Timeline: George MORRELL: Mills/Rushton Family History

1733 - Abt 1786 (~ 52 years)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1733	1733: Excise crisis: Sir Robert Walpole wanted to add excise tax to tobacco and wine – Pulteney and Bolingbroke oppose the excise tax 1733: Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed – some continued in Latin for a few years 1733: John Kay invents the flying shuttle, revolutionised the weaving industry
2	1734	1734: Kent's Directory published
3	1737	1737: Licensing Act restricts the number of London theatres and subects plays to censorship of the Lord Chamberlain (till 1950s)
4	1738	24 May 1738: John Wesley has his conversion experience
5	1739	1739: Wesley and Whitefield commence great Methodist revival 7 Apr 1739: Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York 23 Oct 1739: War of Jenkins' Ear starts: Robert Walpole reluctantly declares war on Spain
6	1741	1741: Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites – Earliest Moravian registers
7	1742	1742: England goes to war with Spain – incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) for the sake of trade
8	1743	16 Jun 1743: (June 27 in Gregorian calendar): Battle of Dettingen – last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
9	1744	1744: Tune 'God Save the King' makes its appearance
10	1745	1745: Jacobite rebellion in Scotland ('The Forty-five') 19 Aug 1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie (The Young Pretender) lands in the western Highlands – raises support among Episcopalian and Catholic clans – The Pretender's army invades Perth, Edinburgh, and England as far as Derby
11	1746	16 Apr 1746: Battle of Culloden – last battle fought in Britain – 5,000 Highlanders routed by the Duke of Cumberland and 9,000 loyalists Scots – Young Pretender Charles flees to Continent, ending Jacobite hopes forever – the wearing of the kilt prohibited
12	1747	1747: Abolition of Heritable Jurisdictions in Scotland 1747: Act for Pacification of the Highlands
13	1749	27 Apr 1749: First performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (in Green Park, London)
14	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)
15	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"
16	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
17	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
18	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
19	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
20	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
21	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
22	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
23	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
24	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"
25	1761	16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
26	1762	1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
27	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
28	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
29	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)
30	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
31	1767	1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
32	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
33	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
34	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
35	1771	1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
36	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
37	1774	13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
38	1775	19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775–1783)
39	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]
40	1777	1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
41	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
42	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
43	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
44	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)
45	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)
46	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)