1737 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1737 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

January – John Potter appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.
2 March – Samuel Johnson and his former pupil David Garrick leave Lichfield to seek their fortunes in London.
17 May – construction of the circular Radcliffe Library at the University of Oxford begins.
28 May – the planet Venus passes in front of Mercury. The event is witnessed during the evening by amateur astronomer John Bevis at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. As of 2006, it is the only such planet/planet occultation to be directly observed.
21 June – the Licensing Act requires plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for censorship and reduces the number of legitimate theatres.
10 October – King George II expels Frederick, Prince of Wales from the royal court for criticising the government.
c. 3 November – Alexander Cruden's A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament first published.
December – Bristol Infirmary admits its first patients. This year, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was founded.
Undated
* Welsh Methodist revival: Religious conversion of William Williams Pantycelyn after hearing Howel Harris preach in Talgarth churchyard.
* "by a lady" includes a recipe for "a dripping pudding", the first record of Yorkshire pudding.

29 January – Thomas Paine, pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, and intellectual
19 April - John Small, cricketer
27 April – Edward Gibbon, historian
2 May – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister
31 July - Princess Augusta of Great Britain, member of the Royal Family
11 August – Joseph Nollekens, sculptor
14 August – Charles Hutton, mathematician
1 October – Charles Towneley, antiquary date unknown
* Frances Abington, actress
* Richard Watson, bishop and academic