1754 CE

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne becomes Prime Minister following the death of his brother Henry Pelham. French and Indian War: Battle of Jumonville Glen – The war begins when George Washington, 22, leads a company of militia from the Colony of Virginia, in an ambush on a force of 35 French Canadians. The Battle of Jumonville Glen begins the French and Indian War in North America: 22-year-old George Washington leads a company of militia from the Colony of Virginia in an ambush on a force of 35 French Canadians.

In the 1750s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 6 March – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne becomes Prime Minister following the death of his brother Henry Pelham.United Kingdomsource
  • March 16 – Ten days after the death of British Prime Minister Henry Pelham, his brother Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, forms a government as the new Prime Minister of Great Britain.source
  • March 19:The counties of Gullbringu and Kjósarsýsla are formed by the merger of two counties.Icelandsource
  • April–May – In the British general election, newly elected MPs include Robert Wynne at Caernarvon Boroughs and Benjamin Bathurst at Monmouth Boroughs.Walessource
  • June 19 – The Albany Congress of seven northern colonies proposes an American Union.source
  • July 10 – The Albany Plan of Union is given official approval by the delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, with Connecticut opposing. The plan approved at the meeting in Albany, New York is based on Benjamin Franklin's suggestions of "a general union of the British colonies on the continent" for a common defense policy. As amended at the assembly, the proposed union calls for the British Parliament to approve the arrangement, which would encompass all of the British North American colonies except for Georgia and Nova Scotia. The plan, to be considered by the individual colonies for ratification, provides for an inter-colonial legislature (the Grand Council) composed of between two and seven representatives for each colony, depending on population. It also provides for a "President General" who can veto Grand Council legislation, a common defense budget with colonies contributing proportionately to their representation, and an inter-colonial army whose officers would be selected by the Grand Council.source
  • August 6 – The British North American Province of Georgia is created. Originally established in 1732 as a place for impoverished English citizens and debt prison parolees to make a new life, is given its first royal government. Administered for 22 years by the Board of Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America, chaired by philanthropist James Oglethorpe, the colony is transferred by the Trustees to the British crown's Board of Trade and Plantations. King George II, for whom the colony was named, follows the Board's recommendation by proclaiming Georgia a royal province, and appointing Royal Navy Captain John Reynolds as the first Royal Governor. Reynolds arrives in Savannah on October 29 to take office.source
  • August 17 – Pennsylvania becomes the first of the British colonies to address Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan for an inter-colonial union. With Franklin absent from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's House of Representatives votes against to not consider the Plan at all, and to not refer it to the next legislative session for debate.source
  • November 28 – Denmark establishes the Renteskirverkontor, an office within the Chamber of Finance, to oversee the colonial affairs of the Danish West Indies (Dansk Vestindien). Peder Mariager, who had been a minor official of the Danish West Indies Company, becomes the first administrator. The colony, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix later is purchased by the United States from Denmark and is now the U.S. Virgin Islands.source
  • December 26 – Massachusetts becomes the third colony (after Pennsylvania and Connecticut) to reject the Albany Plan for an inter-colonial union, voting 48 to 31 to postpone consideration of the union question indefinitely.source
  • Surveyor William Churton lays out what will become the seat of Orange County, North Carolina. The town is named Corbin Town for Francis Corbin, a member of the North Carolina governor's council. Corbin Town is renamed Childsburgh in 1759, and finally Hillsborough in 1766.source
  • Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix were sold to king Frederick V, becoming royal Danish-Norwegian colonies.Denmarksource
  • Decree abolishing internal customs (Elizabeth Romanova, decree ending in 1762)Russiasource

