1797 in Great Britain
Great Britain-related events during the year of 1797
Events from the year 1797 in Great Britain .
Incumbents
Events
3 January – three of the stones making up Stonehenge fall due to heavy frosts.[ 2]
15 January – London haberdasher John Hetherington wears the first top hat in public and attracts a large crowd of onlookers. He is later fined £50 for causing public nuisance .[ 3]
14 February – Battle of Cape St Vincent : The Royal Navy under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats a larger Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent , Portugal. On 23 May, Jervis is made Earl of St Vincent, and Horatio Nelson made a Knight of the Bath , for their part in the victory.[ 4]
18 February – Spanish Governor José María Chacón peacefully surrenders the colony of Trinidad and Tobago to a British naval force commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby .
22 February – the last invasion of Britain begins: French forces under the command of American Colonel William Tate land near Fishguard in Wales.
24 February – Tate surrenders at Fishguard.
26 February – start of "restriction period " during which, by Government order, Bank of England notes are inconvertible to gold. The Bank issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes (the former denomination remains in issue until 11 March 1988).[ 5]
16 April–30 June – Spithead and Nore mutinies : two mutinies in the Royal Navy spark fears of a revolution.[ 6]
17 April – Sir Ralph Abercromby unsuccessfully invades San Juan, Puerto Rico , in what would be one of the largest British attacks on Spanish territories in the western hemisphere and one of the worst defeats of the navy for years to come.
April – prisoners taken in the French Revolutionary Wars are first moved to the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp , located at Norman Cross in Huntingdonshire .[ 7]
30 May – Abolitionist William Wilberforce marries Barbara Ann Spooner in Bath about six weeks after their first meeting.
July – Duties on Clocks and Watches Act 1797 imposed; it is repealed the following year.[ 8]
24 July – Horatio Nelson is wounded at the Battle of Santa Cruz , causing the loss of his right arm.[ 3]
August – The Home Office sends an agent to Nether Stowey in Somerset to investigate the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth who are suspected of being French spies.[ 9]
29 August – Massacre of Tranent : British troops attack protestors against enforced recruitment into the militia at Tranent in Scotland , killing 12.
October – Coleridge composes the poem Kubla Khan opium -induced dream, writing down only a fragment of it on waking.
11 October[ 10] Battle of Camperdown : Royal Navy defeats the fleet of the Batavian Republic off the coast of Holland .[ 11]
18 October – Treaty of Campo Formio ends the First Coalition , leaving Britain fighting alone against France .
November – 1797 Rugby School rebellion : The pupils at Rugby School rebel against the headmaster, Henry Ingles, after he decrees that the damage to a tradesman's windows should be paid for by the students.[ 12]
16 November (or 23 November?) – Royal Navy frigate HMS Tribune (1796) is wrecked on the approaches to Halifax, Nova Scotia ; of the 240 on board, all but 12 are lost.[ 13]
Undated – "Cartwheel" twopence coins pressed, for the only time, at Boulton and Watt 's Soho Mint in copper.[ 14]
Ongoing
Publications
Births
3 January – Frederick William Hope , entomologist (died 1862)
6 January – Edward Turner Bennett , zoologist and writer (died 1836)[ 15]
7 January – Henry Piddington , merchant captain in the East (died 1858)
14 January – George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover , politician and man of letters (died 1833)
24 January – John Shaw-Lefevre , barrister, Whig politician and civil servant (died 1879)
28 January – Charles Gray Round , barrister, Conservative Member of Parliament for North Essex 1837–47 (died 1867)
1 February – Frederick Sullivan , cricketer (died 1873)
2 February – Lambert Blackwell Larking , clergyman (died 1868)
4 February
5 February – Robert Benson , barrister and author, recorder of Salisbury (died 1844)
10 February – George Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall , Anglo-Irish landowner, courtier and politician (died 1883)
11 February – Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos , Conservative politician (died 1861)
