald Cameron of Locheil, last Scottish Jacobite to be executed for treason (born 1707)source
- June 10 – Joachim Ludwig Schultheiss von Unfriedt, German architect (born 1678)source
- August 6 – Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (struck by lightning) (born 1711)source
- August 19 – Balthasar Neumann, German architect and military engineer (born 1687)source
- October 12 – Sir Danvers Osborn, 3rd Baronet, British politician and governor of the Province of New York (born 1715)source
- October 17 - François-Josué de la Corne Dubreuil, a soldier and trader. (born 1710)Canadasource
- 4 November – Iver Elieson, merchant (born 1683).Norwaysource
- November 10 – Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, French naval officer and governor of Isle de France (Mauritius) (born 1699)source
- December 4 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (born 1694)source
- December 25 – Godolphin Arabian, Yemeni-foaled English thoroughbred stallion (born c. 1724)source
- Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicistRussiasource