First Masonic Lodge opens in London
Value of the golden guinea fixed at 21 shillings
The Septennial Act of Britain leads to greater electoral corruption - general elections now to be held once every 7 years instead of every 3 (until 1911)
Climate: Thames frozen so solid that a spring tide lifted the ice bodily 13ft without interrupting the frost fair
Riot Act passed
Second Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender ('The Fifteen')
Queen Anne Stuart dies - George I Hanover becomes king (1714-1727).
Longitude Act: prize of ?20,000 offered to the inventor of a workable method of determining a ship's longitude (won by John Harrison in 1773 for his chronometer).
Schism Act, prevents Dissenters from being schoolmasters in England
Landholders forced to take the Oath of Allegiance and renounce Roman Catholicism
By this year there are some 3,000 coffee houses in London
Imposition of Soap Tax (abolished 1853)
Last trial for witchcraft in England (Jane Wenham)
Toleration Act passed - first relief to non-Anglicans
First race meeting at Ascot
Incorporation of South Sea Company, in London
Tax on Apprentice Indentures introduced
Alexander Selkirk rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe (published in 1719) by Daniel Defoe
Second Eddystone lighthouse completed
First Copyright Act pass
Bad harvests throughout Europe - bread riots in Britain
First Jacobite rising in Scotland
Earliest Artillery Muster Rolls
English and Scottish Parliaments united by an Act of the English Parliament - The Kingdom of Great Britain established - largest free-trade area in Europe at the time
Union with Scotland - Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English Parliament in return for full trading privileges - Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in March
First evening newspaper The Evening Post' issued in London
First workable steam pumping engine devised by Thomas Newcomen (some say c1710 or 1711)
Isaac Newton knighted (for his work at the Royal Mint)
Battle of Blenheim
Penal Code enacted - Catholics barred from voting, education and the military
Climate: Most violent storms of the millennium cause vast damage across southern England - about a third of Britain's merchant fleet lost, and Eddystone lighthouse destroyed on 27 November (Nov 24 - Dec 2)
British take Gibraltar
First English daily newspaper The Daily Courant (till 1735)
Anne Stuart becomes Queen
After being convicted of piracy and murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd hanged in London
Act of Settlement bars Catholics from the British throne
Population in England and Scotland approx 7.5 million
Eddystone Lighthouse (Henry Winstanley's) first lit; completed 10 days earlier
Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London destroyed by fire
Invention of steam engine by Capt Thomas Savery
Darien Expedition: a disastrous attempt to establish a Scots settlement in Panama
Duties (taxes) on entries in parish registers - repealed after five years
Official opening of St Paul's Cathedral
Freedom of Press in England granted
Bank of Scotland founded
Act of Parliament imposes a fine on all who fail to inform the parish minister of the birth of a child (repealed 1706)
Start of Dissenters' lists in parish registers - children born but not christened in the parish church - some were named 'Papist' and others 'Protestants'
Bank of England founded by William Paterson (a Scot)
National Debt came into effect in England
Stamp Duties introduced into Britain from Holland
Mary II death leaves William III as sole ruler
Triennial Act, new Parliamentary elections every three years
Scotland: Poll Tax imposed on all over sixteen, except the destitute and insane (-1699)
Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pierre P?rignon 's invention of Champagne
The massacre of Glencoe - Clan Campbell sides with King William and murders members of Clan McDonald
Land Tax introduced - originally designed as an annual tax on personal estate, public offices and land. For practical purposes, however, assessors tended to avoid assessing items of wealth other than landed property so that it became known as the Land Tax.
French intention to invade England came to nothing
England passes Act of Grace, forgiving Roman Catholic followers of James II
Bill of Rights passed by Parliament, ending King's divine right to raise taxes or wage war
Battle of Killiecrankie in Scotland - Jacobites defeated Government troops but at high cost
Toleration Act passed for Protestant non-conformists
Deposed James VII & II flees to Ireland - defeated at the Battle of the Boyne (1 Jul 1690)
William III and Mary II, daughter of James II, jointly take the throne (only William, however, has regal power)
Devonport naval dockyard established
Siege of Londonderry (began Dec 1688; ended 28 Jul 1689)
William of Orange lands at Torbay
The Glorious Revolution: James II abdicates
Edward Lloyd's Coffee House opens - later became Lloyd's of London
British Army raised to 40,000
Bill of Rights limits the powers of the monarchy over parliament
Hearth Tax abolished
Mutiny Act
Newton published his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' - written in Latin
James II issues the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending laws against Catholics and non-conformists
Release of all prisoners held for their religious beliefs
James the Second (1685-1689, died 1701) - Monmouth rebellion and battle of Sedgemoor - British Army raised to 20,000 men
Earl of Argyll's Invasion of Scotland
Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes - 320 executed, 800 transported
Ashmolean Museum opened at Oxford - first museum in Britain
Wild boar become extinct in Britain
Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
Library of Advocates founded in Edinburgh - later National Library of Scotland
Halley observes the comet which bears his name
Second Test Act (against non-conformists) passed by Westminster Parliament
Oil lighting first used in London streets