| 1760 |
George III becomes king on the death of his grandfather, George II. |
| 1762 |
The Earl of Bute is appointed Prime Minister. Bute proves so unpopular that he needs to have a bodyguard. |
| 1763 |
Peace of Paris ends the Seven Years’ War. |
| 1765 |
Stamp Act raises taxes in American colonies. |
| 1766 |
William Pitt the Elder becomes prime minister |
| 1768 |
Richard Arkwright invents the spinning frame |
| 1769 |
Captain James Cook’s first voyage to explore the Pacific. |
| 1770 |
Lord North becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1770 |
James Cook lands in Botany Bay, South East Australia. |
| 1771 |
Encyclopaedia Britannica is first published. |
| 1772 |
John Harrisons H4 clock allows navigators to accurately measure longitude enabling long distance sea travel |
| 1772 |
Warren Hastings is appointed Governor General of India. |
| 1773 |
The world’s first cast-iron bridge is constructed over the River Severn at Coalbrookdale. |
| 1773 |
Boston Tea Party. American colonists protest against British taxes. |
| 1775 |
American War of Independence begins when colonists fight British troops at Lexington. |
| 1775 |
James Watt develops the steam engine. |
| 1776 |
On 4 July, the American Congress passes the Declaration of Independence. |
| 1780 |
Anti Catholic Gordon riots in London |
| 1781 |
Americans supported by the French fleet defeat British at Battle of Yorktown. |
| 1782 |
Ireland obtains a short-lived parliament. |
| 1783 |
On 3 Sept, The Treaty of Paris ends the American War of Independence. Britain recognizes American independence. |
| 1783 |
-1801 William Pitt the Younger serves as Prime Minister. |
| 1783 |
Robert (Robbie) Burns publishes his first book of poetry |
| 1788 |
George suffers his first attack of porphyria. |
| 1788 |
Colony of New South Wales established in Australia |
| 1789 |
Outbreak of the French Revolution. Storming of the Bastille. |
| 1791 |
Publication of James Boswell’s Life of Johnson and Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man. |
| 1793 |
King Louis XVI of France executed by guillotine |
| 1793 |
– 1802 War between Britain and France. |
| 1798 |
Nelson destroys French fleet at the Battle of the Nile |
| 1798 |
Wordsworth publishes Lyrical Ballads |
| 1798 |
Income Tax introduced |
| 1800 |
Act of Union with Ireland unites Parliaments of England and Ireland. |
| 1803 |
Beginning of Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon assembles a fleet for the invasion of England. |
| 1805 |
Nelson defeats French and Spanish fleets off Trafalgar, but is killed during the battle. Napoleon defeats the Russians at Austerlitz. |
| 1807 |
Slave Trade Act. William Wilberforce is successful in his campaign to abolish slave trade in the British Empire. |
| 1808 |
-1814 Peninsular War to drive the French out of Spain. |
| 1809 |
British defeat the French at the Battle of Corunna |
| 1810 |
Final illness of George III leads to his son becoming Regent in 1811. |
| 1812 |
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated in the House of Commons by a disgruntled bankrupt |
| 1812 |
War of 1812 between the British and Americans. Several naval engagements. American forces stopped from invading Canada. |
| 1813 |
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is published. |
| 1813 |
Monopoly of the East India company is abolished |
| 1814 |
Napoleon defeated at Laon and Toulouse. He abdicates but returns from Elba. |
| 1815 |
The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo marks the end the Napoleonic Wars. |
| 1815 |
Corn Laws passed by Parliament to protect British agriculture from cheap imports |
| 1818 |
The King’s wife, Queen Charlotte, dies. |
| 1818 |
Publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein |
| 1819 |
Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, of political reform campaigners. |
| 1820 |
Death of King George Ill, aged 81 years |
My Coin Collection 