1799 in Great Britain explained

Events from the year 1799 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George III
• Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger (Tory)^[1]
• Foreign Secretary – Lord Grenville

Events

• 9 January – Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound^[2] to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars.
• 20 March–21 May – British troops lend aid to the Ottoman defenders against the French Siege of Acre.^[3]
• 4 May – Battle of Seringapatam: British forces defeat the Sultan of Mysore; his kingdom is divided between the Honourable East India Company and Hyderabad.^[4]
• 1 July – Britain allies with Russia, Austria, Portugal, Naples, and the Ottoman Empire against France.^[4]
• 12 July – Parliament passes:
  • The Combination Act to outlaw trade unions.^[5]
  • Unlawful Societies Act to outlaw clandestine radical societies and require a printer's imprint on all published material.^[6]
• 15–19 August – A combined French and Spanish fleet stands off the south west coast of England.^[7]
• 27 August – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Britain and Russia send an expedition to the Batavian Republic.
• 30 August – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Vlieter Incident – A squadron of the Batavian Republic's navy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Samuel Story, surrenders to the British Royal Navy under Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell near Wieringen without joining action.
• 6 October – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Battle of Castricum – Franco-Dutch forces defeat the Russo-British expedition force.
• 9 October – Sinking of, a famous treasure wreck, in the West Frisian Islands.
• 16 October – Action of 16 October 1799: A Spanish treasure convoy worth more than £600,000 is captured by the Royal Navy off Vigo.
• 18 October – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Capitulation of Anglo-Russian expedition forces in North Holland.
• 23 October – The River Severn ferry at The Tuckies, Jackfield, Shropshire capsizes and 28 workers from Coalport China Works are drowned.^[8]
• 5 November – HMS Sceptre is wrecked in a storm in Table Bay, South Africa, with the loss of 349 and 41 survivors.^[9]
• The Religious Tract Society is established as an evangelical publisher in Paternoster Row, London; as The Lutterworth Press the imprint continues into the 21st century.

Ongoing

• Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808
• French Revolutionary Wars, War of the Second Coalition

Births

• January – James Meadows Rendel, civil engineer (died 1856)
• 12 January – Priscilla Susan Bury, botanist (died 1872)
• 8 February – John Lindley, botanist (died 1865)
• 16 March – Anna Atkins, botanist and photographer (died 1871)^[10]
• 29 March – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister (died 1869)
• 17 April – Eliza Acton, cookery writer (died 1859)
• 13 May – Catherine Gore, author (died 1861)
• 21 May – Mary Anning, paleontologist (died 1847)
• 23 May – Thomas Hood, poet (died 1845)
• 18 June – William Lassell, astronomer (died 1880)
• 25 June – David Douglas, Scottish botanist (died 1834 in Hawaii)
• 8 September – James Bowman Lindsay, Scottish inventor (died 1862)
• 21 December – Ignatius Spencer, priest (died 1864)
• James Townsend Saward, barrister and forger (date of death unknown)
• Approximate date – William Simson, Scottish-born painter (died 1847)

Deaths

• 26 January – Gabriel Christie, Scottish-born general and settler in Montreal (born 1722)
• 26 May – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish judge and comparative linguist (born 1714)
• 14 June – Sir Patrick Warrender, Scottish soldier and politician (born 1731)^[11]
• 4 August – John Bacon, sculptor (born 1740)
• 5 August – Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, admiral (born 1726)
• 25 August – John Arnold, watchmaker (born 1736)
• 3 September – William Thomas, academic and Chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral (born 1726)^[12]
• 6 October – William Withering, physician (born 1741)
• 4 November – Josiah Tucker, economist (born 1713)^[13]

Notes and References

1. Web site: History of William Pitt 'The Younger' - GOV.UK . www.gov.uk . 1 July 2023 . en.
2. Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 0-14-102715-0. 2006.
3. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. 2005. 0-304-35730-8. 348.
4. Book: Palmer, Alan. Palmer. Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 237–238. 0-7126-5616-2.
5. Web site: BBC History British History Timeline. 2007-09-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20070909012414/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml. 2007-09-09.
6. Web site: Unlawful Societies Act 1799. vlexJustis. 2023-03-15.
7. Lloyd's List.
8. Book: Clarke, Neil. Crossing the River: Fords and Ferries on the Shropshire Severn. Derby. Railway and Canal Historical Society. 2015. 978-0-901461-62-9. 43–44.
9. Book: The United Service Magazine. The Autobiography of Sir John Barrow. 337. 1847. 2008-11-04. H. Colburn.
10. Book: Haines, Catharine M. C.. International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. Santa Barbara. ABC-CLIO. 2001. 978-1-57607-090-1. 10.
11. Web site: WARRENDER, Patrick (1731-99), of Lochend, Haddington.. History of Parliament Online . 20 March 2018.
12. s-THOM-WIL-1734. Thomas, William (1734-1799), cleric and antiquary. Hywel David Emanuel. National Library of Wales. 26 November 2020.
13. Book: Ruth Savage. Philosophy and Religion in Enlightenment Britain: New Case Studies. 26 April 2012. OUP Oxford. 978-0-19-922704-4. 240.