1706 in England

← 1705 1704 1703 1706 in England → 1707 1708 1709
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See also:	Other events of 1706

Events from the year 1706 in the Kingdom of England.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Anne

Events

• February - Regency Act (backdated to 1705) requires the senior officers of state to proclaim the next Protestant heir (at this time, Sophia of Hanover) as successor to the English throne on the death of Queen Anne.^[1]
• 8 April - George Farquhar's play The Recruiting Officer first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[2][3]
• 11 May - War of the Spanish Succession: British troops relieve Barcelona from a French siege.^[1]
• 23 May - War of the Spanish Succession: English troops led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough together with Dutch and German troops defeat the French at the Battle of Ramillies.^[4]
• 22 July - Treaty of Union provides for England and Scotland to be merged into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.^[1]
• 21 August - War of the Spanish Succession: Franco-Spanish assault on the British colony at Charleston, South Carolina repelled.^[1]
• October
  • Opening of the Twinings tea shop in London, still open as of 2010.^[5][6]
  • The predecessors of food manufacturers Crosse & Blackwell set up business in London.^[6]
• undated
  • Literacy test for Benefit of clergy abolished, making the benefit available to all first-time offenders of lesser felonies.^[7]
  • The first turnpike trust is established by Act of Parliament, which appoints 32 independent local trustees to oversee the maintenance and management of the road between Fonthill in Bedfordshire and Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire.
  • Isaac Watts' verses Horae Lyricae published.^[8]

Births

• 28 January - John Baskerville, printer (died 1775)
• 6 March - George Pocock, admiral (died 1792)
• 10 June - John Dollond, optician (died 1761)

Deaths

• 29 January - Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, poet and courtier (born 1638)
• 27 February - John Evelyn, writer, gardener and diarist (born 1620)
• Byerley Turk, thoroughbred stallion (born c. 1684)

References

1. Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 204–205. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
2. Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
3. Redgrave, Corin (2003-09-11). "My season with Sam". The Independent. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
4. Cates, William L. R. (1863). The Pocket Date Book. London: Chapman and Hall.
5. "Icons, a portrait of England 1700-1750". Archived from the original on 17 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
6. Button, Henry G.; Lampert, Andrew P. (1976). The Guinness Book of the Business World. Enfield: Guinness Superlatives. ISBN 0-900424-32-X.
7. Briggs, John (1996). Crime and punishment in England: an introductory history. London: UCL Press. p. 74. ISBN 1-85728-153-5.
8. Rivers, Isabel (2004). "Watts, Isaac (1674–1748)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28888. Retrieved 2011-12-09. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

See also