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Events from the year 1668 in England.
Incumbents
Events
- 17 January – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, fights a duel with Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (with whose wife he was having an affair) in which the latter is fatally wounded [1] and a second is killed.
- 23 January – England signs the Triple Alliance with the Dutch Republic and Sweden. [2]
- 13 February – Charles II mediates a peace treaty between Spain and Portugal.
- 13 April – John Dryden becomes Poet Laureate. [3]
- April (traditional date) – Actress Nell Gwyn becomes the King's mistress. [4]
- 7 May – Queen Catherine miscarries. [5]
- May – The King's former mistress, Barbara Castlemaine, leaves the Court and is pensioned. [5]
- 21 September – The British East India Company takes over Bombay under a Royal Charter of 27 March.
- December – William Penn imprisoned for nearly 8 months in the Tower of London for writing a pamphlet attacking Trinitarian doctrine. [2]
Undated
- The Forest of Dean is re-established as a royal forest.
- Isaac Newton builds the first reflecting telescope ( Newton's reflector) [6]
- Richard Duckworth's Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing, the first work on change ringing, is compiled and published complete by Fabian Stedman in London. [7]
- George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, probably originates the field sport of organised fox hunting in England with The Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire.
- 1668 or 1669 – James, Duke of York, the heir to the throne, secretly takes Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church.
Births
- November (baptised) – Thomas Woolston, deist (died 1733)
- December (baptised) – Sarah Fyge Egerton, poet (died 1723)
- John Eccles, composer (died 1735)
- Approximate date
- Thomas Archer, baroque architect (died 1743)
- John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett (died 1743)
Deaths
- 21 February – John Thurloe, Puritan spy (born 1616)
- 16 March – Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (born 1623)
- 7 April – Sir William Davenant, poet (born 1606)
- 19 September – Sir William Waller, English Civil War general (born c. 1635)
- 17 November – Joseph Alleine, English non–conformist preacher (born 1634)
- probable date – Daniel Blagrave, Member of Parliament (born 1603)
References
- ^ "January 17th". Chambers' Book of Days. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ a b Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 190–191. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ Beauclerk, Charles (2005). Nell Gwyn: Mistress to a King. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 128. ISBN 0-87113-926-X.
- ^ a b Uglow, Jenny (2010) [2009]. A Gambling Man. London: Faber. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-571-21734-2.
- ^ Hall, Rupert (11 April 1996). Isaac Newton: adventurer in thought. p. 67. ISBN 9780521566698.
- ^ Eisel, John C. (September 2014). "Stedman, Fabian (bap. 1640, d. 1713)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/68907. ISBN 9780198614111. Retrieved 2015-04-23. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)