1696 in England
Events from the year 1696 in England.
Incumbents
- Monarch – William III
Events
- January
- * Great Recoinage of 1696: The Parliament of England passes the Recoinage Act.
- * Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
- 27 January – the ship catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.
- 15 February – a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.
- March – Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.
- April – window tax introduced.
- May – Great Recoinage of 1696: Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.
- 21 November – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Undated
- Board of Trade and Plantations established.
- Main façades of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire completed in a pioneering English Baroque style.
Publications
- Edward Lloyd probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.
- Poets Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady publish New Version of the Psalms of David, a metrical psalter.
Births
- 27 June – William Pepperrell, colonial soldier
- 14 July – William Oldys, antiquarian and bibliographer
- 12 August – Maurice Greene, composer
- 13 October – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, statesman and writer
- 22 December – James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony
Deaths
- 18 March – Robert Charnock, conspirator
- 30 April – Robert Plot, naturalist
- 28 May – William Gregory, politician and judge
- 30 May – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the Admiralty
- 24 June – Philip Henry, minister
- 11 July – William Godolphin, politician
- 13 September – Caleb Banks, politician
- 8 December – Charles Porter, English-born judge
- 12 December – John Hampden (1653–1696), politician