1748 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1748 in Great Britain.

1748 in Great Britain:
Other years
1746 | 1747 | 1748 | 1749 | 1750
Countries of the United Kingdom
Scotland
Sport
1748 English cricket season

Incumbents
  • Monarch – George II
  • Prime Minister – Henry Pelham (Whig)[1]

Events
  • 28 March – a fire in the City of London causes over a million pounds worth of damage.[2]
  • April – first uniforms of the Royal Navy introduced for commissioned officers and midshipmen.
  • August – Admiral Edward Boscawen commands a Royal Navy siege of Pondicherry.[3]
  • 18 October – the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession, by which Madras in India is restored to British rule in exchange for the fortress of Louisbourg in Canada with France.[4]

Undated
  • Adam Smith begins to deliver public lectures in Edinburgh.
  • Henry Fielding organises the forerunner of the Bow Street Runners, with eight men at first.[3]
  • John Fothergill's pamphlet Account of the Sore Throat attended with Ulcers contains the first description of diphtheria.[3]
  • Holywell Music Room, Oxford, the first purpose-built concert hall in Europe, is opened.[5]

Publications
  • While in debtor's prison, John Cleland writes the erotic novel Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure), the first part of which is published anonymously on 21 November.
  • David Hume's philosophical treatise An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding.
  • Samuel Richardson's anonymous epistolary novel Clarissa.[3]
  • Tobias Smollett's anonymous picaresque novel The Adventures of Roderick Random.[3]
  • James Thomson's poem The Castle of Indolence, shortly before his death.[3]

Births
  • 15 February – Jeremy Bentham, philosopher and writer (died 1832)
  • 5 March – William Shield, violinist and composer (died 1829)
  • 10 March – John Playfair, scientist (died 1819)
  • 13 April – Joseph Bramah, inventor and locksmith (died 1814)
  • 28 May – Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (died 1825)
  • August – James Sayers, caricaturist (died 1823)
  • 14 December – William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (died 1811)

Unknown date
  • George Dixon, sea captain and explorer (died 1796)
  • Matchem, racehorse (died 1781)

Deaths
  • 14 March – George Wade, military leader (born 1673 in Ireland)
  • 12 April – William Kent, architect, landscape architect and furniture designer (born c. 1685)
  • 12 May – Thomas Lowndes, astronomer (born 1692)
  • 27 August – James Thomson, poet (born 1700 in Scotland)
  • 6 September – Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London and scholar (born 1669)
  • 12 September – Anne Bracegirdle, actress (born c.1671)
  • 21 September – John Balguy, philosopher (born 1686)
  • 26 October – Donald Cameron of Lochiel, exiled Jacobite clan chief (born 1700 in Scotland)
  • 25 November – Isaac Watts, hymn writer (born 1674)
  • 2 December – Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, politician (born 1662)

See also
  • 1748 in Wales

References
  1. "History of Henry Pelham - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  2. Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher (995). The London Encyclopaedia. Macmillan. p. 287. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.
  3. "1748." The People's Chronology. Ed. Jason M. Everett. Thomson Gale, 2006.
  4. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 312–313. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
  5. Tyack, Geoffrey (1998). Oxford: An architectural guide. Oxford University Press. pp. 187–188. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
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