1739 in Great Britain explained

Events from the year 1739 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George II
• Prime Minister – Robert Walpole (Whig)^[1]

Events

• 14 January – Britain and Spain sign the Convention of Pardo.^[2]
• 16 January – first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul at the His Majesty's Theatre, London.^[2]
• February – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire.
• April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
• 4 April – first performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt at the King's Theatre, London.^[2]
• 12 May – John Wesley lays the foundation stone of the New Room, Bristol, the world's first Methodist meeting house.^[3]
• 17 October – the Foundling Hospital in London, established by Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter.^[2]
• 23 October – "War of Jenkins' Ear" (1739–1742) begins when Britain declares war on Spain.^[2]
• 20–22 November – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Porto Bello: British marine forces capture the Panamanian silver exporting town of Porto Bello from the Spanish.^[2]
• 25 December–February 1740 – the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in southern England and Ireland.^[4]

Publications

• January (dated 9 February) – The Scots Magazine first published.^[5]
• David Hume's anonymous A Treatise of Human Nature^[4] (issued late 1738 but dated this year).
• John Mottley's pseudonymous Joe Miller's Jests, or the Wits Vade-Mecum.
• John and Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems,^[6] including the first publication of Charles's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", anonymously as "Hymn for Christmas-Day", opening "Hark how all the welkin rings".^[7]

Births

• 6 January – David Dale, philanthropist (died 1806)
• 26 January – George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (died 1817)
• 4 February – John Robison, physicist (died 1805)
• 25 March – Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany (died 1767)
• 16 May – Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk, peer and politician (died 1779)
• 5 November – Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton, peer (died 1819)
• 4 December – Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, politician (died 1802)

Deaths

• 7 April – Dick Turpin, highwayman (hanged) (born 1705)
• 19 April – Nicholas Saunderson, scientist and mathematician (born 1682)
• 10 August – William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven, nobleman. (born 1700)
• 4 September – George Lillo, playwright (born 1693)
• 21 October – William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester (born 1700)

See also

• 1739 in Wales

Notes and References

1. Web site: History of Sir Robert Walpole - GOV.UK . www.gov.uk . 12 June 2023 . en.
2. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 0-304-35730-8.
3. Web site: History of The New Room. The New Room. Bristol. 2011-07-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20130817211537/http://newroombristol.org.uk/History. 2013-08-17. dead.
4. Book: Palmer. Alan. Palmer. Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 215–216. 0-7126-5616-2.
5. Book: Ward, A. W.. The Cambridge History of English Literature. 9. 2009. 614. 9781110343133.
6. Book: Cox, Michael. The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. 2004. 0-19-860634-6.
7. Book: Watson, J. R.. The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study. Clarendon Press. 1997. 0198267622. Oxford. 205–229. registration.