1759 CE

In Great Britain, this year was known as the Annus Mirabilis, because of British victories in the Seven Years' War.

In the 1750s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • December 10 – Shah Jahan III is installed as the puppet ruler of India's Mughal Empire eleven days after the death of Alamgir II, but is removed after a reign of only ten months.source
  • Proclamation issued by Governor of Nova Scotia invites New Englanders to settle there.Canadasource
  • The village of Havredal is founded.Denmarksource
  • Restrictions on import of Irish cattle into England are removed.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 27 – Battle of Río Bueno: Spanish forces, led by Juan Antonio Garretón, defeat indigenous Huilliches of southern Chile.source
  • February 16 – The Comte de Lally (Thomas Lally) ends the French Army's two-month siege of the British Indian fort at Madras and retreats.source
  • April 13 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Bergen: A French army defeats Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick in Hesse.source
  • May 10 – The Macedonian Hussar Regiment is formed and starts to assist the Russian Empire in the Seven Years' War.source
  • June 4 – After arriving at Canada, the Royal Navy fleet sails out of British-controlled Halifax toward the St. Lawrence River to prepare the invasion of French Quebec.source
  • June 26 – After their fleet finishes navigation of the St. Lawrence and arriving at the Île d'Orléans, British troops go ashore on France's North American territory and begin the siege of Quebec City.source
  • July 25 – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): In Canada, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.source
  • July 26–27 – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) – Battle of Ticonderoga: At the southern end of Lake Champlain, French forces withdraw from Fort Carillon, which is taken by the British under General Amherst, and renamed Fort Ticonderoga.source
  • August 1 – Battle of Minden: Anglo–Hanoverian forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat the French army of the Duc de Broglie, but due to the disobedience of the English cavalry commander Lord George Sackville, the French are able to withdraw unmolested.source
  • August 12 – Battle of Kunersdorf: Frederick the Great is rebuffed in bloody assaults, by the combined Austro–Russian army of Pyotr Saltykov and Ernst von Laudon. This is one of Frederick's greatest defeats.source
  • August 18 – Battle of Lagos: The British fleet of Edward Boscawen defeats a French force under Commodore Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran off the Portuguese coast.source
  • September 10 – Battle of Pondicherry: An inconclusive naval battle is fought off the coast of India, between the French Admiral d'Aché and the British under George Pocock. The French forces are badly damaged and sail home, never to return.source
  • 10 September - Battle of Frisches HaffSwedensource
  • September 13 – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) – Battle of the Plains of Abraham: Quebec falls to British forces, following General James Wolfe's victory just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General Wolfe are fatally wounded.source
  • 13 September – Battle of the Plains of Abraham: British forces led by James Wolfe defeat the French commanded by the Marquis de Montcalm (although both commanders are fatally wounded), leading to the capitulation of Quebec CityFrancesource
  • 13 September – Battle of the Plains of Abraham (Seven Years' War): British forces, including the 78th Fraser Highlanders, defeat those of the French to take Quebec City.Scotlandsource
  • 13 September – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): Quebec is recaptured by British forces following General Wolfe's victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General Wolfe are fatally wounded.United Kingdomsource
  • November 20 – Battle of Quiberon Bay: The British fleet of Sir Edward Hawke defeats a French fleet under Marshal de Conflans, near the coast of Brittany. This is the decisive naval engagement of the Seven Years' War – after this, the French are no longer able to field a significant fleet.source
  • November 21 – Battle of Maxen: The Austrian army of Marshal von Daun cuts off and forces the surrender of a Prussian force, under Friedrich von Finck.source
  • Thursday July 26 - Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga) is abandoned by the French.Canadasource
  • Thursday September 13 - James Wolfe lands a force at Fuller's Cove, between 1 and 2 in the morning. They climb to the Plains of Abraham. At 6 a.m., Marquis de Montcalm is informed that the British have accomplished what he deemed impossible; but discredits the report. With 4,500, he fights about an equal number; but his men cannot resist bayonets. Each leader receives a mortal wound. Wolfe asks an officer to support him so that his followers may not be discouraged by his fall.Canadasource
  • Planned French Invasion of Britain: France considers offering the Kingdom of Ireland to a Stuart pretender.Irelandsource
  • Gustaf Grüner was appointed commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army.Norwaysource

Exploration & Expansion

  • September 14 – Carrington Bowles publishes A Journey Through Europe, a board game designed by John Jefferys, the earliest board game whose designer's name is known.source
  • 14 September – "A Journey Through Europe; or, A Play of Geography", the earliest British board game sold.United Kingdomsource
  • September–October – Benjamin Franklin visits Scotland.Scotlandsource
  • The town of Egedesminde (modern Aasiaat) is founded in Greenland.source
  • Tuesday May 22 - A British fleet approaches Quebec.Canadasource
  • The settlement of Aasiaat is founded as Egedesminde in Greenland.Denmarksource
  • 87th Regiment of Foot (Keith's Highlanders) raised at Perth and sent to Germany.Scotlandsource