Conflict & Security

  • February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the indigenous Guarani people residing in the Misiones Orientales stage an attack on a small Brazilian Portuguese settlement on the Rio Pardo in what is now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The attack by 300 Guarani soldiers from the missions at San Luis, San Lorenzo and San Juan Bautista is repelled with a loss of 30 Guarani and is the opening of the Guarani Warsource
  • February 25 – Guatemalan Sergeant Major Melchor de Mencos y Varón departs the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala with an infantry battalion to fight British pirates that are reportedly disembarking on the coasts of Petén (modern-day Belize), and sacking the nearby towns.source
  • 2 March – riot at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. Thomas Sheridan, the manager, resigns, and leaves Ireland on 15 September.Irelandsource
  • April 30 – Battle of San Felipe and the Cobá Lagoon: Guatemalan Sergeant Mayor Melchor de Mencos y Varón and his troops defeat the British pirates.source
  • May 28 – French and Indian War: Battle of Jumonville Glen – The war begins when George Washington, 22, leads a company of militia from the Colony of Virginia, in an ambush on a force of 35 French Canadians.source
  • 28 May – The Battle of Jumonville Glen begins the French and Indian War in North America: 22-year-old George Washington leads a company of militia from the Colony of Virginia in an ambush on a force of 35 French Canadians.Francesource
  • July 3 – French and Indian War – Battle of Fort Necessity: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers, the only surrender in Washington's military career.source
  • 3 July – French and Indian War: Battle of Fort Necessity – George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.Francesource
  • August 19 – Lieutenant Colonel George Washington is forced to confront his first mutiny as 25 members of his Virginia militia refuse to obey orders from their officers. Washington, who is attending church services at the time, quickly suppresses the rebellion and the mutineers are imprisoned before more join.source
  • August 30 – New Hampshire settlers Susannah Willard Johnson and her family are taken hostage by the Abenaki Indians during an attack near Charlestown. Nine months pregnant at the time of their capture, Johnson gives birth two days later to a child, whom she names Elizabeth Captive Johnson. For the next two years, the family is held for ransom in Canada before she is released. In 1796, she will recount the story in a popular memoir, A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson.source
  • November 29 – Karim Khan Zand, the King of Persia (now Iran) recaptures the city of Shiraz from Afghan warlord Azad Khan Afghan, who had taken control of much of central Iran since 1749.source
  • 1754–63 - French and Indian War (the colonial phase of Europe's Seven Years' War)Canadasource
  • Tuesday May 28: Washington, with a few men, attacks Jumonville, with thirty followers, near the confluence of the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. Jumonville and nine of his command are killed. The rest are taken, prisoners. The French allege that, before the firing began, Jumonville signaled that he had a proposal to make; but Washington says that he observed no signal.Canadasource
  • French and Indian War begins in North America; it becomes the Seven Years' War when fighting spreads to Europe (1756).Canadasource
  • France sends 3,000 regulars to Canada. Fort Duquesne is built. Benjamin Franklin says the British Colonies will have no peace while France holds Canada. Ango-French competition in the Ohio Valley sparks conflict.Canadasource
  • George Washington's troops at Fort Duquesne open the French and Indian War, a counterpart of the Seven Years' War in Europe.Canadasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • September 11 – Anthony Henday, an English explorer, becomes the first white man to reach the Canadian Rockies, after climbing a ridge above the Red Deer River near what is now Innisfail, Alberta.source
  • October 24 – China's Qianlong Emperor reverses a longstanding policy that barred Chinese subjects from ever returning to China if they remained out of the country for more than three years.source
  • Hudson's Bay Company Anthony Hendry travels to upper South Saskatchewan River, to Ft. La Jonquiere region with presents and trade goods.Canadasource
  • Anthony Henday travels west from Hudson Bay onto Plains, meets natives on horseback and sees Rocky Mountains.Canadasource
  • Founding of the town Nizhnyaya Tura in the Sverdlovsk OblastRussiasource

Religion & Belief

  • December 13 – Osman III succeeds his brother Mahmud I as Ottoman Emperor; he will rule until his death in 1757.source
  • St. Florian's Martyr Greek Catholic Church, Budapest is built.source
  • Construction of Transfiguration Cathedral (Saint Petersburg)Russiasource
  • Mêr Difinyddiaeth Iachus (second edition, with a preface by Morgan Jones)Walessource
  • Ben Simon (ed.) – Collected works of Dafydd ap GwilymWalessource
  • Richard Rees – Collected sermons, published by Philip CharlesWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • 6 March – Thomas Dillon, Richard Ferrall and Co.'s bank failure in Dublin due to fraud, the first of three (1754–1755); the partners abscond to France.Irelandsource
  • 11 July – William Burnett establishes the Aberdeen law firm that will continue in business as Burnett and Reid into the 21st century.Scotlandsource
  • The Hanseatic League Kontor at Bryggen was closed.Norwaysource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Construction of Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg, RussiaRussiasource
  • Construction of the city Oleksandriia in Kirovohrad OblastRussiasource
  • Old Spey Bridge at Grantown-on-Spey is completed by the military.Scotlandsource
  • John Jenkin (Ioan Siengcin) opens a Welsh school at Nevern.Walessource

