1724 in Great Britain

20 February – Giulio Cesare in Egitto, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, is premiered in London.^[2]
6 April – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne becomes Secretary of State for the Southern Department; Henry Pelham becomes Secretary at War.^[3]
August – Longman, the oldest surviving publishing house in England, is founded in London by Thomas Longman.
31 October – Handel's opera Tamerlano is premiered in London
16 November – Thief Jack Sheppard is hanged in London. (His partner-in-crime, highwayman Joseph Blake, alias "Blueskin", was similarly executed five days earlier.)
Undated – Blenheim Palace construction is completed. It has been built as a gift from the nation to the Duke of Marlborough (died 1722) for his involvement in the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

Births

24 January – Frances Brooke, writer (died 1789)
28 February – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, field marshal (died 1807)
19 May – Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, admiral and politician (died 1779)
3 June – John Gregory, physician, medical writer and moralist (died 1773)
8 June – John Smeaton, civil engineer (died 1792)
25 August – George Stubbs, painter (died 1806)
3 September – Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, soldier and Governor of Quebec (died 1808)
31 October – Christopher Anstey, writer (died 1805)^[4]
12 December – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, admiral (died 1816)
25 December – John Michell, scientist and geologist (died 1793)

Remove ads

Deaths

Remove ads

Incumbents