Religion & Belief

  • January – Journal des Dames published in France.Francesource
  • February 12 – Ali II ibn Hussein becomes the new Ruler of Tunisia upon the death of his brother, Muhammad I ar-Rashid. Ali reigns for 23 years until his death in 1782.source
  • 5 March – Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie is proscribed by the Vatican and (on March 8) temporarily suppressed by the French government; the ban is lifted in September to allow publication of a revised versionFrancesource
  • 1 May – the foundation of Wedgwood potteryUnited Kingdomsource
  • Formation of the Irish Catholic Committee, of Dublin merchants and professionals loyal to the British monarchy.Irelandsource
  • The Old Olden Church was built.Norwaysource
  • Mathias Maurice – Social Religion Exemplify'dWalessource
  • Blodeu-gerdd Cymry (ed. Dafydd Jones)Walessource
  • date unknown – Evan Davies resigns as head of the Welsh Academy, following a rift between the Presbyterian and Congregational Fund Boards.Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • January 11 – In Philadelphia, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.source
  • March 4–November 20 – Étienne de Silhouette serves as Controller-General of France and attempts major financial reforms.source
  • 4 March–20 November – Étienne de Silhouette serves as Controller-General and attempts major financial reformsFrancesource
  • 19 September – The Dowlais Iron Company is formed.Walessource
  • 31 December – Arthur Guinness leases the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin.Irelandsource
  • David Erskine establishes his own legal practice in Edinburgh, origins of the partnership Dundas & Wilson.Scotlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 20 March: King Frederick V issued a decree that a prison should be built in Iceland.Icelandsource
  • May 1 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery in England.source
  • 23 July – Keel laying of HMS Victory at Chatham Dockyard.United Kingdomsource
  • 5 September & 28 October – Regulations issued for the production of printed cotton fabrics in the kingdom, permitting Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf to set up a manufactory in Jouy-en-Josas for the production of toile de JouyFrancesource
  • October 16 – Smeaton's Tower, John Smeaton’s Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of South West England, is first illuminated.source
  • 16 October – Smeaton's Tower, John Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse, is first illuminated.United Kingdomsource
  • Construction of Christian's Church, Copenhagen is completed.Denmarksource
  • West front of Trinity College Dublin on College Green completed by architects Henry Keene and John Sanderson.Irelandsource
  • The Carron Company establishes its ironworks at Falkirk.Scotlandsource
  • Bank of England £10 note first issued.United Kingdomsource

Science & Discovery

  • English clockmaker John Harrison produces his "No. 1 sea watch" (H4), the first successful marine chronometer.source
  • Madame du Coudray publishes Abrégé de l'art des accouchements (The Art of Obstetrics), and the French government authorizes her to carry her instruction "throughout the realm" and promises financial support.source
  • Madame du Coudray publishes Abrégé de l'art des accouchements (The Art of Obstetrics), and the government authorizes her to carry her instruction "throughout the realm" and promises financial supportFrancesource
  • Halley's Comet returns; a team of three mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Jérome Lalande and Nicole Reine Lepaute, have – for the first time – predicted the dateFrancesource
  • Clockmaker John Harrison produces his "No. 1 sea watch" ("H4"), the first successful marine chronometer.United Kingdomsource
  • John Wesley – Primitive Physick, translated by John Evans of BalaWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • September: Bjarni Pálsson becomes the first Icelander to complete a medical degree.Icelandsource

Crime & Justice

  • Churton Town, the Orange County, North Carolina county seat laid out in 1754, is renamed Childsburgh, in honor of North Carolina attorney general Thomas Child. It is later renamed Hillsborough in 1766.source
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, created.United Kingdomsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • July 19 – The Great Stockholm Fire 1759 breaks out at Södermalm in Stockholm, Sweden.source
  • 19 July - The Great Stockholm Fire 1759 reduced about 20 blocks with about 300 houses to ash, and rendered about 2000 persons homeless.Swedensource
  • October 18 – A fire destroys the Macedonian city of Salonika, reducing 4,000 houses to ashes.source
  • Fire destroys 250 houses in Stockholm.source
  • Thursday June 28 - French fire ships, intended to burn the British fleet, at Quebec, are taken ashore by British sailors.Canadasource

