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Great Britain-related events during the year of 1757
Events from the year
1757 in
Great Britain .
Incumbents
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
Events
2 January –
Robert Clive captures
Calcutta in
India .
[2]
14 March –
Seven Years' War : Admiral Sir
John Byng is executed by
firing squad aboard
HMS Monarch in
The Solent after his court martial conviction for breach of the
Articles of War in failing in the
Battle of Minorca (1756) to save British troops who had been besieged by a numerically superior French force in the
Siege of Fort St Philip (1756) .
[3]
[4] The execution is largely opposed by the
Admiralty and the
House of Commons . General Edward Cornwallis, the ranking British Army officer at the battle, is exonerated of charges of dereliction of duty, but his career is ruined.
29 March –
Matthew Hutton is nominated as
Archbishop of Canterbury , being translated from
York .
6 April –
William Pitt the Elder resigns from the government after
Prince William, Duke of Cumberland refuses to command the British forces in Germany in the Seven Years' War.
[5]
April–July –
Caretaker Ministry takes power led by
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire following the resignation of Pitt.
6 May –
asylum confinement of Christopher Smart : poet
Christopher Smart is confined to
St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in
London .
[6]
May – the
Baskerville
typeface , designed by
John Baskerville of
Birmingham , is first used in a
wove paper
quarto edition of
Virgil .
[7]
June – Pitt recalled to government in a coalition with
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne .
[5]
23 June –
Battle of Plassey : 3000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong
Indian army under
Siraj ud-Daulah at
Plassey .
[5]
2 July – the Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne forms a new government.
26 July – Seven Years' War:
Battle of Hastenbeck : An
Anglo-Hanoverian army under the
Duke of Cumberland is defeated by the
French under
Louis d'Estrées and forced out of Hanover.
3–9 August –
French and Indian War : At the
Battle of Fort William Henry a French army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm forces the British to surrender
Fort William Henry . The French army's Indian allies slaughter the survivors, not understanding the terms of the surrender.
24 December – the
Pratt-Yorke opinion distinguishes overseas territories acquired by conquest from those acquired by private treaty: while
the Crown of Great Britain enjoys sovereignty over both, only the property of the former is vested in the Crown.
The government reduces the annual interest payable on Consolidated Annuities (
consols ) from 3.5% to 3%, where it will remain until 1888.
[8]
Publications
Births
1 February –
John Philip Kemble , actor (died
1823 )
20 February –
John 'Mad Jack' Fuller , philanthropist (died
1834 )
9 April –
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth , admiral (died
1833 )
30 May –
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth ,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died
1844 )
22 June –
George Vancouver , explorer (died
1798 )
9 August –
Thomas Telford , engineer (died
1834 )
13 August –
James Gillray , caricaturist (died
1815 )
14 October –
Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester , barrister, statesman, Speaker of the Houser of Commons (died
1829 )
13 November –
Archibald Alison , Scottish author (died
1839 )
27 November –
Mary Robinson , poet, actress and royal mistress (died
1800 )
28 November –
William Blake , poet (died
1827 )
date unknown – Sir
Thomas Foley , Welsh admiral (died
1833 )
Deaths
15 January –
George Gilmer, Sr. , politician (born
1700 )
19 January –
Thomas Ruddiman , Scottish classical scholar (born
1664 )
5 February –
Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton , English diplomat (born
1678 )
1 March –
Edward Moore , writer (born
1712 )
[9]
8 March –
Thomas Blackwell , Scottish classical scholar (born
1701 )
14 March –
John Byng , admiral (executed) (born
1704 )
6 May –
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton , politician (born
1683 )
28 August –
David Hartley , English philosopher (born
1705 )
21 October (bur.) –
Rhoda Delaval , portrait painter (born
1725 )
11 December
See also
References