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Great Britain-related events during the year of 1781
Events from the year 1781 in Great Britain .
Incumbents
Events
13 March :
Uranus discovered [image in false colour].
28 February – foundation of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester .
[4]
13 March – Sir
William Herschel discovers the
planet
Uranus .
[3] Originally he calls it Georgium Sidus (George's Star) in honour of King
George III .
15 March – American Revolutionary War: American General
Nathanael Greene loses the
Battle of Guilford Court House to British.
[3]
1 July –
Second Anglo-Mysore War : at the Battle of
Porto Novo , the British defeat the Mysore ruler
Hyder Ali .
[2]
6 July – American Revolutionary War: At the
Battle of Green Spring , the British led by
Lord Cornwallis defeat the French led by the
Marquis de Lafayette .
[2]
27 July – French spy
François Henri de la Motte executed at
Tyburn (London) for
high treason .
30 August – American Revolutionary War: French fleet under the
Comte de Grasse enters
Chesapeake Bay , cutting British General
Charles Cornwallis off from escape by sea.
5 September – American Revolutionary War: in the
Battle of the Chesapeake , a British fleet under
Thomas Graves arrives and fights de Grasse, but is unable to break through to relieve the
Siege of Yorktown .
[2]
6 September – American Revolutionary War:
Battle of Groton Heights – a British force under
Benedict Arnold attacks a fort in
Groton, Connecticut , achieving a strategic victory.
19 October – American Revolutionary War: following the
Siege of Yorktown , General
Charles Cornwallis surrenders to General
George Washington at
Yorktown, Virginia , ending the armed struggle of the American Revolutionary War.
[2]
29 November
3 December – first known
building society established, in
Birmingham .
[6]
12 December – American Revolutionary War:
Second Battle of Ushant – the
Royal Navy , commanded by Rear Admiral
Richard Kempenfelt in
HMS Victory , decisively defeats the French fleet in the
Bay of Biscay .
Last year in which the monarch participates in a regular peacetime meeting of the
Cabinet .
[7]
Publications
Births
21 February –
Bulkeley Bandinel , scholar-librarian (died 1861)
29 May –
John Walker , inventor (died 1859)
9 June –
George Stephenson , locomotive engineer (died 1848)
6 July –
Stamford Raffles , founder of Singapore (died 1826)
8 July –
Tom Cribb , bare-knuckle boxer (died 1848)
14 September –
James Walker , Scottish civil engineer (died 1862)
3 November –
Sarah Elizabeth Utterson , translator and author (died 1851)
6 November –
Lucy Aikin , English writer (died 1864)
30 November –
Alexander Berry , adventurer and Australian pioneer (died 1873)
11 December – Sir
David Brewster , physicist (died 1868)
Deaths
12 January –
Richard Challoner , Catholic prelate (born 1691)
21 February –
Matchem , racehorse (born 1748)
24 February –
Edward Capell , critic (born 1713)
19 April –
Elizabeth Raffald , cookery writer and entrepreneur (born 1733)
23 April –
James Abercrombie , general (born 1706)
8 May –
Richard Jago , poet (born 1715)
17 May –
William Aislabie , politician (born 1700)
28 September –
William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford , diplomat and statesman (born 1717)
16 October –
Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke , naval officer (born 1705)
See also
References