Climate & Environment

  • 10 August – Bordeaux earthquake.Francesource
  • October 30 – Near East earthquakes of 1759: The first event in an earthquake doublet occurs to the north of the Sea of Galilee, with a surface wave magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII–IX (Severe–Violent). About 2,000 are killed in Safed.source
  • November 25 – Near East earthquakes of 1759: The second and stronger event in an earthquake doublet occurs to the east of Beirut, with a surface wave magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), destroying all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.source
  • Henry Flood enters the Parliament of Ireland as a member for Kilkenny.Irelandsource

Culture & Society

  • January 6 – George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.source
  • January 15 – Voltaire's satire Candide is published simultaneously in five countries.source
  • January 15 – The British Museum opens at Montagu House in London after six years of development.source
  • 15 January – Voltaire's satire Candide is published simultaneously in five countriesFrancesource
  • 15 January – the British Museum opens at Montagu House, Bloomsbury in London.United Kingdomsource
  • June 15 – The first vascular surgery in history is performed by a Dr. Hallowell (whose first name has been lost) at Newcastle upon Tyne in England, who uses suture repair rather than a tying off with a ligature to repair an aneurysm on a patient's brachial artery. The case is reported in 1761 by Dr. Richard Lambert in the paper "A new technique of treating an aneurysm", published in the journal Medical Observations and Inquiries. The new procedure of reconstructing a damaged artery replaces the practice of ligation that had risked the amputation of a limb or organ failure.source
  • 6 August: Björn Halldórsson, a priest based in Sauðlauksdalur receives seed potatoes from Copenhagen. This is believed to be the first potato crop in Iceland.Icelandsource
  • December 6 – The Germantown Union School (later called Germantown Academy), America's oldest nonsectarian day school, is founded.source
  • December 31 – The Guinness Brewery is leased by Arthur Guinness in St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, for the brewing of Guinness.source
  • The Kew Gardens are established in England by Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, the mother of George III.source
  • Adam Smith publishes his Theory of Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures.source
  • Page Corps military academy founded in Saint PetersburgRussiasource
  • Dumfries House, designed by Robert Adam, completed.Scotlandsource
  • The song Heart of Oak is written by William Boyce with words by David Garrick.United Kingdomsource

Births

  • 1 January – Joseph Foster-Barham, owner of the Trecŵn estate (died 1832)Walessource
  • January 25 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (died 1796)source
  • February 22 – Claude Lecourbe, French general (died 1815)source
  • April 22 – James Freeman, first clergyman in America to call himself a Unitarian (died 1835)source
  • April 27 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English feminist author (died 1797)source
  • May 20 – William Thornton, American architect (died 1828)source
  • May 21 – Joseph Fouché, French statesman (died 1820)source
  • May 28 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1806)source
  • 28 May – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister (died 1806)United Kingdomsource
  • June 21 – Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (died 1817)source
  • June 25 – William Plumer, American lawyer, Baptist lay preacher, and politician (died 1850)source
  • August 24 – William Wilberforce, British abolitionist (died 1833)source
  • 23 October – Sivert Aarflot, educator (died 1817).Norwaysource
  • October 25 – Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg, empress of Paul I of Russia (died 1828)source
  • October 25 – William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1834)source
  • October 26 – Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (died 1794)source
  • November 10 – Friedrich Schiller, German writer (died 1805)source

Deaths

  • 8 January – Rasmus Paludan, bishop (born 1702).Norwaysource
  • January 12 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, regent of Friesland (born 1709)source
  • January 13 – Távora affair: The Távora family is executed, following accusations of the attempted regicide of Joseph I of Portugal.source
  • February 27 – Jacob Theodor Klein, German scholar (born 1685)source
  • March 11 – John Forbes, British general (born 1707)source
  • April 14 – George Frideric Handel, German composer (born 1685)source
  • 14 April – George Frideric Handel, composer (born 1685 in Saxony-Anhalt)United Kingdomsource
  • July 6 – William Pepperrell, English colonial soldier (born 1696)source
  • July 27 – Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, French mathematician (born 1698)source
  • August 10 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (born 1713)source
  • August 16 – Eugene Aram, English philologist and murderer, hanged (born 1704)source
  • September 13 – James Wolfe, British general (born 1727)source
  • September 13 - James Wolfe, British Army officer (born 1727)Canadasource
  • September 14 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (born 1712)source
  • October 10 – Granville Elliott, Army General, British military expert, working for Britain and Palatine forces (born 1713)source
  • 2 November – Charles Hanbury Williams, diplomat and satirist, 50Walessource
  • November 29 – Alamgir II, the Mughal Emperor of India, is assassinated in a conspiracy orchestrated by his Prime Minister, Imad-ul-Mulk. The Shah Alam II, a grandson of the 17th century Emperor Aurangzeb, is made the new Mughal Emperor.source
  • December 6 – Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France, daughter of King Louis XV (born 1727)source