1702_in_England
1702 in England
List of events
Events from the year 1702 in England. This year sees a change of monarch.
- Monarch – William III (until 8 March), Anne (starting 8 March)
- 20 February – William III falls from his horse, Sorrel, in Richmond Park after it stumbles on a molehill and breaks his clavicle.[1]
- 8 March (19 March N.S.) – William III dies at Kensington Palace of complications following his accident; his sister-in-law Anne Stuart, Princess of Denmark, becomes Queen Anne of England.[2]
- 11 March (22 March N.S.) – the first regular English language national newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published for the first time[2] in Fleet Street in the City of London by Elizabeth Mallet; it covers only foreign news.
- 23 April – coronation of Queen Anne in Westminster Abbey.[3]
- 4 May (14 May N.S.) – War of the Spanish Succession: England, the Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire declare war on France as part of the Grand Alliance.[4]
- 8 May – Lord Godolphin becomes Lord High Treasurer at the urging his friend and political ally John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough establishing the Godolphin–Marlborough ministry which will remain in power until 1710.[5]
- June – War of the Spanish Succession: Queen Anne's Captain-General Marlborough forces the surrender of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine.
- July – general election results in victory for the Tories.[3]
- September – War of the Spanish Succession: Churchill forces the surrender of Venlo on the River Meuse.
- 27 October – English troops plunder St. Augustine in Florida.[4]
- October – War of the Spanish Succession: George Rooke fails to take Cádiz, but captures a Spanish treasure fleet and destroys French and Spanish warships.
- 23 October – War of the Spanish Succession:
- Churchill forces the surrender of Liège.[4]
- At the Battle of Vigo Bay, the Anglo-Dutch fleet defeats that of France and Spain.
- December – Daniel Defoe publishes his satiric pamphlet The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (anonymously).
- 14 December – John Churchill is created Duke of Marlborough.
Undated
- Castle Howard in Yorkshire completed, to the design of John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor.[3]
- George Sorocold erects machinery at Cotchetts' silk spinning mill in Derby, making it one of the earliest examples of a factory.[6]
- Richard Bentley at Cambridge introduces the first written (as opposed to oral) competitive examinations in a Western university.[7]
- Ripon Obelisk designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, triggering a fashion for obelisks in Britain.
- John Kersey publishes A New English Dictionary; or, a complete collection of the most proper and significant words, commonly used in the language.
- 4 March – Jack Sheppard, burglar and escapee (died 1724)
- 26 June – Philip Doddridge, religious leader (died 1751)
- 5 November – Edward Stone, polymath (died 1768)
- Undated – Benjamin Stillingfleet, botanist (died 1771)
- 8 March – King William III (born 1650 in The Hague, Netherlands)
- 23 April – Margaret Fell, Quaker leader (born 1614)
- 28 September – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, statesman (born 1640)
- 15 October – Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, courtier (born 1647)
- 4 November – John Benbow, admiral (born 1653)
- "History of King William III of England". Outline of Great Books. 2003. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
- Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 201–202. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 290. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- Frances Harris. The General in Winter: The Marlborough-Godolphin Friendship and the Reign of Anne. 2017. p.108-110
- Fairclough, K. R. (September 2004). "Sorocold, George (c.1668–1738?)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47971. Retrieved 2010-07-05. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Ball, W. W. Rouse (1889). A History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. p. 193.