Science & Discovery

  • January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity.source
  • 28 January – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity.United Kingdomsource
  • Marian apparition at Las Lajas in Colombia.source
  • Chemist Joseph Black discovers "carbonic acid gas", i.e. carbon dioxide.Scotlandsource

Health & Medicine

  • 18 April–20 May – General election increases the Whig Party's majority. Corruption is particularly notorious in the Oxfordshire election.United Kingdomsource
  • County of Meath Infirmary established at Navan.Irelandsource

Crime & Justice

  • Susanne Monsdatter witch trail in Hordaland, one of the last witch trials in Scandinavia.Norwaysource
  • William Williams (Pantycelyn) – Hosanna i Fab Dafydd, part 2Walessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 22 May – In fiction, the village of Brigadoon disappears into the Highland mist (alternate sources say 1747).Scotlandsource

Climate & Environment

  • September 2 – A powerful earthquake strikes Constantinople shortly after 9 o'clock in the evening. A Scottish physician, Mordach Mackenzie, reports in a letter that the tremor damaged or destroyed numerous buildings and comments, "Some say there were 2000 people destroyed by this calamity, in the town and suburbs; some 900; and others reduce them to 60, who, by what I have seen, are nearer the truth."source

Culture & Society

  • March 25 – The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 comes into force in England and Wales, placing marriage in that jurisdiction on a statutory basis for the first time.source
  • 25 March – Lord Harwicke's Marriage Act 1753 "for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage" comes into force in England and Wales, giving increased incentive for couples to contract Border marriages in Scotland.Scotlandsource
  • March 31 – The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts is founded as a gift to King Frederick V on his 31st birthday.Denmarksource
  • May 14 – The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is founded in Scotland.source
  • 14 May – The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is founded as the Society of St Andrews Golfers, a group of players on St Andrews Links.Scotlandsource
  • 14 May – The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is founded in Scotland; it will come to control the rules of golf.United Kingdomsource
  • July 17 – Classes begin at Columbia University, founded on October 31 as King's College by royal charter of King George II of Great Britain. The college is originally located in Lower Manhattan in the Province of New York. Instruction is suspended in 1776, and the school reopens in 1784 as Columbia College. With the college's growth in the 19th century, it is renamed Columbia University in 1896.source
  • October 31 – What will become Columbia University is chartered as "a College in the Province of New York... in the City of New York in America... named King's College", with the charter submitted by New York's colonial governor, James De Lancey.source
  • The Select Society is established as The St Giles' Society by a group of 15 Edinburgh intellectuals, part of the Scottish Enlightenment.Scotlandsource

Births

Deaths

  • January 28 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian dramatist and writer (born 1684)source
  • February 16 – Richard Mead, English physician (born 1673)source
  • March 6 – Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1694)source
  • April 5 – Lord Archibald Hamilton, Scottish officer of the Royal Navy (born 1673)source
  • April 9 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher, mathematician, scientist (born 1679)source
  • May 23 – John Wood, the Elder, English architect (born 1704)source
  • May 28 - Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, military officer. (born 1718)Canadasource
  • June 7 – Nicolai Eigtved, Danish architect (born 1701)source
  • 6 August – Georg Wilhelm Richmann, physicist. (born 1711)Russiasource
  • 14 August - Maria Anna of AustriaAustriasource
  • August 26 – Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton (born 1685)source
  • October 4 – Tanacharison, Catawba Indian chief (born c. 1700)source
  • October 8 – Henry Fielding, English novelist and dramatist known for his earthy humour and satire (born 1707)source
  • October 10 – Dorothea Krag, Danish General Postmaster and noble (born 1675)source
  • November 27 – Abraham de Moivre, French mathematician (born 1667)source
  • December 13 – Mahmud I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754 (born 1696)source
  • December 22 – Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle (born 1702)source
  • Hans Colbjørnsen, timber trader and military officer (born c.1675).Norwaysource