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London theatres reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first time.
For nearly 20 years, the London theatres were closed to the public, but in 1660, when King Charles II at last returned from exile in Europe, the theatre started up again.The new King enjoyed theatre and he issued a licence re-opening the theatres the moment he was back in England. One such licence went to William Davenport, who opened a theatre at Covent Garden, and another went to Thomas Killigrew, who opened a theatre not far away in Drury Lane. -
Charles II is proclaimed king of England (crowned 1661)
Charles II was the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from May 29, 1660 until his death. His father Charles I had been executed in 1649, following the English Civil War; The monarchy was then abolished. under military occupation and de facto martial law. In 1660, shortly after Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored under Charles II. -
Plague claims more than 68,000 people in Londoon
First suspected in late 1664, London’s plague began to spread in earnest eastwards in April 1665 from the destitute suburb of St. Giles through rat-infested alleys to the crowded and squalid parishes of Whitechapel and Stepney on its way to the walled City of London. -
Great fire destroys much of London
The Great Fire of London began on the night of September 2, 1666, as a small fire on Pudding Lane, in the bakeshop of Thomas Farynor. At one o'clock in the morning, a servant woke to find the house aflame. -
Glorious (Bloodless): Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary
Glorious Revolution, also called Revolution of 1688, or Bloodless Revolution n English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband, William III, prince of Orange and stadholder of the Netherlands. -
Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock
The poem satirises a minor incident by comparing it to the epic world of the gods. It was based on an actual incident recounted by Pope's friend, John Caryll. -
Swift publishes A Modest Proposal, protesting English treatment of the Irish poor.
The tract is an ironically conceived attempt to "find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method" for converting the starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth." Across the country poor children, predominantly Catholics, are living in squalor because their families are too poor to keep them fed and clothed. -
Voltaire publishes Candide
Candide is the illegitimate nephew of a German baron. He grows up in the baron’s castle under the tutelage of the scholar Pangloss, who teaches him that this world is “the best of all possible worlds.” After witnessing a horrific battle, he manages to escape and travels to Holland. -
George III is crowned king of Englad; becomes known as the king who lost the American Colonies
England’s longest-ruling monarch before Queen Victoria, King George III (1738-1820) ascended the British throne in 1760. During his 59-year reign, he pushed through a British victory in the Seven Years’ War, led England’s successful resistance to Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and presided over the loss of the American Revolution. After suffering intermittent bouts of acute mental illness, he spent his last decade in a fog of insanity and blindness. -
British Parliament passes Stamp Act for taxing American Colonies.
Exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
African American poet Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral is published in London
Countess of Huntingdon, published thirty-nine of Wheatley’s poems in England under the title Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Phillis Wheatley, at age twenty, was the first African American and, notably, only the second woman in America, to publish a book. -
Boston Teas Party occurs
The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773. The Boston Tea Party happened in 3 British ships in the Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party took place because the colonists did not want to have to pay taxes on the British tea. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Right of Woman.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argues the dictionary definition of feminism. That men and women should have equal rights. Mary Wollstonecraft believed that men and women should have equal rights. -
Napoleon heads revolutionary government in France
During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, established himself as the head of a more liberal, authoritarian, autocratic, and centralized republican government in France while not declaring himself head of state. Due to the long-lasting institutions established during these years.
