1768 in Great Britain:

Other years

1766 | 1767 | 1768 | 1769 | 1770

Sport

1768 English cricket season

Events from the year 1768 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

• Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Whig (to 14 October), Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Whig

Events

• 9 January - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus, with acrobats on galloping horses in London.
• March - General election; Whigs remain in power.^[1]
• 10 May - John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticising King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
• 8 August - James Cook departs Plymouth on his first voyage of discovery.^[2]
• 14 October - Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton succeeds William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham as Prime Minister after Pitt's resignation due to ill health.^[1]
• 10 December - Royal Academy founded in London.^[3]

Undated

• Secretary of State for colonies appointed.
• Boston citizens refuse to quarter British troops.
• Frederick Cornwallis enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Publications

• First of the weekly numbers of the Encyclopædia Britannica are published; 100 are planned.
• A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne.^[4]

Births

• 17 May - Caroline of Brunswick, queen of George IV (died 1821)
• 17 May - Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, general (died 1854)
• 23 August - Astley Cooper, surgeon and anatomist (died 1841)
• 24 September - Sharon Turner, historian (died 1847)
• 2 October - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, general and politician (died 1854)

Deaths

• 1 February - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, cavalry officer (born 1685)
• 2 February - Robert Smith, mathematician (born 1689)
• 8 February - George Dance the Elder, architect (born 1695)
• 17 February - Arthur Onslow, politician (born 1691)
• 18 March - Laurence Sterne, Irish-born English novelist (born 1713)
• 15 June - James Short, mathematician and optician (born 1710)
• 24 July - Nathanial Lardner, theologian (born 1684)
• 1 October - Robert Simson, mathematician (born 1687)
• 17 November - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister (born 1693)
• Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1693)

References

See also