1661 in England

Incumbents

• Monarch – Charles II

Events

• 6 January – the Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. George Monck's regiment defeats them.
• 30 January – the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw and Thomas Pride are exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution. Oliver Cromwell's head is placed on a spike above the Palace of Westminster.
• 14 February – George Monck's regiment becomes The Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards.
• 15 April – the Savoy Conference of bishops and Presbyterians fails to agree on a new revision of the Prayer Book.
• 19 April – the Post Office introduces post marks.
• 23 April – Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned King in Westminster Abbey. A new St Edward's Crown is made for the occasion.
• 8 May – first meeting of the Cavalier Parliament.
• 5 June – Isaac Newton admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge.
• 23 June – Charles II signs a marriage treaty with Portugal. He will marry Catherine of Braganza; as part of the dowry, Portugal cedes Bombay and Tangier to England and grants free trade with Brazil and the East Indies.
• 28 June – Lisle's Tennis Court in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London is opened as a playhouse.
• 30 July – Acts of Parliament passed:
• * Sedition Act makes it high treason to plot death or injury to, or war against, the king, but requires the evidence of at least two witnesses for a conviction.
• * Tumultuous Petitioning Act restricts the number of people who may present a petition to the king or parliament.
• 1 October – a yacht race from Greenwich to Gravesend between King Charles and James, Duke of York makes the sport fashionable.
• October
• * Collection of a "free and voluntary present" of cash for the King from householders commences.
• * King Charles II appoints Peter Lely as his court painter.
• December – convocations at Canterbury and York complete the new Anglican Prayer Book.
• 20 December – Parliament passes the Corporation Act 1661 restricting public office to members of the Church of England.

Publications

• Robert Boyle publishes The Sceptical Chymist in London, in which he developed the idea of elements and "corpuscles".
• John Evelyn's pamphlet Fumifugium is one of the earliest descriptions of air pollution.

Births

• 21 January – Peter Le Neve, herald and antiquary
• 20 February – William Digby, 5th Baron Digby, politician
• 25 February – Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex, née Palmer or FitzRoy, illegitimate daughter of Charles II
• 16 April – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, poet and statesman
• 7 May – George Clarke, politician and architect
• 11 August – William Churchill, politician
• 31 August – Charles Granville, 2nd Earl of Bath, diplomat
• 1 October – Sir Matthew Dudley, 2nd Baronet, Member of Parliament
• 22 October – Margaret Holles, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, noblewoman
• 28 November – Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, Governor of New York and New Jersey
• 3 December – Nathaniel Gould, politician
• 5 December – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, statesman date unknown
• * Samuel Garth, physician and poet
• * Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect
• * Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, supporter of William III of Orange

Deaths

• 19 January – Thomas Venner, Fifth Monarchist
• 1 March – Richard Zouch, jurist
• 7 April – William Brereton, soldier and politician
• 16 August – Thomas Fuller, churchman and historian
• 19 November – Brian Walton, clergyman and scholar