1777 in Great Britain

Incumbents

• Monarch – George III
• Prime Minister – Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)

Events

• 3 January – American Revolution: American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
• 1 May – legal case of Goodright v. Stevens decides that the declaration of either parent cannot be accepted to prove that a child born in wedlock is a bastard.
• 8 May – first performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners The School for Scandal at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
• May – completion of the Trent and Mersey Canal.
• 21 July – Holmfirth Flood in the Holme Valley of West Yorkshire: three drowned.
• 16 August – American Revolution: at the Battle of Bennington British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops.
• 8 September – inauguration of Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
• 11 September – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine is a major victory for the British in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
• 19 September – American Revolution: First Saratoga: Battle of Freeman's Farm – British forces under General Burgoyne win the field but with serious casualties
• 4 October – American Revolution: at the Battle of Germantown, troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
• 7 October – American Revolution: Second Saratoga: Battle of Bemis Heights – the Americans are victorious.
• 17 October – American Revolution: Saratoga campaign ends with Burgoyne's surrender to the Americans.
• 24 December – Kiritimati (Christmas Island) visited by James Cook.
• Undated – William Bass establishes the Bass Brewery at Burton upon Trent.

Publications

• Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition begins publication.
• Laws Respecting Women, as they Regard Their Natural Rights is published by Joseph Johnson.
• John Howard's study The State of the Prisons in England and Wales.
• Clara Reeve’s Gothic novel The Champion of Virtue (anonymously), later known as The Old English Baron.

Births

• 22 January – Joseph Hume, doctor and politician (died 1855)
• 3 February – John Cheyne, physician (died 1836)
• 16 February – Benjamin D'Urban, general and colonial administrator (died 1849)
• 1 April – William Gell, archaeologist (died 1836)
• 24 June – John Ross, Arctic explorer (died 1856)
• 9 July – Henry Hallam, historian (died 1859)
• 3 November – Princess Sophia, fifth daughter of King George III (died 1848)

Deaths

• 12 January – Hugh Mercer, soldier and physician, dies in Princeton, New Jersey, United States (born 1726)
• 11 May – George Pigot, Baron Pigot, governor of Madras (born 1719)
• 19 or 27 May – Button Gwinnett, 2nd Governor of Georgia, dies near Savannah, Georgia, United States (born 1735)
• 27 July – William Hayes, composer (bapt. 1708)
• 7 October – Simon Fraser, general (born 1729)
• 21 October – Samuel Foote, dramatist and actor (born 1720)
• 26 December – Dolly Pentreath, last-known fluent native speaker of the Cornish language (born 1692)

References

References

1. "History of Lord Frederick North - GOV.UK".
2. (2006). "Penguin Pocket On This Day". Penguin Reference Library.
3. Lindsay, Jean. "The Trent & Mersey Canal". David & Charles.
4. "The early history of the Institution". Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution.
5. Leavis, Q. D.. (1965). "Fiction and the Reading Public". Chatto & Windus.