1721 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1721 in Great Britain.

1721 in Great Britain:
Other years
1719 | 1720 | 1721 | 1722 | 1723
Sport
1721 English cricket season

Incumbents
  • Monarch – George I
  • Prime Minister – Robert Walpole (Whig) (starting 3 April)[1]
Walpole

Events
  • 6 January – The Committee of Inquiry on the collapse of the South Sea Company publishes its findings.
  • 5 February – Lord Stanhope, chief minister, dies a day after collapsing while vigorously defending his government's conduct over the "South Sea Bubble" in Parliament.
  • 9 March – John Aislabie imprisoned in the Tower of London, found guilty of corruption for his part in the collapse of the South Sea Company as Chancellor of the Exchequer.[2]
  • c. March – Atterbury Plot to restore the Stuart monarchy begins.
  • 4 April – Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister (although this is more a term of disparagement at this time).[3]

Undated
  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduces smallpox inoculation to Britain: the Princess of Wales is persuaded to test the treatment and the procedure becomes fashionable.[2]
  • Thomas Guy founds Guy's Hospital in London.[4]
  • Regular mail service between London and New England is established.[5]

Publications
  • Nathan Bailey publishes An Universal Etymological English Dictionary.[2]
  • Thomas Parnell's A Night-Piece on Death is published, inaugurating the "Graveyard poets" movement.

Births
  • 2 January – John Manners, Marquess of Granby (died 1770)
  • 19 March – Tobias Smollett, physician and author (died 1771)
  • 15 April – Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, military leader (died 1765)
  • 14 July – John Douglas, Anglican bishop and man of letters (died 1807)
  • 4 August – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, politician (died 1803)
  • 31 August – George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, statesman (died 1775)
  • 9 November – Mark Akenside, poet and physician (died 1770)
  • 6 December – James Elphinston, philologist (died 1809)

Deaths
  • 5 February – James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, statesman and soldier (born c. 1673)
  • 16 February – James Craggs the Younger, politician (born 1686)
  • 24 February – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, statesman and poet (born 1648)
  • 16 March – James Craggs the Elder, politician (born 1657)
  • 28 April – Mary Read, pirate, in Jamaica (born 1685)
  • 11 June – Sir Anthony Deane, naval architect and politician (born 1633)
  • 8 July – Elihu Yale, East India merchant and educationist (born 1649 in Massachusetts)
  • 3 August – Grinling Gibbons, sculptor (born 1648 in Rotterdam)
  • 18 September – Matthew Prior, poet and diplomat (born 1664)
  • 11 October – Edward Colston, merchant and philanthropist (born 1636)
  • 13 December – Alexander Selkirk, sailor (born 1676 in Scotland)
  • 17 December – Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, statesman (born 1650)

See also
  • 1721 in Wales

References
  1. "The National Archives - Sir Robert Walpole: Britain's first Prime Minister". The National Archives blog. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  2. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
  3. "Sir Robert Walpole". 10. HM Government. Archived from the original on 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  4. "History of Guy's and St Thomas' Charity". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  5. Clear, Todd R.; Cole, George F.; Resig, Michael D. (2006). American Corrections (7th ed.). Thompson.
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