Timeline: Benjamin MILLS: Mills/Rushton Family History

1748 - Yes, date unknown (~ 46 years)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1749	27 Apr 1749: First performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (in Green Park, London)
2	1750	Feb 1750: Series of earthquakes in London and the Home Counties cause panic with predictions of an apocalypse (Feb/Mar) 16 Nov 1750: Original Westminster Bridge opened (replaced in 1862 due to subsidence)
3	1751	Mar 1751: Chesterfield's Calendar Act passed – royal assent to the bill was given on 22 May 1751 – decision to adopt Gregorian Calendar in 1752: "In and throughout all his Majesty's Dominions and Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, belonging or subject to the Crown of Great Britain, the said Supputation, according to which the Year of Useful dates in British history 03/01/2009 12:12 our Lord beginneth on the 25th Day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last Day of December 1751; and that the first Day of January next following the said last Day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord 1752"
4	1752	1752: Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor 1 Jan 1752: Beginning of the year 1752 [Scotland had adopted January as the start of the year in 1600, and some other countries in Europe had adopted the Gregorian calendar as early as 1582] 3 Sep 1752: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England and Scotland, making this Sep 14
5	1753	1753: Private collection of Sir Hans Sloane forms the basis of the British Museum 1 May 1753: Publication of "Species Plantarum" by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy
6	1754	1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used – Quakers & Jews exempt 1754: In the General Election, the Cow Inn at Haslemere, Surrey caused a national scandal by subdividing the freehold to create eight votes instead of one 1754: First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India
7	1755	1755: Publication of "Dictionary of the English Language" by Dr Samuel Johnson 1755: Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827) 2 Dec 1755: Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire
8	1756	15 May 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins Jun 1756: Black Hole of Calcutta – 146 Britons imprisoned, most die according to British sources
9	1757	1757: The foundation laid for the Empire of India 14 Mar 1757: Admiral Byng shot at Portsmouth for failing to relieve Minorca 23 Jun 1757: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of Plassey (Palashi, June 23) – the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive
10	1758	1758: India stops being merely a commercial venture – England begins dominating it politically – The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade
11	1759	1759: Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels 15 Jan 1759: British Museum opens to the public in London 16 Oct 1759: Third Eddystone Lighthouse (John Smeaton's) completed
12	1760	1760: Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland 5 May 1760: First use of hangman's drop 25 Oct 1760: George II dies – George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes king. The date conventionally marks the start of the so-called "first Industrial Revolution"
13	1761	16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
14	1762	1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
15	1763	1763: Treaty of Paris – gives back to France everything Pitt fought to obtain – (Newfoundland [fishing], Guadaloupe and Martininque [sugar], Dakar [gum]) – but English displaces French as the international language
16	1764	1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared 1764: Practice of numbering houses introduced to London 1764: James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768) 1764: Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
17	1765	1765: The potato becomes the most popular food in Europe 22 Mar 1765: Stamp Act passed – imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the American colonies (repealed the following year)
18	1766	1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK 5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
19	1767	1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
20	1768	9 Jan 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London 6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" published in Edinburgh by William Smellie
21	1769	1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production) 1769: Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand 6 Sep 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
22	1770	1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major thoroughfare for maritime communications 28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) — Aug 21: formally claims Australia for Britain
23	1771	1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
24	1772	1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company 1772: "Morning Post" first published (until 1937) 14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
25	1774	13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
26	1775	19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775–1783)
27	1776	1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population 1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine 4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence 7 Sep 1776: First attack on a warship by a submarine – David Bushnell's "Turtle" attacked HMS Eagle in New York harbour. The attack was perhaps spectacular (a charge did detonate beneath the ship), but was nevertheless unsuccessful. "Turtle" was a one man affair, man-powered [Les Moore]
28	1777	1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
29	1779	1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent 1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson 1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland 14 Feb 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii 23 Sep 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
30	1780	1780: Male Servants Tax 1780: The English Reform Movement – until now, only landowners and tenants (freeholders with 40 shillings per year or more) allowed to vote, and in open poll books 1780: Fountain pen invented 1780: About this time the word 'Quiz' entered the language, said to have been invented as a wager by Mr Daly, a Dublin theatre manager 4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June) 2 Jun 1780: Jun 2–8: The Gordon Riots – Parliament passes a Roman Catholic relief measure – for days, London is at the mercy of a mob and destruction is widespread
31	1782	1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief – the way of life of the poor beginning to alter due to industrialisation – New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce that would adjust to new work patterns 1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
32	1783	1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry – repealed 1794) – led to a fall in entries! 3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US) 3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
33	1784	1784: Pitt's India Act – the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics 1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England 1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews 1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle 2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
34	1785	1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million) 1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
35	1787	1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
36	1788	1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland 1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced) 1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade – stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships 1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis – Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt – trying to obtain full regal powers for the Prince of Wales 1788: Gibbon completes "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" 26 Jan 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13 May 1787) — the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
37	1789	28 Apr 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty – Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
38	1790	1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
39	1791	1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the "long s" (the "s" that looks like an "f") 1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain 4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer – world's oldest Sunday newspaper
40	1792	1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) – Fox gets Libel Act through Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel 1792: Boyle's Street Directory published 1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot 1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain 1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
41	1793	11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802) 15 Apr 1793: £5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
42	1794	1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties 6 Oct 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High Treason – he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore treasonous