1777 in Great Britain

Political cartoon etching depicting an elderly England attempting to control his American children

Events from the year 1777 in Great Britain .

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 the British in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
• 19 September – American Revolution: First Saratoga: Battle of Freeman's Farm – British forces under General Burgoyne win the field but with serious casualties ^[3]
• 4 October – American Revolution: at the Battle of Germantown, troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe. ^[3]
• 7 October – American Revolution: Second Saratoga: Battle of Bemis Heights – the Americans are victorious.
• 17 October – American Revolution: Saratoga campaign ends with Burgoyne's surrender to the Americans. ^[3]
• 24 December – Kiritimati (Christmas Island) visited 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

• Annual Register...1777, London: J. Dodsley, 1785