13 February – Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar , Scottish art collector (died 1864)
25 February – Maria Abdy , poet (died 1867)
27 February – Henry George Ward , diplomat, politician and colonial administrator (died 1860)
3 March – Emily Eden , poet and novelist (died 1869)
4 March – Thomas Thorp , Anglican priest (died 1877)
10 March
12 March – Benjamin Caesar , cricketer (died 1867)
16 March
19 March – John Braithwaite , engineer, inventor of the first steam fire engine (died 1870)
20 March – John Roberton , Scottish physician and social reformer (died 1876)
23 March – Ernest Edgcumbe, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe , politician (died 1861)
24 March – Sackville Lane-Fox , Conservative politician (died 1874)
26 March – Hedworth Lambton , Liberal Member of Parliament (died 1876)
27 March – George Glyn, 1st Baron Wolverton , banker (died 1873)
31 March – Walter Calverley Trevelyan , naturalist and geologist (died 1879)
2 April
17 April
William Beresford , Conservative politician (died 1883)John Ogilvie , Scottish lexicographer, editor of Imperial Dictionary of the Language (died 1867)
18 April – Richard Ryan , biographer (died 1849)
29 April – George Don , botanist (died 1856)
3 May – George Webster , architect (died 1864)
7 May
13 May
15 May – Lydia Irving , philanthropist, prison visitor (died 1893)
19 May – Richard Pakenham , diplomat, Ambassador to the United States (died 1868)
24 May – Henry Thynne, 3rd Marquess of Bath , naval officer and politician (died 1837)
27 May – Sir Thomas Bazley, 1st Baronet , industrialist and politician (died 1883)
8 June – Henry William-Powlett, 3rd Baron Bayning , peer and clergyman (died 1866)
11 June
24 June
27 June – Henry Noble Shipton , military officer (died 1821)
6 July – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey , peer, Whig politician, courtier and cricketer (died 1869)
7 July – George Meads , cricketer (died 1881)
11 July – Francis Close , rector of Cheltenham (1826–1856) and Dean of Carlisle (1856–1881) (died 1882)
14 July – James Scott Bowerbank , naturalist, palaeontologist (died 1877)
17 July – John Hodgetts-Foley , Member of Parliament (died 1861)
18 July – Robert Christison , Scottish toxicologist and physician (died 1882)
24 July – Maria Foote , actress (died 1867)
26 July
30 July – Harriet Windsor-Clive, 13th Baroness Windsor , landowner and philanthropist in Wales (died 1869)
1 August – William Knollys , general (died 1883)
2 August
9 August – Charles Robert Malden , explorer (died 1855)
11 August – George Shillibeer , coachbuilder (died 1866)
14 August – Robert Radcliffe , cricketer (died 1832)
20 August – John Sinclair , Archdeacon of Middlesex (died 1875)
21 August – John Iltyd Nicholl , Welsh Member of Parliament (died 1853)
22 August – Thomas Dale , Dean of Rochester (died 1870)
24 August – John Cobbold , brewer, railway developer and Conservative politician (died 1882)
27 August – Henry Wilson , Suffolk politician (died 1866)
30 August – Mary Shelley , writer (died 1851)
31 August – James Ferguson , Scottish-born astronomer and engineer (died 1867 in the United States)
2 September – William Stephenson , Geordie printer, publisher, auctioneer, poet and songwriter (died 1838)
3 September – Benjamin Nottingham Webster , actor-manager and dramatist (died 1882)
13 September – Joseph Stannard , marine and landscape painter (died 1830)
21 September – George Hamilton Seymour , diplomat (died 1880)
5 October – John Gardner Wilkinson , traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist (died 1875)[ 16]
7 October – John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie , Scottish-born army officer (died 1869)
9 October – Henry Collen , royal miniature portrait painter (died 1879)
10 October – Thomas Drummond , army officer, civil engineer and public official (died 1840)
13 October
15 October – William Siborne , Army officer and military historian (died 1849)
16 October – James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan , military commander (died 1868)
21 October – William Hale , inventor (died 1870)
1 November
13 November – Jacob Astley, 16th Baron Hastings (died 1859)
14 November – Charles Lyell , Scottish geologist (died 1875)
20 November – Mary Buckland , palaeontologist and marine biologist (died 1857)
22 November – David Salomons , banker and campaigner for emancipation of the Jews in England (died 1873)
