1787 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1787 in Great Britain.

1787 in Great Britain:
Other years
1785 | 1786 | 1787 | 1788 | 1789
Countries of the United Kingdom
Scotland
Sport
1787 English cricket season

Incumbents
  • Monarch – George III
  • Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger (Tory)[1]

Events
Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion produced for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade by Wedgwood, 1787
  • 1 January – George III writes his first letter to Arthur Young's Annals of Agriculture, under the name of Ralph Robinson of Windsor.
  • 11 January – William Herschel discovers the Uranian moons Titania and Oberon.[2]
  • 19 February – William Herschel first uses the 40-foot telescope under construction for him at Slough.
  • 13 May – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth with the eleven ships of the First Fleet carrying around 700 convicts and at least 300 crew and guards to establish a penal colony in Australia.[3]
  • 22 May – Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade with support from John Wesley, Josiah Wedgwood and others.[3]
  • 31 May – the original Lord's Cricket Ground holds its first cricket match;[4] Marylebone Cricket Club founded.[5]
  • July – Principal Triangulation of Great Britain begun under the direction of General William Roy from Hounslow Heath; in the autumn it is extended to France.[6]
  • Summer – Calton Weavers Strike in the west of Scotland. On 3 September, six of the Calton weavers are killed by troops.
  • 23 December – Captain William Bligh sets sail from Spithead for Tahiti on HMS Bounty.[4]

Publications
  • Freed slave Ottobah Cugoano publishes Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species.
  • The Scots Musical Museum begins publication.

Births
  • 7 January – Patrick Nasmyth, Scottish landscape painter (died 1831)
  • 10 February – William Bradley, Britain's tallest ever man (died 1820)
  • 17 February – George Mogridge (Old Humphrey), miscellaneous writer and poet (died 1854)
  • 10 March – William Etty, painter, especially of nudes (died 1849)
  • 28 March – Claudius Rich, archaeologist and anthropologist (died 1821)
  • 7 June – William Conybeare, geologist (died 1857)
  • 28 June – Harry Smith, military commander (died 1860)
  • 24 July – William Ward, cricketer (died 1849)
  • 13 September – John Adamson, antiquary and expert on Portuguese (died 1855)
  • 13 October – William Brockedon, painter (died 1854)
  • 4 November – Edmund Kean, actor (died 1833)
  • 21 November – Bryan Procter (Barry Cornwall), poet (died 1874)
  • 22 November – Copley Fielding, watercolour landscape painter (died 1855)
  • 16 December – Mary Russell Mitford, novelist and dramatist (died 1855)
  • Ignatius Bonomi, architect (died 1870)
  • John Dobson, architect (died 1865)
  • Harriet Gouldsmith, landscape painter and etcher (died 1863)
  • Approximate date – Ikey Solomon, receiver of stolen goods (died 1850 in Australia)

Deaths
  • 1 April – Floyer Sydenham, classical scholar (born 1710)
  • 2 April – Thomas Gage, General (born 1719)
  • 10 May – William Watson, physician and scientist (born 1715)
  • 25 July – Arthur Devis, portrait painter (born 1712)
  • 3 November – Robert Lowth, bishop and grammarian (born 1710)
  • 18 December
    • Francis William Drake, British admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (born 1724)
    • Soame Jenyns, English writer (born 1704)

See also
  • 1787 in Wales

References
  1. "History of William Pitt 'The Younger' - 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. "BBC History British History Timeline". Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  4. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 339–340. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
  5. Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 230–231. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
  6. Hewitt, Rachel (2011) [2010]. Map of a Nation: a biography of the Ordnance Survey. London: Granta. pp. 84–6. ISBN 978-1-84708-254-1.
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