1795 in Great Britain
Events from the year 1795 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
Events
- January – the coldest month ever in the Central England temperature series with an average of.
- 18 January – William V, Prince of Orange, flees the Dutch Republic for exile at Kew.
- 10 to 12 February – great floods on the Rivers Severn and Wye result from ice breakup, snowmelt and heavy rainfall; many bridges damaged.
- March
- * Approximate date of start of "Revolt of the housewives", a series of food riots across England.
- * Quota Acts oblige magistrates to find a specified quota of men to serve in the Royal Navy.
- * English Benedictine monks expelled from the Priory of St. Gregory's at Douai, France are permitted to proceed to England where they settle as guests of Sir Edward Smythe at Acton Burnell, Shropshire; later they will establish Downside Abbey in Somerset. This year also English Benedictine nuns expelled from the Priory of Our Lady of Good Hope in Paris settle initially in Dorset; later they will form Saint Mary's Abbey, Colwich.
- 13-14 March – Battle of Genoa: the British and Neapolitan fleets are victorious over the French.
- April – the British Army is evacuated from Bremen, having been unsuccessful in the Flanders Campaign under Prince Frederick, Duke of York.
- 8 April – marriage of George, Prince of Wales, to his cousin Caroline of Brunswick at St James's Palace on the promise of being relieved of his debts; the couple separate after a year.
- 23 April – former Governor-General of India Warren Hastings acquitted by the House of Lords of misconduct.
- 28 April – Vagrant Act provides for magistrates to enrol vagrants and smugglers into the Royal Navy as an alternative to judicial punishment.
- 5 May – a tax on hair-powder under the Duty on Hair Powder Act 1795 comes into effect, helping to end the fashion for powdering hair and wigs.
- 6 May – introduction of Speenhamland system of outdoor relief for the poor.
- 16–17 June – French Revolutionary Wars: Cornwallis's Retreat – a British Royal Navy battle squadron commanded by William Cornwallis fends off a numerically superior French Navy fleet off the coast of Brittany.
- July to September – a Newcomen atmospheric engine begins pumping at Elsecar New Colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield; 220 years later it will be the only operable example on its original site.
- 25 August – British forces capture Trincomalee in Ceylon.
- September and October
- * Riots over shortages of bread in many towns across Britain.
- * Only of rain fall in September but as much as in October, creating the largest month-to-month rise in the England and Wales Precipitation series.
- 16 September – British forces capture Cape Town from the Netherlands.
- 22 September – London Missionary Society inaugurated.
- 28 September – the Alliance of St Petersburg formed between Britain, Russia and Austria against France.
- 2 October – British forces capture Ile d'Yeu, off the coast of Brittany.
- 29 October – King George pelted with stones by an angry mob as bread riots continue.
- November – Parliament passes the Treasonable Practices Act and the Seditious Meetings Act prohibiting assemblies of more than fifty people.
- 13 December – a meteorite falls at the hamlet of Wold Newton, East Riding of Yorkshire.
Ongoing
Publications
- Richard Cumberland's novel Henry.
- William Blake's monotypes Nebuchadnezzar, Newton, The Night of Enitharmon's Joy and Pity; and his self-illustrated prophetic poem The Book of Ahania.
- Joseph Ritson's edition Robin Hood: a collection of all the ancient poems, songs and ballads now extant, relative to that celebrated outlaw.
Births
- 5 April – Henry Havelock, general
- 25 May – George Meikle Kemp, architect
- 26 May – Thomas Noon Talfourd, judge and author
- 13 June – Thomas Arnold, historian and school headmaster
- 11 August – Elizabeth Sackville-West, Countess De La Warr, peeress
- 13 September – Julius Hare, theologian
- 24 October – Edwin Norris, philologist, linguist and orientalist
- 31 October – John Keats, poet and leading figure of the Romantic movement
- 10 November – Walter Geikie, painter
- 10 December – Sir George Burns, 1st Baronet, shipping magnate
- 4 December – Thomas Carlyle, historian and philosopher
- 12 December – Jack Russell, parson and dog breeder
- Unknown date – Zephaniah Williams, Welsh chartist
Deaths
- 3 January – Josiah Wedgwood, potter
- 21 January – Samuel Wallis, explorer
- 9 March – John Walsh, scientist
- 23 June – James Craig, Scottish architect
- 3 August – Jerry Abershawe, highwayman, hanged
- 1 October – Robert Bakewell, agriculturalist
- 11 November – George Dixon, sea captain and explorer, died in Bermuda