1758 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1758 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

Events

15 April – Samuel Johnson begins publishing the series of essays The Idler (1758–1760) in the Universal Chronicle.
21 April – Thomas Secker enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
24 April – Robert Dodsley and his brother James sign a contract with Edmund Burke to launch The Annual Register.
29 April – Seven Years' War: Battle of Cuddalore: A British fleet under George Pocock engages the French fleet of Anne Antoine d'Aché indecisively near Madras.
23 June – Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld: Anglo-Hanoverian forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat the French.
8 July – French and Indian War: Battle of Carillon: French forces hold Fort Carillon against British at Ticonderoga, New York.
3 August – Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Negapatam off the coast of India, Admiral Pocock again engages d'Aché's French fleet, this time with more success.
14 September – French and Indian War: At the Battle of Fort Duquesne, a British attack on Fort Duquesne is defeated.
27 October – the ship Dublin Trader leaves Parkgate, Cheshire, for Dublin, and founders in the Irish Sea; she carries 70,000 Irish pounds in money and £80,000 in goods, while among the 60 passengers lost are Edward, fifth Earl of Drogheda, Theophilus Cibber, the actor, and the Irish mezzotint engraver Michael Ford.
25 November – French and Indian War: French forces abandon Fort Duquesne to the British who then name the area Pittsburgh.
c. December – The first Magdalene institution in Britain, Magdalen Hospital for the Reception of Penitent Prostitutes, is founded in Whitechapel, London by Robert Dingley, Jonas Hanway and John Fielding.

Births

9 January – George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland
24 January – Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough
4 February – George Thicknesse, 19th Baron Audley
12 February – David Ochterlony, general
17 February – John Pinkerton, antiquarian
23 February – Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier
4 April – John Hoppner, English portrait-painter
23 April
* Alexander Hood, Royal Navy officer
* Alexander Cochrane, Royal Navy officer, admiral
* Philip Gidley King, Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator
30 April – Jane West, writer
April – Herod, racehorse
15 May – Thomas Taylor, neoplatonist translator
17 May – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, fossil collector
30 June – James Stephen, lawyer
25 July – Elizabeth Hamilton, writer
24 August
* Edward James Eliot, politician
* Thomas Picton, soldier and colonial administrator
25 August – Israel Pellew, Royal Navy officer
1 September – George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, Whig politician
9 September – Alexander Nasmyth, portrait and landscape painter
29 September – Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Royal Navy officer, admiral
6 October – Watkin Tench, Marine officer
28 October – John Sibthorp, botanist
5 December – George Beauclerk, 4th Duke of St Albans
9 December – Richard Colt Hoare, antiquarian and archaeologist

Deaths

7 January – Allan Ramsay, poet
17 January – James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton, peer
10 February – Thomas Ripley, architect
6 March – Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, politician
18 March – Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury
22 March – Richard Leveridge, bass and composer
6 July – George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe, general
18 July – Duncan Campbell, soldier
2 August – George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington
2 October – Philip Southcote, landscape gardener
12 October – Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, field marshal
14 October – Francis Edward James Keith, soldier and field marshal
20 October – Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, politician
c.27/8 October – Theophilus Cibber, actor
12 November – John Cockburn, Scottish politician
22 November – Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe, politician
15 December – John Dyer, poet
25 December – James Hervey, clergyman and writer