1661 in England

← 1660 1659 1658 1661 in England → 1662 1663 1664
Centuries:	15th 16th 17th 18th 19th
Decades:	1640s 1650s 1660s 1670s 1680s
See also:	Other events of 1661

Events from the year 1661 which occurred in the Kingdom of England.

Incumbents

Charles II of England in Coronation robes, painted by John Michael Wright

• Monarch - Charles II

Events

• 6 January - The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. George Monck's regiment defeats them.
• 30 January - The bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw and Thomas Pride are exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution.^[1]
• 14 February - George Monck's regiment becomes The Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards (which later becomes the Coldstream Guards).
• 15 April - The Savoy Conference of bishops and Presbyterians fails to agree on a new revision of the Prayer Book.^[1]
• 19 April - The Post Office introduces post marks.^[2]
• 23 April - Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned King in Westminster Abbey.^[3]
• 8 May - First meeting of the Cavalier Parliament.^[3]
• 5 June - Isaac Newton admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge.^[2]
• 23 June - Charles II signs a marriage treaty with Portugal. He will marry Catherine of Braganza; as part of the dowry, Portugal cedes Bombay and Tangier to England and grants free trade with Brazil and the East Indies.^[4]
• 1 October - A yacht race from Greenwich to Gravesend between King Charles and James, Duke of York makes the sport fashionable.^[1]
• October - Collection of a "free and voluntary present" of cash for the King from householders commences.
• December - Convocations at Canterbury and York complete the new Anglican Prayer Book (forcibly imposed in 1662).^[1]
• 20 December - Parliament passes the Corporation Act 1661 restricting public office to members of the Church of England.^[3]

Undated

• King Charles II appoints Peter Lely as his court painter.^[3]
• Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre opens in London.^[3]

Publications

• Robert Boyle publishes The Sceptical Chymist in London, in which he developed the idea of elements and 'corpuscles' (atoms).
• John Evelyn's pamphlet Fumifugium is one of the earliest descriptions of air pollution.^[5]

Births

• 16 April - Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, poet and statesman (died 1715)
• 28 November - Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, Governor of New York and New Jersey (died 1723)
• 5 December - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, statesman (died 1724)
• Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, supporter of William III of Orange (died 1722)
• date unknown
  • Samuel Garth, physician and poet (died 1719)
  • Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect (died 1736)

Deaths

• 19 January - Thomas Venner, Fifth Monarchist (executed) (year of birth unknown)
• 1 March - Richard Zouch, jurist (born 1590)
• 7 April - William Brereton, soldier and politician (born 1604)
• 16 August - Thomas Fuller, churchman and historian (born 1608)
• 19 November - Brian Walton, clergyman and scholar (born 1600)

References

1. Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 188–189. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
2. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
3. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 269–270. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
4. Wynne, S. M. (2004). "Catherine (1638–1705)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4894. Retrieved 2012-06-04. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
5. The London Encyclopaedia, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, 1995, ISBN 0-333-57688-8

See also