-
Blue-Stocking Circle established ca. 1750 and continues to rise in popularity and size throughout the decade
Formed around 1750 by several women of letters and women the educated class, the Blue-Stocking Circle was an opportunity for privileged women to socialize, discuss literature and culture, write amongst each other, and publicly engage with each other on more intellectual terms (Prest 181). Although there wasn't any "formal" memberships, members included: Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Vesey, Elizabeth Carter, Fanny Burney, Hannah More, Horace Walpole, Samuel Johnson (Dobbs 86). -
British Calendar Act of 1751; An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use
Act passed for the adoption of the reformed calendar in England and the colonies. Year to begin from January 1 instead of March 25; 11 days omitted from the calendar between September 3 and 14 1752 (Cook and Stevenson 5). Act goes into effect in 1752, as the Gregorian calendar replaces the Julian calendar (Wasson 31). -
William Hogarth (1697-1764) publishes The Analysis of Beauty
Hogarth (arguably) emerges as the quintessential English artist during the mid-to-late 18th century (Erwin 385). His body of work includes engravings of London life, social satire, The Four Stages of Cruelty, and portraiture. In the unfortunately neglected book The Analysis of Beauty, Hogarth proposes his own theory of aesthetics, which includes the veneration of Nature, the serpentine line, and an emphasis on the role of the viewer in relation to a piece of art. -
Marriage Act of 1753
Proposed by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke (1690-1764), the Marriage Act of 1753 sought to "eliminate clandestine under-age marriages, especially of heiresses with male adventurerers or wealthy young men with servant girls" (Prest 183). The act established a statute that "nullifed all marriages except those of a person over the age of 21 or minors with parental consent, celebrated before witnesses by an Anglican clergyman according to the rites of the Church of England" (Prest 183). -
The British Museum founded in London in 1753; opens in 1759
The British Museum was established by an Act of Parliament in 1753 but does not open to the public on January 15, 1759, housed in a 17th cenutury mansion called Montagu House (britishmuseum.org). The museum's first collections were largely donated by the physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane and King George II (britishmuseum.org). -
Prime Minister Henry Pelham (Whig statesman) dies
Henry Pelham was Prime Minister of Great Britian from 1743 until his death in 1754. Pelham's younger brother, the Duke of Newcastle, succeeds him and installs a new administration, the Newcastle administration. Principal figures included: Earl of Holderness (aka Robert Darcy, secretary of state), Henry Fox (secretary of war), William Pitt the Elder (paymaster) (Cook and Stevenson 5). -
Samuel Johnson (1709-84) and A Dictionary of the English Language (or Johnson's Dictionary)
Lexicographer Samuel Johnson publishes the enromously influential A Dictionary of the English Language. He had been compiling words since 1747. The first edition was published in two volumes containing c. 40,000 words (Ramsay 59). Although Johnson's dictionary is not the first in the English language, thanks to Johnson's literary rep and the dictionary's organization, it would dominate literary culture until the OED appeared (Ramsay 59). Painting by Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), ca. 1756 -
Seven Years War (1756-1763) begins
The Seven Years War was a struggle for global supremacy between Britain and France, which decided the fate of North America and Asia. Ushers in an era of almost pepertual state of war between France and Britain around the globe that lasts until 1815 (Wasson 57). The French and Indian War is the North American counterpart to the Seven Years War. -
William Blake born in London
Blake, an English poet, writes and publishes Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794). -
Mary Wollstonecraft born in London
Proto-feminist essayist and mother to Mary Shelley; Wollstonecraft is the author of the landmark text, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792).
