1739 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1739 in Great Britain.

1739 in Great Britain:
Other years
1737 | 1738 | 1739 | 1740 | 1741
Countries of the United Kingdom
Scotland
Sport
1739 English cricket season

Incumbents
  • Monarch – George II
  • Prime Minister – Robert Walpole (Whig)[1]

Events
  • 14 January – Britain and Spain sign the Convention of Pardo.[2]
  • 16 January – first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul at the His Majesty's Theatre, London.[2]
  • February – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire.
  • April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
  • 4 April – first performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt at the King's Theatre, London.[2]
  • 12 May – John Wesley lays the foundation stone of the New Room, Bristol, the world's first Methodist meeting house.[3]
  • 17 October – the Foundling Hospital in London, established by Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter.[2]
  • 23 October – "War of Jenkins' Ear" (1739–1742) begins when Britain declares war on Spain.[2]
  • 20–22 November – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Porto Bello: British marine forces capture the Panamanian silver exporting town of Porto Bello from the Spanish.[2]
  • 25 December–February 1740 – the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in southern England and Ireland.[4]

Publications
  • January (dated 9 February) – The Scots Magazine first published.[5]
  • David Hume's anonymous A Treatise of Human Nature[4] (issued late 1738 but dated this year).
  • John Mottley's pseudonymous Joe Miller's Jests, or the Wits Vade-Mecum.
  • John and Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems,[6] including the first publication of Charles's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", anonymously as "Hymn for Christmas-Day", opening "Hark how all the welkin rings".[7]

Births
  • 6 January – David Dale, philanthropist (died 1806)
  • 26 January – George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (died 1817)
  • 4 February – John Robison, physicist (died 1805)
  • 25 March – Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany (died 1767)
  • 16 May – Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk, peer and politician (died 1779)
  • 5 November – Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton, peer (died 1819)
  • 4 December – Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, politician (died 1802)

Deaths
  • 7 April – Dick Turpin, highwayman (hanged) (born 1705)
  • 19 April – Nicholas Saunderson, scientist and mathematician (born 1682)
  • 10 August – William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven, nobleman. (born 1700)
  • 4 September – George Lillo, playwright (born 1693)
  • 21 October – William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester (born 1700)

See also
  • 1739 in Wales

References
  1. "History of Sir Robert Walpole - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  2. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
  3. "History of The New Room". Bristol: The New Room. Archived from the original on 2013-08-17. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  4. Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 215–216. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
  5. Ward, A. W. (2009). The Cambridge History of English Literature. Vol. 9. p. 614. ISBN 9781110343133.
  6. Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.
  7. Watson, J. R. (1997). The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 205–229. ISBN 0198267622.
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