12 December – Lucy Anderson , pianist (died 1878)
17 December – Richard Cheslyn , cricketer (died 1858)
22 December
24 December – Lewis Jones , Royal Navy officer (died 1895)
28 December – John Marshall , Member of Parliament for Leeds (died 1836)
Tommaso Benedetti , painter (died 1863 in Austria)Approximate date – Thomas Cautley Newby , publisher (died 1882)
Deaths
21 February – John Parkhurst , lexicographer (born 1728)
2 March – Horace Walpole , politician and writer (born 1717)
6 March – William Hodges , landscape painter (born 1744)
7 March – John Gabriel Stedman , colonial soldier and author (born 1744 in the Netherlands)
19 March – Philip Hayes , composer, organist, singer and conductor (born 1738)
26 March – James Hutton , Scottish geologist (born 1726)
31 March – Olaudah Equiano , ex-slave and slavery abolitionist (born 1745 in Nigeria)
7 April – William Mason , cleric, poet, editor and gardener (born 1724)
29 April – Elizabeth Ryves , Irish-born writer (born 1750)
7 May – Jedediah Strutt , cotton spinner (born 1726)
25 May – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden , field marshal (born 1719)
28 June – George Keate , poet (born 1729)
30 June – Richard Parker , sailor and mutineer, executed (born 1767)
9 July – Edmund Burke , Irish-born philosopher (born 1723)
25 July – killed at Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
29 July – John Weatherhead , Royal Navy officer, died of wounds received at Battle of Santa Cruz (born 1775)
3 August – Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst , field-marshal and Commander-in-Chief (born 1717)
6 August – James Pettit Andrews , historian and antiquary (born 1737)
18 August – Josiah Spode , potter (born 1733)
29 August – Joseph Wright of Derby , painter (born 1734)
4 September – Sir William Ashburnham, 4th Baronet , cleric (born 1710)
10 September – Mary Wollstonecraft , feminist writer and philosopher (born 1759)
21 September – Hugh Pigot , Royal Navy officer, murdered (born 1769)
25 September – John Baughan , carpenter, thief and transportee to Australia (born 1754)
29 September – George Raper , nature artist (born 1769)
4 October – Anthony Keck , architect (born 1726)
20 October – William Cooke , cleric and academic (born 1711)
11 December – Richard Brocklesby , physician (born 1722)
14 December – John Robert Cozens , romantic watercolour landscape painter and draughtsman, insane (born 1752)
26 December – John Wilkes , radical politician and journalist (born 1725)
30 December – David Martin , Scottish portrait painter and engraver (born 1737)
Thomas Kirk , painter, illustrator and engraver, consumption (born 1765)
See also
References
^ "History of William Pitt 'The Younger' - GOV.UK" . www.gov.uk . Retrieved 1 July 2023 .^ Munsell, Joel (1858). The Every Day Book of History and Chronology 14 . ^ a b Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0 ^ "No. 14012" . The London Gazette ^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History 346–347 . ISBN 0-304-35730-8 ^ "BBC History British History Timeline" . Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2007 .^ "Site of the Norman Cross Depot for Prisoners of War, Non Civil Parish - 1006782 | Historic England" . historicengland.org.uk . Retrieved 16 January 2021 .^ Dowell, Stephen (1888). A History of Taxation and Taxes in England . Vol. III. London: Longmans, Green. pp. 272–275.^ Kellett, Keith. "Wordsworth's Lakes" . Retrieved 25 February 2008 . ^ Naval reckoning; began on morning of 12 October by shore reckoning. Lloyd, Christopher (1963). St. Vincent & Camperdown . British battles. London: Batsford. p. 139.
^ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History . London: Century Ltd. pp. 236–237. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2 ^ A History of Rugby School ^ Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859 . Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot Publications. p. 85. ISBN 0-948864-30-3 ^ Perkins, Chris Henry (2008). Collectors' Coins GB 2008 (35th ed.). Torquay: Rotographic. p. 41. ISBN 0-948964-76-6 ^ Bennett, Edward Turner (1797-1836), zoologist by J. C. Edwards in Dictionary of National Biography online (accessed 21 July 2008)^ Jason Thompson (2010). Sir Gardner Wilkinson and His Circle . University of Texas Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780292785694
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