1766 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1766 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

Events

1 January – Charles Edward Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain as King Charles III and figurehead for Jacobitism, on the death of his father James Francis Edward Stuart, Pretender since 1701. However, the papacy does not recognise his claim, leading to an improvement in British relations with the Holy See.
5 February – an observer in Wilmington, North Carolina, reports to the Edinburgh newspaper Caledonian Mercury that three ships have been seized by British Men of War on the charge of carrying official documents without stamps. The strict enforcement causes seven other ships to leave Wilmington for other ports.
20 February – the Pennsylvania Gazette reports that a British sloop outside of Wilmington, North Carolina seized one sloop sailing from Philadelphia and one sloop sailing from Saint Christopher on the charge of carrying official documents without stamps. In response, local residents threaten to burn a Royal Man of War attempting to deliver stamps to Wilmington, forcing the ship to return to the mouth of the Cape Fear River.
February – American Revolution: Parliament repeals the Stamp Act which is very unpopular in the British colonies. The persuasion of Benjamin Franklin is considered partly responsible.
18 March – the Declaratory Act asserts the right of Britain to make laws binding in the colonies.
29 May – Henry Cavendish presents his paper "On Factitious Airs". This is generally credited to show the discovery of hydrogen, since it describes the density of 'inflammable air', which forms water on combustion.
30 May – opening of Theatre Royal, Bristol. Also this year, the surviving Georgian Theatre (Stockton-on-Tees) opens as a playhouse.
26 July – construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal begins to connect the River Trent and River Mersey.
30 July – Marquess of Rockingham dismissed as Prime Minister by King George III and is succeeded by William Pitt the Elder.
September – "Bread and butter riots": civil unrest across England following a poor harvest.
6 September – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, marries the illegitimately-born Maria Walpole, Dowager Countess of Waldegrave at her home in Pall Mall, London, an event kept secret from his brother the King until after passage of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
October – Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, completed.
27 November – an observer in New York City reports to the Pennsylvania Gazette that a British sloop of war is searching all vessels passing near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, and that some vessels have been seized.
5 December – James Christie holds the first sale at Christie's auction house in London.

Undated

Lord Mansfield decides the landmark case of Carter v Boehm in English contract law, establishing the duty of utmost good faith in insurance contracts.
The first golf club in England opens, at Blackheath in Kent.

Publications

James Fordyce's collected Sermons to Young Women.
Oliver Goldsmith's novel The Vicar of Wakefield.
John Gwynn's proposals London and Westminster Improved.
George Stubbs' study The Anatomy of the Horse.

Births

15 January – Nathan Drake, essayist and physician
12 February – William Howley, archbishop of Canterbury
14 February – Thomas Malthus, demographer and economist
11 May – Isaac D'Israeli, author
3 August – Jeffry Wyattville, architect and garden designer
6 August – William Hyde Wollaston, chemist
6 September – John Dalton, chemist and physicist
21 October – Peter Durand, merchant
29 December – Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist

Deaths

1 January – James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender"
9 January – Thomas Birch, English historian
21 January – James Quin, English actor
4 April – John Taylor, English classical scholar
8 May – Samuel Chandler, English non-conformist minister
13 August – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, English heiress and painter
3 September – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian
13 September – Benjamin Heath, English classical scholar
23 September – John Brown, English essayist
29 November – John Wyatt, English inventor