1777 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1777 in Great Britain.

1777 in Great Britain:
Other years
1775 | 1776 | 1777 | 1778 | 1779
Countries of the United Kingdom
Scotland
Sport
1777 English cricket season
Political cartoon etching depicting an elderly England attempting to control his American children

Incumbents
  • Monarch – George III
  • Prime Minister – Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)[1]

Events
  • 3 January – American Revolution: American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.[2]
  • 1 May – legal case of Goodright v. Stevens decides that the declaration of either parent cannot be accepted to prove that a child born in wedlock is a bastard.
  • 8 May – first performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners The School for Scandal at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.[3]
  • May – completion of the Trent and Mersey Canal.[4]
  • 21 July – Holmfirth Flood in the Holme Valley of West Yorkshire: three drowned.
  • 16 August – American Revolution: at the Battle of Bennington British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops.[3]
  • 8 September – inauguration of Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.[5]
  • 11 September – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine is a major victory for British in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
  • 19 September – American Revolution: first Battle of Saratoga[3]/Battle of Freeman's Farm/Battle of Bemis Heights.
  • 4 October – American Revolution: at the Battle of Germantown, troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.[3]
  • 17 October – American Revolution: American victory at the Battle of Saratoga.[3]
  • 24 December – Kiritimati discovered by James Cook.

Undated
  • William Bass establishes the Bass Brewery at Burton upon Trent.

Publications
  • Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition begins publication.
  • Laws Respecting Women, as they Regard Their Natural Rights is published by Joseph Johnson.
  • John Howard's study The State of the Prisons in England and Wales.
  • Clara Reeve’s Gothic novel The Champion of Virtue (anonymously), later known as The Old English Baron.[6]

Births
  • 22 January – Joseph Hume, doctor and politician (died 1855)
  • 3 February – John Cheyne, physician (died 1836)
  • 16 February – Benjamin D'Urban, general and colonial administrator (died 1849)
  • 1 April – William Gell, archaeologist (died 1836)
  • 24 June – John Ross, Arctic explorer (died 1856)
  • 9 July – Henry Hallam, historian (died 1859)
  • 3 November – Princess Sophia, fifth daughter of King George III (died 1848)

Deaths
  • 12 January – Hugh Mercer, soldier and physician, dies in Princeton, New Jersey, United States (born 1726)
  • 11 May – George Pigot, Baron Pigot, governor of Madras (born 1719)
  • 19 or 27 May – Button Gwinnett, 2nd Governor of Georgia, dies near Savannah, Georgia, United States (born 1735)
  • 27 July – William Hayes, composer (bapt. 1708)
  • 7 October – Simon Fraser, general (born 1729)
  • 21 October – Samuel Foote, dramatist and actor (born 1720)
  • 26 December – Dolly Pentreath, last-known fluent native speaker of the Cornish language (born 1692)

See also
  • 1777 in Wales

References
  1. "History of Lord Frederick North - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  2. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  3. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 331. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
  4. Lindsay, Jean. The Trent & Mersey Canal. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 48. ISBN 0-7153-7781-7.
  5. "The early history of the Institution". Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  6. Leavis, Q. D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (rev. ed.). London: Chatto & Windus.

Further reading
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