1696 in England

Events from the year 1696 in England.

Incumbents

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.

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.

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